Chronic Pain Journals

I have been feeling sick the past few days.  I have slowly been adding in more foods to my current food plan to see how I react and to start adding in more calories.  I started using a food plan through Medifast where I use only gluten-free products and vegetarian (though I am eating fish), and was feeling much better with this food.  (For more information on the plan you can see my health coach page at the top of this blog or go to http://healthcoachelissa.com/).  Because this is also a weight loss plan, it was time for me to transition to more regular foods and add in calories.  I started adding in more vegetables and fruit, and was having more cottage cheese for my protein option.  Something I added has made me feel sick to my stomach.

The good news about having a reaction is that it clarifies that my body is reacting to what I eat.  It appears that I am not breaking down certain substances in my food.  I am guessing it could be related to fructose found in my fruit and some of my vegetables like broccoli.  I have had a little bit of milk in lattes a few weeks ago (not on my plan) and didn’t react to this.  When I started adding two more vegetables a day, I added more cooked vegetables and started feeling sick.  I felt worse when I had some apples.

Today, I have gone back to what worked before – the 5 Medifast meals and 2 cups of lettuce with some tomatoes and fish.  I also picked up a gingerbread latte with my daughters while Christmas shopping and this seemed to be ok.  I am enjoying my teas and lots of water.  I will try to readjust my body, than add in the cottage cheese this time instead of the vegetables/fruit in about three days.  I will then add in some more vegetables/fruit that are lower in fructose 3-5 days later.   I may also pick up some probiotics.

I have always enjoyed doing research.  I am trying to look at this as my personal research.  This helps me be less frustrated when I can’t have something that I really want to have.  It can feel complicated when I don’t know exactly what is causing the problems, but at least I have found some foods that work for me.  I will just have to learn how to get around the holidays and all the food I want to have, while I am trying to figure out what is happening in my body.  Eventually I may be able to have some of these foods again, but clearly they aren’t working for me now.  I may just have to add some peppermint to my Medifast brownies and pudding for a festive flavor.