Whole30 Program: T Minus 3 Days

I'm excited to start my Whole30 in a few days! After almost a year of chronic pain and inflammation, a slew of diagnostic tests, surgery, and too many doctors' visits to count, I decided enough is enough. 

I have a laundry list of diagnoses, but no one in the medical field wants to step up and give me an explanation for why my body decided to crap out on me all at once. Just in the past six months I've been diagnosed with diseases/disorders of the kidneys, gut, bladder, ovaries, uterus, and lumbar spine after having a darn near perfect health record for 32 years. I refuse to believe these conditions that I have are all coincidental findings that are not related.

After someone in my low oxalate support group highly recommended it, I read the book, It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways. By following a diet consisting of super clean eating (cleaner than primal/paleo even), I hope to reset my broken system and start feeling better. I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired!

Here is the Whole30 program in a bullet list, but do read the entire book for the explanations behind each bullet. The authors cover how certain food choices can negatively affect your brain function, hormones, digestion, and immune system. It is all really interesting and makes sense, especially for me who has been suffering in all four of these areas.

Whole30 (page 208)

- YES: Eat foods that make you healthier -- meat, seafood, eggs, lots of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of healthy fats.

- NO: Do not consume any of the following foods or beverages for the duration of your Whole30 program.

  *Added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No table sugar, maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Equal, NutraSweet, xylitol, stevia, etc.

  *Alcohol in any form, not even for cooking. No tobacco products of any sort either.

  *Grains. This includes wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains, and quinoa.

  *Legumes. This includes beans of all kinds, peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. This also includes all forms of soy - soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, endamame, soy lecithin, etc.

  *Dairy. This includes cow's, goat's, or sheep's milk products such as cream, cheese, kefir, yogurt, and sour cream, with the exception of clarified butter and ghee.

  *White potatoes.  

 I will have to make some adjustments and limit my consumption even more so that this program fits within the confines of a low oxalate diet that I follow to prevent kidney stones (which are apparently inevitable for someone who has medullary sponge kidney disease) a low acid diet that I follow to assist the healing of gastritis and a gastric ulcer, and an anti-inflammatory diet that I follow to alleviate symptoms of endometriosis. I'm still figuring out which foods irritate my bladder, but since I've eliminated high oxalate and high acid-producing foods, my bladder has felt much better too. At least those overlap!

Thank you, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, creators of the Whole30 program, for giving me a plan and a thorough explanation that 10+ conventional doctors and specialists could not. Because my illnesses present themselves on the inside, doctors look at me and wonder how anything could be wrong. My vitals are always optimal, and I don't present with any funky rashes or outwardly physical markings that would indicate a health issue. They've told me my case is "interesting," "odd," and "not a textbook case." More than one doctor has said "it doesn't add up." Duh, that's why I've been seeing you guys! 

So now I'm going to take my health into my own hands. I feel that it is important to start healing from the inside out since my maladies live within. If the Whole30 doesn't work, then I'll at least know my diet is not to blame for my problems. Plus, it's only 30 days; compared to 11+ months of discomfort, that's nothing. I can do this. I can and I will.