Well, well, well...that's officially my plan. I plan to be well. I'm still feeling like I'm quite far away from it, but I'm functioning...differently. I'm maintaining the always competing priorities: health, mom, work, creative pursuits, and not living in filth. Guess which one I've eased up on/ gotten the increasingly capable kids on--that's correct. The last. Of all these, it's the only one they can really shoulder successfully. And I'm just living with the fact that we might not be tidy at the moment, but we're hygienic--fresh showers and clean clothes, and a clean kitchen. There was even dusting semi-recently.
As for feeling like a chef-witch - that's pretty much how I feel. Throw in a little barbarianism, and it's the most complete description I can conjure up. Eating at the most intensely described, specific, gut-healing, inflammation reducing, mitochondria-happy-ifying way is not simple. In addition to adding greens in quantity, and coloured vegetables that don't make me feel ill, I've decided that we'll all eat more this way- because it's actually easier.
What does that look like at the moment? I have a lamb stew on the stove. I'm a complete novice at cooking lamb; and I've only eaten it once, when my makes-everything-taste-great friend Katie made it for us in Yellowknife. The Wahl's book intense-level requires a lot more meat. For me, it means another change in approach to food. I'm keeping the low-histamine practices-because I already know they help, and I'm adding in the Wahl's ideas...
In all of this, I have to confess to a bit of relief - though I don't know how objective that relief is, because obviously, I'd notice the conclusions that I've come to on my own but it is encouraging to see the same show up in a well-sourced book. And, Dr. Wahl agrees with me about rum and red wines that don't make me itch- have some from time to time, it's fermented and therefore good enough as long as it's not a binge! In her theory, I'd have gluten free beer too, but it gives me a headache, so I'll be skipping that-though I tried last night, and a couple of sips in, confirmed it's a "no".
From years of experimenting, feeling up, feeling poorly, and every shade of health between, I have come to know what works for me. I had noticed, long ago, that I need super-nutrition; if I ate a "regular" Canadian's diet, I know I couldn't function- because I didn't function - back in the 90s...I had exploratory surgery to try figure out what was wrong with my digestion, came out of it one appendix lighter, because they couldn't really find anything, other than to determine it seemed slightly inflamed. Do I miss it? Not really, but I know that didn't seem to solve much of anything. That was necessary a month before I got married...
First year I was married, I got worse, discovering that I was better without gluten...so I kept on with that notion...Along the way, I discovered that the fewer carbs I ate, the better I felt...kept that going. The more "original" my foods, the better I felt...kept that going. I thought I was doing pretty well, then something happened (the "maybe" parasites I have, perhaps?!!) and I went back to feeling nearly as yuck as I had before. Thyroid has always been an issue, and along the way, I've had many changes to that medication, with the latest seeming to be the best, which is switching to the natural thyroid instead of the synthetic.
Biochem aside...every single cell has receptor sites for hormones that control metabolism--thyroid hormones--there are different ones for T4 and T3. The synthetic replacement provides T4, which 85% of people simply convert into T3, to bind with those cellular sites. I am likely part of the 15% who don't (meaning there's less 'rev' per cell), so the T3 being present in the natural source tabs seems like a good idea. I'm not a vegetarian, so I'm fine with that biological source, though it takes a thought or two to get past eating powdered porcine thyroid... but I take a moment or two to be able to eat meat anyway!
Back to the witch's brew on the stove. It's lamb stew, with beef bone broth, carrots, herbs de Provence-because it's super-fance that way- and baby brussel sprouts. Oddly, or not, brussel sprouts are a new enough and strange enough addition to the table here that the novelty seems to make them fun. And, there's more brewing...another pile of beef bones into the slow cooker for their 48 hour nutritional leaching, this time, with apple cider vinegar, carrots, onions and garlic to bump up the flavour- so that's the chef part of how I'm feeling... This means that the house smells like dinner 24-7.
I think that's enough reflection for now, and I have to go stir the cauldrons anyway-
Cheers and chao!
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