Fibro Warrior Wednesday – Gracie B

My husband, Ted,  and I just finished the “Whole 30 plan” that Dallas and Melissa Hartwig recommend in their book, “It Starts With Food”.   My husband has multiple health problems which include congestive heart, poor circulation, high blood pressure and diabetes and renal problems.  I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, and had high blood pressure.  So, when our daughter, Julie, suggested this book and the 30 day plan to us, we had nothing to lose!

We had read many articles and books about diet and food, and knew that we needed to get away from carbs and sugars, but like so many others, we were addicted!  I had been having a lot of digestive problems, and started using Almond milk, instead of dairy, and also cut out gluten products.  My husband  could see the improvements Julie and I had in our health.  Then, he spent a week in the hospital, because of fluid buildup.   During that week, he lost 25 pounds of fluid, and was told to try a gluten free diet.  And that is when Julie gave us the book “It Starts With Food”.

Of course, we weren’t sure we could do it.  After all, we had so many foods around already.  We couldn’t afford to just throw out everything and buy other foods.  I was scheduled to have surgery in about 10 days, so we decided we would start this new diet when I came home from the surgery.  That gave us time to use some of the items that might spoil, like potatoes, corn, frozen peas and beans. And ice cream!  Cereals, rice, sugar and other sweeteners were placed on back shelves, out of sight.  Then, we stocked up on veggies, fruits and nuts, eggs, fish, chicken and lamb ( we don’t eat much beef).

So, thirty days ago we began.  It was an adventure.  But we kept each other motivated.  Dallas and Melissa suggest that you weigh when you start, and then don’t weigh again until the 30 days are over. Ted could not do that since he must  monitor fluid buildup.  So, we both weighed daily.  We also kept regular checks on blood glucose readings and blood pressure.  Ted was on a sliding scale of insulin, after losing the weight in the hospital, and he continued on that.  Within days we noticed that our blood pressure and blood sugar readings were stabilizing.  He was using very little insulin.  Our weight was dropping, too.   Of course, he was losing faster than me.  At the end of 30 days, we have both lost more than 10% of our body weight!  But the best thing is that our blood sugar and blood pressure readings are in normal ranges! We are excited to visit our doctors and see if we can leave off some of the meds we have been using.  I’ve always had problems with pains and aches in my knees, but these are gone.  We both feel so much better.

Now, we are in the second phase…adding back certain items, to see how we are affected by them.  Tomorrow, we will add dairy products.  A few days later, we will add gluten grains, and then after a few more days, gluten free grains.  So, we are glad we didn’t throw out the boxes of cereal, and the rice and oatmeal.  Some of those may stay in our diet, in limited quantities.  But Ted and I have decided that we will continue to severely limit the carbs and sugars that we consume.  We like the way our clothes fit now, and even more, we like the way we feel!

As Dallas and Melissa say in their book “Be creative”.  We came up with some replacement recipes for some of our favorites, like chili and pasta and stuffed peppers, using items that were “allowed.”  We will very likely continue to use these recipes.  OH! Just in case you are saying “I’m too set in my ways to change now”, Ted and I are both in our mid-60’s.  If we can do it…anyone can do it.

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An update/ addendum. It’s been a couple of weeks since they ended their Whole30 and Mom has since visited the Dr and been informed that she would discontinue her BP and Diabetes meds. Dad told me that he recently took Insulin for the first time in over a month and he feels it’s largely because he’s allowed more carbs back into his diet by using more of the “gluten-free” replacement foods (mainly GF bread) than he should. The biggest difference is just looking at him, not only the weight he’s lost but watching his ability to get up and around the house and desire to get out of the house and do things that he hasn’t been able to do for over two years. While they have tried introducing gluten and dairy back in they’ve both agreed that they will do best to stay with a more Paleo diet of natural whole foods.