Tag Archives: IBS

LEAP/MRT Diet Phase ½, Weeks 3-4

The reason I decided to combine weeks 3 and 4 is because I didn’t log much during week 4. I go a bit more into detail as to the reason why not in “The Case of the Missing Lizz;” but to summarize: I’ve started getting tension migraines. I had one tension migraine from the afternoon of Wednesday the 19th until I went to sleep Friday the 22nd. It was still hanging around in a milder form on Saturday. Since that first one, I have had one every single afternoon/evening until I go to sleep that night. It’s been pretty miserable and I’ve been forgetting to log because of that.

I still had the flu during week 3, so most of my log pages are full of medications. Luckily, I had mostly recovered before the week was out. Though, I did come down with oral thrush thanks to the strong antibiotics I was put on for my thumb infection. (More in Missing Lizz post.)

LEAP Diet Phase ½, Week 3: April 11 – 17

Tuesday, April 11
  • 11:30am: oatmeal with brown sugar
  • 2:15pm: rice cake with sunbutter (sunflower seed butter)
  • 6:30pm: chicken noodle soup; steamed broccoli
  • 9:30pm: edible cookie dough #2
  • Fluids: 122oz (3.61L)
chicken noodle soup signed

Chicken Noodle Soup

Wednesday, April 12
  • 11:30am: oatmeal with brown sugar
  • 2pm: rice cake with sunbutter
  • 6:30pm: taco bowls (homemade refried beans, brown rice, ground beef, mild cheddar)
  • 9pm: Siggi’s with blueberries (only a few bites thanks to being sick)
  • Fluids: 89oz (2.63L)
Thursday, April 13

I went to my PCP and got diagnosed with oral thrush

  • 12pm: blueberry muffins
  • 1:54pm: slice of cheddar cheese
  • 4pm: plain rice cake
  • 8pm: homemade tortilla chips; taco bowl
  • Fluids: 77oz (2.28L)
Friday, April 14
  • 11:45am: spoonful of sunbutter; some uncooked oats (2 handfuls)
  • 3:30pm: chicken noodle soup
  • 8pm: chicken with oregano, garlic, salt; steamed broccoli; sweet potato fries (fail)
  • 9pm: taco bowl
  • 10:45pm: edible cookie dough #2
  • Fluids: 89oz (2.63L)
Saturday, April 15
  • 11am: oatmeal with brown sugar
  • 2:30pm: chicken (canned chunk chicken, cumin, salt); pinto beans; cheddar cheese
  • 7pm: noodles (rice and quinoa noodles from Trader Joe’s); steamed broccoli; steamed sweet potato
  • Fluids: I completely lost track of my fluids by the end of the day
Sunday, April 16
  • 12pm: oatmeal with maple syrup and blueberries
  • 2:45pm: rice cake with sunbutter
  • 6pm: beef-n-noodles (Mom’s version of beef burgundy, very diff, but modified for my diet; served over the rice and quinoa noodles)
  • 8pm: cheese
  • 9:30pm: edible cookie dough #2
  • Fluids: 66oz (1.95L)
beef n noodles signed

Beef-N-Noodles

Monday, April 17
  • 9am: oatmeal with brown sugar
  • 12:30pm: beef-n-noodles
  • 6pm: plain rice cake
  • 7pm: chicken (garlic, oregano, salt); mashed cauliflower (coconut cream and oil, pepper, salt, garlic)
  • 8:40pm: cheddar cheese
  • Fluids: 76oz (2.25L) (I may not have recorded everything)

LEAP Diet Phase ½, Week 4: April 18 – 24

Tuesday, April 18
  • 9:45am: oatmeal with brown sugar
  • 12:30pm: rice cake with sunbutter
  • 4:30pm: homemade tortilla chips
  • 6:45pm: burritos (refried beans, ground beef, oat/rice tortillas, cheddar cheese)
  • 8:45pm: edible cookie dough #2
  • Fluids: 87.28oz (2.58L)
burritos soft tortillas signed

Burritos

Wednesday, April 19

I stopped logging my fluids, it was tedious. I figured that I have plenty of data to get an average, and as long as my body is hydrated then I’m doing alright.

  • 11:45am: oatmeal with brown sugar
  • 3:30pm: rice cake with sunbutter
  • 7:30pm: beef-n-noodles
Thursday, April 20
ER Night with emoticon

From my Instagram; In ER for tension migraine

I had a terrible tension migraine all day, so I only logged that I ate breakfast at 7:30am and it was oatmeal with brown sugar.

 

I ended up in the emergency room for the tension migraine at about 8:30pm, which is how I found out what was actually going on.

Friday, April 21

Still had a horrid tension migraine, and it was all I could do to keep myself alive (with food and medications and lying on the couch wanting to be able to temporarily remove my head).

Saturday, April 22

My headache was about 99% gone, but I didn’t want to be too stringent with things. I took today as a self-care day to make sure my headache wouldn’t come back!

Sunday, April 23
  • 10:30am: oatmeal with brown sugar
  • 1:10pm: slice of cheddar cheese
  • 3pm: plain rice cake
  • 4pm: sunbutter
  • 4:30pm: refried beans with cheddar cheese
  • 8pm: steak (onion, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, basil); mashed sweet potato (coconut cream, ghee); steamed broccoli
steak and sweet potatoes signed

Steak and Mashed Sweet Potato

Monday, April 24
  • 8:45am: slice of cheddar; small spoon of the edible cookie dough (I was running late for an appointment)
  • 11:30am: ¼ cup of dry oats; 2 slices of cheddar (I was in the car on the way home from said appointment)
  • 5pm: leftover mashed sweet potato
  • 7pm: chicken (basil, oregano, salt); lentil noodles (discovered I’m allergic to lentils, wonderful)
  • 9pm: edible cookie dough #3

Before the end of week four, I emailed Kara (the dietitian) with a huge list of questions and concerns. Because of everything that I have had to be dealing with, Kara decided to make some changes to my diet. I will discuss these changes in a separate post, as this post has gone on quite long enough already!

As always, let me know what recipes you would like to see!

Other LEAP Diet Posts:

LEAP/MRT Diet: Phase 1/2, Week 2

I started my LEAP diet on March 28th. I am starting with a ½ phase due to my daily headaches; since sudden food detox can cause headaches in someone without chronic headache, my dietitian didn’t want me to feel atrocious. However, I’ve still been having some issues with phase ½, but it could also be due to my poor health. (This post has details about the diet.)

Right before starting the diet, I ended up with a pretty nasty virus and a sinus infection (see this post for details about being sick while chronically ill). I also got an infected hangnail (common for me) on my thumb that just wouldn’t heal, so I ended up on oral antibiotics. Then, since I went to urgent care for my thumb infection, I picked up another virus. When I went back to urgent care (Dan had to call them to make sure they had all the tools I needed, because he thought I looked like death), it was confirmed that I had picked up influenza B. First virus and sinus infection were confirmed March 23, thumb infection urgent care visit was April 6, started showing signs that I had a different infection April 7, and an urgent care visit confirmed the flu April 9. It’s been a really rough several weeks. Continue reading →

LEAP/MRT Diet: Phase 1/2, Week 1

I started my LEAP diet March 28th, with my ½ phase. Unfortunately, I’ve also been struggling with some severe acute illnesses as well, so it’s been hard to tell how much the diet is changing things. I was feeling a bit better for a few days, but then I seem to have relapsed and gotten really sick. Hopefully, I’ll get over whatever this is soon, and then we can see what the diet is doing!

Since everyone seemed to enjoy my weekly FODMAP diet lists, I thought I would do the same thing for the LEAP diet! Since I’m so extremely restricted on what I can eat, I have to get creative with food. There has been a lot of “from scratch” cooking, a lot of substitutions, and a lot of frustration. I’ve lost several pounds, because I’m still working on trying to figure out snacks and other quick food, so I’m not eating as much as I should be. Hopefully, I’ll get more energy soon and can actually spend more time cooking.

Week one of phase ½, I was cooking the entire week. Every second of my free time was spent in the kitchen, which would be fine if it didn’t require so much energy. I’m completely exhausted, but hopefully I can get a better routine down. Continue reading →

It’s Almost Time to Get the LEAP Results!

My LEAP/MRT follow-up with the dietitian is on the 21st, so just 7 days now! While I’m really nervous about what I will be able to eat, I’m very excited because I think this will really help!

For an overview of LEAP/MRT, and why we are going that route, be sure to check out my More Dietitian Changes post!

Dan and I have definitely noticed that there are a few meals that make me feel quite ill, so we decided it would be fun to make some guesses. There are also foods that cause significant oral symptoms (itching, tongue rash, etc) and that seem to trigger my eosinophilic esophagitis (E0E). Obviously, Dan was only able to make his guesses based on the times I’ve told him something seems off. These guesses are just for if we think the foods will be “not green” (either yellow or red), not the degree to which they will be no good. Continue reading →

FODMAP Diet – Week 5 Roundup

This was likely my last full week on the low FODMAP diet, as I see Kara (the dietitian) again on Tuesday, February 7th. I had forgotten to log the days I felt bloating and other symptoms like that, but they haven’t decreased at all on this diet. Most days, I am still extremely bloated in the evening. This entire last week, I felt incredibly overfull and was having to force myself to eat on my meal schedule (every 2-3 hours). I’ve been having a lot of nausea, and have taken at least one Zofran every day. To top it all off, my eosinophilic esophagitis is acting up, but I think that’s due to the new nasal spray the immunologist gave me (if it continues for another week, I’ll be emailing them to let them know I’ll be discontinuing it).

I’m really not feeling any better on this diet, my symptoms haven’t improved, and I’m fatigued/overwhelmed by the restrictions and inability to eat out and need to carry a cooler with me everywhere I go. I’m almost positive, now, that my GI was right and that my symptoms are being caused by eosinophilic enteritis… or that they’re at least food allergy/sensitivity related. (No, I am not gluten sensitive. I have been tested several times, and every time I eliminate gluten I get sicker.)

Continue reading →

FODMAP Diet – Weeks 3 & 4 Roundup

Sorry to those of you that have been following my FODMAP journey, these last two weeks have been absolutely ridiculous.

Week 3 has very few entries, which is why I’m combining it with Week 4 for this post. Dan, my husband, went on a business trip the 18th through 21st. He travels occasionally for work (he gets to go to launch sites to help launch rockets), and this was his first trip of the year. It was the first time he’d had to travel while I have been on the new eating schedule, and it didn’t go well for me – turns out I need to use far too much energy making food to actually do much else when I’m left to take care of the cats and myself for 4 days. On top of the business trip, I also had my follow-up appointment with Dr H (the physiatrist) to go over my MRI results on the 19th, and that didn’t go well (you can see the results here); It took a serious toll on my mental health. Because of everything, I decided to just skip the logging the 18th through 22nd to take care of my mental and physical health.

(LF = lactose free; GF = gluten free)

Week 3 FODMAP Diet: January 16-22

Monday, January 16
  • 6:45am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
  • 9:30am: ProNourish; 2 oatmeal pancakes without syrup (cold)
  • 12pm: a bunch of red grapes; hardboiled egg
  • 2pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 4:30pm: Babybel; blueberry lemon muffin with cinnamon sugar
  • 7:15pm: quesadilla (rice tortilla, mozzarella, chicken, tomatoes)
  • Fluid: 2.22 liters
Kale Banana Smoothie, complete

Kale Banana Smoothie

Tuesday, January 17
  • 6:45am: oatmeal with brown sugar (make sure there are no molasses); hardboiled egg
  • 9am: spinach and banana smoothie (sub. spinach for kale in this one)
  • 1.5 hour nap
  • 12:10pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 2:30pm: 2 oatmeal pancakes without syrup (cold); Babybel
  • 4:45pm: mashed potatoes made with Fairlife LF milk
  • 7:15pm: grilled tomato, ham, mozzarella sandwich
  • Fluid: 2.11 liters

I did make sure that even though I wasn’t logging, I was following my diet and the timing of my eating schedule. I was also ensuring I was drinking my average amount of fluids every day. I just had no energy to write anything down.

Week 4 was also interesting. I had my important immunology appointment on Monday, at National Jewish Health (write up coming soon) which took a bit longer than expected. Then on Friday, I got my cortisone shot in my right SI joint. For the cortisone shot, I had to be NPO (no idea what it stands for, but it means nothing by mouth at all, not even water) for at least 4 hours before the procedure. Since my stomach doesn’t always like to empty properly, even though I don’t have gastroparesis, I wanted to be sure I gave myself at least 5 hours. My shot wasn’t until 1:30pm, so that meant I wanted to eat by 8am. I decided to wake up at 6am (to ensure I had enough time to prepare food and get back to sleep) and eat breakfast, then I went back to sleep as long as I could, then went to my shot. I wasn’t able to eat until I got home (I did bring food, but I was sleepy and nauseous) at 4pm. Otherwise, the week was pretty smooth.

Week 4 FODMAP Diet: January 23-29

Monday, January 23
  • 6am: oatmeal with brown sugar; hardboiled egg
  • 8am: Babybel; Bobo’s bite (original)
  • 10:30am: ProNourish; veggie straws
  • 12pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 3pm: quesadilla (rice tortilla, mozzarella, deli ham, tomatoes)
  • 5pm: one oatmeal pancake without syrup (cold)
  • 7:30pm: raspberry jelly toast; scrambled eggs
  • Fluids: 2.07 liters
Tuesday, January 24
  • 11:15am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
  • 1:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 3:30pm: cinnamon rice cake; ProNourish
  • 5pm: Bobo’s bite
  • 7:30pm: grilled ham, tomato, mozzarella sandwich
  • 9:30pm: LF vanilla ice cream
  • Fluids: 2.28 liters
Wednesday, January 25
  • 7:30am: raspberry jelly toast; hardboiled egg
  • 9:30am: spinach banana smoothie
  • 12pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 2:30pm: Babybel; veggie straws
  • 4:30pm: ProNourish; banana
  • 6:45pm: chicken; brown rice
  • 9:30pm: 4 Pamela’s Simple Bites snickerdoodles
  • Fluids: 2.99 liters
Thursday, January 26
  • 11am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
  • 1:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 3:30pm: Babybel; veggie straws
  • 6:15pm: GF homemade pizza (sauce, GF crust, mozzarella, deli ham)
  • 8:30pm: LF vanilla ice cream; 2 Andean Dream Cocoa Orange Quinoa cookies
  • Fluids: 2.18 liters
Friday, January 27
  • 6:15am: oatmeal with brown sugar; hardboiled egg
  • 4:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 7:30pm: Yardhouse grilled chicken and avocado sandwich* ; plain French fries
  • Fluids: 2.96 liters
Saturday, January 28
  • 11am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
  • 12:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 2:30pm: spinach and banana smoothie
  • 5pm: veggie straws; ProNourish
  • 7pm: two grilled ham, tomato, mozzarella sandwiches
  • 9:30pm: raspberry sorbet; 8 Pamela’s Simple Bites snickerdoodles
  • Fluids: 3.68 liters
Sunday, January 29
  • 11am: raspberry jelly toast; hardboiled egg
  • 1:15pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
  • 3:45pm: spinach and banana smoothie
  • 6:30pm: GF homemade pizza (sauce, mozzarella, deli ham)
  • Fluids: 3.15 liters

*I had to modify the sandwich from Yardhouse: lettuce wrapped, no mayonnaise; the chicken was seasoned only with salt and pepper (we called ahead) and the fries are just potatoes cooked in plain canola oil with no seasoning

So far, the diet doesn’t actually seem to be helping much. I’m still going to bed quite bloated, but some nights are far worse than others. I’m almost positive that the bloating and digestive problems I have are due to food allergies, and I’m still eating trigger foods. However, I have noticed I do feel a bit better when I drink the LF milk as opposed to regular milk (thinking about it, I was a bit sluggish feeling after drinking normal milk) so I may stick with that anyway.

There will be one more FODMAP week before I see Kara (the dietitian) again. I’ll probably get put on another diet, or a modified diet of some sort anyway, so I will likely continue these roundups. I will work on getting more recipes posted, regardless of what comes from my follow-up!

Other Posts About My FODMAP Diet:

FODMAP Diet – Week 2 Roundup

Week two of my low FODMAP diet (and the other changes) has gone interestingly… to say the least.

I started having severe abdominal pains and crippling nausea on Monday, the ninth. The nausea actually started on Sunday, the eighth, but wasn’t as severe as it became on Monday. Continue reading →

FODMAP Diet – Week 1 Roundup!

Dan suggested that I do a “weekly roundup” of my FODMAP diet, and I loved the idea! Since I’m keeping a food log anyway, it’s really not that much more work on my part. For this first month of the diet, at least, I’ll be doing weekly updates on how my diet is going, and include what I’ve been eating that week. I will also occasionally post recipes for the meals I’m making so that you can make them too. Of course, the recipes will probably take much longer to get posted, so if you want to see a specific recipe sooner rather than later, comment on that week’s roundup and I’ll move it up the to-do list. (Weeks will run from Saturday through Friday, that way I can post it for you to read over the weekend! Sorry this first one is late, it took me a little while to figure out how exactly to format this.)

Now, without further ado, the diet for Week 1! Continue reading →

The Dietitian Changes Everything

Tuesday, the 27th, I had my appointment with the dietitian. This is the first dietitian I have ever seen, and I was extremely excited!

I had wanted to become a registered dietitian, until I took a class called “Intro to Nutrition Professions,” which pretty much said you always have to pitch your own jobs and I just don’t have the personality to do that – I barely have the personality to sell myself in regular interviews, let alone try to force people to hire me into a position I’ve created. I also wasn’t going to have the money to pay for the exams or internship, since I was already tens of thousands of dollars in student debt as it was. Sadly, I just kind of let that dream die instead of trying to figure out a way to make it work, but I still find nutrition absolutely fascinating! That fascination was definitely adding to the excitement.

My excitement was mainly due to the exciting potential of actually ending up on a track that might make me feel better, however, since most modern western medicine doctors don’t really focus much on nutrition. Continue reading →

Productive Gastroenterology Appointment Today!

Today was my follow-up appointment with my gastroenterologist, and it was an extremely productive appointment! My GI doc is my favorite doctor, by quite a lot. They’re the most awkward subject matter, but they’re always productive and my doc refuses to give up on me. It’s a very refreshing change from how most doctors treat my cases.

s-llxyh3gzi-haley-phelps

Anyway, the follow-up was in regards to my HIDA scan. Continue reading →