Step #1: Lifestyle Change

Are you ready for this? Are you truly committed to better your life? Cause let me tell you: in this case it is necessary. It's necessary for you to understand that you need to change something in your life in order to improve your health condition. And hopefully you are already doing many things right and you'll only have to make small changes in your life; in my case it's been huge and I'm still working on it! 

First of all, a note: the change cannot come from desperation. It will not work. You have to truly believe that by changing your habits you will have a positive change in your health that might not be immediate - and that's what makes it hard, it would be nice to just snap our fingers and Bam, problem solved! - but you'll see the benefits in the long run.

In addition, it is very important that you surround yourself by supportive people. In my case, that's been the strongest motivation and push to my changes. And even whit all of the above sometimes it's just hard! 

So far I've "only" changed 2 things in my life but if you had known me before you would know what a big sacrifice this have been:

#1 - QUIT SMOKING!!! 

I still cannot believe I actually did! And although it's now been 3 months, I still have cravings from time to time but it's getting better and better (my cravings are down to 1 a week, if any). What I crave most it's the habit, more than the cigarette itself. I used to love smoking and I think I'll miss it forever. Once someone told me: "If you are a smoker, you'll be a smoker forever" and not cause you cannot quit, just cause you know what it meant to you and you'll always crave those 5 minutes to yourself. The other thing with quitting smoking is that you do not notice the benefits right away so it's hard to stay motivated. I'm talking about health benefits. How do you know you are actually doing good to your body? Imagine how cool it would be if all of a sudden your skin would look younger and brighter, your varicose veins would disappear, you could run without feeling you're going to die, or if you could be sure that you're going to have a longer and healthier life as a consequence of that action you took. But no, I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. We have to be happy for the immediate and visible benefits such as:

• almost $200 more in my pocket
• I don't smell like an ashtray
• my teeth are whiter and they will stay like that for longer
• I don't have to wait till last minute to go through custom when I'm at the airport waiting for a flight
• I can drink coffee and alcohol when on a plane
• I can carry a smaller purse when I'm out at a bar (ok, this is lame... but it's true!)
• I can relax a bit more and enjoy lunch with my colleagues instead of running outside at 12:45pm
• I don't have to stand outside under the rain, snow, wind, freezing rain...

I'm sure there are more but this is what's coming to mind right now.

Okay, let's say I'm kind of happy I quit. But again, I couldn't have done it without my friends and colleagues' support (continuous support! ;) )

#2 - DIET CHANGE!!! 

After a first diet fail, I now think to be on the right path with the SCD diet suggested by the osteopath I went to see when I started exploring alternative ways of healing my intestine. So far so good although my body is still adjusting to the big change and psychologically it's quite challenging. I'Il probably write a post on the challenges of being on SCD but here I'm ust going to say it is not easy especially if you like me love food! My friends used to laugh at me saying to hide food whenever I would get to a party. My mom always yelled at me for what I used to eat. Not necessarily junk food but lots, lots of food! And now... now I get excited when 3 days have passed and I can add another food from the list! lol (only people following the scdlifestyle style can understand this reference) And you would think that being on a gluten free, grain free, starch free, dairy free diet would make you loose weight. Well think again! I haven't lost a pound! Why is that? Probably because I'm allowed fruit and honey - although I should consume both with moderation - and it's my comfort food; I should stop that or at least be careful. As I said, I'm going to talk more about SCD but here are the benefits so far:

• I haven't felt pain or bloating since I started a month ago
• I'm rediscovering food and eating and enjoying food I never had before 
• It takes me 50% less time to grocery shop
• I know the difference between butternut, acorn and buttercup squash and I can express my preference
• I learned how to use a broiler pan 
• I'm generally improving my cooking skills
• I'm definitely eating healthier food

And many more. There are disadvantages too (and today it's probably been one of the worse day... PLAN! ALWAYS PLAN YOUR MEALS IN ADVANCE!!!) but let's focus on positive shall we? :)

#3 - TALK ABOUT IT. You're not alone! Share your experience. That's why I started this blog. It can be quite isolating; talk to people: you might be surprised how much support you'll get from the people you least expected. 

And to close this super long post, here are some of the things I'd like to do in the future:

#4 - EXERCISE.

#5 - DRINK MORE WATER.

#6 - AVOID STRESSFUL SITUATIONS.

What about you? What are you doing? What are some of the things you have done to live a healthier life and start your healing process? Any suggestion/resource is appreciated.

What am I going to eat!!???

I'm truly loving this SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) thing but sometimes it's really a challenge.I introduced Spinach on Monday and I've already exhausted all my options. The problem is that most scd recipes websites don't have a distinction between phases therefore I can find recipes with spinach but they are not necessarily suitable for Phase 1 (e.g. there is coconut/nut flour, parmesan - I'm not eating dairy, or at least not yet - they're fried...). 

What to do in this cases? Put your brain at work and SHARE!!! SHARE!!! Even if it's a culinary disaster! That might prevent other from making a disaster themselves! 
For example, yesterday I prepared what I thought it was going to be Spinach Pancake but it turned out to be... I don't even know how to explain it... a very green, very spinachy omelette. :) I don't own a food scale so unfortunately I'm not able to tell you where it went wrong but I can definitely tell you that the eggs/spinach ratio that I used did not work. :) I still haven't tried it but here is a recipe for Spinach Pancake 1/2 cup of spinach for 1 egg... mmm ... I feel I've done more or less that. Can someone try and let me know how it turned out?

Another thing that I did wrong - and that's why I didn't feel I should share the recipe - is that I was trying to use up 2 yolks that were left from a "SCD bread" I made the day before and I put no egg white at all... so: 2 yolks and a handful of cooked spinach... tooooo much :) (the "bread" was delicious! and here is the recipe for that one: http://pecanbread.com/new/recipes/nutfreedairyfreebread.html and a picture while it was still in the oven. I forgot to take a picture of the final product... oops. But I'm sure I'll make it again and I'll then update this post). 

You can see the 2 incriminating eggs at the back in the tupperware :)

The bread in the oven. Once done it's thin and brown and delicious!! 

It's very easy to find ways of using egg whites but not as many for the egg yolks. All you can find is pastry cream and stuff... not phase 1 :(

I've lost my thread of thoughts... how did I get here? oh yes, Phase 1 Spinach recipes.
Another experiment I've done is a Spinach Chicken/Beef Egg Muffin. And again, I have not much to share with you but this picture (it looked much nicer when I first took it out from the oven! :))

Now, what I want to make clear here is that I'm no chef! And I never thought I was creative either; but I find myself coming up with ideas - brilliant ideas in my humble opinion - to use up leftovers. I cook with a "nothing gets wasted" philosophy. And that's why it's so hard for me to share my recipes. I definitely need to buy a scale so that I can give you guys clear instructions. 
I made the muffins by combining 2 eggs, leftover boiled spinach and beef and chicken meat that I retrieved from the bone broth that I prepared yesterday (made with beef bones and 2 chicken legs bones - very little meat was left on the bone but as I said, I'm not going to throw anything and it's very healthy!). This is not the recipe I used but here is a good one: http://scdlifestyle.com/2012/02/how-to-make-nourishing-beef-bone-broth-to-heal-your-gut/ 
There is no use for me to give you these half recipes and I'm only going to get you confused. So I'm going to stop right there and tell you instead what I'm going to prepare now. Let's do it together. I'll measure with cups this time ;)

First of all, let's put some music on! Musique du Monde on Spotify... I don't understand a word but it's interesting.

We are going to call them Spinacheat balls as there is nothing of the traditional meat balls in them. They are dairy free, grain free, gluten free, no eggs... it's easier to say what's in it.

Ingredients:
1lb extra lean ground beef
1/3 cup carrot puree (made with 4 hour cooked carrots)
1/2 cup cooked spinach
Salt and pepper

Put some water to boil. Once boiling, add the spinach and let boil for 5 minutes.

Try not to burn down the house! 

Drain the spinach and let them cool down.

Mix the ground beef with the carrot puree. 
Add salt and pepper. (if you prefer you can leave this step till the end; I know lots of people like to salt their meat only when cooked)

Please note that the pic shows 2lb ground beef. 1lb will look like half of this (duh!)

Squeeze all the water out from the spinach.

Turn your broiler on.

Chop the spinach and add to the mixture. I use my hands to mix everything. You are going to get them dirty anyway to make the balls, might as well using them to mix everything well together. It has a calming effect on me :)

Make 1,5" - 2" meat balls (keep in mind that they will shrink a little in the cooking process) and place them on a broiler pan.

Place the broiler 4 inches far from heat source. 
Broil each side for around 8-10 minutes (or until it browns) for a total of more or less 20 minutes. 

Serve warm! If they get to the table. By the time I sat down to eat I already had 3. Well, one to see if they were cooked; the other 2 cause they were so delicious I couldn't stop eating them!!! 

I hope you will enjoy the recipe! Please let me know by adding a comment. 
Any feedback is highly appreciated. 

P.S.: I'm going to post soon the super easy recipe for that delicious scd soup I ate with the meatballs and... just in case you were wondering... I used 2lb of meat instead of 1lb cause 1) the package I bought was a 2lb pack 2) before adding in the spinach I divided the meat in half and used 1lb to prepare some delicious burgers that I froze and I'm going to use next week ;) NOTHING GETS WASTED!!! 

Ground beef and carrot puree burger. I use parchment paper to keep them separated so that it's easy when you defrost them. I'll tell you more about my "leftover parchment paper" in another post! ;)

Just Cause You Can't See It It Doesn't Mean It Doesn't Exist

It was a very hot summer day when, just after having had my very first colonoscopy, I was told that I had Crohn's. I only remember starting crying, still not totally conscious and under the effect of the drugs they had given me for the procedure. And then I remember a voice, the same voice that told me that I had Crohn's - the GI - telling me to take Prednisone - a corticosteroid - and that he would have seen me in 2 months! 

WHO DOES THAT? I mean come on! I'm not even fully awake, I'm crying, don't know where I am... and that's all you can come up with? And then I was left by myself, getting rid of all the gas in my system, crying... but at moment hysterically laughing cause I really couldn't hold that fart! - ahahah nghe' ahahah - second guessing my mental health, thinking my life as I knew it was over.

I obviously never took the Prednisone. Right, if you'll get to know me, you'll soon find out that I hate medicines! And I would never take a medicine without previously extensively talking about it with a trusted doctor. Let alone someone I had just met! Don't think that just cause you've seen my butt you've now established a special connection or trust relationship/bond between us! 

After that first encounter with what it is now my ex GI, I was left in total denial. I had been sick for the last 6 months and just couldn't believe that I had just been diagnosed with the worst of my "options". But I was going on vacation and I decided not to think about it till back. 

During my vacation I... kind of self prescribed myself some 5-ASA - did it ever helped? I'm still not sure - and I put myself on a very strict diet that I had come up with after extensively reading all the blogs I could find on the internet. My diet consisted of: chicken, fish, rice, pasta, potatoes and carrots. And... that's about it. I knew I couldn't have survived long on that diet and it came to an end few weeks after I came back home. While on the "diet" I had cramps from time to time but never felt super sick. After a while though I became constipated. Once I only managed to go to the washroom after 5 days and only after gulping down 2 spoons of oil! bleah! 

All this was happening in August. After that I was careful with what I ate, but not really and I got sick several times (flare ups). I met with my GI that obviously wasn't very happy when I told him I hadn't taken the Prednisone. He gave me a lecture and then prescribed me Imuran, an immunosuppressant. WHAT? ahahahah okay, you are just not getting it, are you? He tried the Fear Card with me - no, it doesn't work that way - and gave me a drug informative sheet that was targeted to kids - well, now, do you think that's going to work? - and told me to think about it and to let him know if I would then decide to go ahead and take the medicine. Well, that's been the last time I've seen that doctor. 

Please note that the links I used in the above text are just informative and I used those for lack of better information. I don't necessarily agree with the information they provide. I'll try to find websites that better represent my view on the subject.