Gut Issues & baby fat (YES, that’s what I call it!)
Most of you already know, my family & I are 100% organic eating. There are times we go out, and not everything is organic but we do our best to ONLY eat out where the restaurant uses locally purchased produce/meats& organic ingredients.
I gave up dairy nearly 7 years ago when my son Zander was diagnosed with autism. That is when I incorporated the gluten free / casein free diet. I found many benefits to our health when eliminating many of those items from our diet. Over the years, as Zander’s health improved I started to bring back more gluten, which I found isn’t bothering Zander as much as it did in the beginning of our journey.
Little did I know that gluten, carbohydrates, and sugar would soon become my worst enemy……
3 Years ago, Corey and I decided we would try to get pregnant again but 4 months later of multiply attempts we just couldn’t get pregnant. I thought could it be my age (ummm NO I am not that old) could it be stress (maybe), could it be something else? So, I went to my ND and she figured out that I had some gut issues with major parasites problems. She placed me on a juice cleanse, along with 6 colonic treatments. After my last colonics and 3 weeks later…..Yep, I was knocked up J----by the way I personally love love colonics – highly recommend it to all!!!
During my pregnancy, I was so careful on what I consumed. I only gained a total of 24 lbs and feeling amazing. I ended up after 64 hrs of labor having a c-section (not because me or baby was stressed, because I was attempting a vbac and the hospital would NOT allow me to eat to build more energy…can you feel the anger in the sentence….maybe one day I will write about it). It was a tough c-section . The anesthesiologist couldn’t place the spinal tap, so they decided to just load me up with epidural. Well, needless to say as the doctor began to cut I could feel everything on my left side. 3 more epidural injections and still could feel the cutting. Next thing I knew I was knocked out and a tube placed down my throat. (Remember neither me nor my baby was in danger).
After all was said and done, Healthy baby boy was born and my amazing husband and midwife were there to experience his first cry and to hover over him so no one would dare inject him with any form of vaccinations. (The toxins of the world….again another blogging day)
We spent 2 days in the hospital (I was determined to get out of that hell hole as soon as possible). During those days in the hospital I did notice my body was not acting correctly. I had lots of numbness on my right side of my leg, along with extreme pain that was different from my previous c-section 7 years prior.
After being home, I noticed I just couldn’t get enough energy from breastfeeding so I was eating like a baby elephant, which ended up turning me into a baby elephant…..and I am not making a joke L
It took me 18 months before I could really walk a long distance before I would have issues with my right leg. I was experience lots of nerve pain, cramping, and swelling in my right leg only. Where my scar is from the c-section it would get hard as a rock and extremely painful. Because of all this, I couldn’t work out or do normal activities like I used too. I thought how the hell could I feel like I was 90 when I was only 40……I began becoming nerves that I wouldn’t be back to my old self……which I also began to gain more weight, and more weight. (Even though now I wasn’t eating heavily).
Three months ago, I began experiencing some major gut issue. I thought for sure I was having gallbladder spasms, or maybe a kidney stone….How I loathe Google sometime for trying to diagnose myself…LOL…come on you know you have done it before.
5 times I thought I needed to go to the ER, and if you know me, you know I do not believe in Western medicine unless it’s an emergence and believe me……I thought I was dying! 4 or 6 hours later it would pass…. I would be scared to eat anything for days.
I began doing more juices which would boast my energy level but soon started bothering me once again. I would drink Organic Apple Cider Vinegar to help digest my food (what little I was taking in) which helped again over a short period of time but soon didn’t work. I then turned to taking Hydro-Zyme but it really was producing more acid then what my stomach needed.
I was coming to a dead end……but one thing was for sure…I needed to address the foods I was consuming daily which in return was becoming my worst enemy.
I was told that I should do the GAPS diet, or maybe the Paleo diet both diets have been told to me over a couple of years…..me on the other hand thought I didn’t need a complete overhaul to what me and my family were consuming --- come on we are eating organic….….Oh how WRONG I was.We were just eating the crappy organic foods…..which were high in Carobs, and Sugar.
I first chose GAPS but I found that I just didn’t do as well on it or it wasn’t helping my issues so much. So I decided to venture into the paleo world. I had heard many amazing comment on this “lifestyle” – I prefer using the word lifestyle as diet isn’t something I believe in.
I began my journey for about 2 weeks and found that I was eating plenty of different REAL foods and was not having gut issues, I found myself with more energy, and not having as much brain fogs as normal. The biggest surprise was I hadn’t experienced bloat or gut pains….. This is when I began to really look further into the paleo world……which lead me to discovered Crossfit.
Now again if you know me, the most working out I do is chasing my 22 month old son. I do not like running, I do not like aerobics , I do not like to do yoga…….but watching crossfit and view a few of my friends back in WA enjoy doing it…I thought hey, if they could be doing this then I could too.
I signed up for a boot camp in the middle of April and did a 4 week camp 2 times a week……after the first day I could hardly walk for 5 days, I couldn’t really brush my hair…..and washing myself was a complete workout of its own. I am now going 3x a week and finding myself even wanting more. I am talking crossfit to those that will listen (sorry if you had to listen to me, but don’t give a damn….). I can say I LOVE crossfit and can see myself sticking to it and going as much as possible. It really is addicting.
So here I am, 5 weeks into crossfit and 8 weeks into my new lifestyle eating on Paleo. I began this journey in a loose size 16, and today I am enjoying my size 12 that I was wearing before getting pregnant with Zeppelin. I do not have a goal of weight or size…my goal is to recover and heal my gut, and having overall wellness with some form of exercise --- which is coming in the form of Crossfit. What my body starting doing with this…….because right now I am pleased with the results I am feeling/seeing.
Here is a picture of myself, 3 months ago is on the left (bike) and the right was taken on May 26th.
22lbs down 6 weeks into Crossfit, and 9 weeks on the Paleo lifestyle eating.
