Day 1: CDEFG-Free Diet

Yesterday was my “Shrove Tuesday” so to speak. I ate three huge helpings of Apple Cinnamon “Wheat-Free” cake smothered with butter cream icing, brown sugar glaze and pecans (created by moi as buying a GF cake for one’s birthday is nearly impossible). I consumed a plateful of gluten-free pasta with homemade chili. And a day before, I had a large helping of flourless chocolate cake compliments of my dear sister-in-law along with great decaf coffee. Oh, de-li-cious!

Today begins the CDEFG-Free diet*. No Coffee/Chocolate. No Dairy. No Eggs. No Fish. No Grains. I have also labeled it as the “No Fun” Diet. The purpose? To provide my stomach a chance to heal.

My stomach journey has been a frustrating one, to say the least. More than 18 months ago, something happened to my digestive tract. I started to experience heart burn everyday (as opposed to the occasional once-a-month incident). One day, it was so bad, that I checked myself into emergency to make sure I wasn’t having a heart attack. About three months later, I had an episode in which my gut was wracked in pain. It was scary.

In between these two experiences I saw the doctors in the clinic I frequent. I was placed on PPI’s or proton pump inhibitors that shut down some of the acid pumps in the stomach. It is a drug that many people are placed on for chronic stomach issues. For me, the generic brand brought on nausea. The more expensive brand (costs $25 a month with insurance coverage) alleviated some of the symptoms though created others such as bloating, gas and weak legs. In addition, Raniditine (the technical name for Zantac) was added to my drug regime to curb the burn before I went to bed.

I was also sent for some testing, to rule out a hiatus hernia, a bacterial infection in my gut and celiac disease. Though, an endoscope was not ordered as my case wasn’t deemed that serious.

After about a year of this, I had enough of popping pills that weren’t really helping. So, I visited a Naturopath. I was prescribed some supplements to ease my gut, including probiotics (expensive supplements that are not covered by any insurance plan). And I was asked to eliminate common foods than can cause digestive problems. Gluten was the first to go. While I did feel better, I was still not symptom free. I started to keep a food journal and certain patterns emerged. Fish was an issue. Peanut butter was hard to digest. Quinoa and sorghum, while gluten-free, were harder to process. Too much sugar aggravated my gut. Citrus and very spicy foods seemed to throw me for a loop. Cream based soups caused pain. It was as if my stomach was overreacting to everything and anything other than fruit, veggies, legumes and animal protein.

So that will be my diet for the next while: fruits, veggies, legumes and animal protein. It is time to reset my stomach and hope for better days in the future.

I know there are people in my life who kind of “raise their eyebrows” in skepticism as I attempt this diet (thankfully, your Daddy isn’t one of them). After all it is extreme and difficult. It makes me a social misfit at gatherings, parties and potlucks. And it is an alternative treatment to just finding some prescription medication that will make me feel better.

Yet, I am willing to try. Why? Because I do want to feel better than I do today (my medical doctors are not helping). And I want to believe that changes in our diet and lifestyle can be our medicine. I think our society reaches for drugs too eagerly to alleviate our diseases and ailments. And while there are many, many people who legitimately need medications to live, there are equally many (if not more) people who would get better by eating right, exercising, and reducing their stress.

Kids, I totally understand how overwhelming it is to live a healthy lifestyle. It took me almost 13 years to reduce my weight to an acceptable BMI. I still struggle with exercising and reducing the stressors in my life. As for diet, I am only on day one of the CDEFG-Free Diet and I feel a bit overwhelmed.

But, if my month of quiet trust has taught me anything, it is this: It doesn’t hurt to try something that could potentially heal your body in spite of the short-term (or long-term) sacrifice. God’s grace is sufficient in our weakness. He provides self-control for us to curb our cravings. He imparts joy in spite of struggle.

These are good lessons to learn, right?

*My CDEFG-Free diet is similar to the Paleo Diet and GAPS Diet.

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