Monday, September 6, 2010

New Eating Plan



I recently read through The pH Miracle Diet by Dr. Robert O. Young.  I was hoping to find some hope in that book for my hormonal imbalances, but unfortunately the book doesn't touch a whole lot on that subject and the author also really encourages adding a lot of soy to your diet.  Soy for a lot of people is NOT a healthy food and honestly shouldn't be touched with a 10 foot pole.  I'm one of those people.  Soy has a natural form of estrogen in it along with enzymes that prohibit the absorption of protein.  So although the food itself has a lot of protein, it is not readily usable to our bodies and the enzymes actually block protein absorption from other food.  I think many other cultures eat soy and are fine, but the cultures that do have soy as part of their main diet aren't faced with as many environmental toxins as we are with such things like plastic food containers, toys from China, BPA, and chemical toxins to boot which all disrupt healthy hormone levels.
I'm estrogen dominant which means I already have way too much estrogen so adding more to my diet through soy would not be a good idea.   The other issue with Dr. Young's diet is that it is unrealistic for a mother who presently has an extremely active toddler and is trying to co-run an adult family home.  If I was dying of cancer, I would have the motivation, but right now I think just well balanced healthy nutrition with good supplements is sufficient for me.  One of the pertinent steps of the diet being successful is a three to ten day cleanse in which you only drink various vegetable juices and broths.  There is no way I could do that and keep my energy levels up.  He makes a case for it being very beneficial, but at this point I really couldn't do the fast and function.  I think it's really important that if you are going to embark on a diet, that the diet is something you can do for the long term.  Otherwise it will be of no use to you if you are only able to accomplish it for a short time and then give up because it is too difficult to maintain. 

Despite the short comings of the diet, I really did have a lot of epiphanies while reading through the book.  First was to balance out my pH and eat less acidic foods like sugar and white flour.  Then to add more veggies.  My favorite snack  is now celery dipped in super garlicky humus (Yum!).  I am also reducing my wheat load to be no more than 30% of my diet.  Dr. Young pointed out a lot of other options as well to meet that 30%  of healthy grains instead of being overloaded with just one option...wheat.  I now have a buckwheat pancake mix and spaghetti noodles made of kamut.   I liked the idea of adding more variety of grains.  Plus the biggie was reducing the amount of sugar, especially in the form of pastries.  Sweet treats has always been my weakness and I realize now how much it has been wreaking havoc on my body.  Dr. Young really spelled it out for me by explaining the different bacterias that are created by my body trying to digest sugar and white flour.  It was really eye opening. 

The book also encouraged me to get more of my protein from sources other than meet, such as beans.  I'm grateful that my mom cooked a lot of beans for us growing up.  I am really familiar with them and can easily add them to my diet to get more nutrition from my food. 

So I've set some nutritional guidelines for myself to try and get healthier.  The guidelines are:
       No Caffeine (although I have been cheating with green tea, but I'm trying to stop!)
       Limit sugar (one treat a week or less)
       Little to no pastries which is another source of sugar and useless white flour
       Reduce white flour intake altogether
       Don't snack on carbs (bread is now apart of meals only or a once in a while snack)
       The majority of my diet needs to consist of vegetables, then healthy proteins and grains.

The rules above are realistic for me.   My skin has completely cleared after just a week of eating like this.  I used to constantly have break outs which would embarrass me because I'm not a teenager anymore!  I should be passed that.  It does show me that my body was overloaded with bad food and trying to excrete the toxic waste anyway it could. This new way of eating has actually been a very freeing experience.  I no longer feel trapped by food cravings.  It has really become apart of my life instead of something I have to do.

I feel like for now, this is a healthy approach to trying to get pregnant again.  It is a huge improvement compared to what I had been eating.  I was hoping for better results sooner.  It has seemed to make no difference on my body temperature so far, but I am continuing on with research with the help of my naturopath to try and figure out a solution.  I don't want to settle for bad health and I know I'm finally on the right path.

2 comments:

  1. Keep it up Carrie! Its bound to work soon:) Good luck with sticking to it too-I need your strength!! Try home made chili in a crockpot. you can use all kinds of yummy beans!!

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  2. Good job Carrie! It sounds like you did an excellent job reading with a critical eye and only taking the parts of the book that you can realistically do.

    Brad and I have actually been trying to eat similarly to this since we got married. I'd love to share some recipes! I cook with ground turkey a lot, which is way healthier than ground beef (and I actually think it's yummier too). I make a turkey chili that's loaded with veggies, and Brad loves it. Also, I don't know if you are a bread baker, but I've been making a bread recipe my mom developed, and it's so delicious. It's whole wheat and has oats, flax, and olive oil. It's super healthy, and YUMMY! Let me know if you want recipes!

    Love you,

    Andi

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