I hadn't left my flat in weeks, never bothered even getting dressed
Sick. In bed. Again. Life is such a joy right now.
(..actually everything else is going pretty damn well, even the 9 week wait to move house.. so i have to find something to moan about…)
It’s really got to the point that i have to do something about this. As i’ve been so sick i’ve had to use every bit of flexi and holiday not to get fired and godammit i need a holiday. This cant go on anymore.
Yes, i know I haven’t updated the IBS blog since i started it (i’ve done this with the gym, running and well, lots of other things too) but its because i’ve kinda been sticking my head in the sand about it all.
I know you must be wondering, who the hell does this with an illness? especially one that keeps me in bed 2 days out of every fortnight, but when the solution is to go gluten/wheat/lactose free and clear out this whole system once and for all then its easy not to bother.
I am going to miss: cake, biscuits, fresh bread, take aways, ready meals, packaged soup… do you realise gluten is in everything? I cant go out for dinner, or grab a quick snack, everything has to be prepared in advance and taken with me. Restaurants have to be advised, checked, chosen specifically. I might as well go vegan, the amount of hassle this is going to be.
I don’t do hassle very well.
Atall.
But then im hoping that all this cleaning up might also help get rid of the squidgy tummy thats been disturbing me lately (yes its true, there is no controlling it after 30) and also help me give up the cigs too and get me back out for that run.
I’m going to be the most boring person on the planet.
And that my friends is what you call the end of my life.
I need advice, support and whatever else you can find out there in the big old internets to help and quickly. Before i become a hermit bemoaning the loss of the old me.
Kxx
While I don’t suffer from IBS, I do suffer from another illness: im a fat cunt (but 3.5 stone less since feb) and i can relate to your pain
Since feburary, I’ve been at the gym 6 times a week, and I’ve had a new diet given to me from my personal trainer.
All my favourite foods have gone. Instead 90% of my diet is now lean protein (and 80% of that is grilled chicken breast). I cant eat fruit, orange juice or any CHO (carbohydrates), chocolate, processed meat, pasta, rice.
So I’m limited like you as well, I cant really eat out, I cant drink, I cant have toast, I cant have cake and the only things I can drink is h and 2 O’s.
This gets incredibly boring but after a while, you learn to adapt. my problem was I looked at food as something i enjoyed. i ate because i enjoyed it. Now i eat because i have too, not because i want too. The first 12 weeks are the hardest as the change becomes habbit. After 12 weeks, your mind adapts and you adapt.
Because its was quite tough, after the first 12 weeks my pt allowed me to sneak some CHO (bread etc) into my diet, imagine 1 bowl of porridge 3 times a week. Are you completely intollerent to gluten?
I have a co-worker that is gluten intolerant. And I think she volunteers with the local celiac society here. I could ask her for suggestions. I know when we go out for work functions she always has to notify the restaurant. My neighbour (friend) is wheat intolerant, lactose intolerant and allergic to 1000 different things. She could probably give me some suggestions to. I’ll find out and let you know.
Adam If im honest i struggle to work out exactly what im allergic too, but i have severe IBS that is as bad as a celiac attack. Ive had the blood tests and they have come back negative, but everything is so imflamed they think it might just not be showing up – so the advice is to go gluten free.
Candace Thanks, that would be good. The celiac world in the states/canada is much more advanced than we are here. We only got our first edible gluten free bread a month ago and hardly anywhere stocks ingredients for just cooking!
I signed up with Coeliac UK and was sent a wicked little book of almost everything that has no gluten/wheat/barley in from supermarkets to take aways etc. Certainly helps with the shopping. Also Nando’s have a gluten free menu that you can ask to see if you’re there! X
No problem. I have to say that I have tried gluten free pasta and it is FANTASTIC! If you don’t have any there, I would gladly send you some!!! My local grocery store even has its own gluten-free section.
I am so lucky that my only reaction to food is an extra kilo here or there if I over indulge or don’t keep active.
We do seem to be blessed over here with an amazing range of coeliac friendly choices in our supermarkets too.
Good luck with the changes, I am pretty sure they won’t make you a hermit though :)
Thanks everyone, i’ve decided to have a full intollerance test done next week – so i can pin point exactly whats doing this to me. There is no need to go gluten free if im not intollerant to gluten. What a waste if so…
I emailed you some links my co-worker sent me. Hope you get some info from there.
Thanks Candance for all your help :)
I think some things are worth the effort. Especially if you’ll feel better as a result. Rather than consider the hassles of not eating certain foods, try considering it in a more positive light and think “oooh, this is going to be a good way of keeping the weight off!!” Heh.
See, I’m a vegetarian, but currently heading towards veganism. And I’ve gone through similar thought processes…no shop bought cakes, regular cheese or chocolate, pizzas, creamy things…so many things contain either eggs or dairy produce! But I’m starting to see this as being more of an exciting challenge. I love cooking anyway, but this will really get me cooking even more…I’ve bought recipe books and have been making vegan cupcakes (delicious!!), pizzas I will usually home-make anyway, so I can add vegan cheese myself (you could do the same with gluten free flour). And if you make everything up from scratch (which is what I always do anyway), you’re the one in control of what ingredients go in. A home made meal beats a ready meal any day. Batch cook and freeze for those days when you really can’t be arsed to cook and want to grab a [homemade] ready meal from the freezer.
An ex of mine was a coeliac, and I still managed to cook for him with no problems. Gluten free pasta, flour and the like (or even substituting regular flour with gram flour) was pretty simple. I just felt really sorry for him when he wasn’t allowed to drink beer and had to stick to cider instead (else he’d ended up totally bloated and in a lot of pain). Arghh.
But yes, you’re right…it’s the eating out which will be the hardest – when you can’t control what’s on offer and what’s been added. But it’s surely got to be the kind of thing that’ll become easier with practice.