Monday 14 April 2014

blogging again!




Well then theres a pic of yours truly with one of  my favourite treats to make and eat- raw chocolate almond butter cups! The point of this post is just to get me blogging again as I have lots of foodie and crohnie tales to tell and it would at least be better a better way to spend internet time than f-book. I've had lots of ups and downs in crohns town lately- my history has been that I always have a mega flare around christmas/new year and this year would be the first in 3 that I havent treated it with either  a hospitalization and steroids or surgery. I dont talk a whole lot in my day to day life about my disease but at this point most people know I went through a pretty big-deal surgery. What not everyone understands with crohns is that surgery is not a cure, it is just damage control. My resection provided the most relief from pain and symptoms that Ive had in 13 years, and bought me some time to heal, enjoy life and figure out my next steps on this crazy path. So definitely flared hard around christmas and now in April I'm still dealing with very touchy sensitive guts- been amping up the acupuncture and traditional chinese medicine herbs  which have been a total saviour in dealing with my flaring shortguts.    As well as been fine tuning my diet to  grain-free , low dairy, paleo, really simple whole eats. And almond butter cups. What a frickin revelation and relief when I finally gave up on grains and legumes (ironic considering these were huge staples in my diet for many years as a crohnie-vegetarian). Looking back I can pinpoint some of my gnarliest acute (1-5 days) food-triggered flares to meals containing lentils, beans or brown rice. Ouch. Lentils cause me  seriously painful  small bowel obstructions that make me puke lentil-poop. I wont ever touch a lentil again. Anyways, say something happy.... I love juice! Juicing everyday and especially on tender days when I cant eat much, it is pure vital life source. Exciting things in progress include creating a zine about my crohnie experiences, specifically hospitalizations and the mental f*ckery of living with a chronic illness. Level two of teacher training is just a handful of days away! It is at a retreat and Ive been able to communicate with the chef about my dietary needs and despite the raw-beany-seedy-high fibre ideals of yogi cuisine he is able to accommodate my paleo baby-food special-crohns-needs diet. Win. Trying not to stress about going into training with very tender guts- but I think the whole retreat atmosphere and getting away from my regular responsibilities to explore my passion is exactly what I need and not to be stressed about. Also some foodie farm trips around BC with my job are going down early this summer! Fun. Alright, officially ending this thought barf blog. See ya on the flipside.