Health Improvements

At the beginning of this year, my family and I started on The Maker's Diet. We stuck with it for about two weeks. (!) It's a forty-day program, by the way. I actually opted to go off of it because of my daughter's reaction to it. She's breastfed and since she was about six weeks old, she has shown allergic reactions to various foods I was eating. I blogged about that "ordeal" here (in case you wanna read).

Her recent reaction wasn't really severe or anything, but the diet is quite heavy on dairy and eggs, and those are two of the foods I had eliminated previously. She started getting itchy and so every time I would change her, I would see new scratch marks on her. (That only started since I reintroduced dairy and eggs). The reactions used to be a lot worse, so she has improved, thankfully.

Anyway, since going off of that diet, and going back on grains, I've noticed that I don't feel as good as I did on The Maker's Diet. I've also been consuming more sugar than I was. I'll spare you the details of how I feel when I eat a lot of grains, but I'll just say I feel much better when I don't have them (I think I look much better when I don't eat them as well).

One thing I have made some progress on is giving up caffeine! I'm so excited that I have done so. It really is freeing. I don't need it. I don't even really want it. I like a hot beverage in the morning, so I've switched to herbal tea with honey. I used to drink a lot of green tea, which has many health benefits, but I think for me, the bigger health benefit is not having caffeine.

I've been reading a lot about adrenal health, as well as gut health (more about those issues here), and I just came to the conclusion that caffeine was something that needed to go. I really did try to hang on to it for a while, but I just felt awful every time I would drink coffee or whatever. It was just time. I think it's pretty safe to say that I had been addicted to caffeine in some form or another since I was a teenager. (Like 16 years or so for anyone keeping track!) In the form of sodas, coffee, tea and chocolate. (I haven't totally given up chocolate...but that may be next!)

I guess you could just say that I'm "tired" of not feeling my best. I think once you know that you can attain to a higher level of physical function, giving up unnecessary things is not so difficult. I will say that is harder, and less convenient for sure...but it's kind of like the story of Daniel. He was surrounded by a culture that didn't adhere to the same diet that he had, but he felt way better than everyone else. He was physically healthier. That's what I'm aiming for. Not so I can say I'm healthier than the general population or anything, but I would like to show people that vibrant health is not unattainable.

I've also been reading a couple books that have totally changed how I look at food. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan has been an awesome read. I also read part of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. (Only part of it, because it was due back at the library before I could finish it, and someone had placed a hold on it so I couldn't renew it. I'll have to purchase it, or check it out again at a later time.) Anyway, those books have really influenced me to change not only how I eat, but where we get out food from. I highly recommend them if you're looking to improve your health.

Anywho, back to The Maker's Diet. I may return to that at a later time, but for now, I will definitely cut back on grains, and dairy. Dairy is pretty easy to avoid and still eat a really good variety of other food. I may look into getting raw dairy, as I've heard that people who are allergic usually don't have issues with raw dairy. It's something worth pursuing, anyway.

Have you made any recent health improvements? Have you been "on the fence" about anything health-related lately? Let me know in the comments!