food

Recently I was in the Emergency room for what I can only call one of the worst bouts of pain I have ever had in my life. Of course, it is entirely possible that I am just trying to be dramatic on here. I will say, however, that the intensity level was so severe that I called 911 for fear that I was dying. Yes folks... it was THAT bad. So after several hours sitting in an ER where the only thing they did was draw my blood, and the pain going away, then starting to come back again, I was sent home.

I probably should've prefaced the whole story by saying that when I was pregnant with my first child, I was diagnosed with an ulcer. However, I overlooked the necessity for giving that information until now, and I am including it here. I will tell you though, this pain was nothing on the level of that situation. First of all, with my ulcer, I didn't really have stomach aches, I just threw up. A LOT. No food was interested in staying in my body. It was only when I started throwing up large amounts of blood that the realized it wasn't baby nausea, but was rather something serious. They treated the ulcer, and I have been on Nexium ever since (it's a delightful drug).

I came home from my ER adventure with a determined mind. I was going to try to fix my stomach issues with my food. I did research and started putting my focus back on to my fabulous "ulcer" diet: bland. No fat, no fiber, and NO whole grains. That's right...I said NO whole grains. Pick your jaw up off the floor, but here's a little tidbit most people don't know about whole grains: your stomach hates them. Whole grains require much more work to digest, so if you are having stomach issues (gall stones, ulcers, gastritis) it's useful to get rid of them. To be honest, it's useful to not eat much bread of any sort with stomach issues, but if you absolutely MUST eat something, word on the street is that you should eat WHITE bread.

So I have obeyed the storyline passionately. I have been eating for the most part, only boiled chicken (little bit of salt), salad, fresh fruit (but no berries, and obviously no citrus fruits), non fat yogurt (the trick is finding a kind you like, especially since I have NEVER cared for the stuff), and low fat cottage cheese (I just couldn't bring myself to stomach the non fat. Don't judge me). So far, I have been able to sustain this diet for a couple of weeks. Wait for it...if you're bored by this whole diet talk just wait...here comes the kicker. I have NEVER felt better than I've been feeling lately. I have more energy, my mind feels clearer, and I don't feel so depressed and bogged down. Something else that has surprised me is that I also actually ENJOY the food. My wonderful friend wrote in her blog that in order to start to like certain foods, sometimes we have to train ourselves to like them. I have always enjoyed my vegetables, but I've always "enjoyed" them with oodles of butter or salt or pepper. I had never really cared for them in their good old fashioned, just plucked from the earth, sort of way. But now I LOVE them! I crave salads all the time. There is nothing like eating a rainbow salad. It just tastes good. And I will also say that it certainly doesn't hurt that I've lost four pounds this week.

I have no idea how long I will be able to maintain this type of eating. Hopefully forever. I have tired of having constant stomach aches and the problems that go along with them. And in the last two weeks, I haven't had a single one of them. It's been nice. Maybe I have finally kissed stomach pains goodbye. We shall have to see!