When I started here in late 2011 I actually weighed 10 pounds less than I do today Jan. 1, 2015. I’ve had a hard time loosing though I am tenacious about sticking with it, as the health benefits are great regardless. Though the fibro is still with me I have had periods where the pain and fatigue of it are noticeably diminished. I even had one normal day – which gives me great hope. Meanwhile, I have lost a pre-diabetes designation and my “creeping up there” cholesterol and other typical health stats improved pretty rapidly too.
It has been discouraging not to loose weight like others do on the WOE and also to face food cravings that many don’t. I have learned many things from my friends here along the way: mostly from others who are here to explore this WOE in their attempts to improve conditions like Multiple Sclerosis, Psoriatic Arthritis and Fibromyalgia. From these folks I have gleaned that some foods that are staples of “vegan diets” are ones that cause them to flare: that is to have increased symptoms.
Once I realized this I looked at Dr. McDougall’s recommended elimination diet and launched into that. Immediately, I got much worse – not in the testing of food phases but on the base diet. My first big light bulb moment was that I am intolerant to rice, which was the base food of the elimination diet. And cooked fruit was killer for me too.
When I wrote here that I was having problems with the foods on the elimination diet – someone pointed me to the FODMAPS elimination diet. FODMAPS are foods high in natural sugars and to which many people are intolerant. People who are intolerant to these types of food typically have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which is generally accepted as one of the many symptoms under the fibromyalgia syndrome umbrella. Others like insomnia, restless leg syndrome, headaches are all just considered part of the whole. I have all of those too.
Before fibromyalgia I had IBS and some years after the fibro developed full force. I am of a mind to believe that fibro is a progression of symptoms that start with a bowel system that has been overloaded with foods that are toxic to it. Once those foods are eliminated the symptoms all back off too. The problem is it’s very hard to be vegan and eliminate all the FODMAPS foods one might be having problems with – all are vegetables and fruits. Lactose is an issue too - but dairy is not an issue as a plant-based whole foods (PBWF) person.
I knew I wanted to stay on the McDougall Maximum Weight Loss program but avoid those foods that I was testing positive for doing the FODMAPS elimination diet. I couldn’t figure out how to make it work though, so I went to a Registered Dietician in 2014 who had just been trained on how to administer FODMAPs EDs. She knew her stuff and was a delightful person – but it’s tailored to SAD eaters - not McDougall eaters. She was stumped and OMG worried about where I’d get enough protein
I showed her my daily eating nutrition stats and she was relieved but still thought I could be higher in protein - using the typical nutritionists SAD understanding. Still, she was very supportive of my goals and ready to adapt - we trained each other along the way and came up with a plan. She was worried then about me getting enough daily calories and wanted me to promise to eat gluten free flour based foods, so I didn’t loose too fast. I crossed my fingers behind my back and did that for about a week. After that I really only had two recipes that worked for me and I was bored pretty fast.
I veered off that and MWL for quite awhile – gaining the 30 pounds I had lost back and then some. There have been lots of calamities that contributed to this as well – it’s not just food boredom – but also things like months of insomnia, which causes high sugar cravings in many fibro folk. As fibro is classed as a sleep disorder - insomnia is pretty common - but my degree of it tends to be on the highest end of the curve. Anyway being very fatigued and trying to get my energy through food absent sleep - I lapsed badly during this time and started being a deli vegan.
Not long ago I turned the insomnia around. I still don’t get much sleep and fibro folk do not get level 4 or restorative sleep at all – but I am doing much better on the 4 to 5 hours I get a night now. The cravings are gone again and I am motivated to get back with figuring out how to loose fibro and pounds too, not to mention improving all those other health stats that come along with this WOE.
To that end I am committing myself to make 2015 the year that I pull together all I have learned from: my friends here, my docs and through lots of reading and make it all work for me.
This won’t be a typical journal initially – I need to go back into my original journal and glean out the useful stuff for a comprehensive summary that I will post here. I want to do this as a touchstone to motivate myself and keep me on the right track. I’ll keep my old journal going for daily stuff while I compile that summary here.
Anyway, it's a New Year and a New Start and It's All Good with McDougall
