Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

Because it's yummy and easy... that's why! This is an easy sugar-free lemonade recipe.

lemon juice (I put about a 1/4 inch in the bottom of my glass)
liquid stevia (quite a bit - I put two droppers full)
water
ice (optional)
a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

First the lemon juice in a glass, then stevia, then top the glass off with water and ice. I love it...so much. Soooo much.

Note that lemon is an exception to the fruit combining rules and can be consumed with anything.

 

Food Combining

You know how some kids (and some adults) don't like their food to touch. I mean nothing on the plate can touch the other things on the plate.

Well, I don't let certain foods come together in the same meal now. 
Through The Body Ecology Diet I've learned this art. I know now that combining certain foods together really doesn't work well for me. I don't know why it doesn't work, but it doesn't. Maybe it's just because I don't tend to overeat when I eat this way. Or maybe it's something more complex... whatever! It has helped me both lose weight and control IBS symptoms. Yea!!

The biggest rule is not to combine animal protein with carbohydrates in the same meal. So I don't have eggs with home fries. Now I have eggs with spinach and red bell pepper.

There are a few foods that don't combine well with most other things. Like dairy is pretty much a stand alone, though I have done okay with berrries or sprouted nuts/seeds with the kefir.

I've recently returned to Swiss cheese, which has not sugar (lactose). Though I don't have it with anything else. The only dairy I have now is either kefir or Swiss cheese. I keep them very separate from other foods. Meaning that I wait three or more hours to eat dairy after my last meal and wait at least 30 minutes before eating something else after consuming dairy.

It may seem crazy and challenging... but really it's more crazy and challenging taking a bunch of medications and not being able to leave the house because IBS is acting up. It's all about choices.

All Heart-- No Heartburn

Another symptom that went away with my new regime is heartburn. I had a few years taking omeprazole (Prilosec) every day... and still had heartburn on some nights.

The bummer about omeprazole is that once you're taking it everyday it's really challenging to get off of it because there is a rebound effect.

Once I managed to lose about 25 pounds I started working on getting off this tricky medication. I started by taking the omeprazole every other day and on the alternate days taking the highest dose of ranitidine (Zantac). Rantidine is a medication that is less strong than omeprazole. My understanding is that omeprazole blocks all three types of acid producers in the stomach while rantidine blocks only one type  (though I am sure this is a gross simplification). After I lost a few more pounds I dropped down to the lower dose of rantidine. Once a few more pounds were gone I finally dropped the omeprazole and took rantidine everyday. A few pounds after that and I dropped to every other day, then every third day. Finally I let it go altogether.

Now I never ever get heartburn and I'm medication free. It's such a great feeling. The doctor who originally prescribed the omeprazole said if I ever wanted to get off of it I should come back in for help in weaning off of it. I am not a doctor, but chose to wean off of it on my own. It took 8 or 9 months and it's all in the past now.

I do NOT Snore (anymore)

       Horror of horrors... about a year ago, my daughter told me my snoring was waking her at night. Before you ask, no she does not sleep in the same room with her parents. Apparently my husband was too polite to complain. And my true confession, it even woke me upon occasion (not kidding).
       I have poled the house extensively, and since the weight came off, the snoring went away... I mean nothing. Nothing!!

Look Mom - (Virtually) No Eczema

Another benefit of my lifestyle change has been a marked improvement in Eczema. I have had eczema on my legs since I was pregnant with my daughter 18 years ago. It did not get better with just low FODMAPs. It improved about 50% after a few months on the Body Ecology Diet. It seemed to really start getting better when I added kefir to my diet.

Next, it took all of my bravery to stop using cortisone cream on it. At that point, it got worse again. I read in a couple of other people's blogs that there can be a rebound effect when cortisone cream is stopped. So I waited a few nail-biting weeks and then it started to settle down again.  It didn't completely go away so I tried one more thing.

It occurred to me that much of the Body Ecology diet is about getting rid of bad yeast for healing and that yeast is a fungus.  I tried using Nizoral (ketoconazole) cream on it. I also knew that the anti-fungal Nizoral shampoo really helps my scalp and the cream keeps seborrheic dermatitis away from my face. I figured chances were good it would help the eczema on my legs.

And the results are in...

Lab Values --Woo Hoo!

It's been a bit over a year since I started Body Ecology... and the results are in. This is the first year I did not receive a warning from my doctor about my borderline blood pressure and my high cholesterol. The first time in 28 years, my friends. My triglicerides went from 167 to 68 (normal is 40 to 100). That is the direct result from getting off sugar.

Based on reactions from friends and co-workers, most people think it is just nuts completely eliminating sugar from my diet. This is table sugar... note that I do get naturally occurring sugars from starchy vegetables and fruits, etc. But the lab values speak for themselves. It was horrible for a few weeks and is now effortless.

As soon as you can get yourself to do it... just bite the bullet and give that poison up!

IDK Why

People are always asking why I don't eat this or that. Why no tomatoes... why red peppers and not green peppers... why no apples or pears... why not combine starchy foods with animal proteins. I do not always have the answers to such questions at my finger-tips. I read a lot about nutrition and ways to manage IBS. If something makes sense to me, I try it and it works... that's good enough for me.

I retain what I need to do more than why I am doing it. If you need to prove it to yourself read the books. My two bibles are IBS Free at Last and the Body Ecology Diet.