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Sunday, August 25, 2013

Sunday Reflections - Don't Rock the Bloat - Beating Candida while Breastfeeding

Actually I'm rocking the bloat and the boat..............

No more Sunday week in review where I recap my week through pictures of all the clean food we ate.

I'm changing my Sunday "Week in Review" Post to Sunday Reflections. Which lets me use my Sunday post to reflect on my week, share something I learned, commit to something that needs to change. Or share my favorite foods from the week.

Whatever. I.  Feel. Like. It's my wild card. You will still get recipes on Tuesdays and Fridays. But Sunday will be a surprise - even to me I'm sure.

My Sunday week in review was getting too time consuming and with only 1 WEEK LEFT UNTIL I RETURN TO WORK, I just don't have time to be snapping pictures of all the food I'm eating. And my clients and colleagues might think its weird when I'm pulling out my camera at lunch time. "Let's discuss the problems you are having with your consolidation process..........right after I snap a picture of your salad?" I don't think my boss will go for it.

So I'm rocking the boat on my blog.

And I have unfortunately been ROCKING THE BLOAT for about three months now. I have been bloated and constipated. A lot.

There I said it. I hate discussing these matters in public so I have avoided mentioning it for three months. But I guess if I want to help someone else going through what I am then I have to give you the straight poop. Or lack of it.

If this is your first time here, sorry, I swear I don't usually discuss these things.

But, my digestive system is not so happy with this Candida diet. Which is very upsetting given that I have pretty much been on a permanent cleanse for almost four months. Four months. Four difficult months.

And my stomach had actually been working - really well - for the first time in my life before I started this diet. BIG HUGE SIGH.

My digestive system is a hot mess. A moving target. I fix one thing and something else goes haywire.

And with constipation comes severe bloating and general discomfort. Oh yeah, and did I mention I'm skinnier than ever but I look 3 - 5 months pregnant at any given time. A lovely combination of bloating and diastastis recti (muscle separation in my abs from pregnancy #3 - I'll get into how I'm trying to fix that another time).

And if you have been following along you might have noted that I was starting to get frustrated with the Candida diet and was researching my options - mainly the GAPS and SCD diets. I was considering throwing in the towel on the Candida diet.  I'm not perfect. I cheat. I want to give up. Sometimes.

But I have re-grouped. And reflected. And reflected. And reflected.

About the past year. About my diet. About what I have changed that could be causing this stomach upset. And here is what I came up with.

BREASTFEEDING WITH A SEVERE LEAKY GUT, MALABSORPTION, High Intensity Interval Training & SOME SERIOUS WEIGHT LOSS EQUALS RAVENOUS HUNGER

RAVENOUS HUNGER EQUALS BINGE EATING/EATING LOTS OF FOOD (even if its clean/legal)

OVEREATING WITH A LEAKY GUT EQUALS SLOW DIGESTION

SLOW DIGESTION EQUALS CANDIDA FEEDING GROUND

So there you have it. I think that until I get my little man weaned and stop being so damn hungry all the time, I don't think I will get this Candida under control. Even if I am eating Candida diet friendly foods my stomach can not handle the volume of food it takes to keep my hunger at bay. You would be disgusted with how much food I eat some days. I am.

I know some of you are thinking "Eats some damn carbs girl - and then you won't be so hungry". I know you think this is the answer. And maybe it is for you. But its not for me. I do eats some carbs - I'm low-carb, not no-carb. But Candida loves carbs and adrenal fatigue loves carbs. And I don't love Candida or Adrenal fatigue. Or blood sugar swings and crashes.

I am struggling to get my little guy weaned. His 13 month old brain (and heart) wants no part of that process. But he'll have no choice in one week so its going to happen soon. Or at least get significantly reduced. I love breastfeeding so its not that I desperately want to finish. I will find it very emotional and an end of a precious and special phase of my life (I'm tearing up now). But I need to fight this Candida to be the best mom I can. Some people can breastfeed multiple kids for multiple years with no problems. But I have food sensitivities, severe leaky gut, low stomach acid, mal-absorption and vitamin deficiencies. So my system just can't seem to handle 41 months of it in the past 6 years. I suspect that my adrenal fatigue, low iron, etc, etc could all be related to breastfeeding as well.

I also reflected some more and realized a couple of "legal & healthy candida diet foods" are not agreeing with my system. Some new things I introduced after I started the diet. Here are the ones I "know" are causing problems - I think - maybe:

1) Chicory Root - I was using this as a replacement for coffee. Took me a while to figure it out but I think that stuff is poison in my body. So now coffee, decaf and chicory are out of bounds for me. I'm just a plain old tea and water girl.
2) Phsyllium - Holy Dinna, did I get sick when I tried using this in my baking. Yuck. Could have been a coincidence with the chicory root but I'm not willing to test it out again.
3) Grains - I knew this early on. Limited non-glutenous grains are allowed on the Candida diet but I can't handle them. Other than a bit of rice.

And here are a couple of other items I suspect could be causing problems but I can't say for sure, and I REALLY don't want to give them up so I keep trying:

1) Xylitol - I actually tend to get a bit of a headache after eating this. But I really like how it bakes. However, I recently discovered TRUVIA (a combination of Stevia and Erythritol) and I really like how it bakes and it doesn't seem to be bothering me so I made the switch.
2) Coconut flour - this is really upsetting me. I LOVE COCONUT flour for baking and cooking. But for people with leaky gut too much fiber can be a bad thing (see psyllium above). So I'm not sure but I think I need to scale it back. Tear.

The morale of the story is that you need to listen to your own body. What one person thrives on can be poison for someone else. And following any "diet" religiously isn't very often the right answer. Question, reflect, pay attention and then tailor your own diet to you. Because you know your body best. Or you can if you listen to it.

So to sum it up. My first Sunday Reflection is all about TAKING TIME TO REFLECT on what's going on in your life. In your body.

Because if you actually pay attention you will notice things that can be changed, fixed. Or at least make an informed decision about how to deal, or not deal with things. It can give you peace of mind.

I'm kind of caught in a vicious cycle of hunger and Candida right now. It sucks but now I feel I know what's going on. I will be out of the cycle soon and I can give this Candida a proper fight. So I have hope that I can get better. And that this diet is going to work eventually. So I"m sticking to it. And hopefully I won't be rockin' this bloat for much longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS. If you see me, don't ask if I'm pregnant. I'm not. And if you don't notice - Thanks. I'm probably sucking it in something fierce. But Thanks!



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