You are what you eat!

Hey faithful readers! Sorry for my little blog hiatus! Contrary to the norm, I have been taking care of my sick family rather than my family taking care of a sick me! A horrible stomach flu bug has been roving its evil little self around the house! Fortunately I have lots of antinausea meds to ward it off. So far. First it was my Dad who was really sick, then poor Titus baby, even my unstoppable Mom got knocked down for 24 hours, and now my hardworking hubby is battling. So due to him being sick and my usual pain, my parents took Titus to church with them and I finally had a minute to write this!

So about two weeks ago we had my brother-in-law and sister-in-law over for pizza and cards. I had 2 pieces of deliciously saucy, Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza. I didn’t even really think about it. My flares have been so intense lately no matter what I do or don’t eat. So for the most part I don’t worry about sticking to the IC diet. I figure if I’m going to be hurting anyway I might enjoy my one vice, delicious food!

My brother-in-law has severe ulcerative colitis and has been in and out of the hospital over the years, he’s tried every treatment there is and nothing has really helped long term. So after much gentle nudging from his wife he decided to try a Naturopath doctor. Her biggest tip was to stick to the UC diet. Which from what I understand is mainly no gluten, no dairy, and no red meat. So he grudgingly stuck to it and what do you know! It started helping! A few months later he was practically symptom free! On Thanksgiving he shared his hopeful gratitude that he was finally on the other side of his disease. So now, 3 months later, he followed in his beautiful wife’s footsteps and gently nudged me to try sticking to my IC diet for a while to see if it would at least help.

Honestly at first I was like yeah sure sure… I’ll get right on that. After they left I got in the shower and took pain meds and started googling the next treatment steps for IC. According to what I found the only things left is that immunosuppressant drug and then a bladder removal. I did some research on the bladder removal and I REFUSE to do that. Believe it or not, I am actually a really healthy person except for my IC and endometriosis. I do not want to trade the IC for having tons of other health issues including bowel problems. I pride myself in my perfect regularity.

So right then I decided I was going to jump into the IC diet head first! Of course I tried the IC diet down to not a single chocolate chip when I was first diagnosed but that was almost 13 years ago! So I was committed to trying this again!

I went to the store and spent about 300 dollars on restocking our pantry and fridge with IC friendly things. I bought organic, no preservative or additives, nothing prepackaged, no spice and basically food in its purest form. Which is expensive but at least it has lasted us almost two weeks.

I wanted to share my menu with you guys to at least give you an idea of some meals that maybe you hadn’t thought of. I am excited to continue eating like this for my IC but also for me, and my families, general health!

For breakfast I got organic bagels and cream cheese, delicious blueberry bread from a local bakery, whole wheat toast with blueberry spread or honey or just butter on top, also I found some cereals that are IC friendly as well!

Lunch is always my hardest meal… I don’t really like sandwiches except peanut butter and jelly, which is IC friendly with the blueberry spread. So even before I started this diet I usually just end up having leftovers from dinner the night before. I would love to have a salad but I have yet to find an IC friendly dressing… If any one has any good IC salad dressings or other lunch ideas I would love suggestions!

Dinners are my favorite! I love to cook for my family so it was fun getting creative making our favorites totally IC friendly. I made turkey burgers with mild cheddar cheese, avocado and lettuce. I made salmon with coconut rice and maple glazed carrots. Also we had steak, fried potatoes and broccoli in a cheese sauce. The next night I made sautéed shrimp in a homemade alfredo sauce over spaghetti with garlic bread. One of our staples is roast beef in the crock pot so I made that IC friendly one night and served it with mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and homemade biscuits. The next night I used the left over beef to make French dip sandwiches with potato chips and veggies. Also I made a quick sweet potato and ham hash one night. It’s all been really good and honestly I haven’t missed all the spices I usually miss. I basically just use salt and garlic now then put pepper on the table if anyone wants to add it to their own.

For little snack I bought some easy things like string cheese, raw almonds, pears, pink lady apples, saltine crackers that I put peanut butter on, Annie’s cheddar bunny crackers, tortilla chips and plain kettle potato chips!

Of course my favorite food is dessert which I took care of that too so I wouldn’t be tempted by any chocolate that may be lingering. I bought little chewy caramels as an easy little pop of sweetness. For my ice cream fix I got vanilla and I drizzle caramel sauce with chopped raw almonds on top, YUM! I also planned on making oatmeal and peanut butter cookies but haven’t yet.

As for drinks I have been sticking to water and milk exclusively. I’ve never been much of a pop (aka soda us Washingtonians call it Pop for some reason), coffee, tea, or alcohol drinker because they flare me up and I wasn’t old enough to drink them when I was diagnosed with IC so I just never really got the habit thankfully!

When I see it written here it looks like I’m eating relatively normal! So here is the full list of what is IC friendly and IC enemy, http://www.ic-network.com/diet/2012icnfoodlist.pdf.

Basically I can’t have anything that’s spicy, harsh, acidic or not in its purest form. I CANNOT have carbonated beverages, caffeine, coffee, tea, alchohol, juice of any kind but pear (ew), most fruit, most spices, tomato products of any kind, strong cheeses, chocolate, anything prepackaged, processed, preservatives, additives, ect.  

When you are thinking about what you can and cannot have just imagine the food getting onto a cut on your finger. Would you a tomato or an orange squeeze into a fresh wound? No buddy. Our bladders are basically that sensitive! So just eat things that are mild, pure and honestly… kind of bland.

I wish I could tell you I am feeling so much better since starting this diet but honestly it’s pretty much the same but I’m expecting it to take time for my body to rid itself of all the junk! Anyway wish me luck with sticking this out and I would love any other ideas or suggestions you might have!

Thanks for reading! I hope you all have an easy and blessed week!