Childhood

I guess the story begins in 1983 when I was born. I was a fairly big baby at around 9 lbs. My childhood was quite normal and active. My parents kept my brother and I active with bike rides, skiing, playing outside, various sports and swimming. I was always small for my age and sometimes underweight but otherwise health and happy. The food I ate growing up was basic Canadian food. I ate cereal with 2% milk for breakfast. Lunch was a sandwich (favorites were Nutella or peanut butter), a piece of fruit, maybe yogurt, some carrots, some cheese and crackers. My parents didn’t keep junk food in the house and we didn’t drink pop. Dinners were standard meat, vegetables, and potato or grain. I loved my mom’s homemade spaghetti. My dad made awesome pancakes. I tended to favor grains and didn’t eat a lot of meat.

Around 10 years old I had a bit of stomach pain with no sickness, but uncomfortable enough that I remember complaining about it and being taken to the doctor. I don’t remember doing any tests and nothing came of it. A few years later my menstrual cycle was the problem and I spent a couple years with doctors visits for that. Doctors didn’t want to do surgery to rule out endometriosis but it was probable that I had it since I had some symptoms and a family history. At age 14 I was put on the birth control pill and pain killers to manage it, but I was still in pain and miserable for a few days each month. By age 16 it was decided that I would go on the birth control pill full time so that I wouldn’t even get my cycle and hence have no pain. It ‘worked’ and that was the end of that. One nice side effect was that I didn’t get any acne in my teenage years. I always felt uncomfortable with the fact that this was just a temporary solution, but no other options were presented to me so I just went with it.

Digestive Issues Begin

I always had digestive issues around my cycle and with going on the pill I thought they would go away. Instead they got worse. My eating habit in high school probably didn’t help. I ate Mars bars daily and fries at lunch. I could finish a bag of Lays salt & vinegar in day. I was still skinny and hoping to gain weight with junk food. By age 18 during my last year of high school I was pretty sick and miserable. I finally went to my family doctor about it and she immediately scheduled me to see a gastroenterologist (GI specialist). While waiting for the appointment, my doctor recommended I eat the BRAT diet – bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. My first appointment with a GI doctor was in winter 2002. She immediately labeled me as having Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and sent me home with a stool test for parasites. The test showed nothing and the only advice I was given was to eat more bran. That was probably the worst advice anyone could ever give to someone with digestive troubles. I was having pain, bloating and cramping every single day. My skin which had been clear for all my teenage years starting breaking out.

A while after that ‘diagnosis’ I turned to the Internet for help. I started looking up advice for people with IBS and eventually found Eating For IBS, an entire website run by someone living with IBS who had it all figured out. The dietary plan was simple, eat easy to digest foods, and avoid anything that could ‘trigger’ an IBS attack (pain, cramping, upset stomach). There was a list of good foods to eat and a really long list of foods to avoid. No red meat, no dark poultry meat, no dairy, no whole grains, very little fibrous vegetables and fruit, very low fat. When I first started following this diet I had some success with it. It seemed like I had more control over my symptoms even though none of them went away. At first I think the reason I had some relief was because I simply stopped eating processed junk food. I ate this way for most of my time in university until 2006.

Celiac Disease?

I started feeling worse and worse, and eventually saw some people posting on the boards about Celiac disease and how avoiding gluten had made them feel better. I decided at age 23 to finally see a naturopath. My first few visits with her were great. She suggested I start eating more meat, but look for unprocessed and pastured. She also suggested I go gluten-free by saying the one line that I will always remember “Maybe you’ve always had trouble with digesting wheat”. It was the first time I made any connection with the foods I had eaten growing up with causing my current health problems. She really understood what I was going through and gently started suggesting things without being confrontational about the current diet I was following. I am forever grateful that she proceeded this way, or I may have been to stubborn to change my mindset. Since then I have tried to help others with their diet and health without criticizing or belittling.

My naturopath also suggested I get more tests done by  GI doctor. My family doctor referred me to a new one since the first really didn’t do anything to help me. My second ever visit to a GI in spring of 2007 was pretty useless. One line sticks out from that appointment “Some people are made to life with difficulties, maybe this is just how are you meant to live your life”. I asked for a colonoscopy or endoscopy and he flat out said no. I demanded a Celiac blood test and he finally gave in. He didn’t tell me I had to be eating wheat for this test to be even remotely accurate. I had stopped eating wheat, was consuming barley and spelt very infrequently but did the test anyway. It came back negative. I researched the test since I was quite surprised at the result and that’s when I saw the fact that I had to be eating wheat. I called the GI back and spoke with the receptionist. She was rude, inconsiderate and refused to give me another appointment. She told me to find another GI doctor. She actually said the words “Do you WANT to have Celiac disease?” as if I was doing this for attention or something.

Over the summer of 2007, I tried all the gluten-free grains like quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, millet and rice. I bought them whole and prepared them at home, usually in soups or as porridge. At first it helped a lot but it still didn’t make me better. I placed more emphasis on organic and unprocessed but still didn’t seem to be getting better. I was still afraid of fat and still eating a very high-carb grain-filled diet. I was still dairy-free and not eating any animal fat, only canola oil or olive oil.

One day in January 2008 after getting an upset stomach from eating a bowl of plain white rice, I called my naturopath. I told her something wasn’t right and she told me to come in the next Monday. She mentioned on the phone that maybe I should put less emphasis on grains in my diet and get more fat but didn’t say any more. I searched online for “rice causing stomach upset” and found a message board post about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. That Monday when I saw my naturopath she brought up the same diet, and we both knew this was the next step to take.

SCD

That’s where this blog began, in January 2008. Since then the SCD diet has given me my health back. At first it was a bit interesting because I was still afraid of fat and red meat. Once I got over that came the next fear to conquer, dairy. I have been enjoying the SCD yogurt since then. Digestive symptoms were a bit up and down but much more consistent after doing a parasite cleanse in winter 2009. Energy levels were a bit up and down until I figured out animal fats, eggs, and liver were the best things for me to eat. I had acne off and on but my skin finally felt softer and would stay clear longer. I did low-carb SCD on and off according to symptoms. Eating carbs helped keep my weight up but would bring about unwanted candida-like issues. Going low carb for too long would leave me feeling a bit weak. Eventually I found that I could eat a moderate amount of carbs with no more symptoms.

Late fall of 2009 I decided to finally go off the pill. With the help of the diet and some acupuncture by my naturopath things were going considerably well. My weight has been steady around 100lbs. I had no pain without even taking anything for it. Before being on the pill, Tylenol 3s were not enough. I did have a diagnosis of PCOS and had stubborn acne return.

2011

2011 has been quite a good year for my health. I finally managed to gain weight and keep it on. I’m able to eat quite a variety of food and can eat out at restaurants as long as it’s gluten-free. My skin is almost always clear. After dealing with some symptoms of PCOS they have mostly resolved themselves and my hormones seem a lot more balanced. My digestion has been great and is no longer a primary concern of mine.

My energy is finally at what I consider a normal level. I can sleep 7-8 hours and feel rested. I still like having naps but don’t feel like I need it. I can be as active as I want to and can recover easily from exercise. During the summer I started noticing how easily I can tan now. Having been the palest person I know my whole life this was really strange to get used to. I can now be out in the midday sun for about 2 hours without sunscreen. I used to burn in 30 minutes.

Last 5%

Call me a perfectionist, but I do believe every human being has the right to perfect health. I want to be the healthiest I can possibly be and I probably won’t stop making changes and trying things until I get there. Right now I’m noticing severe migraine-like headaches every once in a while. Not bad going from sick every day to sick for 24 hours every couple months! I’m hoping this will go away soon enough too.