Wheat

My two, almost three year old, daughter Lily is allergic to wheat, corn, oat, egg, tomato and apple. Click here for the whole sorted story.

I have become pretty good at managing this problem over the last two years. It has become second nature. I worried about getting her proper nutrition, and about being able to cook something edible, and about having to cook everything from scratch every meal of every day. Things are pretty smooth and I am used to it now.

When I first started to try and figure it all out I did a lot of research. That is how I discovered blogging and one of the first blogs I discovered was, Gluten-Free Girl. She discovered that she has Celiac Disease in her 30's. She is a wonderful writer and wonderful cook. I have dearly loved so many of the recipes I have found at her website, like lemon-rosemary-garlic roasted chicken and potatoes, and salmon covered in orange marmalade-mustard-wasabi. Go to her blog and find the recipes, you wont be sorry. But, more than the recipes I love her enthusiasm. She believes that having to live without wheat is a blessing not a curse. It gives us a chance to try new things, and discover new foods. I have to say that the food we are eating now does taste better than the wheat food. Her enthusiasm is contagious. And now she is being featured on the foodnetwork. How amazing. Congratulations Shanna! She also has tons of great links to other food bloggers most are not gluten free but all have really great recipes. Yummy!

For 7 weeks and 2 days I participated in Misawa's Biggest Loser contest. I came in 23 place out of more than 200 participants. Not great but not terrible either. Everyone on my team, except me, quit the contest so our team was disqualified. So sad. Talk about big losers, just kidding. During the contest I lost 15 lbs. Yeah. For food, I ate what I was already cooking for Lily. I had done all the research and I was already cooking it so I just made a little more and ate the Miss Lily diet. Wheat-free, corn-free, egg-free, oat-free, tomato-free, apple-free. During the contest I also made sure I drank plenty of water and exercised everyday.

The contest ended the day before my birthday. And on my birthday I had cake, and then I had some pizza, and some toast, some sandwiches. Not all on the same day, but that week. I was good about calories but I started eating regular food again. I didn't exercise all that much or drink as much water. While I was participating in the contest I had started to feel better. I didn't realize it at the time, because the progression of feeling better was slow. But, when I went off the Miss Lily food diet all my previous conditions returned like a thunder bolt and I noticed. My aches and pains, sluggishness and poor temperament returned. Bam! Not slowly but they all just returned. Back ache, knee pain, ankle pain, stiff neck, head aches, allergies, always tired, no motivation. I had felt that way for years, maybe my whole life and I was feeling better and didn't know it. I am now wondering if Lily got her food issues from me?

So I am back on the Miss Lily food diet, including the exercise and water. I hope I feel better soon. I could be the water or exercise or a combination of all three or a coincidence? I guess I will have to experiment to figure it all out.