Making the Switch

Yes, I have decided to wrote about my diet changes on this blog.  At one point, I had started another blog just to talk about my diet changes, but I just don't have enough time to write on too many blogs.  I've finally decided that I am going to fully commit to changing my diet, which means that I am going to have to eliminate a lot of foods, and a lot of foods that I really enjoy eating.  I am hoping that I see some positive results from changing my diet so that I will be motivated to continue.

The more research I do, and the more critical thinking I do about diet, the more I realize just how much your diet plays in your overall health.  There are so many different food/diet philosophies out there, and I'm not really sure that there is one right diet for everyone.  The one thing that I do believe is that whole food cooking is the only way to really be healthy.  Although I have to admit that I do not eat this way all the time, my newest goal is to always, or at least as often as possible, eat whole foods.  By this I mean, I am going to cook my food from whole ingredients, not buy pre-made or processed foods.  This has been my goal all along, especially when I started this blog.  Some where along the way, this goal got lost and I stopped writing about it and I stopped really even thinking about it. 

I've written before that I think I may have issues with Candida.  This stems from issues I've had dating back to at least 2000 (whish is when I first saw a doctor for my digestive issues), and probably a number of years prior to that.  The Candida issue makes the results of my blood test seem even more likely to be true.  One of my sensitivities is to yeast as well as gluten, wheat, and other gluten containing foods.  I have definitely had issues with long term anti-biotic use.  When I was in high school, and I am having my 20th reunion this year, I had chronic urinary tract infections, for which I was placed on anti-biotics prophylacticly.  I was even doing test for infections at home so that I didn't have to actually go to the doctor's office for a test.  Then I was also on medication for acne as a teen.  What I really should be doing is following an anti-candida diet and see if that clears up some of my issues.

This is going to be a long road.  I've written often about my struggles with giving up certain foods.  I've also written a little about how I feel that I have an addcition to these foods.  There is some thought that once you clear up Candida and you heal your gut, you will be able to tolerate at least some of these foods once in a while.  My concern is that if I go back to eating these foods once I heal, will I just be setting myself up to fail, just like a drug addict or an alcoholic who thinks that they can have just one?  I probably shouldn't be looking this far ahead, but I am thinking that I also need to plan for the future.  I believe that it will take some time to heal my gut and get rid of the  issues that I am dealing with, but I think that I am finally at a point where not only do I want to do this, but I am really interested in making it fun and not looking at it as if I am losing something, but as a way to gain new receipes and try new foods!

Amy