This morning I made a big announcement over at the new blog site – autoimmune-paleo.com!
Here it is…
I released the book this morning on my new site, and I didn’t want anyone still following this blog to miss out! Click the image of the book, or this link to go to the book’s sales page for more info. In addition to over 110 recipes, it features information about the autoimmune protocol, meal plans, shopping lists, tips and tricks, and other resources.
If you are still following me here, make sure you update your rss reader to follow me at autoimmune-paleo.com because I no longer post here!
I am back from my little break and happy to announce that my blog is moving over to autoimmune-paleo.com! I have been meaning to make the switch for awhile now, and having a couple of weeks off from producing content seemed like the perfect opportunity to make the transfer. It was a lot more difficult than I expected, and I lost a little bit of the look of the blog in the process, but I planned on doing an overhaul anyways in the near future so it will have to do for now. If you have been following the blog via email, I will be transferring the list to the new site with a little bit of a different format – weekly digest instead of per-post. If you subscribe to this blog via rss, please update your feed accordingly as I won’t be posting here any longer.
Anyways, I have been brewing up lots of good things to be shared on the new blog in the next few weeks – some great recipes, a couple of blog series, and of course the cookbook release! Today I posted a wonderful autoimmune protocol style “chili” – click on over to the new site and check it out!
Lastly I want to thank everyone for their kind comments on my last post and for those who emailed and checked in on me recently. The rest was just what I needed, and I am back feeling like my energetic self again.
The funny thing about healing, is that it is easy to get sucked into thinking you will always be stuck at the place you are at. For instance, about a year ago I was stricken with the idea that I would not be able to work in the traditional sense ever again, and I was scrambling to come up with ideas to come up with how to make a living. I had been sick so long that I could not imagine what it would feel like to even be able to work. Gradually over time, that changed, and I was able to take a mellow part-time job. Then I found myself feeling awful that my husband had to do all of the housework and cooking because all I was capable of was literally working that 20 hours a week, and I every day I would come home and crash. This thought pattern continued on as I healed more and more – it was never enough. In every phase of healing I found myself held back by the idea that I could not accept where I was at.
This thinking always gets me in trouble. In less than a year I have somehow worked up to being able to handle a full-time job, part-time nutrition program, two blogs and writing a cookbook. Add some unexpected life stresses (moving my mom and her farm up the coast and a hand injury) and I have quickly run myself back to a scary place – adrenal fatigue. I know the symptoms well – not sleeping, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, internal trembling, the inability to relax, feeling tired after sleeping 10 hours. When I start not getting to my walks, yoga, or meditation, I am in deep trouble – unfortunately right now it has been weeks since I have even thought of any of those things. I know full well that I am responsible for getting my body to this place by constantly needing to push myself more and not stopping and recognizing when there is still healing to be done.
Earlier this week I had a horrible dizzy spell that forced me to sit down and decide that I had to start doing less. I knew that it had been building for a few weeks now, but in true fashion I kept pushing until I reached my limit. I can’t really cut back on work or school – they both need to happen right now. I would rather not cut back on working on the cookbook, because it is finally rolling along and of everything I am doing right now, it is the most enjoyable. The only thing left on the docket is blogging. I have already cut back in the last few weeks, only posting a couple of times a week instead of 3-4. I decided that I will take the rest of this month, if not a week in March also as a complete break away from this space. This feels like really strange timing considering the complete explosion of blog traffic and likes on my facebook page, but it is what I have to do to stay happy and healthy.
The good news is that I will still be posting some of my meals and cookbook teasers over on my facebook page, answering email and blog comments. I could just use the few hours a week I spend coming up with blog content for resting – something my body is crying out desperately for right now. When I return in March, I will have the cover and release date of the cookbook to announce. I am happy to report it is coming along great – over 100 recipes written, now it is just being photographed, formatted and all the loose ends wrapped up. I am so excited to get it out into the world!
Until then, if you have any questions, comments, topic ideas or things you would like me to to write more about on this blog, leave me a note here. I have a long docket of ideas and quite a few drafts, but I could use this chance to check in with everyone and see what you would like to see more of.
As most of you know, the month of January I decided to do an autoimmune protocol, fruit-free whole 30. I noticed most of the changes starting about a week in. All of these were present in my 2-week update and gained some momentum in the last couple of weeks.
Improvements:
Better sleep. I was surprised at this one, but I have been averaging an hour more sleep than usual, and it isn’t for an earlier bedtime – I have been falling asleep right away instead of laying in bed awake for an hour or so. I am also the most energetic I have ever been when I wake up. I used to take my medication and then roll over and sleep for another hour – lately I have been getting out of bed and using that time to get work done, which has been great.
My moods are much more stable and I have less tiredness in the afternoon. I know that this is a direct effect of taking sugar (even if just from fruit!) out of my diet.
No more snacking. Since I stopped the fruit, my blood sugar is more stable and I am no longer hungry between meals. The sugar cravings were pretty intense for about a week, but then went away for the rest of the month.
Digestion is improved. Nuts are hard on my system and it has been nice to remember what it is like without them in my diet.
I generally have felt energetic, happy and in a really good place health-wise. This has been the best month I can remember as far as autoimmune symptoms. Like I said in my 2-week update, I changed medications in December which I am sure has something to do with it, but I know that eating well has had an effect on my autoimmunity.
Things that didn’t improve:
My acne. A couple of weeks into the month I had the most horrible breakout and I knew it couldn’t be tied to food. I started researching tons about hormonal acne and I am pretty sure that hormone imbalance has to be driving mine – I only get it a couple of days before I ovulate, it happens around my mouth, and is the deep painful cystic kind. This month, it seemed worse than ever, and because my cycle was also off I am guessing it has to do with my body shifting because of the new thyroid medication – I have had the experience of my cycle being off for the first month of starting a new medication or changing doses before.
In conclusion, I am very happy I decided to do a whole 30 for the month of January. It felt like it started too soon after all of the holiday eating, but after about a week I found myself back in a groove, as stable and happy as I can remember. This is why I love doing elimination diets and clean eating trials – you only have to commit to a relatively small amount of time to adhere to a fixed set of rules. After the time is up, you can decide to keep what works and drop what doesn’t. In my case, I know I feel better not eating a lot of fruit, so I am going to try my best to continue. If I do eat some, I am going to try to eat low-sugar fruit like berries and kiwi instead of bananas and pears. I am also going to add nuts back in because I love them more than the digestive upset they cause me, but I will try harder to moderate them as to keep everything working smoothly.
If you were joining me on doing a Whole 30 in January, what were your results?
Some of the goodies I obtain through my local buying club and online – apple-cider vinegar, olive oil, and coconut oil.
Now that we have covered how growing your own food and buying meat in bulk can save you money, we will move on to the last tip I have for you as well as some concluding thoughts.
Tip 3: Join a buying club or get savvy at buying food online. Nowadays many buying clubs exist to help you bypass the markup charged at the grocery store. The catch is that you have to buy in bulk and it is far less convenient than making a trip to the store when you run out of something, but the benefits are greater than just saving you money. Buying things like oils and other liquids in larger containers saves countless smaller containers that are packaged for the store.
Azure Standard is a good resource for those who want to buy bulk and happen to be in their delivery area. They sell high quality bulk goods, specializing in organic. If you call them they can give you the name of the drop organizer that is closest to you, and then you can contact that person to see how you can be included in their order. Every few months I will put in an order for things like organic olive oil, shredded coconut, apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos, sea salt, baking soda, epsom salts, herbs, essential oils, and other things that my family eats that I don’t (organic nuts and seeds, honey etc). They are the only source I have been able to find of organic, non-irradiated almonds from California, so if you have a nut-eater in your family that could be helpful. They also sell bulk organic produce, and I have had good experience when in season and timed right (I bought a ton of cabbage and carrots once to make a couple of batches of saurkraut). You can also buy things that store well like onions, sweet potatoes, and squash.
I also use Amazon and Vitacost occasionally to buy food items, usually coconut oil. I don’t know why, but that is the one thing I have not found Azure to have the best price on. Currently I have an auto-ship setting on the coconut oil for amazon and they send me a couple of giant tubs every few months or so. Two companies I have heard of but have never ordered from (I have always been able to get similar products at a lower cost elsewhere) are US Wellness Meats and Tropical Traditions. There is usually some Paleo blogger out there offering a discount or coupon code for one or the other, so if you keep your eye out you may be able to find a deal to make their products more affordable. Lastly, I order my dried herbs to cook with as well as the bulk goods for personal care products from Mountain Rose Herbs.
Conclusion
By writing this series, I hope I have given you some tools to make your task in budgeting for the autoimmune protocol a little easier. Instead of paying full price at the grocery store, there are many things that we can do to bypass the way that we have traditionally obtained our food and become healthier and more empowered in the process. Producing a little (or a lot!) of your own food, buying meat in bulk, and buying in bulk and online are all good ideas to help save money. Like I said in my first article, eating this way is not cheap and I am not trying to create an illusion that I have magically figured out how to make it inexpensive, but these strategies have helped me a great deal in my journey.
Implementing these tips along with a little change in mindset has made all of the difference for me. I have begun to see feeding myself well as an investment in my health and insurance against having to spend money on medical bills in the future. Like I mentioned in the first post in the series, 2011 was a horrible year for me health-wise and I spent thousands of dollars over the course of my illness. The pursuit of continuing to feel the way I do right now is motivation enough to shift some of my family’s spending priorities – we don’t take expensive vacations, we share a vehicle, and we live with roommates to cut down on rent, among other things. If you are currently struggling with how to afford this lifestyle, I hope I have given you some worthwhile tips and encouragement along the way.
How do you deal with the high cost of this lifestyle? Let me know if you have any tips that I have missed!
