Pregame show of the 21 day detox protocol

Its safe to say that between now and November 23rd I will tell anyone who has ears that I'm dying. Like dragging myself across the floor,... dying. But please, don't call 911 as I will just be in the throws of a 21 medical detox diet. Ill be fine .... eventually. 

hyperboleandahalf.com

A little recap might be helpful of why my husband and I started changing the way we ate and where we shopped. Going back about 5-6 years ago, we both had our health issues and they were both pretty chronic. I was miserable averaging about 15 migraines a month. 

Mike has had hypoglycemia since he was 9 years old. It's similar to diabetes but results in the body dropping blood sugar dangerously low and in turn, causing seizures. It also overwhelms the adrenal system causing adrenal gland failure, high metabolism, inability to regulate sugar and many other chemicals in the body like cortisol, testosterone and cholesterol. When we first were dating, his seizures were common, often triggered by bad food, alcohol, cigarettes - monthly. They are incredibly scary and very dangerous. This caused Mike to lose consciousness from standing heights causing him to fall and hit his head repeatedly. He has also broken his nose, given himself many black eyes, taken expensive ambulance ride to the ER and caused me and his close friends to have great anxiety when not around to keep an eye on him and his blood sugar.

My migraines would often last 4-10 days with no relief. I was on a daily medication that was used to treat Grand Mal seizures as well as a very strong 2nd drug I would take when an actual migraine struck and I was still getting lots and lots of headaches. The pain effected my life pretty dramatically. After having a very active social life, I opted to staying home more because 1 drink would send me into a world of pain. I gained weight because I never felt like jostling my head around by running or jumping around. I missed lots of work and had to just learn to live with it while at my job or I would be unemployed. In general I was  just depressed about not getting anywhere with many medications or doctors. 

Once moving into our new neighborhood in northwest Austin, we found out there was a local farmers market that was really big every Saturday morning. The first few times we went I think we just bought tomatoes but soon we were adding snacks, meat, dairy, and eggs. We hadn't been going more than a month when we decided we were going to dump the grocery store and buy as much as we could from local farmers. The taste, the quality, the friendship with the farmers made it very obvious that this was the road for us to take. We also started replacing household cleaners with natural ones - things like dish soap, laundry detergent, floor cleaners, Windex, etc as well as personal products like lotions, soaps, tooth paste and deodorants. (Altho I'm forever searching for a good natural deodorant - its like finding the friggin holy grail I swear)

Our motto was chemicals out!

Over about a year we were transitioned to a much more natural products lifestyle and my migraines all but dissipated.  Fast forward 5 years later and I can say that I still get headaches from time to time but I often go months without any pain.

Mike has also made a lot of strides with his hypoglycemia - mostly due to lifestyle changes and being a lot more aware of what trigger them. Seemed like every year he was having less and less episodes - down to a few per year. But about 6 months ago, he was awoken from sleep at 2 am to pee and ended up crashing hard onto our bathroom floor in a full on low blood sugar episode. He has fallen in a way that he landed on his arm, pinning himself into the corner behind the door. I of course ran to him and tried to open the door which only resulted on me unknowingly repeatedly banging his head. It was like an 1800's puppet show that we can laugh at now. Long story short, he got a hell of  a black eye and has been in shoulder rehab for months. 

Which bring us to today and this 21 day detox diet we are embarking on ...... 

My husband has found a homeopathic doctor that he trusts in and the two of them have been dissecting aspects of his life to try to get at the root cause of his hypoglycemia. This has included months of medical testing, blood work, all kinds of fluid work and allergy tests. The results have been extremely interesting and include the knowledge that he is allergic to gluten and dairy - casein specifically. The doctor has prescribed a very intense and strict 21 day food plan that essentially removes anything that could be an allergy or that would cause inflammation of any kind. To put it simply, we will be eating a lot of fruits, veggies, beans and chicken.

Altho this diet was prescribed for Mike, I will be joining him in the food plan. Im hoping that cleaning up my own system will help with my migraines as well as fertility that we have been struggling with for years.

The NO LIST: No milk, cheese, butter, shortening, yogurt, no grains of any kind, no tomatoes or tomato sauces, no alcohol, coffee, black tea, soda, sugar, sweeteners, soy, beef, pork, cold cuts, bacon, hot dogs, canned meat, sausage, shellfish, potatoes, corn, fried food & dried fruits

The YES LIST: Turkey, Chicken, Fish, Veggies, Fruit, Nuts, and Beans. 

Farmers Market goodies for the detox plan

Today is November 1st and Mike is doing PHASE ONE by himself - which is fasting. I was on the fence is I should do this aspect with him as well as the food plan and I decided against it. I don't even have a good reason other than I didn't want to. Ya know, sometimes that's the only reason you've got. 

He's been drinking a mixture of limes, organic maple syrup and water all day long - I think he's up to 2 gallons today. This concoction will keep his blood sugar stable as well as resets the glucose metabolism function. 

 

He is going to try to go for two days, so we will officially start the 21 day food plan on Tuesday. 

I'm going to use this blog to document our journey. Im afraid I will make my Facebook friends crazy if I talk about this plan too much on there. I invite you to join us along this science experiment. I apologies ahead of time for being over dramatic about missing types of food. Im guessing there will be full on cheese withdrawal, sugar temper tantrums and I want a Cheese-it meltdowns but as my husband keeps reminding me, its only 21 days. 

See you on the other side!! 

Im going to have a final bowl of cereal!