Monday, March 7, 2011

Breakfast with the governor, cheesecake and a gross green drink

Day one of the maker's diet wasn't terrible - it wasn't my best day every, but it wasn't the worst.

My morning started off with breakfast with the governor - ok so technically I was at a Chamber breakfast where Gov. Deal with the keynote speaker and there was about 300 folks there, but my breakfast did involve the governor. I ate two scrambled eggs at home before I went to the Chamber breakfast cause I didn't know what they might have at the breakfast. I ended up just moving the food around on my plate so it looked like I ate something, but I didn't really eat during my breakfast with the governor.

Lunch was the biggest test so far - I had a lunch meeting at the Marietta Conference Center to plan our annual Heart in Hand volunteer luncheon. The Conference Center has ok food - but excellent desserts. It took every ounce of will power for me to not grab a slice of cheesecake from the buffet during my meeting. But I prevailed - and patted myself on the back :0)

I will say the worst part of today was trying to drink the gross green drink that they suggest in the Maker's Diet. It's called the Perfect Food and it's a powder, green substance you are suppose to mix with water. Horrible idea!!! The drink smells like the underside of a lawn mower and it taste even worse than that description. I could only stomach about three sips of it this morning before my gag reflex kicked in and said no more! I found some other things to mix it with that are suppose to taste a little better. I'll keep you update.

Day one down, 13 more days of phase one. I'm counting the positives. We'll see how this goes.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

It'll be alright again - I'm ok

In the song "Little Miss," Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles sings about how sometimes you have to lose to win, but in the end it'll be alright again, and she's ok. That song really explains the journey I'm about to go on. And I'm hoping that you will support me along this journey - both through encouragement and most importantly prayer.

Last summer, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. When I went into the hospital last July, I almost died, and I've been fighting to regain my health back ever since. I have my good days, and I have my bad. But I'm ready for more good than back. Crohn's dieasese is an auto-immune disease where basically your digestive system is out of wack. My doctor has tried various medicines to try to regulate my digestive system, but none of them seem to work unless accompanied by a heavy dose of prednisone - a steroid dependency is not a good thing. The next step my doctor wanted to try was a stronger drug called Remicaid that would be given by an infusion every two months. But that treatment option scared me. It has some pretty harsh side-effects that I just wasn't willing to face. And after a lot of discussion with my family and friends, and a lot of prayers, I decided to tell my doctor I'd rather look at other treatment options first and leave the heavy drugs as a last resort. And much to my surprise, and excitement, my doctor was ok with that. He understood my concerns and was willing to support me in whatever my decision was.

So, here is where I finally take ownership and control of my health, and move forward in faith that God is going to heal me. According to modern medicine, Crohn's disease is not curable but it's treatable. According to the Bible, nothing is impossible for God. I'm putting my faith in God.

Starting Monday (March 7), I am going on the Maker's Diet. It is a biblically based diet that is designed for you to eat like God intended. The book, by Jordan Rubin, talks about how much of the Standard American Diet is really not good for you - and when you have a digestive disease like Crohn's it's even worse. I was introduced to this diet by a couple people who have Crohn's but have been medicine free for years. I have been encouraged by all of them to at least give it a try.

The diet is in three phases with the first phase (2 weeks) being rather restrictive - it's almost like a detox. Then little by little you're able to add back in different foods to your diet to where you can eventually eat pretty normal with a diet rich in good meats (beef, chicken, fish that have scales) and lots of fruits and vegetables.

Now I'm not going on this diet to lose weight - I'm going on this diet to take ownership of my health and hopefully go off all the meds. In order to be alright again, I'm prepared to lose some of the things I love - mainly things like bread (which I love - just ask my family, we've had family fights over bread), Chic-fil-a and caffeine.

I've decided to start this blog as more of a journal of my journey. I don't know if anyone will even read it, but as a writer, writing my thoughts down helps with the accountability this journey requires. I'll try to be as honest as I can. I just ask that you pray for me thru this so that at the end I can say - I'm ok!