I’ve officially been vegan for a full year. It honestly has flown and I’m very grateful for what I’ve learned over the past year eating this way. I’ve been learning a lot about my body and what foods it tolerates well and which ones it doesn’t. I’ve started cooking with new ingredients such as nutritional yeast, tofu and hemp seeds. I’ve learned a lot about the treatment of animals and what certain foods can do to our bodies and the environment. I’m really thankful for this life change and at this point, am continuing to eat this way.
I have been experiencing pretty significant allergy symptoms this year, much more than I have in the past. My symptoms mostly consist of drainage down the back of my throat, sinus pressure, headaches and extreme fatigue that makes it hard to function during the day. Since becoming vegan I started eating a lot of wheat/gluten again. I was in this mind set that I needed to replace all of my “normal” foods with vegan versions so if anything was considered vegan, I ate it, even if it wasn’t the most healthy choice for my body. I started wondering if eating wheat/gluten and other more processed foods that I wasn’t use to eating were attributing to these more extreme allergy symptoms.
I decided to start doing an Elimination Diet to see if I have any real food intolerances that I wasn’t aware of. I’m on day 12 of a diet that eliminates gluten, dairy, eggs, beef, pork, citrus, nuts, nightshade vegetables (peppers, eggplant, white potatoes), chocolate, sugar and alcohol. This includes grains that might be contaminated with gluten such as oats and lentils. I was already eliminating eggs, dairy, beef and pork so I’m confident it’s not those foods. Basically I’m eating brown rice, quinoa, beans, lots of fruits and veggies, avocado, seeds, sunflower seed butter and coconut. I’ve been dreading it for a while and kept putting off starting it but my symptoms seemed to be getting worse so I jumped in. And honestly it hasn’t been as hard as I thought. I do miss some things and I can’t really go out to eat right now, but luckily we were already mostly eating this way and cooking at home a lot.
If you are experiencing digestive upset, fatigue, joint pain or a myriad of other symptoms, I highly recommend following this diet. There are numerous success stories of people who have learned what their trigger foods are and have eliminated all of these pesky symptoms. I would much rather use food to heal if at all possible than take medication. I’m following the plan for this book. It is not a vegan-only plan as they allow for organic poultry and fish but it works for vegans too. They do have resources on their website so purchasing the book might not be necessary but I’ve found it helpful as it has a lot of information about food allergies/intolerances and how our digestive symptom works. I was able to find the book at our library and have enjoyed the recipes in there as well. I’ve learned a lot and am hoping as I start introducing these foods back in, I’ll be able to determine if something is causing me to have a reaction. If I still feel this way after eliminating the foods, I’m planning on seeing a naturopathic doctor to help me figure out what else might be going on. I’m planning to do a “What I Ate Today” post of some elimination diet friendly recipes soon. I just have to remember to photograph my food!
On another note, Joe recently started a new job (again!). Earlier in the year, Joe had been searching for a new job as his current company lost their contract with the state of Texas. He was pretty much guaranteed a job until the end of August but decided to start applying in hopes of finding something sooner. He did find a new job and it was even a promotion/raise for him. He had been working for 3 weeks when almost the entire company was laid off. They were a privately funded company and ended up not having enough funding to continue. It was very unexpected but we know that God works in all things. I was in Omaha with the kiddos when it happened so Joe decided to drive up and we extended our trip. We were then able to see Joe’s sister in Kansas City and his parents in Branson which was nice. I will say we were all ready to come home by the end of the trip!
During our travels Joe was having multiple phone interviews for new jobs and ended up getting an offer very quickly. By the time we came back home he already had a new job. A major answer to prayer! It is a six month contract position which isn’t ideal but it’s better than no job for 6 months and hopefully will extend to full-time. We appreciate everyone who was praying for us during that time.
Now that we’re back in Austin and the holiday week is almost over, I will be back to full-time stay-at-home-momming which is a little nerve wracking! But I know we’ll get back into our groove soon. I’m at a point right now where I’m getting an itch to do something else besides stay home. I have a few ideas but trying to see if anything will flesh out. Will post updates if anything comes up.