Pantries and Preparedness. Grain free with Laine.

A couple of weeks ago I shared how I am experimenting with not eating grains in an effort to rid myself of pretty bad aches and pains.  I wrote about that here with help from Cookie.

I am up to week seven now with no grains at all.  I no longer have aching legs, arms, joints... I wake up feeling much better in the mornings,  I have a lot more energy and I actually FEEL LIKE exercising and am walking or swimming everyday.  And even then... no pain!

This experiment has worked so well for me I cannot see myself ever eating grains again.  I had a week of pain after eating seeds so I got a great big reminder of what it feels like.  I was miserable. It was just awful.  So no grains and no seeds.    And I don't care a bit.  The way I feel is so drastically different it is worth it!

The photos today are from Rachel. She got chickens! 

She sent me this series of pictures to show me.

Each time she said "chickie chickie" they pretty much said they were too busy to pose for photos! 

It became a little story that reminded me very much of Winnie the Pooh!

They are gorgeous and funny!

Now this is not for everyone.  But I am sharing in case it does help someone.  If you suffer pain, inflammation, chronic disease or exhaustion then read up on foods that are natural anti inflammatories
and suggestions that might be worth trying.  I found it only took five days to know it worked. This was a small investment of time and effort for such big results. It cost nothing.  I just had to get organised!   Several of my good friends helped me very much.   One of them was Laine who many of you know so well!

Back in the days of Laine's Letters she was very interested in health and eating natural foods.  She has helped me a lot and was another voice that encouraged me to try what I thought was quite radical... going grain free.

Today we get an insight into Laine's diet and reason for her making many changes.

Over to Laine...

Dear Sisters,
I just celebrated three years grain free! And I say celebrated because going grain free has reduced pain considerably in my gut and bladder, for I suffer with a condition known as Interstitial Cystitis ( IC) which often stems from problems within the gut. I read a fascinating book called Breaking The Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall years ago which shares how she helped her daughter with gut issues through a grain free diet. But it was more than just going grain free, it was eating specific carbohydrates (as stated in the book) to help the gut soothe and heal, and to bring down inflammation; that inflammation, in turn, aggravates the body to create other conditions -many of them autoimmune- as in my case with IC. The diet is called The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). 

Unfortunately, just implementing the SCD diet did not solve all of my problems. I had to keep a copious amount of notes on my diet to learn that in the confines of the SCD diet I could not tolerate dairy, honey, anything fermented, nightshades, or very little fruit. Nor could I tolerate too much raw of anything. It has been a very slow climb back to feeling normal, but well worth all the prayers and effort to be out of daily pain and aggravation. I thank the Lord daily for the food He has given me to eat. I really enjoy my diet so much. I had to learn how to cook many new things, but even my grandkids love my food! 

Here was my menu yesterday :

Breakfast: pot of light tea
                   1/2 c coffee with cashew cream
                   1 egg and lentil flatbread with a big side of kale chips 
                    6 roasted pecans, 1 frozen kiwi slice, and 1 blueberry cashew cookie

Lunch: chicken breast soup with lots of green beans and navy beans
             Light Tea with 1 warm blueberry cashew cookie and 2 T banana vanilla N'Icecream on top, 6 roasted pecans, 2 Brazil nuts, 1 fresh ginger tea

Dinner: Poor Man's  Stew with carrots and rutabagas, lots of kale chips,
              6 roasted pecans, 1/2 small Apple, 1 blueberry cookie, and 1  fresh ginger tea

I am not on any medicines. I take the tiniest pinch of a probiotic as prescribed by my Chinese practitioner. I have been with her for six years now, and she has been a great help in getting my IC stable. I ask her before trying new foods so as not to upset my IC condition. Unfortunately, I didn't ask her about a change to an under eye cream which sent me into a very painful flare that lasted over two weeks this past April. So what goes on my body is as important as what goes into my body, which is why I keep a lot of notes to connect all the dots. 

The good news out of all the trials of gut problems, IC, plus  painful arthritis and rosacea -besides it being nonexistent at this time- is that I have been able to help others in my family. My granddaughter is benefitting greatly on the SCD diet without nightshades or dairy too. She is two years old and has been suffering from excema and severe mood swings coupled with joint pain and mouth pain. It's so good to see her thriving on the version that works for her in the diet.

Perhaps someone reading this has been suffering for some time with debilitating symptoms. My symptoms were bad for many, many years. I didn't want to take pain meds to cause further damage down the road, so I had to get to the root cause and change a lot of my diet over time to see success. Hippocrates said, "Food is medicine, and medicine is food" could not be more true, even after all these many, many years. For months I wrote down the food I ate on the days I felt good. It took me weeks and weeks to get 4-5 good days. I took those "good day notes" and set them next to each other. This is how I realized what foods my body liked and what became the basis of my diet. I built upon those foods slowly as I healed. 

I have tried adding in oats or brown rice this year in small amounts, but it didn't go over very well. So presently I am still on the SCD diet and very happy. My weight is normal , sleep is good, hair and nails healthy, and energy is great. The best is no pain where I had pain for so many years. How I thank God! He has taught me so much. I am so very grateful.

"Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." 3 John 2


Yes, yes, yes!

Love,
Laine

Thank you Laine for writing this for us.  As well she has helped me so much as I have asked her so many questions.  How lucky I am to have her as a teacher once again!  (and how amazing is life sometimes that this could even happen...) 


If you were to Google Laine's disease you will find it is very painful.  This is entirely different to what Cookie suffers and yet both of them have so much relief.  This is what made me prepared to try it.  Both Laine and Cookie lead wonderful lives and without the pain of their illness, this has to tell you something.  

From Laine's advice I have found a food diary very helpful.  I have had times where I would swear I had not done anything different but felt pain creep back in.   But the food diary means I can check, see patterns and be reminded of what I have actually eaten.   From this I have found I get pain sneak back in my joints after days I ate cashew nuts!   So this has been very helpful.

Many times we have some idea of what agrees with us and what doesn't.  But life gets in the way,  food is very tempting, we are busy looking after other people....  but the best thing we can do for our families is be as fit and health as we can and be there!   

I hope you have a good new week! 
I have been going through my present cupboard, I have stuff everywhere!  But I have enough for December and January Birthdays plus Christmas!  
Our weather has warmed up and we are going to be swimming for a few days in the evenings.  I can swim laps now and have no aches and pains afterwards!  Progress, progress... xxx

Thank you Rachel for the photos! 

Chickens make me happy! 

So do eggs!