GAPS or Anti-Inflammatory Diets instead of Pain and Regret

Trust me.

It’s not worth it.

That cupcake calling your name? It is throat seizing up.

That perfectly baked roll taunting you? It is stomach cramps.

That smorgasobord of delights covering the counter? Their names are Pain and Regret.

That was my weekend. From a memorial on Saturday to the Superbowl yesterday – Pain and Regret were my constant companions.

Not only do I have a restricted diet, I also have the unfortunate need to eat a full-on meal every two to three hours. When placed in a position of either not eating – and letting my migraine escalate to elephantine proportions – or eating foods that my body hates, I end up choosing food. I try to pick options that will do the least damage, but before long, Pain and Regret are pulling at me.

Inspired by our stomachs lurching and gluten-induced lethargy, my OH and I started talking last night about healthier eating and ways to ‘heal our guts’. This prompted me getting comfy on the bed, airborne sizzling in a big blue mug, my golden retriever snoring peacefully on the floor next to me and powering my laptop on. I had heard a little bit about the GAPS diet and ‘anti-inflammatory’ diets so I started my search with those. I like the concept of the GAPS diet – healing through food, but it does seem very intense. (Read : detailed and strict ) Which, to me, is why it could really work. You are being very conscious about what you are putting in your body and healing the digestive system. My only problem with it, with what I’ve read so far, is that you do have to be on top of it even more than I am used to. Nothing wrong with that of course. But am I up to it??

I then read some on the anti-inflammatory diet and it seems a little more up my alley. (read: slightly lazy) hehe. I found several sites that talk about it, but i found one that gave a nice graph of what to eat and what to avoid. Nice and simple. I’ll add the links to both ‘diets’ at the end of this post for you. I’ll share a list of anti-inflammatory foods for you, there are others but I’ve mixed it up to fit what I can eat – just look up ‘anti-inflammatory’ on google if you want a longer list. =)

~Fatty Fish

~Dark Leafy Greens

~Nuts

~Berries

~Soy (avoid heavily-processed soy)

~Ginger and Turmeric

~Garlic and Onions (I have to go carefully with these as they are nightshades…)

~Olive Oil

~Tart Cherries

Suffice it to say, that my OH and I are newly energized to eat well. Even less processed than we do – which isn’t much. More vegetables and fruit. Less Pain and Regret. More Health and Energy.

On a side note : How about that Superbowl huh??? We had so much fun watching it and enjoyed most of the commercials. Still not sure why we would want to see people lacking in the clothing department. We liked how patriotic the ads were. Very cool. Plus our Seahawks won! I did feel bad for the Broncos though, it seemed like nothing was going their way. (I am a sympathetic football game watcher) Now it’s time to focus on the last episode of Biggest loser tomorrow night and then the Winter Olympics! YAhoo!

~Laura

GAPS – http://gapsdiet.com/INTRODUCTION_DIET.html

-Anti-inflammatory – http://www.fammed.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/webfm-uploads/documents/outreach/im/handout_ai_diet_patient.pdf