I've been trying to take more responsibility for my health.

When I was 17 I did the same thing. It took me a second to learn what worked best for me and I did some things that definitely did not work at first.

I had read somewhere that most actresses and models start their day with oatmeal so I made oatmeal immediately and went on a run and ran into a horrible stomach ache. Not something I would recommend!

But I educated myself more and paid attention to what worked best for me and got to the point where I had cut all grains, sugar(besides fruit sugar) and dairy, lost 20 pounds without limiting my food intake and was running 6+ miles a day and attending a workout class. I felt so energetic and like I'd never live another way.

Then I moved to LA and into a rough neighborhood I couldn't run in and several years passed with no running, lots of grains, lots of dairy, skipping many meals then eating on the verge on binging, etc. I wrote it off with "I'm young I need to do this while I can." And sure, a certain amount of that can be true but part of me knew I was kind of just poisoning myself and saying it was fine because I'm young so I will bounce back from the poisoning more easily. And then I got a bit of a wake up call in February.

I started to notice I was getting a bit sensitive to foods. I REALLY tried to dismiss it. I would eat a bagel and my stomach would immediately bloat to the point of pain.

I kept telling myself it was a short phase and soon I could go back to eating whatever I want! 

It got worse and soon my stomach was so chronically bloated it was actually making me nauseous so I felt like I couldn't eat anything. Then I started having trouble sleeping because I was waking up 3-4 times a night to pee because it started to actually put pressure on my bladder.

Cut to a week later I couldn't eat anything all day and was laying on the floor, my stomach completely in pain and wondering if I needed to just go to the ER. I definitely started to get freaked out that I had some sort of chronic illness that was causing it.

I took a look at my "favorite" foods and what I usually went for and just decided to be brutally honest with myself.

Bread. Pasta. Chocolate. Pancakes. Bagels. Coffee. Basically name anything with flour and very low nutritional value. Also all the things I had cut out when I was in the best health I had ever been in.

I decided to cut out anything deemed hard to digest and to test my allergies. 

The “foodie” in me died a little bit because I do love the taste of a pasta dinner and I was a bit concerned as to what would come up as an allergy. 

Surprise, surprise. I cut out grains and sugar and felt a lot better.

I went through phases of cutting those items and then not caring and eating them all the time but it would always catch up to me.

I felt like it was a little depressing to think that if I wanted to completely avoid pain I would have to give up a bunch of foods FOREVER so I started researching to see what might have actually happened to make my body so intolerant.

Then I found The Microbiome Diet which is based off the idea that you can heal your gut to be stronger and more able to handle foods as well as retrain your body to crave nutrients and healthy foods. Its 21 days of no grains, no eggs, no sugars, no dairy save for unsweetened yogurt, no corn, all organic foods, no pork etc. However you can have caffeine! Which is I feel like a total make or break for diets. You also load your body up with probiotics and pre-biotics in forms of foods and supplements in order to heal your gut and body over all.

It sounded like something I’ve needed for SO long. Thinking about the roller coaster of my diet - lots of food and exercise to no food all day, harsh carbohydrates and going to sleep I can imagine that even just my stomach would feel damaged and week. So replenishing it with good foods, easy to digest meals and supplements sounded like it really was what I had been needing and would work.

I also recruited my sister to do it with me which is like reason 1522413323445 that I feel so lucky to have siblings. It is SO much easier to do a diet with someone you are close with and can lean on for support or call when you’re starving and on your way home and would just looooove food ready when you get there.

We are on Day 13 so a little over halfway through!

Some things I’ve noticed
1. I could actually feel bacteria dying off. In the first few days I actually felt something similar to a big caffeine rush even though I was barely eating caffeine. I would immediately crave sugar or grains and I realized it was literally bad bacteria dying off and making a last ditch effort scream for sugar.

2.I’m sleeping better. My hours of sleep actually go to better use. I wake up early naturally and also can fall asleep when I want to and when I get in bed instead of having to wind down.

3.I have SO much more energy and actually crave healthy foods. The cool thing is - this energy started on Day 1. I did have withdrawals from sugar for sure. But because you are feeding yourself so well with such nutritious food and supplementing with probiotics, I didn't get a lot of the detox feelings I’ve gotten with other diets. This was really a dealbreaker for me because I’ve done a LOT of cleanses and juice fasts and that feeling of being cold and flulike is just HORRIBLE. And truthfully, I think all those cleanses and fasts maybe added a little more damage and good because my gut wasn’t strong enough to handle them as well.

4. The idea of watching others eat pizza and pasta in front of me while I can’t eat it doesn't make me sad anymore! In the beginning I dreamed of all the meals I would eat once I was done and worried about binging on all kinds of stuff. Now, I really feel a shift in what I crave and what I feel is important to eat overall. I’ve been eating SO many fruits and vegetables a day that its hard to imagine eating a bunch of crap and trying to sustain myself.

It really REALLY has affected how I feel. I sleep better too, no horrible bloating or pain, more energy, brighter eyes and skin etc. and I feel actually calm. Like my body just went thank you we can stop being in overdrive constantly! I love that this diet is really not that hard to do and creates such a good effect and result in so little time. I’ve been referring it to almost everyone I know because I think if we all did something like it once a year its really simple but would really create a difference

I’m going to be posting some recipes I’ve found and/or created to get all the nutrients in that are needed as well as eat something delicious.

Have you ever done The Microbiome Diet or anything similar?

Xoxo,

Claire