And This Time I Mean It

Really. I really mean it this time.

This time I am going to exercise and eat better and stick with it.
I mean, seriously. Twenty - thirty minutes a day. Slightly smaller amounts of food at meals. Fruits for snacking.
How hard can it be? It's not.
And it works. I've seen the results.
And I like the results. I like how I look. How I feel. The increase energy. The happier moods.

But life. It gets in the way. Food is yummy. Sitting around is easy.

But then I gain back the weight I lose. I start not liking how I look. I start not liking how I feel.

But this time I am serious. This time I mean it. This time I am going to start up again and stick with it.

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To Have Gluten Or Not, That Is The Question

A little more than 2 years ago we put Adam on the Gluten Free Casein Free (GFCF)diet. He was allowed no gluten (wheat, barely, rye) or dairy. None. Zip. Luckily we live in an area where finding alternative foods was easy. We soon found there really was nothing he couldn't have - just had to be a GFCF version.

We did this because in the Autism Community there is a lot of talk of improvement with this diet. My thought was hey - I'm not putting something in him, so it can't hurt. And it didn't. And we noticed improvements. Within 3 weeks. Small things - like he stopped chewing on his shirts. He sat when doing classwork. He reduced his random noises big time. He reduced his focus/preoccupation on nontraditional/developmental appropriate objects. He started asking for playdates. And he knew every one's name in his class for the first time. Little things that impeded his communication, social development and behavior faded away. His teacher noticed a difference too. There were a few days I'd give him something he shouldn't have had and not told his teacher. Sure enough those days she came by my room to let me know he had been 'off' that day.

As much as we believed the diet was leading to this significant and positive outcomes, I always questioned it. I mean really. You take out gluten and casein and autism 'symptoms' go away? And why?

The rational behind the diet is Leaky Gut Syndrome. Basically it means that your stomach has holes, and that because of the holes, nutrients - the protein from gluten and casein - leak into the bloodstream when they shouldn't. This then causes an opiate effect on the person. There are studies that show this with mice. Lots of folks think its the vaccinations that are tearing up the insides of these kids stomachs. I remembered that Adam had 2 of 3 shots of a Rotovirus vaccination that was recalled before he got the 3rd one due to stomach obtrusion in some kids. He also had Cdiff when he was 6 months and on his first round of antibiotics.

So it made sense that his stomach was torn up and needed healing. But I always thought, if gluten and casein proteins go through the holes, wouldn't other stuff and wouldn't that also have some kind of effect? Yet, on the other hand, he was doing well. Really, really well. And we hadn't changed anything else medication, educationally or behaviorally.

Every 6 months we'd let him cheat to see how he reacted. And within 45 min his ears were bright red, and he was acted more 'autistic' for the next day or so. But the last cheat, last spring, the ears were only red for 30 min and the behavior effects only lasted about 2 hours. Yea, I noticed something, but not much different than when a kid goes to a birthday party and has a lot of sugar.

Over the summer we decided to do some medical investigation. We took him to a Ped Gast who we liked immediately. He didn't dispute that kids on the spectrum often have stomach/bowel issues. But he didn't know why either. The scientific evidence just simply isn't there (yet). With the testing we found out he had the gene for Celiacs. But so do a lot of people. The only true way to find out if he had Celiacs would be to dump gluten in him, wait for a reaction and scope him. Something we really aren't willing to put him through.

But on the other hand, I really (and Adam) wanted to know if he would always have to be on this diet. So we let him having dairy - slowly at first. Maybe it was Celiacs and dairy would b fine. There were no negative reactions. He stayed the same behaviorally. So maybe it was just the gluten I thought. Maybe he really does have Celiacs, and because of the Aspergers, it exhibits a little different behaviorally than in others.

Before Christmas we were out of town at a holiday party. I forgot to pack breakfast for him. So he had regular cereal at our friends house. I didn't tell hubby because I knew I would be looking for a reaction, but he didn't know he was supposed to be. And there was no reaction. Neither of us noticed anything. (and yes I did tell him later that day).

So, we started letting him have gluten. Really slowly. Like cereals that only had a trace of it. Then a small portion of something gluten based. And we still haven't seen a reaction.

So. Now I'm wondering. Did he have Leaky Gut Syndrome and it has healed (websites report it takes about 2 years to heal). Did I fall victim to a fad diet? Am I wishfully thinking that all is fine now? Or, over the next few months as the gluten continues to pass through his stomach will we start seeing regression in his behavior and/or bowels.

I know that while he was on it he made significant progress in so many areas that were deficits due to Aspergers. I don't know if it was because of the diet. And I don't know what the future has in store for his eating.

Right now he is on a point system at school. He's been having problems focusing. I'm not attributing it to dairy. I'm attributing it to the fact that this year he is one of 32 in a trailer. His teacher has little experience with Aspergers. He was an organizational mess, not completing assignments and classwork, and a drop in his grades. He puzzled his teacher because when she asked him something he always knew the answer. His pretest scores on district tests aimed at the entire year of curriculum were a 97. On topics he hadn't been taught yet. So why did he have a few C's? So we put him on a point system more so I knew SHE was monitoring him more. She doesn't know that he is having gluten right now. We've been doing the point system for the 3 weeks before break. I'm really curious what this and next weeks points are going to look like.

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Haiku Friday

McDonalds for lunch

DQ Blizzard for dinner

Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum

But in the morning

I'll be afraid to step on

the scale - so I won't!

Denial is great

But then there's reality

Time to eat better.

Head over here to see what other people are Haikuing about this week.

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Exercising

If you have a dream that you are exercising, does it count?

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A Trip To The Nutritionist

Recently I have gained weight. Let me back up some first though.

I have been real lucky. I've always weighed what I should and eaten what I wanted to. After having my Son, I lost all of my pregnancy weight real fast. I do eat fairly OK and I do make a point to stay active and exercise.

Last year I was diagnosed with high cholesterol. Like, total was over 300. Because I'm still in my 30's and both my parents have high cholesterol I got a free ticket to here's a prescription for meds. But the side effect of those meds made me gain 15 pounds over the past few months. I went right back to my doctor who had no problems switching my meds.

However, I have not been able to take it off.
I've upped my exercise and tried to decrease my portions of food. And although my cholesterol levels are decreasing, my weight is not. And this puts me in an another category for 'at-risk for heard disease'. It's a catch 22. I need the meds to lower my cholesterol, but gaining weight puts me at anther risk factor.

Not only am I running out of clothes that fit REAL fast, I feel horrible about myself. I know why I gained the weight - it was for an attempt to become healthier. But I just don't like the way I look. 15 pounds, no matter where your weight was is still 15 pounds.

At my last cholesterol recheck I expressed my concern about the weight gain and the difficulty I am having taking it off. I told her I haven't weighed this much since I was 5 months pregnant - and this time I have no baby coming! A former co-worker had the nerve to comment on this too.

After running some more tests to check some things like thyroid, my doctor referred me to a nutritionist. I loved that she didn't want to put me on additional meds. I love that she took my concern seriously.

I went to my first appointment last week. I had no idea what to expect as I've never been to a nutritionist before. And I hit the jackpot. She is amazing. She gave me some quick surveys to test my knowledge of healthy eating and to access if I was an emotional eater. She also gave me a RMR test to determine my metabolism rate, and a BMI test. With this I now know exactly how many calories I need to sustain my weight, which also means if I eat more, I gain, and if I eat less and/or exercise I lose. And best of all, she gave me sample menu plans with portions, some recipes and websites and articles and healthier versions of my favorite foods.

I now feel empowered instead of hopeless. I have the knowledge where as before I was clueless. I thought I was doing everything right, but obviously I wasn't since I was gaining/plateaued and not losing. I feel like I have a fresh start on this project.

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The New Winter Diet

Want to lose some weight this winter?

Catch a cold that turns into a sore throat. You won't be able to swallow much at all, hence decreasing your calorie intake and losing weight.

Not the best way, but hey, the only actual exercise involved is moving from your couch to your bed and either turing pages in a book or turning buttons on a remote.

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Haiku Friday

Exercised this week

Each and every day in fact

At least an hour.

This morning I step

On the scale to see rewards

And instead I've gained.

Head over here to see what's happening with other's this week!

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