30 Day Wheat Belly Challenge: Intro

So, you know you've been away for far too long when you log in, and Blogger's whole interface has changed so much you have to figure out how to even update!

This past year has been both amazing (Michael and I happily are engaged and settling into an actual normal life routine) and pretty appalling - the last due totally to my health issues, which have gotten worse and worse to the point where my functionality has gotten seriously impaired.

I am not stitching right now (with so many projects hanging out there calling me) because my hands can't take it more than a couple of minutes.  Michael's handling the cooking while I 'manage' because chopping and stirring and lifting (and standing) are all beyond me right now.  Heck.. I can't get dressed or undressed without his help, either.

We bought a wheelchair a month ago so that opportunities to get out and about weren't entirely eliminated due to my inability to walk more  than a few yards without needing to sit.

So.... lots of discouragement there, and it's the sort of thing I didn't want to fill this journal with because 'chronic' means 'it isn't going away' and I was trying to distract myself from that.

I'm starting it back up for at least the next 30 days because we're going to see if we can break this cycle.   We've been reading "Wheat Belly", by William Davis, MD, who offers a very detailed explanation of why today's wheat has been altered to the point where it is creating a whole litany of health problems, including several that we are dealing with.

For me, THE issue I would like to see improved over this next month is inflammation - chronic and persistent swelling around all of my joints which is causing all the functional issues listed above. Second in energy - I am flatly exhausted all the time, and that also greatly impedes functionality, as well as trying to do anything to help myself crawl out of this hole.

Lastly - but one I DO expect to improve - is weight loss.  Because boy oh boy, I never weigh myself, but since today is Day One of our experiment, I did... and I've gained another 20 pounds this past year and I weighed too much when I got here last summer.  And that alone is very hard on my joints.  Michael also has some weight issues he's had a long history of combatting, so we're hopeful that if it does nothing else it will do this much.

So our intention is to spend this month eating according to Wheat Belly's guidelines, track what happens along the way, and  then we will decide if it's doing well enough for us to continue.  I expect some mourning over some foods we love - but also learning how to eat in a better way and (oh I hope), an improvement in health.

Wish us luck!