Another Test...

Today I'm spending the day with my 70 year old mother and she usually makes something for lunch.  She has hypertension and claims she watches her sodium and she also knows I have the same problem and watch my sodium intake as well.  With that being said--she eats a lot of packaged foods and her taste buds are totally desensitized.  Everything tastes CRAZY SALTY to me when I eat there.  We'll see how it turns out.....

Irony of My Return....

It's so crazy that my first day back at my original CR blog is THE day I take my daughter-in-law to Red Lobster. We ALL know what that does to CRON.  Blew it to hell in a hand basket!  
Actually, my daily total was about 1700, which totally exceeds my 1400 calorie goal, but it's still not insane.  I'll make up for it through the week and a trip to Red Lobster only  happens 2-3 times a year.  Not gonna be to uptight about it!  Hope the world, life & CR finds you all well!

Still plugging along!

Good morning all. Things are going OK on the CR front. Hope each of you are equally as fortunate!!

On the other hand, parenthood is seriously sucking right now. My soon-to-be 20-yr old son is in jail for contempt of court. I had to obtain a restraining order against him in November. The court also ordered him to take anger mgmt classes and bring his certificate of completion to the court. Well, he didn't do it and now he's in the can. Go figure.....Cause/effect in it's purest form. Anyway, my son can't call me directly so he's sending messages via friends requesting I drop off clean socks and underwear for him. If I take him underwear will I be violating my tough-love pledge? My initial thought was "Let the people he's chosen as his buddies take him some panties." I think I'm going to stick by my guns....maybe....COMMENTS PLEASE!!

After finding out about my son's escapade, I then found out ny soon-to-be-16 yr old daughter --instead of being with her friends--has been seeing a 24-26 y/o male. We had a huge blow-up last night and she's still in bed crying. After all, "I really love him mom!!" Such drama. I'm debating on reporting him to the police and hoping it scares the shit out of him. Of course, I live in KY and 16 is prime marryin' age in these parts...I should've been more aware if what was going on in her life.,...Parenting has been such a struggle. I REALLY thought I was teaching them the right things: go to school, work hard, be kind to others, don't lie or steal, respect yourself, guard your health, don't use drugs. ANY insight is appreciated..

Of course, on the good side, all of the stress makes it easy for me to NOT eat. When I'm stressed I have zero appetite. Guess every cloud has a silver lining! I have also found some great references. Here's a link to Skinny Bitches data site http://crskinnydata.blogspot.com/ I'm SO grateful she is sharing this info and her meals/snacks look great!! I know she swamped with work and family, but still takes time to share her success with us!! Thanks!! Also, I'm considering trying konjac rice, jello and pudding recipes. The only sweetener I've used so far is stevia. Would love to hear from others who have used other sweeteners, konjac and other CR friendly products. Warren has shared a ton of info with me and I will post it soon. Much love and be well! ~S~

Here I go AGAIN....

Hi all! Hope this hot summer is finding everyone well. I've been lazy long enough and it's time to get in gear. Since the last time I blogged I have changed jobs. Now I work part-time for the local hospital and prn for my previously-full-time employer Hospice. I had the opportunity to work 2 nights a week for the same pay I received working 5 days a week. Wow--no-brainer! This streak of fortune also settled some of my "I have no time" crisis which is AWESOME!! My health is improving and I am taking half as much medication as before. Plus, my Naturopath seems to be getting my absorption problems under control-slowly but surely. Life is good.

I am still working on the CRON regime. Most days I do well and on the days I DO NOT do well, I pay for it. My body doesn't tolerate junk food binges anymore. I'm also still measuring my food in cups, oz's and tsp's/tbsp's and my only body weight measurement is at my MD visit. For some reason I haven't made the time to pick up a proper food scale OR people scale at Bed, Bath & Beyond. (Told you I've been lazy). However, I've been listening to my body and can easily feel when it's time to stop eating. I'm actually glad to feel well enough to eat!

This morning I was browsing the internet and found Mizzi's site http://calorie-restriction-diet.com/ She has done a great job setting up an easy-to-navigate CR site. One of my personal goals is to participate more in CR-related on-line communities. My hope is increasing participation will help keep me motivated. As usual, feel free to share any tips and tricks you might have, and be well!!

Back in the Saddle Again!

Hello All,

Been a L-O-N-G time since my last post. My fingers are crossed that the drama in my life has subsided for a bit and my Crohn's has chosen to be quiet for a while. YEAH!!

For the past few months I've only been able to eat bland things which are squishable with a fork and supplemental shakes (Ensure) My weight seems to have stablized at 118 lbs--down from a steroid induced 148 lbs during the first week in July. I'm slowly reintroducing "real" food, using my intake journal and COM software. Given my malabsorbtion problems, it's looking like my "restricted" calorie level is going to be around 1800-2000 cal./day. My next round of labs will be due in February. I'm anxious to see if they have improved. As a nurse I often work with patient's labs, and for about a year, the patients I cared for had better labs than me. One of my goals is to get rid of a few medications. Right now I'm a walking pharmacy.

Lately I've been catching up on my E-reading and have found several neat blogs. Thanks April, Amy, Mary, Aaron, Jamie,Willie and a ton of others for providing inspiration. Also much appreciation to Nerissa for encouraging me and keeping my spirits up when life really sucked. Aztec Peg offered some help and encouragement as well. I am finding myself (gratefully) among a very diverse, funny, sharp group of folks.

Looking back over my last bout of illness, I've found a few things to be thankful for.
1. Being nauseated through the holidays kills the desire to over-eat.

2. Drinking half a pot of coffee then throwing it back up REALLY squelches the
coffee craving. (Last cup was 10/29/06) Flavored teas ROCK!

3. It's part of God's devine plan to sell toilet tissue in multi-packs. Mega-roll Charmin is my friend.

Those are the ones that come to mind first. I'll save the rest for future posts.

Should any gentle reader have information or input, I would love to hear it. Hope it will be a wonderful New Year for everyone!

Still hanging in!

Hi all!! I'm still among the living. Much appreciation to all who emailed to ck on me.

My big plan was to post my labs when I had them drawn. I got them back on 8/24 (I think). The big, un-thought-of problem is this: My labs are so artificially skewed from my medications that I have no way of knowing what is really "me". I'm mildly anemic, which is expected. My vitamin and protein levels are mildly deficient as well, and this is a normal Crohn's finding. My wbc count is 5.8, which is low normal. It is artificially low due to steroids and Imuran. Before medication, my usual wbc count was 16, 000-22,000 and I felt pretty bad. My initial intention with CR was to get my calorie/nutrition intake under control then slowly taper off the drugs (with my MD's support). Guess that's still my plan, but I'm running into trouble in the amount I'm able to eat. I have ZERO appetite (thanks, Crohn's). I tracked my intake for a month and am comfortable eating 800-1000 cal/day. From mid-June to August 31 I lost 20 lbs. I'm supplementing my diet with vitamins and shakes but hope to eat enough real food to meet my needs.

Nerissa has been a HUGE source of encouragement and information, plus I'm borrowing food plans from April (keep'em coming!).

From a real-life standpoint my ex-husband is being a wanker (still) and I have to be in court Tuesday. He has refused to help with any of our daughter's medical bills and I am no longer financially solvent. Funny that it doesn't feel a whole lot different than when I was solvent. Guess there's a life lesson in this experience...As long as I have a roof over our heads and the lights and water still work, I'm happy. I have enrolled in a credit counseling program and should have a lot of the debt settled and gone in 30 months. In the meantime my goal is to help my daughter cope with her new health challenges and maintain my ability to provide our $500-$600 a-month prescription requirement. When her dad starts doing his part, it will be much easier. Too bad I had to sue him to get it done.... Anyway, I'll keep plugging along. Keep sending info and comments!!

Day two....

Well, I'm at the end of CR practice day number two. Good news--It wasn't difficult. Bad news--I've only had 879 calories today. My stomach is "yucky". I'm afraid it's a Crohn's flare-up in progress. If that's the case, I'm back to clear liquid for a week or two.....Cross your fingers and hope it's a flu bug... G'nite.

First day..

Well, today was my first CR test day using the tracking program from Bob Phillips' site. Very user-friendly--I'm impressed. As I looked up the assorted foods I ate today, I saved them to my personal food profile, making my tracking even easier later on. I didn't set a calorie goal today, I simply measured and recorded what I ate. Very enlightening....My total intake for the day was 1,458 calories, plus two drinks of my daughter's chocolate latte. This is a much lower number than I expected, since I ate all I wanted and also ate each time I felt hungry. My MD says active Crohns decreases appetite, which kind of kills my idea of remission coming in the next few months....Dammit....On the good side, I met most of my RDA's in many areas. On the bad side, my calcium and B12 intake are dismal, plus I'm a little low in a few other areas. (I'm also a carb hound....) I need to incorporate a ton more veggies. Usually I use my steamer; raw veggies don't always do well with Crohns digestive problems. Looks like I need to use it MORE...

Today was also my first CR based trip to the grocery. Armed with a tentative list, I hit the super WalMart. Honestly, it wasn't so bad. I bought fresh avocados, cucumbers and carrots, frozen colored peppers, mixed veggies, cherries, blueberries, fat-free cottage cheese and yogurt. I already have a cabinet full of dried beans, water-packed tuna and canned veggies, plus several frozen chicken breasts. I'm going to fix tuna salad for my lunch tomorrow with fruit for dessert, plus some almonds and cottage cheese and veggies for snack. I decided to buy some frozen veggies rather than fresh because I'll be steaming most of them, and frozen is often less expensive.

Overall, not a bad day.. As usual, any input from those more experienced is appreciated!!

Great info & super resource!

Guess it's time for me to get back on the wagon again....My daughter has had a L-O-N-G bout of illness but appears to be stable now AND I'm feeling pretty decent myself. Can't remember the last time she and I both felt well together....We went on a shopping spree to celebrate. Of course, now we're both tired and broke, but happy.

My last attempt at starting a sincere CR eating plan coincided with some big changes in my medications (plus my daughter's illness). Due to the medication changes I lost 12.5 pounds in six weeks and I felt it was way too fast. I'm sure most of it was fluid, due to steroids, but I could see myself shrinking the first three weeks. Now I've stabilized at 136 lbs--way above my tentative goal (and pre-Crohn's weight) of 115 lbs

Today I sent in my personal information to the CR Society for ongoing CR data collection. I've had several false starts in this process, so I'm planning to make this start "stick". NO falling off the wagon--maybe just dragging a foot now and then....My official start date is 8/28 and I will have my baseline labs drawn on 8/26. Luckily (luckily?), I have to have a kazillion labs (more than the CR Society requests) drawn at least every three months for my Crohn's management, so the insurance company is covering all of the labs-YIPPIE!! I'll post my results when I get them. The last ones sucked overall, but it's from the Crohn's. That's a big portion of my interest in CR. I've read a bunch of CR data regarding a marked decrease in WBC's, TNFa, and Sed. rate/other inflammation markers in CR practitioners. THAT'S WHAT I NEED.

For anyone interested in great information, check out http://www.nbrhd.net/CR/CR.htm . Bob and his wife, Shirley, have a great site full of resources. I've downloaded and installed the calorie/nutrient tracker from his site and it's quite user-friendly. I'm going to spend the next week learning to use the features it offers so I can be comfortable on my "official" start day. Today I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought a small travel food scale. Similar (I think) to the one April talks about in her blog. I'm going to use it at home and at work. Once I become accustomed to using the portable one, I will look into buying a fancier, more precise version--maybe like the cool one Alton Brown uses on "Good Eats". I love gadgets......

Not EXACTLY what I'd expected....

Thanks to all for the nice comments and feedback. Very heartening! I haven't checked in for ages. For the past six weeks everything I've touched has turned to crap.....Wonder if there's a technical term for that....OH well.

On the CR front, I've had a huge awakening. I was SO thrilled to stop taking steroids for my Crohn's--Couldn't wait to shed the hair I'd grown on my knuckles (really). Well, my knuckles are smooth again thank goodness, but now I'm losing TOO much weight too fast. My appetite sucks PLUS the fact that Crohn's is a disease of malabsorbtion....I hadn't factored that part into the equation. As a nurse, you would think I'd remember these important points. HA! Anyway, I consulted a nutritionist friend with a Masters degree. Her response? It appears I will probably need to consume about 2000 calories a day to absorb1400. Of course, it needs to be good, healthy, nutrient-dense foods. Too bad my appetite won't allow it. I'm going to talk to my GI MD about it.

As if the eating/dietary crap wasn't enough, I've had a run of really bad luck. I wouldn't complain--but it started in 1998. Things need to be easing up a bit. I'll just share the high points of the past few months: My son has been kicked out of the army (after failing three drug tests and going awol once). My 14 y/o daughter (Photo above) developed Mono. in February and was out of school six weeks. During that time she became depressed and stopped eating--lost 20 pounds in no time. Just as things were turning around for her, she started having grande mal seizures and has been diagnosed with epilepsy. She's a tough kid but I hate seeing her struggle with these things. AND, to top off all the fun, her dad quit his job--dropping her health insurance--and moved across the state. It's not very Christian of me, but I'm praying that his pecker falls off. Hmmm, maybe that's why I'm having this long string of bad luck....Oh well.

Anyway, I'm having to re-think and re-arrange my whole CR idea. Of course, I'm learning a lot as I go. For any of you folks with CD or UC, check out www.crohnszone.org Register and post--after all, misery loves company!