Thank you Lord for a beautifully cool morning and a little moisture!  It really helps.  I actually spent about an hour in the garden picking the last of the beets, harvesting swiss chard and a ton of basil.  Now to find some recipes to use up the beet greens beside sauteing them.  The basil I want to turn into pesto, but that includes cheese and olives.  I will have to see what other recipes I can find.

I ate a lot of chicken yesterday.  I wish I had a good source of fresh fish and then someone else to cook it for me.  I hate cooking fish.  I have to admit I have been eating  pork, but that is because one part of the book says to, so confusing!  I have one last little piece thawed out so will eat this morning and then avoid for awhile and see if that has any impact.  Lots of salad also yesterday also, which is great at this time of year.

It really stinks to go to bed feeling exhausted and then to wake up exhausted.  I am praying that a month of rest and this diet make a huge difference.  This morning I made turkey sausage patties and served it with quinoa topped with toasted almond slivers, cinnamon, cloves and a splash of almond milk, all very good and satisfying.

I am trying to cook up extra grain whenever I make it for breakfast.  Then I divvy it up in to sandwich bags and freeze it for another morning.  That way I can quickly make breakfast most mornings.  So far i have done that with millet, amaranth and the quinoa.  I have made extra turkey sausage patties to have on another morning also.

I hate to burst your bubble little sister, but for at least the first week you should avoid the following:
All Dairy Products (butter)
Eggs and egg containing foods
Foods containing wheat, rye, barley - anything with gluten
Corn and food containing corn (popcorn)
White potatoes
Tomatoes
Fruits and foods containing sugar
Chocolate and colas
Yeast containing foods
Coffee and alcohol
Soy, peanuts, beans and other legumes (peas)
Coloring and additives
Beef, Pork, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, lunch meat

After 5 to 10 days or when there is a significant lessening of your symptoms you start adding back in the foods that you think are giving you fits.  They suggest you do so in a specific manner if you are interested I will share that with you as well.  But to be honest I keep reading the Yeast Connection Cookbook and I feel there is a lot of contradicting information.  I actually think now that I have written this out I will follow the list that I went with when I did the elimination diet and determined gluten was a problem for me.  Only I will exclude all fruit and foods containing sugar and anything with yeast, which includes all vinegars and any sauces with vinegar.  I also think I will eat like this for at least 3 weeks and then try adding back the things I think are problems for me or not.  We will see how I start feeling.

How my first day went

Well, I promised myself that I was going to be very honest here for myself, my sister and anyone reading this so they would know that this is not easy!  Yesterday I started my day with a cup of coffee and a bit of creamer, as this is something I am having to wean myself off of.  Then I had a bowl of oatmeal, plain of course.  Drinking lots of water as it reminds me of eating paste.  I will have to get to Trader Joe's today and get some Steal Cut Oats, so much better plain.  I had a meeting for work at 10 am and of course they had doughnuts and fruit!  Ugh, two of my favorites and not on my diet.  I refrained until 11:45 and then my grumbling stomach got the best of me!  I ate some fruit.  Only a tiny bit, but none the less I ate it! 

I had to run home and pick up Clay as he was flying to Arizona to be with my family for a few weeks.  I had no time to plan some lunch and he was wanting Taco Bell so I again cheated and had a burrito, which beans are on the diet but not tortillas or the sour cream.  I did only drink water:). 

Dinner time found me rummaging through the refrigerator for something to fix Craig and I for dinner.  We had left over chicken so I managed to make a really nice salad with Chicken and I used olive oil and lemon juice for my dressing.  Not so bad on the dinner. Did I mention the chicken was fried?  Ha, I did manage to pull off the breading as much as possible, but I am sure I still had a little of that.  Again lots of water.  Drinking water and nothing else is not a problem for me as most drinks whether they are carbonated or not really make me feel bad.

We ended the night with popcorn with real butter and a bit of salt, all by the way on the diet!  Yay. 
Today promises to be better as I am going to the store to stock up on foods I can eat so I won't be tempted by the ones that are not. 

All kidding aside I am really trying to make an effort as I have had so many stomach issues as of late that I am desperate to do anything that will help!  Until tomorrow!

Keri

Here is a wonderful snack that satisfies the desire for the something crunchy and salty.
Kale Chips
2 Bunches Organic Kale (any variety)
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
Seasoning of your choice - I have been using a salt free mix of garlic and herbs
Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Wash Kale, tearing the leafy part from the stems.  Throw away the stems and dry the leafy part in a salad spinner if you have one or blot as much moisture off as you can with a towel.

Mix the oil and lemon juice together and toss with the leafy portion of the kale.

Cover two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and spread the kale over the two cookie sheets.  Sprinkle with seasonings.  Go lightly.

Bake in the oven for approximately for 20 minutes.  I have been switching the cookie sheets at 10 minutes.  They are ready when everything is crispy.

The secret is to make sure the kale is as dry as possible before the oil and lemon juice and don't over do the seasoning.  Bon Apetit!

For those who are addicted to coffee and creamer (Keri) you might find drinking Teeccino a suitable alternative.  It can be found in natural food stores and online.  I particularly like the mocha, hazelnut and almond amarreto flavors.  It cost @ $11.00.  You can make it in your coffee pot, but I prefer to use a tea ball or you can purchase these little individual filters that hang on the lip of your cup,  less mess than the tea ball.  It takes only a tablespoon of the Teeccino per cup.  I actually get about two cups out of one tablespoon.  Of course the second cup is not as strong as the first.  I also add just a few grains of stevia for sweet and I am good to go.

Where to start?  I am Keri's oldest sister Pam and as she mentioned I have MS.  I was diagnosed in 2003 just as my husband and I were planning to move back to Arizona.   My symptoms started after being involved in a 4 car pileup on the 101 freeway in California.  I was going 75 mph.  About 3 months after the accident I was finally feeling well enough to give my house a good cleaning, but after a couple of hours I was done and decided to take a shower.  I like hot showers and as I stepped into the shower with my left side first and the water hit me I was overcome with the most incredible burning sensation.  I quickly turned to my right side and nothing, it felt normal.  Needless to say I got right out of the shower and made a phone call to the chiropractor I was seeing.  He was baffled also and sent me to a neurologist.  Because I did not have insurance at the time, it took a year before I could have an MRI and was diagnosed with MS.  My husband and I were in shock and we were not terribly excited about the treatment options that we were offered.  We decided to wait until we had moved to pursue a course of treatment.

From the beginning I knew I wanted to go with a more natural or holistic approach to treatment.  Once we were settled in Arizona I began praying for God to lead me to the right doctor.  One day while looking in the phonebook I saw the advertisement for Partners in Health Care Naturally and felt led to email the doctor listed.  I asked her if she had ever treated anyone with MS and she answered back immediately that she had.  I have been working with her ever since.  Her name is Dr. Susan Godman and she is a NMD or naturopath.  In the beginning I was extremely fatigued and in a lot of pain.  But through perseverance on my part and her amazing intuitive sense of what  needs to be addressed I have had no major episodes and we have been able to manage the pain.  She also insists that I see a neurologist so I do that also, but he usually wants me to try the latest drug, which I politely refuse and we move on:-)

However this spring I started having extreme bouts of fatigue, which I could not overcome.  Susan felt that my Adrenal glands needed some help so she treated me with something called Licort and strongly suggested I take medical leave from work.  I started the Licort and reluctantly agreed to take a week off and then I decided to take a second week off when I realized I was feeling better.  I did not feel like the Licort had helped so she felt we needed to do a second batch to see what would happen.  In the meantime I went back to work and also took a vacation to see Keri and her family.  I was basically at what I call my normal level of fatigue, but after coming back I started to feel the fatigue coming back on in spades.  At my follow-up appointment in June, Susan felt that I really needed to take more time off from work, a month, and we would also begin treating the onset of menopause.  I also mentioned that as a side note, that I was really frustrated with the toenail fungus on my right foot and what the red rash at the top of my foot.  She said it was a yeast infection and that is I wanted to make it go away permanently I needed to follow a sugar free and yeast free diet.  Ugh!!!

My mom happened to have a copy of the Yeast Connection.  The first thing I wanted to know was there any connection to MS.  Sure enough  the author says that he has helped many patients with MS minimize or eliminate many of the symptoms associated with MS.  I was sold.  Hence the reason I am really wanting to follow this diet.  I have already eliminated gluten from my diet, which has helped tremendously.  So following this diet is not that much of a stretch for me.  I shared this with Keri because so much of what she deals with in regard to her health is similar to my symptoms.  I am excited she wants to try this as well.

Today is my first official day of leave.  Yesterday I spent most of the day in bed sleeping.  It is very hard for me to just lay low, but I know this is exactly what I need to do.  So the plan for today includes working on my banking, taking a nap, doing some laundry, taking a nap, reading a book, and fixing the food per the diet.

Embarking on a Journey with my Sister

Wow were does the time go? It has almost been a year since I posted here! Well that is about to change! My sister and I are starting on a no sugar diet today, well she really has already started, so I am starting today, and we are going to make every atempt to post something each day to track our progress and how it is helping with the effects of our illness. Pam, my sister, has MS, and the fatigue from this desease has caused her to have to take a month off from work. I will let her intraduce herself and give you an overview of what she is going through. We share many of the same symptoms yet I have no diagnosis of MS. This has become a mystery that still has not been solved, but after 7 years of trying to figure it out, I have come to the realization that it doesn't really matter what the doctors say you just have to be proactive and try everything you can to get better. They do know that I have a Central Pain Disorder they just don't know what caused it. I still have episodes of varying kinds with the biggest problem as of late stomach problems and bladdar issues. I am very hopeful that this will make a big difference!! We will keep you posted!!!