diet – Page 2 – Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

The Saga of the Microbiome Diet

I’m three weeks, two days, fourteen hours and fifty-three minutes (as of writing this) into my three month Microbiome Diet challenge. When this blog posts, I’ll be further along in case you just felt as bad for me as I did writing that.

Our obsession and need for food is fascinating. Obviously we need to eat to live, though I have always been someone who lives to eat. I love food. This may be the first time in my life I’m eating to live. I’ve cut gluten (which I’ve done for the past five years anyway), dairy, and sugar (including maple syrup and honey, but excluding fruit). Whole foods do taste good, but on this diet I never overeat, and I find I’m not actually that inclined to eat.

Here’s my problem. I love carbs and cheese. And apparently if I can’t eat them I don’t really want anything else. I would never have told you that I didn’t like meat, but I find myself having to force feed myself meat. I’ve discovered I don’t like chicken. I’ll eat it. Sometimes it even tastes good, like when it’s wrapped in bacon, but I could happily pass on the stuff. When I was […]

The Saga of the Microbiome DietMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:18:32-05:00

Purging: The Microbiome Diet & the Minimalism Game

The Food Part: Gut-friendly food

I’m amazed. Giving up dairy, sugar and most grains last Monday hasn’t been as hard as it normally is. The only thing I can think of that accounts for the difference is that I felt really ready and motivated to try this experiment.

Normally when I give up sugar for a month, I think about sweets—ice cream, muffins, and chocolate in any form—hourly. I’m truly in awe that I’ve been okay…that is until last Thursday—four days in—when I drove by Starbucks. Now, I’m not a big coffee drinker. In fact I don’t like it. Still a couple years ago, I started needing a little caffeine fix on Thursday afternoons. I get a mocha to mask the taste of coffee and very often I only drink half. I found myself pining as I drove past the green goddess. And the urge didn’t dissipate until Sunday. It didn’t help that I was visiting a friend in New York where Portland’s Stumptown Coffee was in nearly every shop. Stumptown is my favorite, and I longed to go inside a small coffee house with a good conversation […]

Purging: The Microbiome Diet & the Minimalism GameMaggie Downie2017-12-29T21:17:52-05:00

Come Purge with Me

Over the weekend I was in central Pennsylvania, which is known for the best potato chip. The secret ingredient is lard, which makes everything better. I know this because my Grandma’s pie crust has lard and it is delicious. Pie crust aside, I know this because I love food. I love it too much. So much that trying one bag of potato chips seemed insufficient, so my friends and I decided to have a chip taste test. Kay and Ray’s was the winner, but we got to go through multiple bags and multiple brands. I’m pretty sure I still feel the grease dripping out of my pores.

With this as just one example of how poorly I’ve been eating, I’ve decided it has to stop. I need to make a change for my waistline, but more importantly for how I feel. And even more importantly for the parts of me that I don’t feel—arteries, kidneys, liver—but that I want to fuel in a better and healthier way.

Starting Monday, May 9th I’m going back to my December Detox. See the link for full details. I’m making a few tweaks. I’ll be eating sweet potatoes, quinoa, some rice, and legumes if […]

Come Purge with MeMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:22:55-05:00

Gluten Free: Hashimotos Antibodies

So I’ve been gluten free for about three months with as far as I know only one accidental gluten consumption. If you’ve read some earlier blogs you know that I went gluten-free because I was diagnosed with hashimotos and hypothyroidism. I didn’t want to have to go on medication for the rest of my life (my PCP’s suggestion) and so I thought I would try my naturopath’s suggestion (a gluten free diet). My blood work after being gluten-free for three months showed positive results. My thyroid was back in the normal range. And the antibodies for my hashitmotos (an autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid) were down 20-percent. I can’t say for sure that this had to do with gluten. According to my PCP it’s completely random, which is typical of thyroid problems. They fluctuate. According to my naturopath it is probably a combination of being gluten-free, supplements, and the body being random. Either way I was happy with […]

Gluten Free: Hashimotos AntibodiesMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:32-04:00

Hashimotos: Why I’m Gluten Free

So my real reason for doing this two-month gluten free diet is because on February 16th I found out I have Hashimoto’s Disease. I feel silly saying it. It sounds made up. And in the scheme of so many things a person could have, it is nothing.

Hashimotos is an autoimmune disease that attacks your thyroid, most likely resulting in hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid). The first opinion I got thought I already had hypothyroidism. The second opinion was that I had subclinical hypothyroidism and need to monitor it every three months since my thyroid was functioning on the very low end of normal even though my pituitary gland was pumping out excess hormones to convince my thyroid to work.

The first opinion—a naturopath—suggested a gluten-free diet to try and keep the autoimmune disease at bay and therefore minimize the attack on my thyroid. The second opinion—my PCP and an MD—said there was nothing I could do and that I would end up with full blown hypothyroidism but it could be years down the road. I decided to take the advice of […]

Hashimotos: Why I’m Gluten FreeMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:35-04:00