Saturday, 23 January 2016

The Diet for Recovery

Unfortunately I am not going to talk about any quick fix diet for recovery. After being so sick for so long it is going to take a long time to feel normal again. My own dietician says she gives her own clients a year for full recovery from the damage that has been done.

I am in the VERY early stages of my new diet, I officially started gluten free back at the end of November 2015, but I don't really think that counts as I wasn't fueling my body in the way that I should have been. That being said, I had been unable to get out of bed at the beginning, didn't have the energy to walk around the shops without feeling like I was going to pass out and on some days could barely even muster the energy to stand in the shower...washing and drying my hair was one of the hardest tasks imaginable and required far too much energy that I just didn't have, even after lying in bed all day. It sounds ridiculous but it's true. A week or 2 since into the diet in November I noticed a big change that seemed to just happen all of a sudden nobody else around me seemed to be noticing but I was suddenly able to walk around the shops without having to go to the car. I was afraid to push myself though, afraid that if I pushed myself too hard I might end up back where I started as my body had been doing nothing for so long. Don't get me wrong, I didn't have boundless energy but it was a drastic improvement from what I did have.

Now I am still suffering from fatigue and some of the ataxia symotoms, I often find myself battling with myself, 'why do I still feel like this? I'm doing everything I should?'. I forget how far I have come and how far I have yet to go. I forget the extent of the damage in my intestine and the fact that my body is constantly working to repair it. This is why fueling your body is key to your recovery.

As I said I saw a dietician for the first time last week and here is some of the areas that I myself was lacking:
I get these on prescription from my GP.




  1. Vitamins and Minerals etc.
           It is SO important to have these checked by a simple blood test with your GP. It is so common for anyone with Coeliac disease to have absorption problems and this could be what is hindering our recovery. The most important ones in my opinion are : Iron, folate iron/iron stores, Vitamin D, Omega 3 and B12. I personally do not eat fish as I just cannot develop a taste for it so the omega 3 supplement is really beneficial for me especially considering the fact that I have the ataxia symptoms. I also have low Vitamin D so I take Desunin 800IU once a day.




    
     2. Probiotic
        
       This didn't even cross my mind but makes so much sense. It is very helpful to take a probiotic to Alflorex. I can't say I notice any differences but then again it's probably helping my insides massively.
help the good bacteria in our intestines as we are lucky if we have any left by the time we are diagnosed. The probiotic I am taking is






      3. Fibre

      I had really been struggling with this because every cereal you could get fibre from I couldn't have, or so I thought. Buckwheat flakes, millet flake porridge and Quinoa flake porridge are brilliant for fibre. I myself have taken to the Kelkin rice and millet flake porridge and I absolutely love it. I also add some mixed milled seeds to this as the antioxidents in the seeds are so beneficial to us and they are full of so many vitamins and minerals that we all need and don't get much of. Check out all the products I use on my instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BAe74XwFLd4/?taken-by=pommeberries .You should try to include as much fibre as you can in your breakfast so you don't have to be as cautious of whether your eating brown or white pasta, rice or bread throughout the rest of the day.

 
4. Protein
    
      I have been told that protein is the most important part of my diet. With this condition we need to eat double the amount of protein as anyone else on a day to day basis. I have been told to aim for 75g in both lunch and dinner. I find this pretty difficult as even a body builder wouldn't eat this much but I think the key is to aim for that. Even if at lunch you do not feel like eating it is important to try and eat the protein part of the meal. Again visit my instagram to see some examples of the meals I chose to eat.

   5. Dairy

     I have found the dairy tends to upset my stomach a bit, I am not lactose intolerant but I find the dairy is not helping my gut repair itself. For this reason I have opted for either almond milk or lactose free milk in my porridge and tea etc. HOWEVER, I ALWAYS include dairy in my daily diet in some form. I might have a yoghurt with some milled seeds, a cup of tea with some cows milk or some ice cream. This is essential as when the villi are repairing themselves if we have eliminated dairy for our diet the lactose parts at the end of our villi will not reform because there will be no need for them and we will end up being dairy intolerant. As well as this we need the calcium because of the increased risk of osteoporosis.

    6. Snacks

     During this time it is so important not to eat any products that are not labelled gluten free or included in any of the coeliac guide books. I myself find I am constantly snacking on the harvest morn chocolate coated rice cake bars, they are such a nice treat, I will put up a picture of them on my instagram. Rice cakes and peanut butter or cashew nut butter are also a really nice treat. In terms of the gluten free cakes and biscuits we should try to limit our intake of these as they really are not good for our recovery. The fact that these products are baked 3 times in order to preserve them it is not easy for our stomachs to digest them so we should not be putting it through this too often as it does not aid recovery. 2-3 times a week is okay.
This book should become your bible during the first few months post diagnoses.

    7. Exercise
   
      This was one of the hardest things for me. Because I have been so inactive and bed bound my body is not able for intense exercise anymore or exercise at all for that matter. I was told to start with 10 minutes a day. I walk 2.5km 5 to 6 days a week just to get started. I will up this as time goes on but it is very important that this is a gradual process as our body has gone through so much over the time we have been sick. The fact that I was bed bound and very inactive has had a massive impact on my muscles and I would say that I have lost a lot of muscle. To fix this I am hoping to start a pilates class next week.


I know this is a lot of information to digest but it is information I wish I had of had access to when I was first diagnosed. It's hard to change your life so much, it's hard to push yourself, you don't even know if you are physically able to push yourself and your afraid of pushing yourself too far but you won't know until you try. I'm glad I did because it is the first step in getting my independence and confidence in myself back. To be honest I feel great, don't get me wrong I still get my ups and downs of tiredness and no energy but I'm at a point where I never thought I would see again.

The key to getting better is helping yourself, nobody else can do it for you. You need to take control and be determined and get your life back.