Day 90!

I've survived 90 days on this diet!

Good things:

• I apparently have pretty awesome will power
• I lost a lot of weight (too fast), and have stabilized at a pretty good weight for my size, hooray!
• I'm a lot less bloated than I used to be
• I'm eating a lot less sugar and hardly any chemicals
• I have a little less anxiety over food, since the rules of the diet are pretty clear cut.  Before the diet i was very overwhelmed with all of the conflicting advice!  
• I like knowing that I might have taken a major step toward healing my body, even if I can't see it yet

Bad things:

• I'm still missing out on a lot nutritionally since I'm having so much trouble introducing new foods.  
• Life is complicated, so when I have bad days I never know if it was some random factor from life (stress, germs, hormones, sleep) or a new food.
• The diet is a lot of work, often overwhelming.  Sometimes I need a convenience food!  Bananas are the closest thing right now... but unfortunately it seems to be nearly impossible to buy a ripe banana, so if I haven't planned ahead properly (or if my family eats them) it's a problem.
• I'm still sick.  Quite sick.  I appear to be physically healthy, but I still can't leave the house.  My quality of life is currently pretty low in that regard.  Interrupted sleep and lots of bathroom anxiety.  
• So, so many of the recipes recommended for this diet include dairy and/or eggs... both of which I've ruled out for a while.  I don't even plan to try nuts or peanuts again for at least a few more weeks... BORING.  I need to hurry up and find some vegetables that I can introduce successfully!!  What vegetables don't cause gas or irritate?  So few!  Everything is either a nightshade, a legume, or related to broccoli.  And greens are out too... since spinach was a big fail.  I'm serious... what else is there?  I'm currently eating carrots, winter and summer squashes and asparagus.  Next up is... beets?  Is that all there is?  I might try tomatoes or peppers soon too, even though they're nightshades.  Dying to add in garlic and onion, but they're crazy gas producers...

Moving forward, I:

• Will stick to the rules for at least a little while longer, hoping to get a stretch of relatively little stress and germs, see if i can finally establish a baseline of "safe" foods
• Will consider adding in digestive enzymes to see if they help
• Will continue with Entyvio treatments
• Will continue with the idea of reintroducing foods to try to pinpoint intolerances
• Will avoid eggs at all costs (I think that's what sent me into my recent downward spiral... which is in alignment with past experience)
• Might relax the rules of the diet if I don't see major improvement kick in soon... things like jarred applesauce and canned tomatoes might become acceptable in my m ind... right now they're "illegal" because they MIGHT be made with sugar that isn't listed on the label.

Desperation Recipe of the day: Coconut oil glazed frozen banana coins

Ingredients:

• Frozen banana
• Liquid Coconut Oil (microwave for 30 seconds if solid)

Instructions:

1. Slice frozen banana into coins
2. Dip in coconut oil, place on a plate or parchment for a moment to so that coconut oil will harden around banana
3. Consume immediately (banana melts fast and turns liquidy and weird)