I love experimenting. Not in the "which hair color looks best" way or in the "follow these steps" in science class way. I mean really collecting data, manipulating variables, and testing hypotheses. (Quick side note: what is that was what high school science classes were really about? In hind sight those classes were almost closer to history than the scientific method) I am sad to say that this post has been ear-marked in my blog queue for quite a while. Today I found it while scanning some documents (please don't ask me how I found it while doing that) and even though my little lady bug is awake, I really want to write about this (which is the case of almost everything on this blog, hence why I started a second blog instead of shoving all of these into my design blog).
I still do not know if my digestion is more sensitive after having my daughter, or if I am just so tired that I'm less willing to subconsciously block out the symptoms. I do know that I have more data points to use as a result of breastfeeding. So many times when chatting with other mamas I have heard things like "I never would have guessed, but I tried it and it worked" and now I have several instances of that myself. The first was detergent related (who would have thought the sensititivty rash would only show up on the babe's face?!) and then I heard it with milk specifically. I never would have thought cutting it from my diet would eliminate virtually all the spit ups. I assumed spitting up was part of baby's job. So that got me thinking, what else could I be eating that I'm not really digesting well. And if I'm not digesting something well, wouldn't that mean that my body isn't getting all the available nutrients from said food item.
So with that thought in mind and the full support of my husband (he accepted the challenge of giving up eggs at breakfast time) I went on an elimination diet. Well first I went in search of a good resource to support me. I had the general idea of what an elimination diet was, and I knew that I needed A) recipes and ideas to fill me up, B) a really clear game plan to follow not just general guidelines, and C) support for what I do after the elimination diet and challenges are complete. There are plenty of resources I found online and really didn't know how to distinguish between them all. So I found one that supported a non-profit organization my cousin is involved with (at least that's a bit rational) plus I was able to download the PDF (there is something about having to wait any amount of time to begin that really didn't work for me).
I am now in the challenge stage of the elimination diet, where I am adding in foods for a day to gauge my reaction (I will admit that I'm not testing milk, because the though of drinking 3 cups of milk in a day grosses me out). I am also able to gauge Evelyn's reactions. During the elimination period, she ONLY spit up extra breastmilk. I was amazed. I also felt great (assuming I had a plan and food ready to eat, sometimes that didn't happen). There were a few notable exceptions that made it difficult, but I think that we have found some excellent new recipes that give us greater freedom in what we eat. I honestly would not mind always eating on the elimination diet.
What I enjoy the most is being in control. I was able to set up my own experiment to test my own food sensitivities, in my own home, without any additional equipment. Just a new kind of grocery list and some new go to recipes. I didn't need to schedule a doctor appointment, deal with expensive lab tests, or defer to any expert's opinions. It was just me taking control of what I put in my body and then testing a few foods to see what happens. I feel like I have a much better sense of how my body (and my daughter's body) works now. I know that modern medicine has its place, but gosh is it empowering to be able to make these discoveries on my own!
The book I used as a resource can be found at EliminationDietRD.com
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