Our first post! Brendan and I are ready to overhaul our lives. We have been married for two years and have a one-year old daughter and have discovered that we have not created a harmonious family life for ourselves. When I asked Brendan earlier today how he would describe his current life, he said, "Constant madness, interrupted with constant pain and spurts of happiness."
I have been ready to "simplify" my life for awhile now, but haven't really been sure what that meant. I recently read Born to Run and currently am reading No Impact Man and both books have helped me begin to shape my definition of living simply. While I have been dreaming about a simple life, Brendan has been dealing with various medical complaints. When I talk about running every day he has trouble even letting me finish my sentence because he doesn't feel he is up to running every day. I started this blog to see if there is a way we can combine both of our desires to end the hurried rat race we do every day and find a way to help him live more healthfully.
There are three key areas we both need to work on to be more energized and ready to tackle the day: Eating, Sleeping, and Exercising.
Eating: Brendan has a fructose intolerance, which means absolutely no high fructose corn syrup and avoiding too much sugar, natural or processed. After avoiding fructose for almost two years he was still having abdominal pain and other issues so it was suggested by a doctor that he go gluten free and see how he felt. He has been gluten free for almost a year and has seen some improvement, but not enough to eliminate his stomach problems. He has been tested for every digestive issue imaginable and has had colonoscopies periodically in the five years I have known him. Every time he has a test done the results are the same: the doctor finds nothing wrong with him and suggests another specialist.
At my suggestion, he saw a dietitian. She suggested a food journal and an elimination diet. He is supposed to eat nothing but food that he knows for sure are "safe" for him to eat, which is basically potatoes, meat and rice- not exactly a buffet to choose from. Theoretically a person does this for 6-8 weeks until the abdominal pain and symptoms stop and then slowly adds food in to see what foods bother him. Brendan has been doing this for three months and counting and has had no results, other than a 27 lb. weight loss and a lack of interest in the bland food he is allowed. I am ready to go completely rogue and start eating organic and see how he does. Brendan however, has put forth three months of effort into this elimination diet and to start going off of it now would ruin the work he has put in thus far. For now, he is sticking to the elimination diet and meets with the dietitian again in a week and a half.
My eating: It is time consuming to cook so we often get take out. Brendan can only have Wendy's and maybe Burger King- a lot of fast food places put gluten fillers in their beef patties- yuck. We also enjoy Chipotle at least once a week and Outback (curbside to go, $10 special, you can't go wrong). However, we are realizing these are not the healthiest options, especially when our daughter wants a bite of whatever we are eating. After reading Born to Run I have been interested in cutting meat out of my diet, but want to learn more about vegetarianism before I do. We started watching Forks over Knives at Brendan's brother's house last night and it was VERY interesting. Brendan is questioning his diet more than ever. Here we are watching a documentary telling us that eating meat promotes cancer and heart problems and meat is one of the few things Brendan can eat right now.
The end goal for me would be home-cooked meals every night made from fresh produce from local farmers. If we choose to include meat in our diets, I want to start buying from local farms as well. My cousins own beef cattle and I have never bought from them. I want to start small so right now I would just be happy with home-cooked meals every night. I want to go to a market with Brendan soon!
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