I am on a journey at the moment. It’s not the kind I usually take you on. It is one of those we would prefer not to take, truth be told. But if we can somehow get perspective on these things Life throws at us, it makes the journey, if not easier, at least not wasted. So I’ve put my big girl panties on. I’ve had health issues all my life that were difficult to categorise. Not the very grim kind, mostly, but the kind that Modern Medicine doesn’t know much about; the kind with which one has to grapple, or suffer the consequences. Suffering implies misery. I don’t want misery; so I grapple!

Coconut milk with chia seeds, pecans and berries

The challenge I’m dealing with at the moment is food related. This is the third elimination diet in the last 20 years. Each time was for different symptoms and each time it did work for a period of time. Always there is a steep learning curve. But our bodies, like our lives, don’t stand still. They change, and so we must change how we look after them. I have made it my business to read a lot of health material over the years, to educate myself, and take some responsibility for helping myself; because goodness knows the medical specialists have had little to offer.

We are all works in progress.

Ghost gum

I don’t want to bore you with physiological and nutritional details. It fills the volumes I have read and continue to read. But you may be curious, what I have learned so far, this time around.

• We humans are extremely creative and adaptable when sufficiently prodded, er… motivated.
• Prepare high quality foods in simple ways, instead of poor quality foods with sauces, bells and whistles.
• My little problems are nothing. There are people with huge Life challenges. Mine are small.
• I have a pile of new recipes. (which I have shared in past posts and will continue to share)
• Not all almond milk is created equally! (My homemade recipe here)
• If it even needs to be said, the Internet is a fantastic resource.
• A fun diversion as a break from the challenge is helpful. Mine has been a photography course. Of which, hopefully, you will be the beneficiary!

stir-fried celery, snow peas and almonds with egg ribbons

Since January I have revamped our diet, mostly mine, but my husband is wonderfully flexible with most of it. To the outside observer, there was nothing wrong with my diet before. It was pretty darned healthy. But what is healthy for one, can be problematic for another.

I had experienced considerable improvement in a couple of areas, but one thing remained a problem. The areas in my body where I have arthritis, mostly my lower back, were quite sore and aching. Through my reading I learned that sometimes dairy can cause inflammation. Having exhausted most of the things I knew to try, and prayed to the great Jersey Cow God with no response, I decided to make one more big change and see what happened. Within a week of purging dairy from my diet much of the soreness and aching abated. It continued to improve the second week. I have two weeks yet to go before I can try to reintroduce certain dairy items to my diet to see if the inflammation returns… or not. We prefer not, of course, but we shall see.

Unfortunately this period of time coincided with my birthday. What does one do to remain on track but still cut loose a bit?

grilled salmon and stir fried vegetables

One has delicious salmon cooked on the barbecue grill plate (by one’s husband, preferably), with perfectly stir fried vegetables to accompany. Okay, I made the veggies.

birthday bubbles

One has a single glass of one’s favourite bubbles.

And One has a birthday banana.

toasted pecans and banana

No party or cake or further celebration required; a single, gorgeous banana, arranged beautifully on a small French plate with toasted pecans. Four months without a banana was enough. Let them eat cake, I’ll have more bananas, please.

And one for the road.