Hi everyone!  I haven’t written in forever.  This won’t be a long post– I just wanted to check in quickly.

Things have been good here.  As you probably know from my past posts, my Rheumatoid Arthritis returned with a vengeance in July.  I had many pains and swelling.  I was taking Humira every 2 weeks which controlled the disease up until this point.  I was so painful I ended up going on Methylprednisolone about 5 times since July.  This is a 6 day course of the steroid and while it made my aches and pains go away, it made me gain weight and feel puffy.  By the time I returned from work I felt awful, bloated and huge.  The brain fog was awful.

I knew that I had to do something because being on steroids all the time was not an option.  I had the elimination diet in the back of my mind because that worked for me before.  I was only on it for a few weeks and then my mom suddenly died.  After that summer I was never able to get back on track with it.  It can be hard to stick with.  You pretty much have to make everything from scratch and use pure and organic ingredients.

I was determined this time.

I think I wanted to prove to myself that regardless of life’s circumstances, I could do this successfully, SO I began the diet on a Monday after the weekend of our triathlon– in which we would be out of town for.  I shopped at 2 different stores to get everything I needed on Saturday morning before heading up to Bay City.  We hung out with our friends (we were staying the night at their house because they live about 10 minutes from the race) until late Saturday night.  On Sunday we got up early and finished the triathlon in about 3 hours– which was my goal.  My foot was ok because I was on steroids (last dose was that Saturday).

On a side note, which I don’t want to dwell on, the triathlon was AWESOME!  I was most worried about the canoeing portion as my upper body isn’t as strong and if the wind was strong or we were going against a strong current, I knew it would be very hard.  But I was able to paddle the entire time and we were not last 🙂  The bike part was also awesome and scenic, riding on closed roads over the bridge of the large river and through the little town.  The 5K was also very beautiful and scenic.  Hubby didn’t bring two pairs of shoes and was getting blisters from his shoes being wet from canoeing, and my foot was slightly painful- so we walked briskly the whole time.  The trail went right next to the river and on some boardwalks over the river.  Such a great place to be!  It was a great day and I definitely want to do another one sometime!

By the time we got home on Sunday it was like 4 or 5.  I spent the next several hours meal prepping for the week- something I knew would be crucial to the success of this diet.  I did have a successful week and thinking back, if I can do this after that crazy weekend then there is no excuse for me not to keep it up.

Tomorrow it will have been two weeks since starting.  My foot feels like it did when I was on steroids (minimal pain and I can wear most of my shoes, vs before when I could only wear flip flops).   I’m not completely pain free and am still pretty fatigued, but I’m hopeful that as my body continues to heal I will begin to feel better.  I never thought that  I could go this long without sugar and bread.

The diet definitely has its challenges.  For example, yesterday was a very busy Saturday.  We had a late lunch, then we were out and about and didn’t get home until around 8:00 pm.  We were all starving, but resisted the urge to stop for fast food on the way home.  I put in a whole chicken in the Instapot with some carrots, steamed some green beans and we had a late dinner but at least it was healthy!  Success 🙂

So.. that’s my story.  No alcohol– but that’s on the back burner for now.  I do want to get back to the steps and my recovery– but taking it one day at a time ❤