Catching Up
It’s been a rough couple of weeks. I haven’t been blogging, I haven’t been running, I haven’t even been on much of any social media because sitting at the computer paying attention to one thing for that long has just been too much work. Heck, I’ve even been watching Netflix instead of reading which isn’t much like me.
On the animal front out of the 2 chickens I have left one began crowing – seriously. I have a third rooster out of my 4 pullets, and I can’t keep one chicken by itself so I’m looking for a good home for both of them. If I try again I’ll for certain get them from a breeder instead of a feed store. It never even occurred to me that they’d sex 3 out of 4 wrong. At least I live in an area where it isn’t too hard to find them good homes.
Also this week my 13 year old dog Lucky who has arthritis and nerve damage in her legs has begun randomly falling down even when she is just standing still. Her legs have been bad and the other dogs have knocked her down before, but it wasn’t like this. Not fun but not unexpected.
Oh, and my son brought home a little couple day old kitten who was the only survivor of a litter from a hoarder’s house. We knew it had about 1% chance of making it but it started eating, made it through the night, and then didn’t make it through the next day. I couldn’t tell my son to leave it to die but it was definitely a rough life lesson for the kids. I did use it as an opportunity to talk about how they made his last day so much better than it would have been and sometimes that’s all you can do.
These are things I can’t change.
I don’t like to sound so negative. On the plus side my other two dogs are happy healthy and obnoxious as always, the rats are healthy and playful as always, and the bunny is still awesome though she/he has decided that chewing on floorboards is a great way to pass the time.
On the everything else front my ulcerative colitis which has been in remission for an entire year is rearing it’s ugly head again. It isn’t horrible yet, I usually feel a bit sick after eating or after drinking anything cold or carbonated but I still CAN eat and that’s always a plus. Half of the time I feel almost normal and the other half I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus. I’m absolutely not up for running or even walking outside. Thanks to an insanely high deductible I really can’t afford to go to the doctor for it. I’ve decided it’s time to take things into my own hands and see if I can control it through diet.
I know what things make me feel sicker. Being a vegetarian I don’t have to worry about red meat, which is said to make it worse. Strangely I can’t eat any raw fruits or vegetables, everything has to be super-cooked. No booze though it seems I can tolerate sangria , I’m *trying* to be smart and not test that theory. But stress is a trigger too and some days it’s a toss up as to which is the worst of two evils. Dairy is a trigger too. The doctor told me way back when to avoid glutton, but as a vegetarian we decided that would limit my food too much and it was never brought up again.
You might be surprised at how hard it is to follow the rules even when you know that breaking them will only do you harm. There’s only one frozen pizza in the freezer, I’ll just eat it and then it won’t be there to temp me anymore. I’ll just have a bowl of ice cream tonight, and then I’ll stop eating it… till the next grocery store visit that is.
This is something I can change.
So I’ve decided it’s time to go all in. For the rest of July I’m changing my vegan Meatless Mondays to every day, and going vegan for the rest of the month. I’m not going to stock up on fake cheese and such, I’m going to try and eat real foods as much as I can. I’m also cutting out wheat and rye. I don’t plan on going glutton free but I am going to avoid most of it until I’m firmly back in remission. Will it make a difference? Only time will tell but it certainly can’t hurt.
I am making one exception if I feel good – Friday nights I usually go to the BarFly for dinner. It’s a bar / mostly seafood restaurant in Safety Harbor. They’ve had nothing on the menu vegetarian but always let me special order vegetarian quesadillas or nachos anyways (and they make them GOOD). Then I went in last Friday and they had added both to their new menu! Granted I’m sure other people were asking for them too, but I’m certainly not going to start asking them to modify their newly vegetarian menu items when they just added them! At least not yet. 🙂
So wish me luck and if you have any tips for a cheese addict going vegan or blogs you recommend let me know!
I’m sorry you are having such a rough time, Lisa. Big hugs!
I do like the idea of a Vegan challenge!! I might try that for August! Can’t wait to hear how you do for July. Maybe you can share some recipes? I get stuck in ruts and will eat nothing but lettuce.
Haha, I wish. Lettuce is off my list of edibles at the moment. I will be posting recipes on Mondays!
Good luck with getting your condition under control. I know what it can be to struggle with eating something even though you know it will cause you harm. :/ I am behind you on the vegan diet. It sounds like a great plan of attack. Keep us updated!
HI Kinda, Glad to see you catching up. A useful life lesson for your kids with the kitten. The only suggestion I would have about going completely vegan is that you might want to avoid onions and garlic for a while as they thin the blood even when it no longer needs thinning.
That’s true, but if I gave up onion and garlic my Italian family would disown me! I think that would be even harder than giving up dairy.
So sorry you haven’t been feeling well, but I’m glad you are blogging about it! I have had to give up dairy recently, but I’ve just found ways to resist the temptations. I’ve been exploring Indian cooking and just looking at the vegan recipes. I do eat meat, fish and chicken, so I have a lot more options than you do. I also tend to work on eating brown rice, kasha or quinoa, as these do not have gluten and are healthy and filling.
Brown rice and quinoa are both really good, I use both of them quite a bit!
Oh my…sometimes life can throw us more than a few curve balls…but you have a big mitt! I just know it. It’ sounds trite to say you’ll look back on this an laugh…maybe that won’t happen but one thing for sure, it will be in your rear view mirror at some point. There’s always that! Be better,,,stay well…stay in touch and let us know how you are doing:)
There is always something to laugh about. Even when I don’t think so my kids or one of the 4 legged family members will show me I’m wrong! 🙂
I’m wishing you luck as requested. Sometimes life just dumps on you. On the bright side, next month may be much better. Here’s hoping!
You asked about a vegetarian blog that may help you. Here is one by Mina Joshi – she’s been providing some great recipes – the link to her last post is http://www.givemesomespice.com/2014/06/cherry-jam/
I hope you feel better soon.
Lenie
Thanks Lenie. Some of my recipes are Gluten free too and a lot of people suffering from the celiac disease follow it .
First, good luck as you make these changes. I cooked for my husband and I from the Engine 2 Diet (vegan) for about 6 months. I did it hoping that change would bring my cholesterol down – it didn’t. So I have been taking plant sterols since then and so far, so good. Just like this could change, our lives are always in change. All this really will pass. And it sounds like you are not stuck so you’re already moving past it. Keep us posted.
I like Engine 2 Diet’s site, I’m surprised it didn’t work for him! I’m glad to hear he found something that is helping now, good luck!
Hi Kinda,
Nice to make your acquaintance. I like the grace with which you handled a life lesson with your children. Death is part of life, and the sooner they learn it, the less of a shock it will be when reality is catching up with them.
Hello; I’m so sorry to hear all this. sometimes things just hit you all at once like that. I haven’t read one of your posts since you got the chickens. I do remember that you can’t have roosters, so getting three out of four must be a bummer. I have a middle aged doggie of my own and we worry about her all the time. sounds like the kids and critters keep you busy and sometimes entertained. my uncle has some sort of disease where he has a blockage in his heart. over the years his body has added on lateral veins i think it is so he isn’t in any danger. but he doesn’t like the pain he gets from it during exercising so he is going vegan thinking he can beat his illness or condition. and there is nothing wrong with replacing books with net flicks. some days i read, some days i watch trash tv and other days i listen to old time radio shows on my laptop. you need to do what you can to lower your stress until the colitis is in remission again so give yourself permission. let us know if we can help. take care, max
A big hug and a virtual Indian cup of tea of tea awaits you. Hope you feel better soon. As Lenie mentioned above = do take a look at my blog for some inspiration recipes. I use a lot of chick pea flour, rice flour and millet flour in my recipes which may be helpful for you. It’s not easy when you are not well.
While I empathize with you with regards to your health and struggles, I must admit how badly I want to hang out at your house! I eventually want chickens, goats and pea fowl when my husband and I get the opportunity to retire to our West Texas ranch property. But dogs, rats and bunnies too? Sounds like fun. I wish you well in your vegan endeavors too. I’d tell you to go check out my blog but most of my recipes aren’t vegan. Lots and lots of Pinterest boards out there though that are!