Naturopath Diet is a KILLER

After being told I am going to be waiting 6 weeks to see a specialists for my bowels I decided to take matters in to my own hands and see a Naturopath. I was hoping to get some advice that might help the pain to subside. The Naturopath was super helpful but she put me on a killer diet. It's suppose to cleanse my body of everything and allow all the swelling in my bowels to go down. After 6 weeks I will slowly be able to re-introduce items back in to my diet. Also I have had my blood tested for allergies. Once that comes back I will have a better idea of what I can maybe re-introduce back in to my diet earlier.

The items that I have to completely cut out for right now are:

- Wheat
- Eggs
- Dairy
- Nuts
- Corn
- Soy
- Citrus
- Tomatoes

This weekend has been extremely difficult trying to figure out what to eat and what I can't eat. I decided to go to Whole Foods today to see if I could find some healthy snacks and alternatives that don't have any of the above items. I ended up wandering around for an hour and got extremely frustrated in the end. I couldn't find anything. So I came to the conclussion that I should just head to Chapters and buy an allergen free cook book as well as an allergen free Bakers Handbook. Along with healthy and hopefully satisify meals I hope to be able to make some delicious cookies and muffins. It's going to be interesting because of course I don't know anyone who has made any of these recipes. It's going to be hit and miss but I hope to keep the blog updated with all the recipes I try.

Here are some foods that I have been forcing myself to like so far....







Gluten Free Bread

Peppermint Tea



Chicken Broth with Veggies & Rice Cakes

Rice Milk

First Attempt to Becoming Vegetarian

For the last three weeks I have been having some interesting aabdominal/bowel issues. I have gone for tests but am now going to be waiting at least 4-6 weeks for a colonoscopy. Apparently it will be the only way to see what is happening. I have had xrays, ultrasounds, blood tests and various other tests and they have not shown anything.
Now that the I have to sit and wait to see the specialist my doctor has advised me of a few things I can do in the meantime so I can show the specialist what I have done to my diet to see what helps and what doesn't. Firstly I need to start keeping a food journal. Along with journal all my food intake, time and exactly what was in it I need to start taking out certain foods to see if it will ease my pain. The first of his suggestions was meat and dairy. Both are sometimes hard to digest in adults. Dairy especially.... I know lots of people have choice words about dairy but as per my doctor 90% of adults can not properly digest dairy. This is his stats I am sure you can find stats out there that suggest dairy is healthy for all adults.
I am taking my doctors advice and cutting out dairy and started to drink Almond Milk. It is not that bad, of course it does take some time getting use to. At first it has a very earthy taste to it but after it while it tastes just fine.
Now my next big hurdle is taking out Meat.... AHHHH that leaves me with vegetarian alternatives such as tofu, veggie ground round etc. This is especially hard since my husband is an EXTREME meat eater. He loves a good hearty steak (and so do I).
Tonight was my first attempt at making two separate meals, one vegetarian for me and one meat filled for Ben. I decided to make a simple meal like spaghetti. Just to see how I fare with trying to organize two different meals. First I made the sauce with organic tomatoe sauce, organic diced tomatoes, low-sodium tomatoe paste. I added minced garlic, red peppers and onions. At last I added spices such as oregano, tarragon and marjoram and let it all simmer for a few hours.
After that I took the lean ground beef and browned it. Then I took the veggie ground round and warmed it up. Once the sauce was perfect I put some in to the beef and some in to the veggie ground round. Let them both simmer for another hour. I made whole wheat noodles. Once those were all done it was all ready to eat. Of course making two meals was a little difficult and it was only a simple meal. It did turn out great though. The spaghetti with veggie ground round was very very tasty. I liked it better than meat spaghetti. It's going to be interesting learning how to cook vegetarian for myself. I must admit I always like a good hamburger but I have heard there are some great veggie burgers out there as well.
Today I am off to see a Naturopath in the hopes of getting a better understanding of what is good and bad for my body. They will do various blood analysis. Hopefully will help with all my problems going on.

A Fun Weekend Cut Short.....

Had a great weekend away (up until Saturday evening....)
Went off to Whistler for my soon to be sister in laws stagette. We drove up on Friday night, got to the townhouse we were renting and headed out for a quick dinner in the village.
The townhouse was such a great idea. It was nice and homey which is good when you are away for an entire weekend from your hubby :(  The townhouse had a full pool and hot tub, slept 8 people and was only a 5 minute walk away from Whistler Village. It was AWESOME!!!!!
The plan for the whole weekend was pretty chill. Mostly planned hanging around, relaxing and just having a fun girls weekend away. On Saturday four of us went snowmobiling which was incredible. I am so happy that we got to do that, originally booked for an ATV tour but since there is still to much snow they took us snowmobiling (on a private tour) for the same price as an ATV tour. We went for 2.5 hrs on the snowmobiles and then had lunch at a lovely little hut. We headed back to our townhouse afterwards, I did a little shopping in the village.
We then dressed Robin up in her lovely outfit and headed out for dinner at Ric's Grill. It was really really awesome food and the night was just lovely. Unfortunately I have been having some problems with my abdomen for the last 3 weeks and right after dinner had severe pain in my abdomen. This happened last week and I could barely move. But this time it was MUCH worse. I could hardly move and when we got back to the townhouse I was in fetal position. I contemplated heading to the Whistler Emerg but knew all I would get there would be pain meds and then I would have to head home in the morning and deal with whatever was going on.
After waiting 30 mins (hoping the pain would subside after a few advils and maybe some pepto) it didnt go away so made the decision to drive home. Glad my sister in law Jenah was willing to drive me down to the emerg at Lions Gate. I was admitted at around 1am. I didnt get out the hospital till 5am. It was a LONG morning. Unfortunately left with pain but not as bad (since I had to drive myself home). Soooo I am waiting to head to my doctor on Tuesday after all the tests the hospital ran they will be ready for him to review. Then I will be headed to a specialists.
A lot of things are running through my mind at this point. The abdomen pain is horrible when it happens and I can't bare it. But I am hoping there is nothing that is seriously wrong with my bowels. Fingers crossed it's all good. So the weekend turned out to be a lot of fun but ended kind of horribly. Now I am just sitting back and waiting for some answers.

Hockey Fanatic.......

I absolutely LOVE hockey. Just thought I would point out that obvious fact if you haven't seen my Facebook page throughout the playoffs. It all started when I began playing at the ripe age of six. My parents asked me what sport I'd like to play and of course following in my big brothers foot steps I was quick to say "Hockey of course.... but not with girls." That was the truth, I didn't want to play on a girls team I wanted to play with the boys.  My parents without objection signed me up for an all boys league for pee wees. It was great, I got to learn the rules and skate like my big bros on the really big ice! I remained playing on an all boys team until I was 12 years old. At 12 it was getting awkward in the change room.... so I decided to quit and just play school sports. But my love for the game never stopped.

As far as following professional hockey I started out loving the Canucks as they were the home team and that's who my parents cheered for. Three years ago though I took a trip to Chicago with my dad. He always likes to go to sporting events in other cities across Canada and the US (if the tickets are reasonable). One of the many things he enjoys experiencing. It turned out that when we were there it was the start of the season and there was much buzz around town of the new young guns signed to the team. "They were all young, go getters with lots of heart!" I liked the sounds of it and was excited to head to United Centre to watch the Blackhawks play Detroit Red Wings. Of course I was expecting the Red Wings to destroy the Blackhawks. But interestingly enough, after 3 periods of non stop hitting and great hockey it was tied 3-3. The Blackhawks ended up pulling it out in the end in OT. It was an AWESOME game and after that they had my heart! I loved the Chicago Blackhawks!

When I got home I did some research on the team and found out that half the team were Canadians (3 from BC alone) as well as majority of the team were under 25 years old. I LOVED IT. They were the under dogs. Also I started to love the rivalry they brought to Vancouver. The Canucks hated the Blackhawks which helped my heart grow fonder of the Hawks. Well enough about all of that the reason why I am writing this blog is because when I was at Game 7 Canucks vs Hawks I ran in to some horrible Canucks fans. They were terrible winners and were extremely inappropriate at the end of the game. The way the two men acted made me dislike the Canucks fans....how DARE they be so rude even after they won. But I must admit that I don't like most Canucks fans (half of them don't know a thing about hockey). This is slowly changing though, I watched on CTV news about the guys always dressed in green spandex suits at Canucks games. They have been told by the NHL that they have some strict rules etc of what they are not allowed to do. I think this is ridiculous. These guys are HILARIOUS.... I mean at the Canucks vs Hawks games they have Vince Vaughn dressed up in a Canucks jersey and since they have been playing the Nashville Predators they have Carrie Underwood also dressed up in a Canucks jersey. These guys have some serious heart. I commend them and think they are bringing some great excitement for everyone to the games.

Here is the story from the Province: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Riding+Green+wave/4716465/story.html

Green Guys on Global News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUrpsM7N4yc&feature=related

As well as here is some youtube videos of their amazing antics!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkXvwG8xKJI&feature=related

My Creative Side....

Money has been a tight thing around our house as of well a year ago when we decided to purchase a house. Along with paying a mortgage now we are also paying to renovate it to our liking. This is awesome but means that I can no longer spend money as I please.... a hard concept for me to learn. Since high school I have been always working full-time and well....enjoying my pay cheques. I loved having the freedom to buy what I want and well be a little irresponsible. BUT since now my concern is paying the mortgage, the reno and putting food on the table I am learning to be more frugal. Ben's really been enforcing his "Dutch Cheapness" on me. I laugh now about it but over the last year it really has been a learning experience for me.
My new little projects have been searching for used furniture to see what I can sand down and re-paint. I can't afford anything brand spanking new but can afford some used furniture that just needs a little TLC. Sooo I started my hunt looking for a small three drawer dresser and a couple of night stands but I have come up short handed.... After hours on craigslist I have only found a whole lot of crap. But on top of that my family had me convinced that restoring old furniture is a waste of my time. "To re-finish something will take hours and hours, you might as well buy something that's brand new and all done."
In hearing that I thought that I couldn't give up that easily (plus I am really stubborn and wanted to prove them all wrong!) I decided to start with a much smaller project so I could see what it would be like. I decided I would look for a large wicker laundry basket for my bedroom. After only spending 20mins on craigslist VOILA, I had found one for only $10. I went and immediately picked it up, got it home and planned my attack. I went to home depot and bought a $7 wicker spray paint in dark brown. I was soooo excited to take it home and get started.

After 10 mins of spraying it I was excited, I had done this with my very own hands!!! After a few coats (I used the entire spray paint bottle) it looked FANTASTIC!!! I am sooooo proud of myself, before I would have forked out the $45-$55 to buy a brand new one and this one only cost me $17 and approx 25 mins of my time (in total spraying the three coats).

Enjoy pics of my exciting little project...more bigger ones to come!!!

Final Product!!!