Diet affects pain and physical challenges more than you think!

If you've not heard of Dr. Terry Wahls, watch this Ted talk video and be amazed at the results she is experiencing in the reversal of her own MS disease by changing her lifestyle and diet!!

I know it sure inspired me to keep at it. I have seen good results from knocking junk out of my diet as well, able to get off meds, moving more, less pain.

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxIowaCity-Dr-Terry-Wahls-Min

**If you are a TOSer who is experiencing improved health and less pain from diet changes, please email me, I'd love to interview you for a guest blog post!

My fellow TOSers, Don't hang in there & Gentle hugs~

TOS Diet- Days 1 and 2

 Day 1-
I'm weaning down off my regular large cup of strong coffee, in small increments.
Today I had a small cup of regular coffee, and then green tea after that during the day. Green tea is anti-inflam, and I do like it, so I'm making the switch.

I won't bore you with every tiny detail of what I'm eating, but I am writing it all down.
Had a quart of smoothie today. For dinner I poached some chicken in water, then added herbs to season and boiled a bag of frozen cauliflower then blended it up with a little salt and olive oil, was very smooth and yummy.
After dinner, I was VERY bloated. Need Gas-Ex.
Still feeling affects of last weeks nerve pain flareup in my neck and upper back, but arm is better, pain level 1-2 unless I fold laundry or try to shovel snow off the steps-then I'm throbbing.

Day 2-
Feeling good, pain started out at a 1-but it was a lazy, snowed-in day. Doing a lot of reading.
No coffee this morning, just caffeinated green tea with my Ezekiel Bread raisin toast.
The coffee withdrawal headache hit me about 3pm. I had some decaf coffee and it made the headache worse.
Had another quart of smoothie today.
I've had the munchies today. I am telling myself I can have anything I want as long as it is anti-inflammatory foods, so I had a few squares of 72% dark chocolate(approved in The Diet for a Pain Free Life book). After eating it I felt a little sick. Maybe green smoothie and chocolate does not mix so well?

Trying to drink more water. I'm going to get out an old Gatorade bottle and fill it daily as my water goal. That's 32 oz, an improvement for me. I hate to make myself drink water when I'm not feeling thirsty, makes me gaggy. I'll try adding cucumber or fruit to it-no sweetener though.
Day is winding down now, pains at a 2-3, which happens most days-gets worse as I go through the day.

Found this article about eating anti-inflam foods on Pinterest, a great article to read, leaves me feeling hopeful anyway.
http://tonetiki.com/2013/05/21/cure-your-nerve-pain-with-food/

Gentle hugs~

My TOS Diet Plan ~ Pre-diet

The last few days I've been gearing up to start the diet.
I have used The Green Smoothies Diet for a couple years, love it.
I just finished reading The Diet for a Pain Free Life yesterday afternoon. Overall, good information. I don't agree with a couple things, like using sugar substitutes-I believe fake chemicals have to be irritating and inflammation causing, so I will be using raw honey instead.
I believe in the healing properties of raw honey. My husband had a bad burn and I applied raw honey because I read an article in Mother Earth News that honey heals burns--and the next day the burn was gone!

As I mentioned, I will be gleaning from these books, not necessarily following every word. I'm also trying a few tips I've gleaned off Pinterest for my anti pain & inflammation diet.
I'm throwing it all together to make My TOS Diet.

First order of business in putting together my diet plan was to decide if I should stop my morning habit of one cup of strong coffee. (That's my sister and her family on the mug). I posted this question to my TOS facebook friends, and with their comments in mind, (and my bowel dependency) I've decided to go with caffeinated green tea in the morning (for the bowels), and decaf/herbal tea in the afternoons, with decaf coffee as an occasional treat. I won't know if cutting coffee helps unless I try, right?!

I made a blender full of smoothie with pain-reducing fruits: blueberries, ground flax seed, spinach, raw honey, apple, orange, strawberries. It made 4 pints, I've had one per day, gearing up for my one quart per day smoothie...or one large salad. Gotta get those anti-inflammatory greens in! I prefer smoothies because all the chopping for salads can be flare-inducing.

Next thing was to go grocery shopping. Not a small task in the crummy Midwest snowy weather we're having here. But my husband drove, and pushed the cart, and I pushed on the back of my head...seriously.
I was having a nerve pain flare, up my neck into back of my head. So I walked around the store pushing on the back of my head feeling really odd.
We loaded up on anti-inflammatory foods: nuts, fresh, frozen, non-sugar/salt canned fruits and veggies, fish, dark chocolate, ginger.  We walked right by the aisle with the chips, pop, cookies.
We're going to use Ezekiel bread- sprouted whole grain super healthy (& expensive! I need to learn to make it). And yes, I said we. The hubs decided he wants to do this with me to see if he can loose a few pounds.

I read that Gin-soaked golden raisins help with inflammatory pain, so I got supplies for that experiment.
I guess they're supposed to soak for a week or two before you eat the recommended 8-10 raisins per day.

Tomorrow's the big first day. We just had cheeseburgers for lunch, a last hurrah.
I pointed out we can still have burgers on the anti-inflammation diet, salmon or turkey, on whole wheat.
Which reminds me, The Diet for a Pain Free Life cuts out beef and pork because it purports those meats cause inflammatory response, so we will be cutting that out. However, we will be eating all-natural, lean, local venison. A tweak in the diet that may not work for everyone.

One final thing today- I'm an average size lady, I was up twenty pounds a year ago and could stand to loose another 10-15, but I have zero aspirations of 'skinny' or single digit clothing sizes. Zero. This is not a weight-loss diet for me. Being healthy and free of pain is my only goal, and if I happen to loose a couple pounds, then ok, but if I don't loose weight yet feel less pain-well then hallelujah! (I will say, not carrying the 20 lbs I lost last year has been helpful.)

So I will try to report every other day on how things are going.
Interesting time to be starting this diet, being in the middle of another unexpected nerve pain flareup.

I love to eat cookies or chocolate to self-soothe when I'm really hurting.
I will have to eat grapes and walnuts instead. Drink more water.
I sure hope this diet helps.