update!

I am seeing a holistic nutritionist because basically my doctor told me to take a pill that *might* help my symptoms with no other advice than to "No eat what upsets my stomach" (no shit right?) 

Don't get my wrong - he's a good doctor. Just...limited by the tools he chooses to use (pharmaceuticals).

So it turns out my darling DJ used to work with a guy who now is a Holistic Nutritionist at http://www.inspiredlife.ca/.  His name is Daniel. I really like Daniel. He's down to earth, practical and tells me straight up how it is.

So we're working on diet, supplements & some lifestyle stuff (like going to bed at a good hour *lol*, exercise routines, breathing exercises, etc.)

It's a tricky diet - a "food combining diet" along with a number of other instructions including:

• no alcohol
• no caffeine
• no sugar
• no spicy foods
• no citrus (except lemons)
• no refined flours/gluten or gliaden containing grains (no kidding)
• no dairy (ok yes - was already doing this)
• no caffeine
• no chocolate, candies or sweets
• no "white" foods like rice or wheat
• no soy (again - no kidding)
• only 5 servings of meat a week 

So basically - a little more restrictive than what I was eating before, but the food combining is pretty tricky (although I am finally starting to get the hang of it!)

So basically food is categorized as protein, starch, vegetables or fruit. And the basic rules are:

• no protein and starch in the same meal
• protein & vegetables = okay
• starch & vegetables = okay
• fruit must be eaten alone (well - there are subcategories of fruit incl. acid/sub acid fruits which you can eat with nuts) 
• If you just ate fruit, wait 30 to 45 minutes before eating anything else (1 hour would be a very safe time buffer). 
• If you just ate veggies and starch, you should wait at least 2.5 to 3 hours before eating anything else.
• If you just ate veggies and protein, you should wait at least 4 hours before eating anything else. 

Pretty touchy - so I have three main meals and a couple of fruit snacks and that's spaced around a bunch of supplements that need to be eaten with food, on an empty stomach, between meals...etc. etc.

You should see the excel spreadsheet I made with my meals/supplements planned out in 30 minute intervals. It's insane. Although it's soooo helpful! 

Anyhow - week one went well. Had HORRIFIC headaches and some weird rashes for the first few days but that seems to have mostly settled down.

I got my period today which means I was likely PMSing all week so...explains some of the stomach stuff that was going on, but also means that I probably won't see what my "normal" G.I. behaviour is for another week. (goooo hormones!)