How’s that for an ironic title?
So, here is the deal: for the first time in my life, I am following a food plan, or a diet. It’s weird, very abnormal for me, and taking some serious adjustments to my daily lifestyle. And yes, for many of you, it is crazy cliche. Let’s chat!
As most of y’all know, I have chronic asthma and have suffered from the side effects for years. I carry a rescue inhaler, of course, but I also take a dry inhaled steroid called Pulmicort. When left untreated, my lungs are naturally inflamed and I breathe at ~55% of what a female of my size should be at. In short, my lungs suck.
Until recently, my meds were working fine and everything was kosher. However, over the past six months, I have noticed that my symptoms were getting worse: my throat was constantly draining, I was developing thick mucous, and I was always coughing and clearing my throat, trying to get the inflamed crap out of there. In fact, I was even developing blisters on the roof of my mouth from swallowing so hard. No bueno y’all.
I spoke with my doc during my last visit, and she suggested that I may have food intolerances that have actually been the lifelong cause of my asthma. She tested me for a gluten allergy (allergies and intolerances are different), but it came back negative. However, she said that food intolerance tests were frequently inaccurate, and the only sure way to figure it out was by trying an “elimination diet.” Naturally, I ignored her advice because I’ve never been one to diet or follow a food plan: I see food and I eat it! In fact, it’s a running joke in my family that I am the human garbage disposal. I am non-discriminatory when it comes to food! However, with my symptoms becoming more exacerbated by the day, I decided that maybe it was worth 30 days of a restricted diet. After all, how awesome would it be to realize that I could just eliminate a certain food in order to breathe again?! Potentially no more steroids? FTW!
In comes the Whole30. I’m pretty positive that most of you have heard of this diet since it is huge in CrossFit and even more popular in blog world (dare I call it a fad?) In short, grains, dairy, alcohol, legumes, and all sugars (even honey, agave, etc.) are eliminated for 30 days, and then gradually added back in to help determine which foods cause irritation. There are a zillion benefits that the creators tout and a lot of bloggers seem to focus on weight loss, but I am most interested in the anti-inflammatory perks. I couldn’t care less if I lose weight. I just want to see if my breathing improves. Period.
Here’s the catch: I actually began this 30-day period last Monday, on April 1. As of today, I have followed the Whole30 for 9 days. However, I don’t feel comfortable blogging about it because I think that food and diets and “eating challenges” are way out of freaking control in the online world. Like bananas. I see so many bloggers who eat candy on Easter, for example, and then do some type of clean-eating challenge for the next two weeks, just to purge themselves. There are a few blogs that I have recently unfollowed because they are always trying some new diet-related trend (complete with the corresponding hashtag on Twitter), and it is seems so unhealthy. Even worse are the running bloggers that restrict their calories in the name of healthy eating and race weight. To each his own and all that….but man. That shit freaks me out, and I don’t want to be a part of influencing somebody into doing something they shouldn’t. Capiche?
Once I finish my 30 days, I’ll definitely write one post about how I feel and whether or not it helped my asthma. As of today, my breathing has definitely improved….but I’m not ready to jump on the bandwagon yet!
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How do you feel about all of the “food challenges” circling the online world?