Tag Archives: alcohol

Change for the Better

19 Oct

After my health scare in January, I had to manage my diet to avoid a recurrence. For the first three months of the year, I avoided alcohol. And I was very conscious of my food intake, and I am still until today. I have omitted quite a fair bit of food with my new low-oxalate diet.

Everything I cooked was bland, but it had to be this way. Salty food was a big no-no for me. The biggest give-up was nuts; I had to give up most of the nuts I typically snacked on, among other things. Spinach, a healthy vegetable full of calcium, is my biggest enemy these days – who would have believed such a thing?

Now, nine months later, with a follow-up appointment with the doctor yesterday, I am pleased to say I am all good and clear. The diet change has been for the better; no new traces of a recurrence inside me. Yay!

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Gains and Losses

9 Sep

It’s obvious when we went off to Kuantan and Cherating for the anniversary trip, the 16/8 diet was not followed and therefore, we gained some weight.

Although we didn’t eat much in Club Med, we did try almost everything albeit small portions and it was enough to do us in. The frequency of eating in a day made our system haywire as there was breakfast, lunch, tea, pre-dinner snacks and dinner and the offerings were always loaded and very rich. In comparison, our typical meals consist of no carbs/high fiber for lunch and low protein/some carbs/fiber for dinner plus some snacks in between. Suddenly the 16/8 was more like 16 hours of eating and just eight hours of fasting instead.

And add in all that free-flow alcohol, the weight gain was inevitable. Remember I had seven drinks on Day One, hubby had one less and on Day Two, I had 12 drinks while hubby, I think had a couple less; I lost count on his intake. All that sugar in the cocktails… tsk! tsk! Thank goodness I didn’t have an endometriosis cramp attack with all that alcohol consumed.

When we returned, gain we certainly did when we stepped on the bathroom scale that evening. But by Tuesday, we were back to our 16/8 routine and at the end of the week, we lost all that weight gained and was back to normal. Phew.

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What Can I Eat? Part 2

29 Mar

It has been seven weeks since I last drank a cup of coffee or had a glass of alcohol. Yes, I am keeping track and I am very proud to say I have not had any withdrawal symptoms. In other words, the Infectious Colitis did me good in a good weird way, losing weight, shaping up and feeling lighter.

Although I cannot eat a whole lot of things for fear of a negative reaction and suffering the consequences later (remember the onions and turnips episode?), there were a couple of instances I could not resist chocolate.

I ate some several weeks ago and this was the only thing I caved in. I am okay skipping my cheeses, dairy, wheat, fried and spicy food but resistance to chocolate was futile. Sucker.

So when I discovered I could be having Endometriosis, suddenly the staples that I relied on (tofu, soy sauce, white bread, eggs and tuna) had to be eliminated, I was aghast. What can I eat then? The list of food to avoid is so long! Apparently, these food (plus beef and those to avoid for Colitis) do cause some imbalance and reaction. And the outcome is worse; sigh… so I better not chance it. And the chocolate indulgence has stopped too. But avoiding soy sauce is the hardest because of the food I am used to eating.

Two days ago, I stepped on the bathroom scale. Hmm… down another 0.5kg. It’s not that I am not eating, I am but small meals despite the limited choices. Honestly.

I rely on white meat to appease the protein urge. Vegetables and fruits have to be moderate, not excessive because I need to have the right balance. A high-fibre diet is bad for Infectious Colitis but good for Endometriosis while a low-fibre diet is bad for Endometriosis but good for Infectious Colitis. See the dilemma?

Coincidentally, the abdominal cramps struck last night albeit less intense due to the restrictive diet, so I am glad I am seeing my O&G doctor today at the hospital. Most likely I will be admitted for a laparoscopic surgery to get to the root of my problem. From there, we will then decide what course of action to take to resolve this once and for all.

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