Updates for April to May 2013
I have experimented some and learned lots.
Although my major problems are better or even gone, I still have some work to do. Some of these things can not be bettered by diet alone, or at least not fast enough.
I want to be in excellent shape next pregnancy. I don't want to be a high risk pregnancy again. I want to be guided by a natural midwife, instead of an OB Gyn, so I can attempt a natural birth after C-Section.
I am also planning on nursing through pregnancy and after tandem nursing both children. So I need to be the strongest possible. Pregnancy is very tiring especially in the first trimester.
I need to fix my hormonal problems, to assure problem free conception and not adding to hormonal imbalances next pregnancy. I feel the strong surge of hormones from pregnancy has really messed with my hormones, and since my body was always prone to hormone related problems (but mostly spared) it is having a hard time bouncing back. Not to mention I used to take birth control pills for 7 years until 2009.
When I took the herbal supplements they had improved my PMS drastically, reduced the hair loss I was going through then, and also bettered my skin (acne).
I stopped after 2 1/2 months. I had just experienced my first completely normal, pain free period since it returned at 12 months postpartum. But, my problems returned. My skin was the first thing to go bad again, and my following period wasn't as great either. It was on time and not longer than normal, but heavier and I experienced bad PMS again.
I don't think I was taking the supplements long enough, and I was taking a bit less than the recommended dose too. That is why I will go back on the supplements. It is only logical right now...I can't be going through excruiating pain during ovulation and around my period, that could equal up to two weeks of problems and at least 4 days of being completely miserable.
As far as my skin and indigestion goes:
I tested a few things to make sure it really IS hormones causing me troubles. For one, I ate a Wai diet for two weeks to see how I would feel on it and how my skin would respond. I even stopped using moisturizer and wearing mineral foundation or powder (to cover pimples and reduce shine).
It did not do anything for my acne. At first I thought I was clearing up, but it turned out to be just normal fluctuation. I have some good days and then hormones cause me to break out, my skin will then heal just to break out again. With time it is really causing damage to my skin...the red marks won't fade easily, even when I am not broken out I have visible red marks for a long time. I don't have a lot of room for experiments or time to wait, because I might end up needing a face transplant
.
The Wai diet diet improve the texture of my skin a bit though. Similar to the bettering I had experienced going cooked Paleo. Before Paleo, even when having clear skin, I would often get small bumps, that weren't pimples, just bumps all over...my skins texture just did not seem as even (children always have an even texture).
Well, it got more even on Paleo, which i think also has to do with the avoidance of dairy much, and even more even and fine pored on the Wai diet. So basically I have amazing skin...with Acne! Makes no sense, but thats the truth. If I did not have pimples, I would have beautiful skin....so weird.
One problem with the Wai diet was energy. I was constantly eating fruits and would get hungry every half hour. I find that very inconvenient. I would also be a bit jittery, rather than energized. I had trouble sleeping....like I would be too jittery to calm down enough to sleep well. I lost weight fast, despite eating 3000 cals, which is not good for me.
When I hit 46kg, I stopped, added a few veggies to my diet, and I gained weight back fast *shrug*....
BUT, I still eat raw meats and fish, raw egg yolks, and only use (sesame) oil to moisturize. I only cover single pimples if they really stand out, but I mostly only get small red bumps under my skin that won't come to the surface.
My skin is not oily anymore! Since I was 17 I have been fighting oily skin and now it is just gone...my skin is still dry though. Has been since pregnancy.
My bloating improved a bit on the Wai diet, but Ithink it is also because food would just pass right through. My stools were too soft and sometimes I had diarrhea.
Any food gets me bloated. I tried a fruit day, orange juice day, meat and fish day. I am not bloated in the morning, but every hour my bloating gets a bit worse. I think even if I just drak water all day....
I do feel it is hormonal too. It started after pregnancy, but just minor bloating and worsened much when my period returned.
After getting off the Wai diet, I started eating SAD foods every day. Just about one or two small things a day, to see how my body would react. I had never tested it.
I did not break out from anything. My skin was even great (but I do believe it will still break out during ovulation and period as always. I ate sugar, wheat, drank coffee, had dairy products, the whole program. I do not react to any foods (anymore), no breakouts, no hypoglycemia, I did not even feel shitty. I was also much less bloated....yesterday I ate the most grain products, Pizza for lunch, rice for dinner and I was barely bloated at all -_-....that really sucks.
Today was my last day. I don't want to eat that way permanently of course, but I needed to see a few things for myself. I am 100% sure now my acne is hormonal. So I can stop guessing and eliminating even healthy foods.
As far as the bloating goes...- I think my body is not used to a lot of plants and fruits. I was raised on grains only. It seems I have a problem with fiber from fruits, since peeling fruits makes a difference when it comes to digestive pains.
And I also DO have a fructose malabsorption....
It is not normal, not being able to even digest a small amount of fruits and veggies properly. My body is certainly weird there. I have said it before that I can not go low carb. I have experienced to many problems on it, and I am not sold on the benefits of very low carb. I have read too much saying that it is not ideal. At least for many people. There are a TON of people that ran into low carb problems all over the web. People that ate a Paleo diet, that had a good plan and stuck with it for a long time...I am not sure everyone can adapt to LC. Too much carbs and sugar are certainly not ideal either, and I don't see how it would be natural to binge on fruits with sugar all day.
Probiotics:
On a positive note, the probiotics have taken away my digestive pains
I felt mild discomfort and cramps when digesting prior to probiotics, but the pain is gone...unless I eat high fructose corn syrup...which I am not planning to, but I tested it to confirm I am still fructose intolerant (I wish I wasn't)
Parasite Cleanse:
Possibly up next. Just waiting for ovulation to pass because I want to see how much I will break out this time using probiotics (so far only minor zits, but that might just be the quiet before the storm)
Baby stuff:
I have baby fever ;( or rather, it has been getting stronger. I really should wait at least a year though. I want to give my body time to heal, figure out the hormonal problems, be well established on a good diet , weigh enough since I will lose weight in the 1st trimester, and most importantly make sure my son will get enough breastmilk.
Most women dry up in pregnancy and I want him to get the toddler designed bm during the third year. The composition changes during the last time then.
I would like him to nurse through pregnancy too and I want him to be old enough to understand that my milk supply will only be low for about 15- 20 weeks and that he can still nurse, just less and then resume when the baby is here, old enough so he can get enough nutrition from solids, old enough to not need other milk (I plan to freeze my milk too). He does love his milky, he was "sick" (runny nose only) recently and did not nurse much due to a stuffy nose, his latch is also not great and so my supply dropped drastically (!!). When his nose was better and he wanted to resume nursing, there was barely any milk and he was freaking out. He woke seven times at night, crying for milk, he was cranky during the day, lost weight, he was upset at me, thinking I did not "want" to give him milk, he was sitting on my lap, crying and begging while saying "Mama" and even used the words "Happa Happa" (our word for nursing - German) for the first time to convince me...I was so sad. I cut out ALL solids for a while, started taking lots of Fenugreek herbs again and made sure he sat down while nursing and not running off before he was done). My supply is back up and he gained weight on mostly breastmilk. What is odd is that the less soilds he eats, and the more breastmilk he gets, the heavier he will be. He was very chunky up until a year old (95th percentile). Lately he has been between the 50th and 75th percentile (75th now that he gained weight). One more reason to make sure he has lots of breastmilk available. My idea is for him to nurse, and if he wants solids after that he can have as much as he wants, as long as he does not skip nursing session. Plenty of both should assure that he keeps that healthy, robust look that some toddler lack. Toddlers are often skinny and picky eaters, and I believe it is because they are meant to drink a good amount of milk for longer than we think. At least they would have in nature, before humans decided to wean children onto solids early.
If I was young, I would not worry as much about conceiving again, but I want more than two children...at least that would be my dream, and my body will be most fertile between 27-37 (late bloomer). So I got six more years of easy conception and pregnancies.
Of course I could be a total exception and be fertile long past my mid thirties, but do I KNOW that for sure? So I won't bet on it, although I am positive my baby making future is rather bright.
Hair loss:
Well, my hair is recovering from the hair loss, regrowing fast like always...I only really trimmed 1 inch, and did my monthly trims, so it is still the same length as before. It is thinner, but since my ends are not too transparent, I decided to not cut it much and instead wait for it to thicken up again. It usually only takes a half year. Also...with hair loss my hair only goes from rather thick to medium thick, so I guess I can't complain. Although I would like to have my natural overall volume of almost 4 inches again some day...maybe after children
, and then I might grow it long again too. Hip-Tailbone length feels a bit short.
Interestingly, I did not shed as much as usual, since the herbs and some other supplements like D3 drastically decreased the shedding rate during the hair loss, so it was not all that devastating to wait out the three months for the shedding to stop...I now lose 3 hairs in the morning as opposed to one hair ball.
That was long....wow.
