Not so sweet

There's been a break up in our house.

Between someone super sweet, yummy and hard to stay away from...

Sugar and I have parted ways.

And honestly, it's been for the best.

It's not fun, but for my insides and everyone's sanity, it was necessary.

Let me back up a bit.

A few months ago I started feeling really crummy.

Like really, really bad. Every single time I ate anything I felt so sick.

Bloated, yucky, stomach issues, the whole nine yards.

And for someone who loves to eat at much as I do, this was incredibly depressing.

This led to a lot of tears and frustrations.

So finally, after a few doctor visits and tests that I won't go into, a solution was finally found.

And that is, in short, that my body hates me.

Well, it hates sugar and is refusing to process it correctly.

(In official terms I was diagnosed with SIBO.)

This is as un-fun as it sounds.

The real kicker is that sugar is in EVERYTHING.

 Literally everything.
Just take a look at a few labels in your pantry.  Even the things you wouldn't think have sugar, do.

But I know things could always be way worse and we were all just glad it wasn't cancer or something scary like that. 

Unfortunately, there is no real, true solution for SIBO. 

There are a few antibiotics (those did 0 for me) and the most common other solution is a diet change. 

For now the latter is working for me (for the most part).

Again, it isn't fun and it takes a LOT of planning but since it's working, that's what we are going with for now.

Parties, going out to eat, grabbing a bite on the run are all really difficult but can be managed.

So what can't I eat?

Everything basically. Jk, sorta.

-No gluten, sugar, dairy
This includes no milk, ice cream, yogurt, cheese, soy milk, white/brown sugar, maple syrup, white potatoes (fries!), beer (!), sausage, sweet wine.

I can eat:
Eggs, veggies, fruit, chicken, beef, wine (thank GOODNESS), honey, nuts, beans, olive/coconut oil, sweet potatoes, corn tortilla chips
I can eat natural occurring sugars (fruit/wine) so that is a real life saver.
And I've found an 'ice cream' that I can eat made out of coconut and it's somewhat sufficing my need to eat ice cream every night of the summer. 

*lots of salads around these parts.  Thank goodness for our CSA!

Like I said, for now this diet is working; most of the time.
I've splurged a few times just to test the waters and it didn't go well.
So most likely I will be holding off on doing that for awhile.
Tiny, tiny doses of a few things seem to be okay but more than that isn't worth it.
The repercussions are totally debilitating but they aren't fun and they usually stick around for at least 3 days so I would rather just not deal with that.
Again, things could be a LOT worse and we are just adjusting to this as the new normal the best we can!

On the plus side, elminating sugar from my diet (and somewhat Mister's) has been really great for our health and bodies.  I can finally run well again (the stomach issues were really putting a damper on that that) and I've noticed physical changes as well.
The pouch of fat on my lower stomach that I've always fretted over is finally gone.
And those abs I've worked so hard for (and could always tell were in there) are finally actually visible.

As you guys know, we are pretty clean 90% of the time and work out quite a bit, so it blows my mind that doing something like eliminating sugar can have such a huge effect on our bodies.  (Kait recently cut out sugar too and is raving about it as well!)
You truly are what you eat.  I could not be more of a believer in that.

I'll be back next week with some recipes that fit this new diet and are also delicious.

I love discussing food, health and what we put into our bodies so please let me know if you have any questions or want more info! There isn't a ton about SIBO online but I'm happy to share what I know and have read!