Back again! I need to get it together. And…Learning to self experiment

I have been AWFUL at keeping up with this blog. My goal is once a week, but I just get so lazy. After a day at work the last thing on earth I want to see is a laptop. But since I really do love to write, and I really do want to make this a thing, I need to get it together. I also know that I am no social media expert. I actually have read things on how to create a successful blog, and I do almost none of them. Fun fact for anyone who blogs/wants to: a tip I learned (at a job interview, actually) is that you should comment 3x as much as you post. That’s how you get a name in the blogosphere, rather than just creating content that floats around on the internet.  Gotta work on my blog trolling, for sure. I generally opt for the silent creep. Another one is create content that is helpful to people. That’s something I certainly want to work on, but since I am neither a nutritionist nor trainer (yet!), I can only share what I like, and what works for me, and hopefully some of you get something out of it!

So I want to talk about something that I’ve done in the past year and a half that I truly believe is the best thing in the world….self-experiment with food. For many of my teenage years, I had stomach aches. I’d have weeks or months where it was almost every day or even every time I ate, and times when it wasn’t so bad. I hated it, but just accepted it as part of life. When I became more physically active in high school and worked out/played sports often, I became more conscious of what I was eating before a workout and how it was making me feel. I mean a 400s workout at track practice with a stomach ache is literally hell on earth (curse you, delicious Villa white pizza), and I avoided that situation like the plague. I did try to make healthy choices most of the time, (which is essentially the opposite of what I consider healthy now, but hey, A for effort) but I honestly envied people who could just eat and move on with their life.

This continued on and off until the summer before college, when I discovered www.marksdailyapple.com . Mark Sisson is the founder of the Primal Blueprint, and one of the earliest advocates of the now hugely popular (Ok, and trendy) “paleo diet.” While I have totally chugged the primal kool-ade and believe with all my heart it is the best way to eat to achieve optimal health, that’s not the point I’m making. Although I highly recommend checking it out ;). Anyway, I decided to try this “primal” thing. My friends who have seen me take down a pizza laugh when I call myself  paleo, but pizza is just something I’m not willing to give up. Or ice cream. It’s a loose interpretation, and I can live with my paleo sins.

The moral of this story is that the primal lifestyle is all about what finding what works for YOU, which is an amazing thing to learn. Everyone’s biochemistry is different, everyone has different cravings, activity levels, stress levels, digestive issues, you name it. Of course, the basis of eating primally is to eat a high-fat, high-protein, low-carb, plant-based diet. But by learning more about the science and the rationale behind this style of eating, I started to think about the way each and every thing I ate made me feel. This type of n=1 experiment allowed me to get to know my own personal best style of eating in a way I never had- and I honestly feel better than I ever have after taking the time to get to know the diet that is optimal for me.

Of course, I haven’t nailed the perfect formula to never get a stomach ache again. And sometimes (cough, often), I ignore what I know about myself in favor of afore-mentioned pizza and ice cream. And that’s okay too, but the cool part is KNOWING what works, and how to eat to feel great (if I so wish).

If you can relate to my random stomach ache tale of woe, or simply want to learn your personal best diet, I really recommend trying some self-experimentation. Even if you feel just fine now, sometimes you don’t know what your true baseline is because we have been doing the same thing for so long…and you don’t know how good you CAN feel.

Here are some different things you can try in your own n=1 experiment, whether it be eliminating, adding, tweaking, whatever you want! Just give it at least 2-3 weeks to see what happens.

1. Gluten. I know, I know. Gluten-free is the trendiest thing ever right now. Suddenly the whole world has a gluten problem. Some people, of course, have very serious gluten intolerance known as Celiac’ s disease. This is a digestive and autoimmune disorder that results in damage to the lining of the small intestine when foods with gluten are eaten. However, the reality is that the way gluten is processed does cause issues for many people and often causes some form of systematic inflammation in the body. Some people are sensitive to it, and some aren’t, but even if your daily bagel feels just fine, you may be surprised to feel better without it. One important thing to note is that buying gluten-free cookies/bread/etc. is not HEALTHIER. In fact, they often have higher sugar content to improve the taste. The point is not to substitute, but to remove. People with serious gluten issues know there’s sneaky gluten in many things (soy sauce, ice cream and multivitamins are potential offenders), but for the sake of a personal experiment, just avoiding wheat should do the trick in learning if gluten is making you feel meh.

Some helpful sources (call me biased with the Marks Daily Apple links, but the man does his research! Many of his links, if you check them out, actually really investigate both sides of each argument):

http://www.glutenfreeschool.com/2012/02/09/gluten-effect-inflammation/)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-myers-md-/effects-of-gluten-on-the-body_b_3672275.html

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-common-is-gluten-sensitivity/#axzz3GFCB4XMk

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/does-gluten-have-any-effect-on-non-celiacs/#axzz3GFConqaV

 2. Dairy. Lactose intolerance is very common in adult humans. Know what’s weird? We are quite literally the only animal to drink ANOTHER ANIMALS MILK, or to drink milk BEYOND INFANCY. Not only are we milking a mammal that is not our mother, we are drinking the milk of an animal (cow) that was created to nourish a gigantic baby calf that would become a huge cow. There’s stuff in there that us little humans weren’t made to drink, especially to such advanced ages. Again, I know almond milk is quite the fad these days, but I personally drink it and love it. Never a stomach issue and it’s actually delicious. Coconut milk is another great alternative, although one I’ll admit I don’t enjoy as much. Fermented dairy like kefir may not have the same effect as regular dairy, as a side note. I personally am fine with some dairy, but try to avoid a lot on an average day. Give it a try!

 http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/lactose-intolerance-14/diagnosing

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/10-common-arguments-against-dairy-consumption-explored/#axzz3GFEKT6y6

3. Soy. Speaking of milk substitutes…NO SOY MILK. Soy really isn’t very good for us, and it’s in EVERYTHING. So trust me, you’re getting enough inadvertently without eating more voluntarily! Because it’s cheap and has certain functional properties, soybean oil and soy protein have found their way into all sorts of processed foods, so most people in the U.S. are consuming significant amounts of soy without even knowing about it. I admit I have been known to order soy lattes and eat edamame with my sushi. However, I do these things once a month max, because soy is crap. I assume, like most things (besides hard drugs), small doses are okay. Soy includes dietary estrogen and has been linked to cancer, unhealthy pregnancies, accelerated puberty, all sorts of weird stuff. This is definitely a heavily-debated matter- but try cutting it where you can. You may feel better.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/170-scientific-reasons-to-lose-the-soy-in-your-diet/

http://www.optimumchoices.com/Soy.htm

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/soy-scrutiny/#axzz3GFKIKlcm

Here are some more foods that can easily irritate people with digestive issues (issues like IBS-Irritable Bowel Syndrome- and Leaky Gut often are undiagnosed and can be helped/healed with dietary changes). I won’t go into long reasons, but just other things to consider if you find yourself having frequent tum troubles:

-Coffee (breaks my heart to say it. Its dehydrating affects can be harmful to people with IBS)

-Broccoli (really high fiber, harder to digest, especially when eaten raw)

-Cabbage/ Brussels sprouts (can cause really painful bloating in those with IBS)

-Green peppers (apparently red peppers are easier to digest because they are the riper version!)

-Legumes (beans, lentils, etc)

-Fried foods (Well we all know this, but high fat content can be really hard to digest if you have intestinal problems, ESPECIALLY when fried in unhealthy oils like corn and canola)

-alcohol (maybe wait to try this experiment… til you’re dead. But really, we all know it’s not great for us and can live with that. But it really can do harm if you have a pre-existing condition…and there’s the gluten thing with beer, should that be an issue you have)

-Spicy stuff

http://www.activebeat.com/diet-nutrition/20-foods-to-avoid-with-ibs-control-your-symptoms/18/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/509349-food-that-is-an-irritant-to-the-stomach-lining/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ibs-and-gluten-tweaking-calories-for-fat-loss/#axzz3GFSWGsVG

Ok, so if you made it through this block of text, I applaud you. I will definitely be better with pictures next time.