Introduction

I’m getting ready to embark on a six week program, Dr. Mark Hyman’s Diabesity Prescription.  A six week diet and lifestyle change.  I will be eliminating caffeine, alcohol, dairy, sugar, and flour from my diet.  I am already a lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian.  On Monday, July 12 I will be a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar free, pesco vegetarian.  This is why I chose the blog name WHAT IS LEFT TO EAT.

I’m anxious.  Anxious I will feel deprived of good food.  Anxious of the withdrawals.  Anxious of mood swings.  Anxious of failing and falling back on old patterns.

I’ve been feeling quite sick over the last year.  I was faced with some difficult decisions about my career which lead to a great amount of stress.  The reality was I had to shut down my business and find a job in the corporate world.  There were also a couple of major losses during the year that were added stressors.

Some symptoms come and go, others are getting worse, but overall I feel really bad most of the time.

• Chronic fatigue
• Chronic stress
• Sugar cravings
• Chronic yeast infections
• Headaches
• Numbness in my left foot (caused by L-5 herniation) worsening. When I try to walk or exercise my toes, feet, and calves cramp badly.
• Muscle fatigue, pain or weakness and cramping
• Aching and stiffness in joints
• Edema.  I’m puffy, and getting puffier in the afternoons.  My ankles swell, and the skin feels so tight it hurts.  The edema is worse in my right leg than my left.  My hands get really swollen as well.
• Lack of concentration/focus and memory
• Weight gain without my diet changing
• Skin rashes
• Itching skin
• Soft, cracking, brittle nails and ridges
• Burning eyes
• Bad acne on face and scalp
• Thinning hair
• Sensitive to cold
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Depression
• Mood swings
• Strange white patterns on my tongue

All of this has led to low self-esteem making it very hard most days to stay upbeat and focused on my work or personal goals.  I’ve been searching for good doctors to help me figure out what is happening.  I found an allopathic doctor this past February who was the first one to start investigating my symptoms and started a series of blood tests.  My cholesterol was high and he diagnosed me border-line diabetic.  He also diagnosed me with a Vitamin-B12 deficiency.  Explaining this may be why my foot feels more numb than other times, and is in pain most of the time.  Although the numbness is mainly from a herniated L-5, but it has been getting worse over the last year.  Last Thursday I went to see a new gynecologist for my annual check up.  She looked at the lab results from February and March.  If my thyroid levels are where they were then, she says she would be treating me for hypo-thyroid.  She sent me down for new labs to check my thyroid.  I hope to have those results soon.

I just want to feel better.  Feel better enough that I can start exercising again and get back into shape.  I want to be healthy in life.  I want to be happy and enjoying life because dammit – I just got engaged.  This should be one of the happiest times of my life.  Sometimes I feel like I’m faking happiness to mask all the pain and the sadness.  It’s got to shift.  Things need to change.  Which is why I decided to start Dr. Hyman’s program and figure out for myself what my body needs.

I realize I do better with large feats when I have an audience.  So, I’ve started this blog to hold me accountable to this goal.

If it happens to help someone else in the world.  If you happen to relate to my story and it’s helpful to you, please let me know.  If you have kind, warm, loving wisdom to share, please do.