What I've Learned

The man who is cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month. — Fyodor Dostoevsky

^{Over the last couple of weeks our meal variation has stagnated. I still have no answers as to why, the food still tastes okay and there is no lack of inspiration available on the internet, but there has been a definite lack of variety in our meals. We have been eating a lot of stir-fries, skillets, and sticking with smoothies for breakfast. I’m not sure if it is an effort at simplicity or something more primal that is driving this, but for the moment it feels right. And I think that is the thing, it feels right. It isn’t exciting, sexy, or trendy. It’s just comfortable and easy.}

^{I think the difficult thing about any of these protocols is that there is a plateau somewhere along the way. It gets boring and improvement is no longer noticeable. It becomes normal. This is a tough time in the protocol because we are reintroducing foods just as we hit it, and reintroduction is going much too slowly for my taste. The temptation is to skip ahead and to stop following the plan is getting stronger.}

^{I think the one thing that is stopping me, is that I have started to learn to listen to my body. I’m nowhere near good at it yet, but I think I am starting to figure it out. So, for the moment simplicity is in. The benefit of this simplicity is that I am spending a lot less time in the kitchen, my daily routine has been simplified, and I have more time to do other things. One of those things has been to reflect on the overall experience as opposed to the incidents. Here are some of the things I think I have figured out.}

^ONE

^{I have been conditioned to base food choices on taste, emotion, flavour, and trends. I was never taught how to approach food from how I ‘felt’ after eating it. This was a hard lesson to learn, because it isn’t something that they teach you in school, at home, or on TV. It’s something that you can only learn from experience and from being aware of your body.}

^TWO

^{What I didn’t realize when we started this was that a deconstruction of sorts occurs before the real healing begins. Some people feel terrible the first two weeks of the diet, others feel terrible further along, and some people never feel bad at all. The thing that we forget is that this is completely normal. I felt terrible at certain times on this diet — no motivation, no energy, bloating — but most of those things have started to change. My body is adapting to this diet in a way I never expected.}

^THREE

^{Which makes things even more confusing, because everyone is different. There is no fixed schedule as to when we will improve. I had thought that M and I were lucky. Neither one of us went through a bad period of adjustment. But in retrospect I don’t believe that. I realize now that it has been a struggle since day one, at first emotional, then physical, and now back to emotional.}

^FOUR

^{At some point we will have to return to a more normal diet — one where we can eat at restaurants, have people over for dinner, and go to other people’s houses. What normal is, well that is for another blog post.}

^FIVE

^{Over the years I have become plant-biased. I don’t think I will ever go back to Veganism or Vegetarianism, but I am not a carnivore. On those days that I eat red meat, I don’t sleep as well, and I feel a bit more lethargic than I usual.}

^SIX

^{There are four things that will make any protocol more bearable. Routine, hydration, sleep, and reflection. In the beginning we were so focused on the end result that we didn’t appreciate the changes that were occurring. It is only in the past couple of weeks that I have been able to appreciate this, because routine is all that is keeping me going at the moment. Some people find meditation, prayer, or walking in the woods helpful. I’ve found that all three work for me. Sleep is something I am still chasing.}

^SEVEN

^{I hate this one because it is so cliché, but you have to laugh at it all. These protocols are ridiculous, frustrating, and time consuming. The more you laugh, the better the protocol works.}

^{Thanks for reading! Please feel free to share this with anyone you think will benefit. Also (due to algorithm considerations) hit like if you did like it. I’d also like to reiterate that this isn’t to be considered medical advice, this is just our individual experience. Some people respond to the diet, some people respond to the medication, and some people respond to both. The idea is that it is YOUR healing journey, I’m just offering up our experiences on our healing journey in the hopes that if you are suffering from anything similar, you’ll take a little bit of inspiration from M as I do on a daily basis.}