Well, we've decided to make a leap. We are going on the Anti-Inflammatory Diet as a family. There has not been as much rejoicing about this as you might think.
We're not doing this for the sheer joy of giving up pizza and ice cream, although I can see why you might think that. I mean, what family doesn't look at their pepperoni with extra cheese (or in my case black olives and mushrooms with extra cheese) and think "Well, I guess this will do. But boy what I wouldn't give for a big plate of Kale and Tumeric!" Whoever just raised their hand can leave my page. I'm not speaking to you. You probably really can't wait to run a good 12 miles tomorrow morning, too. I just don't think we can be friends. It's not me. It's you.
We're doing this for actual medical reasons, to see if it will help. The kicker has been our daughter, who has rare conditions called Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) and Geniculate Neuralgia (GN). It sucks. I tried to edit that commentary on TN/GN several times, but nothing is as honest as "sucks." Sorry. It means that her 5th, 7th & 9th cranial nerves on the left side of her head had arteries and veins looped around and compressing them. A large percentage of the population can have those compressions and live a happy, full life, never knowing they are there and never having a problem. But it is believed (there is disturbing little research on this beast) our girl also has a flaw in the myelin of her nerves, so they can't stand up to the compressions. Eventually the myelin wears out, and the cranial nerves are left firing like live wires. We found out when her myelin wore out at 11 years old, and she started getting facial and deep ear pain so intense it felt like someone was stabbing her with the kitchen carving knife. Sometimes it would just be a few Stab-Stab-Stabs, and stop. Sometimes it would do that for hours with no reprieve. Sometimes because she brushed her teeth, sometimes because she brushed her hair out of her eyes, sometimes because she opened the fridge and that bit of cool air touched her face. It is indescribably awful.
Because of that she has had two invasive brain surgeries, at hospitals spanning the country, called Micro Vascular Decompressions. In the aftermath of that her TN/GN pain has pretty much stopped, but the damage to the nerve is not totally reversable. So sometimes, especially during times of sickness or exhaustion - when there can be inflammation - the nerve will fire up and remind her it's not 100%. (She is not cured, there is no cure. It can still come back. But she is doing much better, and we hope to exceed greatly the "success" standard on the surgery, which is 6-10 years.)
Plus, my husband has back issues, and has been on steriods a disturbing amount the past 6 months. The doctors keep saying "inflammation". Hmmm...
And a few years ago I had foot surgery. The first thing the surgeon told me as I came out of the drugged haze, was that I the feet of an 60 year old woman. I was in my mid-30s. Turns out I have arthritis in my feet, which was part of the pain that had brought me to the surgeon. And just as a public service announcement: Do not ever tell a woman something on her body looks 25+ years older than it is. Even if it's the inside of her feet.
OH! Ok, FINE! We'll do it. Crap. For the record, this is under duress.
We decided to do it, but delayed implementation for 2 weeks so I could wrap my head around it and figure out how to feed us. And so we could finish whatever "bad" things were in the freezer/pantry etc. Yes, yes, "You should have pitched that stuff! Not subjected your body to it!" Yeah, well, I can't throw out that much food. I just can't. Even with how we did it, we still pitched more than I am comfortable with, and have a couple bags of pantry items to go to food bank.
The past week I have been prepping, in more ways than I anticipated. First, I have been reading about the diet, which has annoyingly conflicting information depending on which book you are reading. Example:
Are eggs ok?
A. No.
B Yes, if the chickens have been fed a special diet like flax producing Omega-3 rich eggs.
C. Only egg whites.
D. Eggs are a natural healthy food!
E. Eggs are "neutral" eat, but not daily.
You guessed it: all of the above - depending on who you are talking to! Can't all these anti-inflammatory gurus have a big meeting and come up with one set of rules?? In fact, I'll host! All the avocado and tumeric you can eat! Everyone seems to agree on those. Tumeric is a big thing with this. I even found tumeric tea. I've been thus far afraid to try it.
So I created a master document of "Anti-Inflammatory Recipes I think my family may actually choke down." Then made a grocery list, and went to Whole Foods and dropped a truly stunning amount of money. Seriously, does a quart of berries have to cost approximately 87 times the cost of a bag of chips? I mean, there's not even any necessary processing. They literally grow on trees! (Ok, bushes. Go away.)
But then there was the big moment. The biggest prep work of all.
I sat the kids down and had a talk with them.
I had been preparing them. They had seen the Wasteful Freezer Pantry Clean Out of 2015. For the past few days, every time they had some ice cream, or part of a chocolate bar, or that last butter drenched piece of red meat - I told them enjoy it now, this is it! Dad and I had both told them we were embarking on this change and why.
Last night I sat them down and said, "Ok, you know this is going to be a big change. Starting tomorrow we are going to be having a lot more vegetables. We are trying new spices. I am going to serve all of us foods that are not our favorites, or that we've never tried before. This is going to be the way it is, this is going to be our eating. There will still be some things you like. Our bean soup? Still good. Salmon filets with yogurt cumcumber sauce? Still good. Ahi Tuna? Still good. Chili? (Modified but) still good. However, there will be a lot of new things. I want you to try everything, and if you could eat it again without gagging audibly, tell me and it goes on the "ok" list. If you absolutely hate it and will hurl if I put it in front of you again. Tell me that. However, you can't hate everything, because then I'll just ignore your hate list. Ok? Ok, I'm going to do my best to make this an acceptable, and even over time, a good thing that you like. And hopefully it will help with the nerve issues, Daddy's back, and everything. Ok?"
I know, you may be thinking I should have approached this all positive and "This is is going to be a great adventure, and aren't you excited to have the super yummy, way healthy food!?"
Well let me tell you, my girls are 12 & 14, and they would have totally seen through that. I'm sure I would have gotten the Spock-one-raised-eyebrow-look they have perfected. And they would have looked at their plate the first lunch (breakfast, I think, will be fairly painless), and called me on the carpet on that crap.
So, on we go. Let's see what happens!
No comments:
Post a Comment