REAL food update!

Please excuse my total blogging hiatus!  We have been in a busy season of milestone birthdays, travel and more adjustment!

Rather than abruptly stop the REAL fool posts, I wanted to write a little update on our health changes since converting to a real food diet.  We started this change for a few reasons.  1) the hubs blood work came back less than ideal and we both really wanted his health to be in tip top shape (something needed for bearing the weight of ministry!)  2) I have had a skin condition that has progressively gotten worse in the past few years.  3) for our (and our kids) overall health.

A few weeks ago Clint was able to re-do his blood work and we were BLOWN AWAY.  At the time he took it, we were 6 weeks into eating real food, and he was about a month into Crossfit.  The combination has more than paid off!  His cholesterol is in the normal range now and his triglycerides dropped over 100 points!!  Not to mention his (and my) energy is back and we just feel better!

As for the #2, when we switched to a real food diet I was certain my eczema would go away.  I had heard tons of testimonies that switching to real food had healed peoples lifetime skin issues within months.  However, mine actually got much much worse.  After many weeks of serious discomfort and inability to do some normal household tasks without a good bit of pain, we believe we have found the answer.  I have a gluten intolerance.  Que dramatic music.  Although I am not excited about the changes in lifestyle this means for me, I am so so very thankful to have found the trigger.  And now, with yet another rather large change to our (or at least my) diet, we believe we are on a path to health for everyone.

For those of you wondering how I knew it was gluten...I had eliminated gluten and dairy from my diet (common allergens) about a week ago.  Every day my red, itchy, dry, hot to the touch skin got better.  And on Thursday it was almost "normal".  Thursday night I made (my favorite) beef and broccoli.  The next morning my skin started to itch and get red (I learned later wheat is the 2nd ingredient in soy sauce, oops!).  Later that day I stopped at CFA on a very long road trip.  I asked for grilled nuggets but when I opened the bag they were fried.  Because I had both kids in the car and there were 200 people in line or in the drive through I decided to just eat them.  Big mistake.  Within 24 hours my skin was as bad as before.

I share this because I have been told by doctors that eczema is auto immune and other than steroid cream, there is nothing you can do about it (except avoid hot, and cold; sweating, but work out a lot; get sun, but stay away from humidity; etc).  However, the more research I have done, I have found many people who have links with food allergies/intolerances.  It was worth altering my diet and trying it out because I was so uncomfortable, but I would have never assumed it had anything to do with my diet.  Thank goodness for the internet!  

So although we are in yet another food transition, we are sticking to our real food diet!  We love it and have most definitely benefitted from it in a very short amount of time!!