I love to eat!

I love Food....that's it...all food, anywhere, any time...Problem is...I have three autoimmune diseases that call for a stricter diet and I am a creature of habit and yes...some might say I'm stubborn too..mostly my hubby, but I really do love to cook and bake and doing that for the people I love just makes it all that much better! My Mamma was the best cook and baker that I know of...she taught me everything I know and even though I can cook like her, there are still things I can't do like she did. She could throw garbage into a pot and it would be fabulous! I can't do that, but I think I got the gist. The only problem about her cooking was that she fried a lot of stuff and I do not...I would love to eat all of her fried concoctions, but alas....my stomach has other ideas. Since becoming sick with three different autoimmune diseases, I have had to change everything about the way I eat, what I drink, and what vitamins and supplements that I take on a daily basis. This has been the hardest thing for me to deal with and I am still learning how to eat and what to eat so that maybe by the time I figure it all out, I'll be a human again and have some energy to actually do something with my life.

First of all...let me just say that I am NOT a doctor, nor am I an expert. I am just sharing my experience and what works for me.

The first thing I did was eliminate whatever foods, chemicals, ingredients, etc. that were causing me to have adverse affects on my body and the first thing I did was to stop eating anything that was preprocessed, in a can, and had GMO's in it. Corn is a big no no for me....I love corn, but it makes me feel like I've swallowed glass shards. So, in looking for things that had corn or corn products in it, I found that pretty much everything has some kind of corn syrup or corn by product in it!! What?? What the heck am I supposed to eat?? Well that started a whole new way of eating for me and now I cook everything from scratch, whole foods that are GMO free and organic. It's pricey to eat this way, but still cheaper than medicine. There are things that I have to avoid because of Hashimoto's, but I still try to eat as healthy as possible while still avoiding the "bad" stuff, as in bad for me. I've also added a regimen of Vit. D-3, B-12, ashwangdha, fish oil, magnesium, selenium, and coconut oil and in addition to that, of course, my thyroid meds and that seems to be working so far.  I've only been on my thyroid meds for about 8 weeks, but so far, I feel so much better and have even lost 12 lbs in the process. 
Other things that I've learned not to eat are dairy products, (I love cheese and still have issues with cutting it out) Sugar is a huge problem for me because, well...I love sweets! I can eat tomatoes, just not a lot and not very often and wine...dear lord, I love my wine..I really, really, love my wine, so I limit myself with a couple of glasses once or twice a month. With that being said...I generally try to bake or grill or saute, not fry my food, I limit my red meat intake, only because it doesn't digest properly with me,I like to have plenty of fruits and veggies, ones that won't affect my Hashimoto's, but really...sometimes, I just have to eat that peach or those strawberries and yes, I pay for it, but who can go without peaches and strawberries?? I limit the amount of breads, of any kind, because they too make my tummy very unhappy, and I try to drink tons of water everyday and in the mornings, I add lemon to my water for liver detox, Lord knows with all the meds I take, I need to detox that liver and so far, I've been doing ok with my little plan of action, but I know that there is so much more that I need to learn about this disease and I am always looking for new and better ways of treating my body the way I'm supposed to.
I think if I am diligent in my diet and the care of my immune system, then I should be able to have a pretty normal life and as soon as I get my strength back, I goal is to go ahead and walk that marathon by the time I am 50...that is my goal...I hope that by sharing my journey and life with you, that I can help someone to understand themselves and what may or may not work for you! Have a great day and I hope to be more consistent with my posts, I do have down days still, but I am working on getting my health back to where it was 3 years ago!