Lamb. Every. Single. Day.

 

Dinner Menu:

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks (Olsen Farms)
Sauteed Bok Choy (farmer's market)
Olive Oil Roasted Yukon Gold Potatoes (farmer's market)

For real.  I could eat lamb every single day.  I also really like to go on nice hikes and kayak.

I think I should move to Auckland.

But for now, Seattle and Olsen Farms will have to do.  These guys are probably my favorite farmers at the market.  I don't think I ever miss stopping by their booth when we're there on Saturday mornings.

On a more slightly less awesome note, I'm headed to the doctor this week.  For too long I've been ignoring obvious stomach/intestine issues.  After I had my second baby about a year ago, my food sensitivities have gone through the roof.  Despite all the bone broth I drink and all the coconut oil I take, I can tell something is still askew.

Thankfully, a research GI MD happened to be in our Spring Community Group at church.  After he spent 40 minutes grilling me on every poop I had ever had, ever, he told me I should get tested for both fructose malabsorption and Crohn's Disease, as well as a few other intestinal/gut disorders.  I'll never officially get tested for Celiac Disease, because I've been gluten free for too long, and in order to get tested, the gluten antibodies have to be present in your system.  This means a four week "gluten challenge" where you eat gluten every day and then get tested.  Just to confirm or deny Celiac and then go back to a gluten free diet... either way.

No thanks.

Darn.

Couldn't say I was surprised, though.  I had read about fructose malabsorption awhile back and wondered if perhaps this was a possibility... but of course, didn't want to stop eating apples and pears, so tried to ignore it.  And it's not just tummy troubles, which means that Crohn's or UC, etc. is also possible.  It's major auto-immune type flare-ups, with neuropathy, nausea, vomiting, loss of motor skills, extreme exhaustion... we might be looking at something bigger here.

So here's hoping.  And here's praying.  Fructose malabsorption would be an easier fix, for sure.  (Though I would mourn the loss of peaches and nectarines for ever!)  But with the right diet, the right lifestyle and the right doctors, and with God's grace, we are hopeful that we can manage whatever this turns out to be. Don't get me wrong.  I still ran after the kids today, I still walked several miles to the playground and back with the double stroller, we still read books and had a normal day.  I don't look sick and I really don't feel *all* that sick.  But I know that my food restrictions aren't normal, and I know if I were to have soy, gluten, peaches, raisins or apples... I would be doubled over tonight and very sick for the next week.  That's just not normal.  And even if extreme food restriction are my reality for the rest of my life, I just need to have a working relationship with a GI doctor in the Seattle area.

And this was a rather dull and rather poorly written blog post.  I'm tired.  I'm hopeful that the doctors I will see won't just tell me "this is all in your head" or "here, just take these pills" or anything like that.  And through all of this, I just need to remember: food restrictions aren't the worst thing in the world to have.  Especially when you live in such a beautiful city with such amazing friends and an amazing little family to love.  :-)