A New Adventure

I think most of you know that I had another diverticulitis flare up this week. I honestly think it was the hard dried seeds in the 12-grain bread I had been eating. I blamed the carrots, but I think they simply aggravated the situation. It seems to me that I was eating the same bread when I had my first attack. Yes, apparently I also suffer from amnesia. So my regular cooking and normal meals were curtailed for a while. I've been eating really appetizing things like instant mashed potatoes and baked chicken.

I also think stress was a factor. Let's see, what can I possibly be stressed out about. My dad is in a nursing home recovering from a car accident. I have his dog along with my own dog. I have to get a ton of papers graded by midterm...Nope, nothing stressful here.

The thing is, I've been trying to make my diet a lot healthier. I love to cook and I actually like healthy food, but inevitably I either go for ease or comfort. I believe that non-processed food is the key, but it's really difficult to pull that off. I did the Whole 30 diet last year. That's where you eliminate all processed food including all dairy, flour, sugar, etc. It was too restrictive, and no one can carry on like that for an extended time. I looked at something that was called "the naked diet," which was idea, but insisted on all organic and specialty items I'm not going to find here in Podunk, Iowa. I also looked at Clean eating...I can't remember, but there was a problem with that too.

I'm definitely an omnivore. I can eat gluten (I've been tested). Seeds are a problem and excess acid is a problem. So, I just bought a diet plan from Cooking Light magazine. It's not one of those delivery meal setups. It's recipes and grocery lists. It's not all that expensive, but I'm afraid a lot of the food will be. I'll have to watch that. I'm starting this adventure, and I hope you will be following along. I won't report on every meal, but I'll give you the good, the bad, and undoubtedly, the ugly.