Results from my Whole 25

By Christina Routon

I did not complete the Whole 30 challenge. I got through day 25 and I'd had enough.

The Whole 30 is not easy to complete. It wasn't just about giving up the grains and the sugar as I'd already been wheat-free and sugar-free for some time. It was actually harder for me giving up the dairy - the cheese in my eggs, the cream in my coffee. To do this takes planning and preparation, and it seemed the more the month went on it just became more difficult and time consuming.

I learned a lot about myself, and this trumps any results I had with weight loss or inches lost. I learned about emotional attachments I have to food. After a rough day, I wanted pizza and ice cream. The last thing I wanted to do was go home to chicken and vegetables and spend another hour in the kitchen prepping for the next day. However, I know that food will not make me feel better and I believe doing this is helping me break those attachments.

Since going without any type of sugar or sugar substitute for almost a month, now that I can use the sweetener again I find my taste has changed. Before I used about four packets of Splenda in a cup of coffee or tea, trying to mimic the sweet taste of sugar. Now, I may use one and it tastes fine.

I was surprised at how many foods contain sugar, wheat, and other additives. I will definitely continue to read labels and make the best choices possible when buying groceries.

I've learned a new appreciation for vegetables, including vegetables I never would have tried before. My husband makes excellent mashed cauliflower. I love the recipe for jicama home fries and chocolate chili from the cookbook, Well Fed. I've eaten sweet potatoes, butternut and spaghetti squash, broccoli, cauliflower, jicama and so many other vegetables I can't remember. I've learned new ways of cooking and new ways of seasoning food to make it taste good and be interesting every day. I've learned shortcuts such as prepping vegetables ahead of time in containers, pre-cooking ground meat to use in a variety of recipes and using my slow cooker for a roast or chicken. I've made homemade mayo and salad dressing. It was definitely an experience.

As for physical results, I lost two pounds. I'd hoped to lose four or five, but I know lipedema slows weight loss and as I was already wheat-free and sugar-free I didn't expect to lose as much as those going from a typical SAD diet to a Whole 30 plan. I did lose inches, mostly on my arms. I did some exercise, not as much as I'd liked, but I plan to include healthy movement into my days. It may not be a scheduled exercise program, but I am going to do something to move my body and keep it healthy.

I did notice recently my calves feel softer than they did before. I've been using lotion on my legs and for a long time my calves had felt hard. This is important, because lipedema fat on the calves tends to get hard (fibrotic) and lumpy and this affects the way lymphatic fluid moves through the legs. The fact that my calves are softer and actually jiggle (who would have thought I'd be happy to have more jiggly fat?) tells me my body is changing, even if I can't see it.

I'm going to continue a more primal style of diet, predominately paleo but including cheese and butter. This is going to be my diet 95 percent of the time. I'm going to include corn on a limited basis, more in the form of corn tortillas and grits than whole kernal corn, and until Stevia is a bit more affordable I'm going to have to stick with Splenda as a sweetener, if I use one at all. I'm learning more about Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats as well, which I'll share soon, and plan to add more Omega 3 fats to my diet.

I'll probably do another Whole 30 in the fall, maybe around August or September. I'm glad I did it. I learned a lot for my first go round and I'm looking forward to seeing what changes take place as the year progresses.

Giving up Grains

by Sylvie from Lipedemic Me

First, I need to say that because of the magic of the Internet and of, yes, Facebook, I met many wonderful ladies suffering from Lipoedema from all over the world!

We have support groups on Facebook, some of these women have websites, blogs and we are building up a strong community!

On the Lipese website...the idea came of starting a Lifestyle Challenge, which is all about making some changes in our eating habits, exercising, experimenting with supplements, treatments, etc...that can be resumed in 3 words: MANAGING OUR LIPOEDEMA.

My own personal changes started in November 2012, when I decided to go wheat and sugar free. Thought I would go nuts and end up like "Grumpy" but hey, was I in for a surprise!! I lost 10 pounds in a month!! Of course I had withdrawal symptoms: diarrhea, headaches, abdominal cramps but I persisted and now if I have something sweet I go "NAH!...this is WAY too sweet". Never thought I would pronounce this words in my sweet teeth's life! 

My January challenge was to give up all grains!! At this point, in time, I no LONGER have bowel issues, no more loose stools, no more massive abdominal cramps. I had all of these even before giving of wheat!

I exercise 3 times a week too. And jog on my mini-trampoline. So far, this month, I have lost another 4 pounds. My non-lipedemic fat is melting!!

I also go to me MLD treatment once a week and do regular SLD!  

I'm really proud of myself! Never thought I would have the determination to do all of this.

Halfway through January Lifestyle Challenge

By Tatjana van der Krabben

I’m on board with the inflammation theory. I acknowledge sugar and wheat are bad news and only fuel inflammation. Did I give up on sugar and wheat? Not exactly. I cut back a lot and am virtually off sugar and take some wheat. Awkward pause…

For January Lifestyle Challenge I tackled my last source of artificial sweeteners: soda. No ifs, ands or buts here: I cut out soda January 1^st and stand by it. Soda was my is-it-somewhere-6-o’clock-yet? thing. So it was a habit. Giving up on it gave me cravings, first for soda and when I did not cave: sugar. I did cave there a few times, but regrouped after a week. I now sometimes take a glass of sparkling water, as I get tired of flat water, tea and coffee. I have not lost weight or inches, but I feel better. More relaxed, more energetic, despite an insane workload. Apparently I cut something useful out.

Now I’m at a crossroads. About 2 years ago I was leaning towards RAD diet. Unfortunately, as I made progress, I did not feel better. I went from not being much of a meat eater to horrendous cravings for meat in my almost vegan phase. I lacked energy, had trouble with the liquid food bit. I do feel fighting inflammation is key. I also support additive-free eating, which is promoted by RAD, but I needed to find a new way. When attempting RAD I did not even get around to cutting out wheat to the present extend (addicted? me?).  

Stopping all together is hard. It’s not just addiction. It’s about being wheat-free in a wheat world with a wheat-husband and wheat-craving kids. I can’t see it. I get lost in the how and work around it. I buy spelt bread. Technically that’s a type of wheat, only less modified and usually tolerated better. I bought gluten-free pasta a few times. Still starchy, obviously. I also get menu requests with noodles. I tried rice noodles. It’s like eating noodles soaked in wall paper glue! Imagine that in your gut. Yuk! I bought kelp noodles. I cooked them for a great length of time to try softening them. I only got to ‘trying’…

Am I weak? Making excuses? There’s light at the end of the tunnel. You need guidelines, a source for recipes. I now lean towards Paleo/Primal. I don’t know what to think of the specifics like the nightshade veggies or dairy. I’m not there yet. I stopped forcing myself to eat fruit every day. That was a relief. Now I enjoy eating fruit again, when I do. I eat more animal protein. I hate plain eggs, but looked for recipes to incorporate more eggs. That’s working out fine. Meals high on protein, also almond flour or meal, work well for me.  After taking in more protein and healthy fats, I did manage to cut back on wheat a lot.

December and January brought more change. I also stopped taking sugar in my coffee and creamer, since I learned most powdered foods contain aluminum. I also switched baking powers for that in January. I finally allowed the nagging feeling to sink in that the low-fat margarine spread did contain an awful lot of funny ingredients to be that healthy. I did something last week that felt soooo wrong: I switched to real butter from grass fed cows for the occasion I do eat bread. Real butter goes against EVERYTHING I was taught growing up. But it’s yum, satisfying and hours later I need to remind myself to eat again. I also started taking rutin again last week, to see if it does more after quite literally cleaning up my act. What else? In December I changed shampoo. This new one I used to buy for the kids when babies. It contains about half the ingredients my old shampoo had.  

I’ve cleaned up my act so much the takeout pizza from last weekend hit my stomach like a ton of bricks. The scales were unforgiving: 4 lbs up, completely bloated. I looked on the website: Domino’s doesn’t do gluten-free crusts. I will have to make my own. I have a recipe. I do. But I do enjoy the occasional takeout, a I-don’t-have-to-cook day. Cooking from scratch takes dedication and time. And going wheat-free completely and losing my last bit of tolerance for it scares me a little. The less I eat it, the worse I feel when I do eat it. How do you deal with vacations? Day at an amusement park? Visiting people? Always packing your own food? It’s a wheat and sugar world and I’m not ready to be wheat-free and sugar-free in that world. At the same time I try my hardest to – otherwise – clean up my act and detox. It’s working: my legs are feeling better.

My First Whole 30 - Week 2

By Christina Routon

Moving into week two of our January Lifestyle Challenge, I'm feeling the rush of energy described in the Whole 30 timeline. I've been following along with others in the forums there, and we're almost all experiencing the same thing, although I haven't had any food dreams yet.

The second week was easier in that I wasn't as hungry as I'd been the first week, although I'm still missing my gluten-free pancakes. I really wanted a quick and easy dinner on Friday night and that would have been wonderful. Instead I raided the fridge for some vegetables, mixed up another batch of homemade mayo from Nom Nom Paleo's recipe, and made some chicken salad. The prep work has been easier as well since I've started sticking to basic recipes and asked my husband to help with the chopping, browning meat, and the clean up.

My favorite foods so far come from Melissa Joulwan's cookbook Well Fed. They are Jicama home fries and chocolate chili. I'm making the jicama again this week, I can't seem to get enough.

I added two more things last week - get eight hours of sleep and exercise three times a week. So far, I haven't been consistent with either, although going to bed by 10:30 is difficult, especially when my husband gets home from work after nine. It's difficult to stop a conversation and go to bed, but I know it's important for my health.

I've been reading some interesting information about Omega 3 & Omega 6 fats and I'll be sharing that later in the month. I haven't found anything yet that pertains specifically to lipedema, but we do know Omega 6 fats are inflammatory, and I'll be sharing what I discover regarding a balance of these fats.

My first Whole 30 - Week 1

By Christina Routon

For the January Lifestyle Challenge I chose to start a paleo diet. I went all in by following a program called Whole 30. You can find out more about this plan at Whole9Life and check out the following websites for recipes:

The Clothes Make the Girl (I'm also using her cookbook, Well Fed)
Nom Nom Paleo

Whole 30 is an elimination plan (no grains, legumes, dairy (except ghee and eggs), sweeteners of any kind) and it also includes other rules such as:

No "paleo" treats
No "paleo-ifying" regular foods - no "paleo bread", etc.

This means my gluten-free pancakes with sugar-free syrup are out, as well as the corn tortillas and grits, peanut butter, and other things I was still eating. Also, all sweeteners, including stevia, Splenda, Truvia, agave - are out. It's been a learning curve, but I'm doing okay. I'm not having the cravings / headaches other people have talked about during the Whole30 timeline as I'd already gone wheat-free / sugar-free.

Here are a few things I've learned this week. The lessons should apply to any type of plan you're doing.

Plan ahead - This is crucial. I can't just run out and grab something to eat for lunch or toss something together for dinner. There has to be a plan in place and food has to be ready ahead of time.

Keep it simple - Don't try to make meals that consume too much time in the kitchen. It's been a week and I already feel as if I'm in kitchen jail. I do try to cook ahead as Melissa recommends in her book, Well Fed, but I end up cooking for about two days ahead instead of the week. One of my rules for recipes - must include items found in my local grocery store. The only item I bought at a health-food store was Coconut Aminos.

Get family participation - My husband is doing this with me as a show of support. It's always nice to have support and participation. Our son still lives with us, but he's been buying his own food.

It doesn't have to be expensive - Yes, I know a lot of paleo and primal sites want you to buy grass-fed beef and free-range chicken and organic vegetables. I can't afford those at this point in time. I buy what I can, even if it's not perfect. I do check the dirty dozen list to see if the vegetables / fruit should be bought organic, though, and if I can I buy them organic or do without. I started buying ingredients and testing recipes during the weeks leading to Christmas, just to test them out. So far, I've only exceeded my weekly grocery budget twice in about three weeks, and then by $20.

I'm not weighing until the end of January, but I do have my weight and measurements from the end of December to compare. However, I'm not doing this for weight loss. As many of you know, with lipedema we're not really trying to "lose weight". We're trying to fight inflammation. Some of what I'm doing may result in weight loss, but I'm not expecting my legs to change overnight. I'm not expecting to drop a significant amount of weight. My reason for following this plan in January and continuing with the paleo / primal diet is to reduce inflammation I already have and prevent any more from occurring.

Starting today, January 7, I'm adding exercise back into my routine as well.

How are you doing on your January challenge?

You Are Okay, I Am Fat

By Maggie McCarey

YOU ARE OKAY.  I AM FAT

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
 By the time I finish my song?

     Healthy families raise children who love themselves and others as they are loved. Period. Healthy families raise children who believe in their intrinsic and unique importance at home and in society. Always.  Healthy families raise children to believe that they are not divine mistakes. Ever. On the other hand, dysfunctional families produce children who doubt their self-worth, generation after generation.  A dysfunctional family has favorites among its children and roles: martyrs, scapegoats, heroes, and clowns.  A dysfunctional family orbits around a broken and narcissistic individual who disables rational thinking and loving behavior among and between its members.  Dysfunctional families learn destructive coping mechanisms that they bring to the classroom, church, and workplace. 

BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY:  if you have been born into a dysfunctional family, and you were tortured for your weight, you were not really rejected because you were fat.  You were rejected because your family had to assign you a dysfunction role to preserve itself.  If you weren't rejected because you were fat, you would have been rejected for having ears like Uncle Egor or being too smart, or the youngest, or the oldest, or, or, or....  Being fat just made it easier for them to assign you a role.  Hey, appearances are "everything."  How can you belong to the "perfect" family if your body is  a sign board advertising  cultural imperfection?  The only way to deal with a fat child in a family denying its humanity is to tell him/er and yourself: your fat is your own fault; you are not like us; you are different; you don't belong.

I worked several years on a psychiatric unit where a sick family  was often evident in our patients.  In fact, in family therapy. we call the patient, our IP: (identified patient) because we know s/he simply sounds the alarm for a family that is about to implode.  Seldom is the real patient hospitalized.  For example, I was responsible for taking family history with each new patient.  I remember one teenager; promiscuous, drug and alcohol addicted; belligerent at school and violent at home.  I asked her perfectly groomed and sweetly smiling mother when she first began to see behavioral changes in her daughter.  The mother replied: "when she was 9 months old."  I looked up from my notes.  The mother clinched her jaw and said: I walked into her room after her nap.  She had poop on her fingers from her diaper and I knew right then and there, that this girl was trouble!"  Her rage was so kindled, the event could have occurred the day before.  And, fifteen years later, acting upon that truth, her daughter was on a psychiatric unit, the IP of a very disturbed family.  The girl's role had been assigned at nine months old.  Your Name Shall Be Called Trouble.  I probably don't need to add that while the girl was on our unit, she was fun, intelligent, wise beyond her years, starving for love, and broken beyond our meds and psychological support to fix.

As we prepared for our January Challenge, we did our usual thing. We did a searching moral inventory of our bad eating habits. We planned deprivation or elimination.  We picked a diet of the decade or the month.   I hope that we also  planned for a different reason than we have in the past. And a different path.  No calorie counting.  No being hungry.  No weighing every day.  I hope we planned to lose weight or maintain our weight because lipedema demands that of us, and not with the idea, that we will lose enough weight to "belong."  We did everything except, perhaps, the one thing we needed to do in order to succeed: bind our wounds with the balm of truth.

One of the greatest selp-help book ever conceived was I'm Okay, You're Okay.  I haven't thought of it for years but someone mentioned it a few weeks ago and at my age I finally got it.  Brilliant! Still being sold.  Keep It Simple Silly, author Dr. Thomas A. Harris suggests that three-quarters of adults live with the belief: "You're Okay.  I am Not." That's a lot of poopy! A lot of family dysfunction. A lot of cultural erosion. Its hard to argue against Harris' number with almost every aspect of just society unraveling in every corner of the world. 

The point? I think many of us who have spent all or most of our lives as fat people in a thin world are acutely aware that we are not okay.  In fact, we could add one more distinction to Harris' book which pretty much sums us up:  You are okay. I am fat.  Until we get to the place where we are okay with ourselves... Okay... Loved...  Cherished...  Able to love ourselves when others cannot because they need our imperfect bodies to hide their imperfections, we will not be okay. It won't matter how many times we lose weight or how much we lose because fat is really not our issue.  BELONGING is our issue and I bet most of you have found a way to belong; you just haven't found away to accept  belonging to people who think you are more than okay!   We have to begin the real lipedema healing process with the aha that we are okay and we are fat. That is our challenge for the rest of our lives.  And it has become a lot easier for us since we have discovered so many others who are okay and just like us.

January Lifestyle Challenge

By Stefanie Gwinn-Vega and Tatjana van der Krabben

January Lifestyle Challenge (http://www.lipese.com/lifestyle-challenge.html) is about putting more thought than usual into your eating habits. What do you like? Could it be you like it because it’s addictive? Are you (already) enjoying healthy food? Does your mood influence your serving sizes? Do you feel like change? What could you change? It’s about aiming for a healthy lifestyle, not a quick, unhealthy diet program that promises miracles.

Below you find a description of a few popular low-carb diets. They are not specifically designed for people with lipedema, but have gained popularity among women with lipedema. Also, research suggests low-carb is recommended in case of lipedema. Low-carb and no sugar are the elements that keep returning in official lipedema diets. The descriptions of the diets are strictly informative and the menu with each serves as an inspiration or perhaps ‘food for thought’. LIPESE does not endorse a specific diet.

If you feel like getting started and would like some support? On Facebook Lipedema/Lipoedema Group of the United States (private group) and Lipedema Unite (open group) have members looking for "buddies" to take on the challenge together. Not on Facebook and still interested in teaming up with someone? Drop us a line via info@lipese.com . We're happy to help you find a buddy.

South Beach Diet

Phase 1 is designed to stabilize your blood-sugar levels and eliminate cravings for sugary foods and refined starches. This phase is for 14 days.
A sample day would look something like this:

Breakfast
6 oz tomato juice
Scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and mushrooms
2 slices of Canadian bacon
Decaffeinated coffee or tea with nonfat milk and sugar substitute

Midmorning snack
1 part-skim mozzarella cheese stick

Lunch
Chicken Caesar salad (no croutons)

Midafternoon snack
½ cup low-fat cottage cheese / Greek yogurt with added veggies

Dinner
Mahi mahi

Oven-roasted vegetables or salad
2 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette or low-sugar prepared dressing

Dessert
Lemon zest ricotta crème

Phase 2 of South Beach Diet you’ll gradually re-introduce nutritious and delicious foods, including fruits, whole grains and some additional vegetables. A sample day would look like this:

Breakfast
1 cup of fresh strawberries
Oatmeal (1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal with walnuts)
Decaffeinated coffee or tea

Midmorning snack
1 hardboiled egg

Lunch
Mediterranean chicken salad

Mid-afternoon snack
Fresh pear with Laughing Cow light cheese

Dinner
Spinach-stuffed salmon
Vegetable medley
Tossed salad (mixed greens, cucumbers, green peppers and cherry tomatoes)
Olive oil and vinegar to taste

Dessert
Chocolate-dipped strawberries

Atkins diet
Phase 1 of the Atkins diet is called Induction – it’s where you’ll jumpstart your weight loss program. The main focus is on proteins, healthy fats and veggies. A sample menu may look something like this:

Breakfast

3 eggs with 4 slices of bacon

Midmorning snack
Sugar free jello

Lunch
Cheeseburger with sauteed mushrooms (no bun)

Midafternoon snack
Atkins Induction phase bar or shake

Dinner
Grilled shrimp and steak
Salad

Dessert
Sugar free jello with whipped cream

You stay in Induction phase until you get closer to your goal weight - which is a rather alien concept for us: "goal weight". Next you move on to phase 2 which promises continued weight loss, but at a slower rate. You van add nuts, berries and yogurt in this phase.
Atkins has a free app for Android or Apple that helps you track your progress, get info on food, has daily meal plans etc. Useful for those who can use a constant reminder.

Wheat belly Diet
There's only one phase and you never begin to add carbs back in as many of the other diets do. The basic permis is to try to maintain a consistant blood-sugar level. There's no calorie counting or restriction and it's basically carbohydrate-based, as carbs are responsible for the sugar highs and lows. A sample day may look like this:

Breakfast
Mexican omlet with sausage, peppers, mushrooms, full fat cheese and salsa
Coffee or tea with heavy cream / half & half

Midmorning snack
Almond flax muffin in a minute

Lunch
Grilles chicken salad with cranberries and walnuts

Midafternoon snack
Greek yogurt with a dozen raspberries

Dinner
Pizza with cheese crust, with whatever topping you desire in meat and veggie category

Dessert
Almond flour chocolate chip cookies

Paleo Diet
There are no phases in this diet as they focus on eating from the foodgroups our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, the time period from about 2.6 million years ago to the beginning of the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago. These foods include fresh meats (preferably grass-produced or free-ranging beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and game meat if you can get it), fish, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and healthy oils (olive, coconut, avocado, macademia, walnut and flaxseed). Dairy products, cereal grains, legumes, refined sugar and processed foods were not part of out ancestral menu. A sample menu looks something like this:

Breakfast
Sweet potato hash with bacon

Midmorning snack
Fruit salad

Lunch
Chicken cutlets with olives and tomatoes

Midafternoon snack
Jerky and fruit

Dinner:
Coconut shrimp and basil spinach

Dessert
Paleo pumpkin muffins

Primal diet
Primal is similar to Paleo diet, but they do differ in certain areas. Primal is lower carb as fruit is limited and more seasonal and even "natural sugar" is frowned upon. Dairy products are more accepted on the Primal plan as well. A sample menu would look something like this:

Breakfast:
Omlet loaded with meats and cheese & coffee with cream

Midmorning snack
Almonds

Lunch
Chef's salad

Midafternoon snack
Avocado

Dinner:
Grilled steak with veggie of your choice & a glass of wine

Dessert
Serving of blue berries in cream

Tim Ferris Four Hour Body Diet
This is considered a slow-carb diet rather than a low-carb diet. The rules are simple: avoid white bread, white rice, potatoes and other white carbs, as well as whole grains and steel-cut oats - which are often promoted as healthy carbs due to their high fiber content. His plan outlaws all fruit and dairy (except cottage cheese which he says speeds up fat loss, while other dairy slows it) and involves a one "all-you-can-eat-day" a week. Anything goes on this prescheduled day (however, I personally  would stay away from wheat and sugar as both cause inflammation). Ferris also suggests eating the same small meals over and over again. A menu could look like this:

Breakfast
Spinach quiche

Midmorning snack
Avocado and nuts

Lunch
Chicken and black bean lettuce wraps

Midafternoon snack
Hard boiled eggs

Dinner
Beaf stew with pinto beans and kale

Dessert
Cottage cheese with cinnamon