Jean, what a wonderful, truly very long-term success story. Success not in weight loss, but conquering so many health issues. That is a crazy number of seemingly unrelated health issues all solved through diet...your own dietary experiments. Would love to have some docotor now explain them all. :idea:
Though please answer one question that others will undoubtedly ask...what DO you eat? Eggs, meat, chicken and dairy are the backbone of usual LC menus. We know that you have accepted your food restrictions, but a new person trying to find a dietary solution may be overwhelmed by the "don'ts". As others have already written, you are an inspiration and so freely and generously share your time and good advice with other members...thank you!

One thing that I decided early on in my journey of diet change is that I would not think of the way I was eating as a deprivation but as a gift I was giving myself. In other words I thought about how lucky I was to have figured out how to regain my health simply by changing how I ate. The things I no longer could eat might be considered food by other people but I started seeing them as poison and who would voluntarily ingest poison? Arsenic, no matter how good it tastes, will never be on my menu.

Now to specifics. There are lots of food still to eat.

Proteins that are currently in my diet:
ground venison
canned wild Alaskan slamon
wild caught Pacific cod
pork liver
homemade breakfast sausage

Fats:
olive oil
coconut oil

Vegetables:
various leafy greens
broccoli
cauliflower
bok choy
cucumber
red pepper
mushrooms
cabbage

Nuts and seeds:
flax seed
sunflower seeds

Other:
coconut milk (homemade)
shirataki noodles
salad dressing (homemade oil and vinegar)

Liquids:
Coffee
Green tea
herbal tea
water

If you think of it as deprivation then you will feel deprived. If you think of it as a means to a healthy life it will feel like a gift.

Here's my tough love speech. Most of us become very spoiled. We think we need variety and scrumptious tastes all the time. We don't. I think of my food as medicine to keep my body healthy so that I can use my life in more productive ways than taking pills and visiting doctors. My food is easy to prepare and tasty but it is not the center of my life. I used to believe that my coffee had to have milk and sugar in it. Yuck to black. Now I drink it black and it's fine. Habits can be changed. Attitudes can be changed. We can learn to eat in ways that enhance our health if we let go of what we used to think about food and embrace a new way of thinking and eating.

End of lecture.

Jean

Hi Jean, I am so very happy for you that you have found the solution to your gut problems. And as to your magnificent weight loss, I can only come over all Oz and say, "Goodonya, mate!"

Meanwhile, I might take some advice from you. You see I have fairly major problems with my tum too, to the point where I can only leave home if I have eaten nothing at all for 24 hours. My problem is diverticulosis/itis, and I cannot eat any nuts seeds or much fibre without triggering a you beaut episode of diverticulitis. But it never occurred to me to eliminate any proteins! Hey, if it has worked for you, it's worth a shot, right? Oops, just made a typo there putting an "i" instead of an "o" for "shot". Appropriate, yes? :D

Let me just finish by once again congratulating you on doing so well!

Roz - That was how I used to function. If there was somewhere I had to go I would fast for at least 24 hours beforehand. I was doing intermittent fasting before it was all the rage. You might want to try an elimination diet to see if you can find the foods that are causing your symptoms. It's a hard way to live, not being able to leave the house.

Jean

OMG, lecture away! You are so articulate and eloquent!

You always manage to say things that I wish I could express if I had your gift!

Your belief about the foods we are lucky to enjoy mirror my own! I never feel deprived for having found what foods works for me to keep me healthy!

I don't bemoan the foods that were keeping me morbidly obese and would probably send me to an early grave suffering from the ravaging and debilitating diseases associated with being 100+ lbs over weight and getting older...

I made a comment in my journal this morning about my incredible LC WOE; that it has become so completely ingrained in me to the point that thinking about eating anything off plan seems so totally foreign and wrong to me.

Actually, thinking about eating or even seeing off plan foods (i.e., those horribly toxic carbs) make me wanna gag at times...so to say I'm in a totally fab-tastic place in my journey is truly an understatement!

I'm gonna continue to FIGHT the Good Hard Fight and be the best I can be health-wise as I get older! :thup:

Of course I'm part of your admiration society! You're truly AMAZING!

Great read, very impressive. Thanks for writing it up, you never now who you might be helping down the road.

Hey, you left out the eye of newt. It's Paleo, etc, and fried in some coconut oil, i bet it's quite good.

Your success story
 

What an inspiring story!! Thank you.

I really needed that ;)

Thank you for sharing your story. Your patient persistence in researching your health issues and then sticking to the principles that work for you are an inspiration to me.

Thank you for sharing your remarkable story!
Isn't that the truth. People are always sending me articles about potential cures for celiac, etc, that are coming down the pipe. I always reply that i'd rather avoid the poison, in the first place, than take the antidote.

I have just read this and I say wow, congrats on a great job turning this all around for yourself. Not an easy road, for sure.
I was curious about your path to success, seeing you on the 90 day thread.
Contrats and keep on!
Kat :)

Such an amazing journey! :)

Thank you for sharing your story and pics, cotonpal. I'm just starting out and am so impressed you reached 106% of your goal! Inspiring!

Jean, I'm really happy for you. I'm glad you found a way to take such good care of yourself. :)

That is a inspirational story. I am making my way through the forum posts of interest. :wave: You have done great. I really like the summary of the books and what you got from them. I followed Atkins back in '04. I couldn't believe it had been that long ago. Gained weight and thought it is time again and make it a WOL. I am very focused and doing ok. More NSV that scale but I've always said the 'number' doesn't matter it is how you feel and how your clothes fit. Life is great and I have more energy that I know what to do with :lol: Feeling great. Your story inspired me more and I will Keep On Keeping On!!! Thank You