Summer 2015: Camp, Theme Parks, and Netflix

In the several weeks since I've blogged, I have run two music camps and survived an Independence Day excursion to Busch Gardens. I'm thrilled to compare the state of my health now to the state of my health last summer, when I stayed home from our family vacation and often couldn't handle a dramatic TV show or a shopping trip on an average day. Before I give the impression that I'm cured and have plans to go rock climbing anytime soon, I should probably mention that I'm pretty much grounded at home this week with an SEID flare and sinus thing (partially my fault, more on that later). Progress has been two steps forward, one step back. But two steps forward, one step back over the course of a year adds up to a sizeable amount of encouraging improvement!

Here's an at-a-glance recap of the past several weeks, as well as a bare-bones commentary of my latest nutrition excursion/The Maker's Diet:

*week before music camp #1: SEID flare week, can work mentally on music camp less than an hour a day (still on candida diet, no coffee allowed)

*music camp week #1: re-introduce coffee, productivity goes up. Try to start phase 1 of The Maker's Diet (no complex carbs, whole foods, etc), but give up halfway through the week as I have no energy outside of leading camp in the morning to focus on food prep, etc. Re-introduce gluten/dairy-free processed foods. Feel somewhat sick from so much sugar/carbs.

*week after music camp #1: tired and sore from camp but not as sick as expected. Start The Maker's Diet. My body loves it. I'm resting physically and giving my digestive system a rest as well, which means more energy to devote to recovery.

*music camp week #2: working very hard everyday at camp; back to eating processed foods except gluten. Allow dairy the last two days, including ice cream, which triggers a sinusitis flare (duh, Lizzie).

This week, I'm back to eating very clean. I'm easing into The Maker's Diet. Phase 1 is very similar to SCD/GAPS, and my body is very happy with it, although I haven't been cooking this week and I've relied mostly on berries for sugar/carbs. I'll try to incorporate more squash and vegetables later this week.

Later, I'll detail how I survived Busch Gardens on a very strict nutrition plan, and how that experience compared to eating (gluten-free) junk during my 2nd music camp week.

I have also recently had a lot of fun experimenting with different ways to prepare coffee, so be on the look-out for more of that later!