Hello again!
Well, My Sleepy Kitchen has been long overdue for a post! After a 2.5 year hiatus, it finally feels like the right time to start blogging again. I’ve been thinking about it for some time now, and have had a lot of encouragement to pick the blog up again, but the past couple years have been a roller coaster to say the least, and unfortunately blogging didn’t fit into the picture.
A lot has changed since November 2012 – my health, symptoms, diet, home and career have all gone through transitions. After a ton of research, perseverance, saying goodbye to unresponsive doctors and finding some great MDs who finally took my health issues seriously, I also FINALLY have a proper diagnosis (beyond the vague diagnosis of exclusion, “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”) – during the Fall of 2014 I found out that I have Lyme Disease (and probably have had it for years). I’ll write more on my diagnosis all these life transitions in my next post, but to keep it short and sweet, I’ll just say it is such a huge relief to finally know what has been responsible for causing all my symptoms these past 4 years!
Happy Days!
With the re-launch of My Sleepy Kitchen, I want to take the blog in a slightly new direction. I still want to share recipes and useful information pertaining to CFS and the benefits a gluten-free diet, but would like to do so in a way that is more sustainable for me – turns out writing a blog post every week takes a decent time commitment!
In the last couple years, I have been doing loads of reading about health and nutrition (I sometimes like to think I have a mini-honorary degree in gastroenterology), and have found so many great resources on the internet. Rather than basically rewriting all that content here, I’ve decided I am going to use this blog as a place to share links to all the wonderful information and recipes that I have discovered. I still want to occasionally write longer posts about my experiences and share allergy-friendly recipes that I’ve adapted, but my goal is to frequently post links to articles, recipes and podcasts that are relevant to Lyme Disease, CFS, nutrition and healthy living; it is my hope that these links will provide helpful information and introduce some new and useful ideas that you may not have come across yet.
I am also going to shift the focus slightly from CFS and gluten-free recipes, to Lyme Disease (treated through the lens of functional medicine) and a modified-Paleo, nutrient dense diet; while I’ll be talking about some new topics, they are all very much related and will still be relevant to those of you with food sensitivities, fatigue and chronic health issues. Reflecting on the past couple years, my perspective on health and diet has changed and grown as I’ve researched and learned more about the various conditions that are affecting me. I want to share this new-found information with you; hopefully it will provide inspiration, sparks some new ideas about how you address food and well being, perhaps challenge or change your definition of healthy living, or simply be some food for thought!
I’d also love to hear from you! What topics would you like me to delve into? Any special recipe requests?
my sleepy kitchen 
I, too. Have a diagnosis of Chronic Lyme disease, and a handful of autoimmune diseases, among other things. I’m really looking forward to your future posts! I’m following a vegan, GF diet, but still feel like something is missing. Have you looked into methylation pathway issues at all yet? I definitely suggest that you do. I’ve had genetic testing done through 23andme.com as well. Discovering the methylation pathway blockages I have has been a huge piece to the puzzle.
Hi Vegan Kitchen Nuggets, thanks for stopping by and glad you are finding the information helpful! For me, cutting down on grains and upping my protein and (healthy) fat intake has been really helpful, however I do eat meat so that gives me some more options in terms of protein; you might find it helpful to take a close look at the balance of good fats/carbs/proteins you eat daily, and see if shifting these ratios help you feel better at all. I used to eat a very carb-heavy diet but switched to a paleo-ish diet (high protein & fat, lower carb, GF, and no eggs/dairy due to allergies) last year; it took a couple weeks for my body to adjust to using protein and fat as energy sources but I have seen a big difference in my energy throughout the day with my new diet. I make sure to eat a good portion of protein at every meal, especially at breakfast (which was hard at first because I grew up on cereal & milk; now I eat a lot of soup for breakfast!) – but my blood sugar is much more stable throughout the day and I don’t need to snack between meals. And although I love grains, my digestion doesn’t and I do feel better when I keep my consumption of them on the lower side. Of course everyone’s body is different, but I think it is good for everyone to examine their diets and see if a change here or there can make a difference – so it might be useful to see if cutting back on grains, and/or more protein and/or fat, would help you feel better, as I know finding complete-protein sources can be especially tricky for vegans.
I haven’t done Methylation testing but am definitely interested in it, and have been trying to learn more about it; my doctor is also doing a lot of reading on it, and we talked about testing me in the future. I do have issues with low B-vitamins, and I’m pretty sure the two are related…. How have you been able to resolve the pathway blockages – different supplements? I’m always interested in hearing about what works for other people!
Good luck with everything and hope to have you visit the blog again soon!
I am so glad you are back and I look forward to your posts!
Thanks for the support Judy!