Serve with mashed potatoes and boiled carrots. A true Minnesotan delight.

Enjoy!

Recipes and re-defining how I cook and use ingredients has been an insanely important part of this journey. I couldn't control my symptoms naturally if it weren't for how I was fueling my body. I can now completely control my autoimmune flares with just the food I consume.

I am not on a huge budget, so all of these recipes are doable and affordable. AND GOOD! If you didn't know they were dietary restricted you wouldn't be able to taste the difference.

Need a SUPER easy dinner recipe? I’ve got you

It's been quite the month. I am so proud of this AIP journey. I have never once said I was perfect on this protocol, but I did the best I could to stay on track throughout the month and I absolutely learned how to clean up what I cook again and rethink how I fuel my body. It isn't about weight loss, but overall health and I think I am learning to find a good balance. I have also learned the hard way that dairy and gluten are for sure triggers. When I have been exposed or eaten anything my symptoms get significantly worse in the evenings. I still have not tried incorporating any eggs yet. My plan is to stay egg, dairy, and gluten free for the foreseeable future.

At my thinnest I was running 100+ miles a week. I was fainting because I wasn't eating enough. I was socially isolated because I had to eat different than my peers (especially in college). I was the thin. I ate bagels and doughnuts and all I did was run and lift. I had so much empty space on my calendar during college that's all I did. I'd spend 3-4 hours a day running and in the gym. I'd go back to my apartment, eat, shower, and go to bed.

I had no confidence. I was just trying to fit in.

I can't believe it's been almost a month of this new lifestyle. It has definitely been a journey. Never in my life did I think I'd be scouring the aisles for vegan cheese options or dairy free milk alternatives, but here I am.

One of the biggest things I knew I didn't want to have to give up was living life while trying to heal my body. I know that with enough planning and advanced prep (even though I know I don't want to do it sometimes) I can do the things I love and not feel isolated or alone because I can't eat anything provided. I also need to get over the stigma of bringing food for myself to eat.

Last weekend I went on a girls weekend camping to see a concert I've waited over two years for so I knew I wasn't going to miss it.

Breakfasts are hard, so I have been rotating sausage patties and sweet potato hash with a nut milk from the Goodery. Both keep me full for a long period of time which I love. I just miss the sweet part of breakfast and eggs. I really miss eggs.

This protocol isn’t easy and I am definitely bending a few of the rules to make it fit my lifestyle and it still isn’t easy.

I have completely eliminated grains and dairy. I MISS CHEESE SO MUCH! But I already feel a difference and I know as I continue on the journey it’ll get easier. I will post the recipes I use each week in hopes that you will find some inspiration and try something new!

Here’s what I ate Week 1-

I had no idea what this was until a few days ago. As I sit and write this post I feel so overwhelmed at the thought of starting this process. It’s daunting, but it’s something that I can control about this process. So much of this is so new and the more I read and learn the more I think I have had this for a lot longer than originally thought and I wish I would’ve been diagnosed sooner.

The next couple of weekends were supposed to be spent up north this weekend with friends and next weekend just the two of us to have a weekend away before we get sucked into the craziness of our summertime schedules. Well COVID-19 had other plans for us.

I would much prefer to have had a day off and spend it gallivanting through the woods with friends and trying on bridesmaid dresses, but unfortunately that isn’t my reality right now. My reality while writing this post is looking at two very empty weekends on my calendar pretending it doesn’t make me want to cry.

Having anxiety sucks and not being around people whilst you have anxiety can sometimes make things 100x worse. I like to be out and doing things and that’s when I thrive is when I’m busy. The more time I have to sit around and ponder all of the things going on in my brain the worse I get mentally.

So...here’s my game plan for the weekend and I am hoping I have pictures to share about each item as the weekend plays out!

We committed this year to work on dedicating more time to our relationship and this was our first "official" date of 2021!

I broke down this week. I felt like I was not being appreciated or quite honestly even seen. It wears on you after a while. It’s an all too familiar feeling of numbness which brings back tidal waves on emotion in and of itself from past trauma. There’s beauty in being vulnerable, but there is also immense pain. The kind of pain you don’t really know how to put into words. Your heart is numb.

For the last two years I have lived in fear.

Fear that I will be "found". I am finally in a good place and I would stop at nothing to keep that.

Fear that I will never feel good enough to be happy.

Fear that I am a product of my experience and I can't change that.

Fear that I will be left because I am inadequate.

Fear that I am unworthy.

I came upon this on Instagram a few weeks ago and it has just been swirling around in my mind. I have done so much soul searching these last couple of years. I have grown so much in my emotion, power, strength, self-image. I know who I am. I know what I believe about the world around me and about myself.