I am sure most of you are sick of being told to exercise and diet as if that is the be all and end all to what is going to make our DD go away. Well, I don’t blame you at all because I am pretty sick of it myself. Neither one is going to make us miraculously better but working on both might just help a little. Understanding that many people suffering from Dercum’s have valid reasons not to excessively exercise that leaves us to work on the “Dreaded Diet”. (I know, but keep reading, I promise it gets better).
I have come to a revelation over the last few weeks. Part one of that revelation was that there are not many things I can control about my disease but I definitely can control my diet. After years of going on and off different diets and none of the plans producing much better results than when I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, I finally decided to stick with the latter and accept my weight for what it was. I was never a big over-eater anyhow so maybe I was just made this way. Plus, not giving up ice cream, cheesecake, chocolate cake and all other things that are wonderfully sticky and gooey and extremely yummy was a huge bonus that came with just not caring anymore.
Then two years ago when I finally figured out what was making me this way, after allowing myself the acceptable few months of self pity with intermittent times of gorging myself on anything and everything because I thought it just didn’t matter, I decided to figure out what I should be eating. Well, that statement may be a bit of a stretch. I should say that with much insistence from my doctors and a good friend who practices acupuncture, I finally caved in under the pressure and started to look at what I should and should not be eating.
After much research, I followed a very strict diet for almost five months only to end up not losing any weight. I was upset, to say the least. I was doing what I was supposed to do but I was not seeing any results. Being on the diet was not helping or so I thought.
I started turning back to my old favorites, (who wouldn’t want a big coffee roll to start their morning?) and just didn’t care. Everything was well and good until last summer when I found out the hard way why I should not just give up. I went through 2 to 3 months of many new lipomas popping up, nausea any time I ate and swelling in my legs and trunk almost every day. Instead of changing my diet back I sunk deeper into just not caring. I had the knowledge on what I needed to do and, even worse than that, offered much advice to others on changing their diets and why it would help. I was basically living a lie by not following my own advice and expecting others to do so.
There came the second part of my revelation, I needed to start practicing what I preached. You cannot help others until you help yourself. Even though I may not receive the benefit of losing weight following the diet, I know that it will help my health and focusing on healing my insides needs to become the priority rather than focusing on my weight. So, diet for health and not worrying about losing weight, what a concept.
Food does matter. What we are putting into our bodies are either helping or hurting us and sometimes both. Looking at the RAD recommendations can leave a lot of questions, but how about rethinking the whole thing and take it in steps? Making just one or two changes to your diet at a time or making the right choices when available can help.
I plan on posting through the next few weeks many things that will hopefully help people understand the RAD diet and why it can help. I have hundreds of recipes (tested and changes made when needed) that I will share with you all. I have also researched extensively on the Alkaline Diet as well as other diets that follow closely with the RAD diet which has helped me in understanding the reasoning behind Dr. Herbst’s suggestions for the diet .
I’ll leave you on this note: Do what you are capable of and be realistic. Organics and natural products can be pricey but it is summer so most places offer farmer’s markets. Check them out. Not only are you helping local businesses and the economy, you are actually getting fresher produce that were subjected to less chemicals and growth hormones. I picked up the most wonderful quart of strawberries from a local farm that were the sweetest I have ever had. The one find this week made it all worth the while.
