The start of today was day 9 following my own LEAP (Lifestyle Eating And Performance) Diet protocol. In the previous post, I mentioned how I did my own food sensitivity testing: MRT to find out if there were any foods causing inflammation in my body. Well, since I am now a CLT (Certified LEAP Therapist), I created my own diet therapy to follow for my thyroid health and would see how it went.
At first, it was extremely difficult because you can only eat from 20-25 different foods that you are the lowest reactive to. My friends and family didn’t understand why I was on this “ridiculous” restrictive diet, and had so many questions. Over the week, they have come to support me, but initially, it was difficult telling them, “sorry, no, I can not eat that today”.
Phase 1 is only temporary–up to two weeks. Then, you can start adding in more foods. I will admit that I didn’t follow my Phase 1 perfectly. I ate foods that were not MRT tested. And I know in the beginning, I ate a few small amounts of one or two reactive foods as I was adjusting. This is why it probably took me until day 9 to start feeling better. But, overall, I have to say I am proud of myself for sticking to it!
What Does Feeling Better Mean?
It is so strange. With Hashimoto’s, the destruction of the thyroid gland can be so slow that symptoms can progress so slowly that you don’t know you have a problem, or many deny they have a problem. And early on, you usually have less symptoms. After all, I thought I was perfectly healthy.
So, I started my MRT and LEAP diet looking for any sign that I was “feeling better” (not even sure what that would mean). I didn’t notice anything until this morning when I woke up and my throat did not feel closed-up and sore. My throat felt open, a little dry, but not sore at all! It was a weird feeling because it felt so clear. It made me realize that something had been going wrong with my throat.
My nose had constantly been a little runny, and that has gotten better. Feelings of anxiety seem to be slowly going away (not sure about this though). My afternoon energy levels have perked up a little, and I had much more energy to run harder and faster this afternoon.
Today was only Day 9, so we will see what happens over the next month!
Out and About
Coincidentally, the first day of feeling better was my first day of attending FNCE (Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo)! FYI, FNCE is an annual conference of Registered Dietitians (pictured right in front of my fav vegetable!).
Too bad I couldn’t eat a lot of the food samples given out at FNCE–too much tapioca and potato in the sample foods. Doesn’t anyone make a gluten free bread without tapioca? Not that I know of. I guess I will have to make my own bread from scratch!
Are You Still Not Feeling Better?
Then, it may be time to consider MRT-LEAP (and yes, I offer long distance programs). Yes, it will cost you to do the test, but the results are priceless (and highly accurate so you do not have to repeat). If you have addressed all other areas of possible inflammation, it is time to look at the hypersensitivities to foods and food chemicals.
The whole process of healing is difficult and tasking, but the reward is worth it: You begin to “feel better” and you didn’t know what feeling better could feel like or would feel like. For me, it has not been drastic so far, but I have not been working on “healing” for that long. So far, so good! I only have good things to say about all the steps I have taken to heal.
How about you?
susie
Please tell about the rest of your experience with LEAP — how long did you stay on it, are you still? Are you 100% on it and doing phase six? What has happened to your TPO ab since you started? Thanks, I’m also doing LEAP.
ngerman8
Hi Susie,
That’s great! I haven’t had my TPO antibodies re-checked yet, so we’ll see. But, I feel that LEAP has sped up my “recovery” and healing tremendously. It is probably a combination of things, but I went from diagnosis to getting results in 5 months. And I didn’t start LEAP until about 2 months in. Within 2 weeks of LEAP my sore throats went away and I noticed less inflammation. I am not perfect with my LEAP protocol–I would say I am about 90-95%. For example, if parsley (a reactive food) gets on my food, I try to scrape it off. But, I will not touch gluten or almonds (red reactive). How are you doing?