Now that I've gotten all the backstory out of the way

It's been about 9 weeks since I started my elimination diet. My acne has cleared up dramatically and I've lost 15 lbs. For the three months before our wedding, I was in the gym six days a week working out with a trainer, taking spinning classes, running on the treadmill, doing body pump classes AND I was on the South Beach diet. I only lost 3 lbs. Oh boy do I wish I'd known then what I know now! My belly bloat is completely gone and the weight is just melting off of me.

The first couple weeks were rediculously hard and I did a lot of crying. I was so hungry and felt like I couldn't eat anything we had in our cupboards. Instead of focusing on what I COULD eat, I was more fixated on what I could NOT eat.

Now that I'm a few weeks in, I've really turned my attitude around. Instead of wallowing in my misery, I've decided to look at this as a challenge and have set out to learn to cook with new ingredients. I've discovered the versatility of quinoa, the fact that goat cheese is actually pretty tasty and have learned many different substitutes for eggs. I've expanded my food horizons and have even gotten my super picky hubby to eat lentils!

Feeding Ella seems to be pretty easy in comparison to feeding myself. Most gluten free (wheat free) foods are made with rice. Or oat. Neither of which I can have. Luckily, she's pretty easy going and loves fruits and vegetables so we stick to those, for the most part. Cheerios have been replaced by Oatios and I scour food labels to make sure her juice doesn't have corn syrup, etc. It is difficult and grocery shopping takes twice as long now that I have to read and re-read every package but I feel better knowing that what I'm giving her is safe.

I keep reminding myself that all things considered, we're pretty lucky. We've caught these allergies early on and can learn to live with them. She will never know what she's missing out on because she's never had peanutbutter cups or icecream and hopefully, she'll outgrow some of the allergies and be able to live a "normal" life.