How are you guys?! Good weekend? I hope so! We ended up with some sun today (Sunday)— and Marlowe ended up at the beach for a while, but I was stuck to my desk all day. Did I tell you I’m updating this website? Like, switching it over to a whole new site… for the first time ever?! Crazy. So I’ve been work, work, working on that. Part of me doesn’t hate the tedious-ness of it… and actually enjoys it. (I’m weird, I know) Though I wish I could be playing with my kid and/or at the beach instead 😉

But soon enough… right? Right.

So you guys often ask about what I’m eating. I obviously share What Marlowe Eats all the time… but I rarely take photos of my own food… though to be completely honest, we do eat A LOT of the same food. We’re both trying to eat more salads around here. Well, to be fair, when I say “we are trying” I mean… “I am trying.. and I am making her do it too”… obviously. And I often add hot sauce to my food. Realistically, this is probably not the best idea since bottled hot sauce is high in sodium (even the most natural one), but we all have our weaknesses. I find it pretty amusing that I have to be careful with foods like salads since c. diff, but I can eat a pile of hot sauce (or other hot foods) with basically zero problems. I’ll never fully understand my gut… obviously.

So let’s chat about my recent diet (changes/etc.)… yeah?

When we last left off, I was adding fruit (A LOT of it) to my diet and trying to transition to raw. Some things changed. Some haven’t (read my last two food posts here and here).

I never made it to being fully raw. And I don’t intend to anymore.

So here are my thoughts:

1. I think going completely raw would be AMAZING and REALLY beneficial to my health.
2. I like cooked food WAY too much and find it emotionally difficult to fully switch.

That’s the gist of it.

When I became vegan I liked cheese (and all dairy) way too much, and couldn’t emotionally let go of it either, but I did eventually make the switch there. So who knows what will happen. Maybe nothing. Maybe I’ll switch one day.

I’d like to be fully raw. I think it would be really great, but I don’t think I want (or need) to do it enough to the point where I actually switch.

So now, I just try to eat as raw as possible. Some days I do eat fully raw, but oftentimes I don’t.

BREAKFAST:

Breakfast always starts the same. A LOT of fruit. I have stuck to my high fruit diet. But I’ve cut back on the bananas a bit… not for any particular reason other than, I like pineapple + oranges much more, so I’d rather eat more of those. I’ve switched from eating about 8 bananas for breakfast to about 3 bananas + half a pineapple, + more fruit.

The ONLY times I have problems with the pineapple is if my stomach is not clear and empty.

Note: Pineapple doesn’t actually cause heartburn. It’s the combination of pineapple + leftover food mixing in your stomach acid that causes indigestion– do not be confused! Seriously— if you don’t eat pineapple because “it causes heartburn”, then I suggest try it out for yourself. Eat pineapple on a completely empty stomach (in the morning, after your bathroom visit) and see what happens (hint: nothing happens, you enjoy pineapple).

In the morning I eat: 
-pineapple, oranges, + whatever fresh fruit is around
-acai bowls
-green bowls
-smoothies + smoothie bowls (if you’re wondering: the only difference between a smoothie and a smoothie bowl is that a smoothie bowl is MUCH thicker, in a bowl, usually with toppings, and eaten with a spoon like a treat).

My favorite smoothie recipe is HERE.

LUNCH:

recipes: super easy tempeh lettuce wraps with my favorite miso dressing

noodle + raw veggie salad with the same miso dressing + raw vegan spinach soup.

recipe: my new favorite kale + avocado salad

hodge-podge— black bean burger (in cookbook), baked plantains, and a salad with just a bit of lime for dressing. // spring roll — could eat them every day.

For lunch, I also try to eat raw or mostly raw. Sometimes I don’t, but more times than not, I do. I enjoy trying to eat raw lunch. Sure, sometimes it’s frustrating, but often it’s like a fun challenge. Also, for you guys who have been following me, you know I’m NOT a big salad person– so it’s been nice trying to create salads I actually love. (like this one)

Lunch is different every day depending on what I’m in the mood for and how much time I have to spend in the kitchen. To be honest, oftentimes I end up eating a second meal of fruit– out of pure deliciousness and convenience.

How I see it: I should try to eat as raw as possible for my health. And I have no excuse to not eat raw during lunch. The only time I usually end up eating cooked food (for lunch) now is when I’m starving and there’s nothing but cooked leftovers made or if we’re out of the house and there’s not a lot of raw options. I still try to eat as low fat as possible— but more on this below. And we try to get in a good portion of greens for lunch. Oh and greens for breakfast too– all smoothies have at least a handful of greens added in. Upping the greens has been a priority lately.

In the afternoon I eat: 
-salads
-lettuce wraps
-spring rolls
veggie noodles or grain noodles with raw veggies
-sometimes (but rarely) I’ll make a raw soup, but this is never satiating… so I end up eating a second meal to follow.
-more fruit

DINNER:

recipe: yellow curry

(steamed veggies and white rice– this was boring, we didn’t know what else to make + a miso mustard sauce)

(soup recipe)

Dinner is usually my one cooked meal of the day. Sometimes I eat raw, but more times than not, I give in to cooked food– because I think it’s delicious and I usually want something warm and comforting by the end of the night.

But the thing is… I do feel really good eating mostly raw. I definitely feel better after lunch than I do after dinner. The heavy fullness(vs. the satisfying light fullness) after dinner is definitely noticeable and draining. It’s just hard on my digestion to eat heavier meals. When I first got c. diff (think a week out of the hospital– and for MONTHS later), I knew that 15 minutes after eating I would have to lay down and I would feel ILL for at least an hour later. I don’t have anything like that now— but I do still notice the difference in side effects after different meals. So, would I feel better eating raw food for dinner instead of cooked food? Physically: YES. TOTALLY. But emotionally: no, it was HARD to try to go all raw. I would usually get about halfway through my dinner and then want to cry. I would then take my raw zucchini noodles or whatever I was eating and heat them up halfway through my meal. I don’t want to force myself to do anything that feels bad– physically or emotionally, so I just do what I can each day.

Also, I have to consider that I’m making Marlowe dinner every single night. I mean, she’s a growing kid, she’s gotta eat too, right? So I don’t really care to make two different meals every night for dinner. That would be nutso. So I try to stick to high vegetable, low-fat meals for dinner.

For dinner I eat: 
-loads of soup (tomato soup, pureed veggie soups, and miso soup all the time). Marlowe basically asks for miso soup every single day. I end up making it at least once, maybe twice a week. I don’t mind because it’s SO EASY. Seriously– she’s even made it before. And with the extra veggies, I consider it a nice healthy meal, with the added (gluten-free) grains, it’s more filling to be considered a real meal.
-we also eat a lot of curries with grains. Grains change from rice noodles, buckwheat noodles, brown rice. I like black rice a lot though and should be making it more. The two photos of rice posted above are deceiving because we almost never eat white rice— but those were the photos I remembered to take when it was light enough outside to take them. Like this recipe or this one. There are also a few recipes in the cookbook too  (we omit the oil now).
-a super veggie-filled pasta dish. But instead of wheat noodles, we now use brown rice noodles. And/or I often make zucchini noodles— but I definitely steam them instead of eating them raw. Sometimes I like to do a mix of brown rice noodles + the zucchini since the texture of the zucchini noodles isn’t actually like real noodles. Marlowe won’t go anywhere near a zucchini noodle— and this is fine with me.
-My ultimate comfort food is a steaming hot bowl of noodle soup or a giant Indian meal now. I don’t even really miss pizza anymore… I swear. Crazy, but I swear!

What I probably shouldn’t eat but sometimes eat anyway:

Oils + fats: So as mentioned, I try to do a high carb, low-fat diet. I can eat a lot of fruit in my diet with ZERO blood sugar problems (trust me, I’ve had my blood work done a few times recently and it still comes back great), because I keep the fat intake VERY LOW (almost all the time). This is very hard to do when eating out. Restaurants aren’t known for the low oil, low salt food. Restaurant food is LOADED with hidden fat + sodium. I don’t plan to switch back to a high-fat diet anytime soon, if ever. I learned first hand that high-fat food is NOT easy to digest. And after a lot of research, I have zero desire to add oil back into my diet ever. Does that mean I never eat it? No, I definitely end up eating it when I go out, but at home, I don’t. We cook without oil now. Read more about that HERE.

Please note: I don’t restrict Marlowe’s fat intake at all– but I do make sure that she’s getting fat from natural, unprocessed sources. I do restrict mine a bit– but this is to keep my blood sugar in check— and so far it’s 100% working. This all being said– I still have a weakness for tortilla chips— as does she— she ends up eating fried chips + guac probably once or twice a week.

Corn: Speaking of corn chips– I freaking love corn: tortillas, popcorn, just good ole’ corn kernels, whatever. But I can say that my body does not process it anymore. I’ve been able to keep myself completely gluten-free with no problems, but I do give in with corn from time to time. I think I am going to try to switch to just lettuce wraps instead of the tortillas. But yeah, corn has been a tough grain to give up. Update: Turns out I’ve become completely celiac/gluten allergic since C. Diff. I avoid all gluten, corn, and oats now.

Grains in general: I was mostly grain-free for a while– but lately I haven’t been at all. I keep going back and forth on whether I should make the switchback. I might for a while just to test it out. For now, I try to keep grains to a minimum. Honestly, it’s not even the rice that’s the problem– I could give up rice forever without shedding a tear (some of you rice lovers are offended by this hahaha) but it’s the noodles. I love rice + buckwheat noodles so much— all noodles. But I have noticed that my ringing gets a lot louder when I eat heavier meals high in grains and/or legumes.

Legumes: I don’t eat legumes often. The exception is Indian nights when we make daal or the occasional chana masala. And when we make a batch of hummus. I’d say I eat a legume dish about once a week. Like I said, I feel better without them.

Tofu: I don’t seem to have problems with fermented soy (miso/tempeh), but regular tofu is on the fence right now. I eat it occasionally. Maybe I’ll cut it out. Maybe I won’t. But I know I should.

Final thoughts:

-I still can’t and won’t eat gluten, nuts, high-fat foods. I get this buzzy, vibrating feeling from time to time (I have for the past two years) and I still can’t pinpoint exactly what it is. It seems to maybe be an allergy or viral thing. Like, I accidentally had cashew milk the other night and had the buzzy feeling for about two days until it finally went away. I don’t know, it’s strange and I’m strange I know. All I know is I’m doing my best to take care of myself while filling my physical and emotional needs. Food is tough man, it’s not only something that can fully nourish and heal you, but it is also something that can make you terribly ill and be emotionally challenging for sure. Giving up so much food after c. diff was hard, really hard. I don’t want to go back to eating candy bars for breakfast or anything like that, but I do miss eating without too many second (and third) thoughts.

-I’d like to go grain-free– or consume even fewer grains, but to be honest, I’m not in a place to try to deal with that right now. Hopefully soon though. I know I would feel a lot better completely cutting the grains from my diet (or at least substantially reducing grains) and I’d like to work through that.

-I really enjoy the high fruit lifestyle. It’s not only convenient but also delicious. I feel A LOT better eating mostly fruit. The downside is the cost. (Hence all the bananas). But I could seriously eat an acai bowl for breakfast every day for the rest of my life and be happy. Fruit makes sense— it’s SO easily digestible. And after c. diff, easy to digest food is what my body needs to absorb nutrients and not be overworked.I know everyone is scared of fruit with the keto and high protein craze– but trust me when I say that cutting out the protein and fat and switching to high-carb was the best choice I ever made for my health.

-I feel so much better being mostly raw. I don’t think I’ll ever be completely raw, but I know better than to say “never”. Never say never, right?

-I haven’t had eggs in a long time. And to be honest, I don’t miss them at all. I added them back in my diet after the whole ‘lack of protein’ fear got shoved in my face while being sick. And I was so sick and so scared that I tried it. (In real everyday life, there is no such thing as a protein deficiency by the way.) I mean, it’s cool, cause we had our own happy chickens, but eating eggs didn’t make me feel better. I started feeling significantly better when I went mostly raw and with a lot of fruit. Fruit makes sense— it’s so easily digestible.

-I don’t think anyone really knows what the “perfect human diet” is– we are SO far removed from any sort of natural life. We’re all different— we come from different places, climates, growing zones, etc, etc etc. I still do believe that all humans should be, at the very least, mostly vegan. I mean, yeah, cause I care about animals, but mostly for their health. I would never tell anyone what to eat– I think we all have to find our own balance and do our own research. But without much debate, raw food, IS natural. No one can argue that raw food is the most natural food option there is. This is why I choose to incorporate more and more raw food in my daily life. I strive to be as natural, unprocessed, and close to the earth as possible…. within moderation. Noodles, tortillas, rice pepper wraps, and miso don’t grow on trees, but I eat these things anyway. All I know is that I’ve come a LONG way from a candy bar and french fry junkie that ate pizza nine times a week. I butchered my body for a good chunk of my life, and I don’t want to do that anymore. I’m not in any way the perfect image of health… but I’m trying everyday <3<3

I probably missed a lot and have a lot of typos in this. It’s past midnight (two hours past my preferred bedtime). But if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. The only reason why I even did this post was that I was asked too. I totally wouldn’t have thought to do it anytime soon otherwise. I’m grateful when you guys suggest posts you’d like to see— it gives me ideas 🙂 So thanks!

Have an amazing, delicious (and maybe noodle-full) week, friends!

3 Comments

  1. Thank ypu for taking the time to document your doet. It’s very helpful, but I’m a long way from that. My first go around with C Diff began 4 wks ago. 2 weeks of Flagyl never had a solid stool. Relapsed yesterday. Can’t get the gastro doc to call me. May have to go to the hospital. I would so appreciate it if u could tell me what drugs you were given that finally made u better. Thanks so much

  2. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I had c-diff two months ago and have been struggling to find a diet that actually works since then. Prior to c-diff I was eating Paleo. After c-diff I find I really have no desire to eat meat. I try…but it doesn’t taste the same and my body doesn’t tolerate it well. To complicate matters I also have grain allergies, so finding food to eat that won’t kill my gut and still allow me to breathe has been challenging. Dairy is out as well as it causes too much inflammation. I will definitely be trying some of your recipes…so again thank you for the information. I was beginning to think I was going crazy! And P.S. I absolutely love bananas and all types of fruit…I could definitely do the fruit diet and have been known to eat 6-8 bananas in one day!

  3. Just found your blog today as I’m searching for suggested post-CDiff diets. After being sick for the last 2 months with that and a rare parasite called cyclospora my stool test finally came back negative and I’m working really hard to avoid a relapse. It’s clear you put a lot of time into this blog – thank you very much!! I will be coming back frequently. I’m so sorry for what you went through and hope you continue to heal. I had a couple questions that may be in other posts so apologies if I just haven’t count those yet! Were you always gluten free or is that something you started post c-diff? Have you noticed a gluten intolerance due to c diff? I’m eating gluten and haven’t noticed major issues but am also far from feeling normal so I’m entertaining cutting it out… but I just love pasta so much! Also, are you totally lactose free and/or do you have a recommendation on when to start trying that again? What about alcohol? I’m sure you’ve also tried this but just FYI one thing that has seemed to REALLY help me is kefir – I get the green valley organic lactose free version. Super high in protein and calcium and has tons of probiotics! I blend it with a frozen banana and it’s delicious 🙂 anyway sorry for the long post and hope you are doing well! Thanks for the information 🙂