not sure about my diet...need help!!

this is actually not a stupid question at all. I find dietary issues surprisingly difficult to sort out.
just reading your post, this is what I'm thinking.
in order to figure out how a particular food affects you, you need to cut it out COMPLETELY for a few weeks. then eat a whole lot of it and see what happens. sometimes, you can tolerate small amounts once in a while, but first you want to know if the food is offensive at any amount. because if it isn't, there's no reason to cut back on it. so yeah, I'd get rid of all dairy. its a common offender.
for me, chicken and turkey are awful on my digestive system. they also make my rectocele more pronounced. beef, for some reason is ok, but I don't like eating it.
where are you getting all the fiber from? I see you're eating fruits and veggies, but what else? how about beans and lentils? lots of fiber there.

and here's another thought, what's going on with the caffeine intake? caffeine is a bowel stimulant, one that you can get used to. when I cut out caffeine, the first thing I noticed, aside from being tired and cranky, was that I felt constipated for the first time in my life. I was so used to going about 15 min after my morning coffee. maybe the occasional chocolate is messing you up? does the diet coke have caffeine?

also, I'd keep a food diary for a week or so. maybe it'll help you find the trends.

i keep wanting to write a post just about dairy and chocolate--and my love / hate relationship with it. (well, mostly love, but hate what it does to my body!!!!!)

i would say, just from my experience, that they are pretty lethal with regards to constipation. my basic diet stays pretty much the same. what changes is if i eat chocolate and dairy. as soon as i do, i'm constipated. stop it, and i'm fine.
personally, i would 100% cut those out first, and see what happens. also i agree with granolamom about pulses--they are a saviour as they are so high fibre and quite bulky. if your diet is really good to begin with, you might find that simply cutting out dairy and chocolate are enough. i would try that for a week and see what happens. then if not, experiment more.

it is, i know, very frustrating. i personally want to be able to eat anything i want w/o no consequences! but it doesn't work that way for me anymore. doesn't mean i eat perfectly, but at least i know the consequences because i did cut everything out for a while to find the diet i need to stick to...

keep us updated!!!

I'm interested in something granolamom said. You said to avoid something completely for a couple weeks, then try eating a whole bunch of it to see if it causes problems. I was kind of thinking that when I started adding different foods back in I should do it slowly. I was afraid I might shock my system putting in a large amount of something that had become unfamiliar to it. Any thoughts?

when my dd was 2.5 I took her to an allergist who worked with D.A.N. (Defeat Autism Now) protocols. dd isn't autistic, but she had many behavioral similarities and I felt that if I was going to rule out food sensitivities, I was going to the people who 'do' that sort of thing.
anyway, that's how the allergist said to do it. unless you suspect an anaphylactic type reaction (in which case you should do the challenge with medical supervision), adding a small amount might not tell you anything if you can tolerate small amounts. with my dd, we did a full blown elimination diet, where we eliminated practically everything, and then challenged one food every three days. unless there was a reaction, then we waited a week before challenging the next. so for example, the day we challenged corn, we gave dd corn on the cob, popped corn, corn chips, cooked foods in corn oil. we wanted to be sure to trigger a response, if there was one to be triggered.

now, I'm no expert, and NOT a doctor! I dont' know if there's any hard science behind this or not. but that's the guidance I got back then, and that's the way I've tested foods for myself since.

I hear what you're saying about shocking your system, but that's what you want to know, right? not every food that you eliminate for a month will shock your system when you add it back. you want to know which foods will.
although now that I'm typing this, maybe there's another thing to think about like when you add too many beans too quickly to your diet. hmm. didn't think about that, we didnt' eliminate beans.

personally, I don't like soy milk or rice milk in place of cows milk. I found it easier to just eat differently altogether. plenty of calcium in white beans, garbanzos, almonds, sesame seeds (I think) and if I remember correctly, winter squash, broccoli, kale. the calcium found in non-animal foods is actually more easily absorbed than the calcium found in milk and cheese.

I have the same issue with dinners too. tonight I actually prepared four dinners, but I have the time for that on sundays. most other days I either cook to the children's tastes or to mine and who ever doesn't like whats on the menu has to forage in the fridge. when I cook for me, I try to cook enough for leftovers, so I always have something nutritious on hand.

I don't know why, but for some reason, when my diet is high in breads, cereals and crackers -even whole grain, high fiber ones- I gain weight. so I've started limiting wheat based products and now lean more on oats, barley and rice.

millet. There are so many grains out there. get curious- find them- try them.
You may find spelt does not bother you as much as wheat.

here's what I usually eat for b-fast, steel cut oats, with raisins and chopped walnuts & some maple syrup or sunflower seed butter & jelly on rice cakes or whole wheat toast or rice pudding I guess you could call it. its cooked brown rice cooked in water and cinnamon and raisins until it gets sticky.

lunch is usually leftover dinner from the night before, rice & beans, lentil soup, whatever. on bad days when I don't have much time to sit, I grab a banana and then cook dinner early and eat the leftovers before they're leftover.

off to play mancala with ds

The firebreathing and Nauli is on the new DVD. There are also many many youtube videos of Nauli. I did describe it in great detail here before I figured out what the heck it was. For me the result was immediate. I did it the first time in the bath tub as the tub was filling. I was able to reach inside my vagina and feel exactly what happened when I did it. It was super exciting to me. However the immediate lift didn't stick around. I thought about this for weeks as I figured out how to do it sitting and standing as well. Then I started to notice that the lift would stay for a few minutes after I did it standing up- and I got to thinking if only I could get it to last longer. So as soon as I would feel it slip back out of place I would do another nauli contraction- over time I realized that it was staying in place for longer and longer and then all of the sudden it was HOURS. So I got to where I was only doing it 4-10 times a day. Pulling it all up and holding it for 20 or 30 seconds. I would start each day with firebreathing and then just nauli during the day as I felt necessary.
Right before I got pregnant I figured out how to do the rolls- but didn't notice any difference between the rolls and just pulling up and forward. This all evolved over a few months- and then a few more to get the serious staying lift. The rectocele was the most stubborn- but also my most severe and obvious prolapse.
My abs were beautiful (hey I have had 3 kids- I never expected to see the definition I was getting). And my prolapse was unnoticeable-
as soon as I stopped doing the exercises (because I was pregnant) I could feel the rectocele again. My bladder stayed put for many months but I could feel a gradual softening of the anterior wall. So far my cervix has stayed very high and there is no bulge in the anterior wall it is just much softer- and after a long day I notice the half-pipe feeling I had early postpartum. I have no idea what is actually "normal" for pregnancy. I never had any interest in checking it out during my other pregnancies and there is not literature specifically about the pregnant vagina that I can find.
I am almost 34 weeks now and have NO SYMPTOMS- except the bulge. With all my other pregnancies I would get a very tired feeling in my perineum and and aching in my legs in late pregnancy- that I was told was completely normal. I attribute my lack of misery to getting great rest (not pushing it) and to focusing on the posture all day when I am up.

Hi Alemama

Thanks for posting that bit of your story re nauli/firebreathing/pregnancy. You have put it all together so we can see how one person uses it. This is just what I needed. How about using some of your 'ample' spare time to put together your whole story for the Personal Stories Forum, then you can add to it when you have even more time after birthing and you have even more spare time? ;-)

Cheers

Louise

I actually do see a difference when I do the rolls. my cystocele is more pronounced on the right side, when I do the rolls, it moves center (as well as up). nothing short of amazing.

and alemama, I can't believe you're already at 34 weeks! how exciting : )

I **think** the big difference is that with firebreathing, the abs contract as you exhale, with nauli, the abs contract as you inhale.
the way I do it, which, btw, could be all wrong, the contraction feels very different. hard to describe, I'll have to give it some thought.