Hello!

Hey everyone!  Welcome to my blog!  My name is Steph.  I created this blog to chronicle my journey to becoming a healthier, happier person.  Here is my story:

I have been a vegetarian since I was fourteen - more than half my life.  It was an easy decision for me to make.  I never liked to eat meat and I was always very sensitive about the treatment of animals.  During high school, I didn't eat very much and stayed fairly thin.  When I went to college and got my first full-time job, I started to put on weight.  Seven years ago, I started a new job working in an office.  I hated the job from the very beginning.  I started eating a lot of junk food because I was so bored and dissatisfied witih life.  I gained ten pounds in a few months, going from a large size 5 to a 7/8 and eventually to my current size 10.  Size 10 isn't exactly large, but being a very skinny child to an average sized adult with a round waistline and full face was quite a change.

I decided to change my life.  I went back to school to study teaching.  Teaching sounded like a really awesome career.  Being a really shy person who does not respond well to stress, it did not take me long to realize teaching was not for me.  I woke up every day stressed.  I was still working full-time, trying to take classes, doing classroom observations, and trying to make time to see my boyfriend.  It was not working.  It was then that my health issues started.

I had an infection that took three rounds of antibiotics and eight months to get rid of.  Then, the real fun started.  I started having digestive issues.  My stomach bloated, irregular bowel movements, intestinal pain.  I spent a lot of money going to the doctor for them to only say that I probably had Irritable Bowl Syndrome.  WebMD said the same (or maybe a little diverticulitis).

Good to know what I had, but how do I get rid of it.  Well, you can't, you just have to find a way to live with it.  I was getting sick every day at lunch time, so I kept a food journal.  Not only did I learn that I eat a lot of really bad sugary fatty foods, but that I had no idea what was making me sick.  It wasn't until my mom was looking at the box of protein bars that I had every morning that we might have found a culprit - flax.  I knew I was very sensitive to flax because I briefly tried to take a flax supplement a few years ago.  I got horribly sick.  Using the bathroom every half an hour sick.  It was bad.  So, yay, no more protein bars!  That helped a lot, but my symptoms didn't disappear completely.

Even years later, I still get sick sometimes.  Heck, I am not 100% at this very moment!  My sister learned that she is sensitive to gluten and she swears that I am too.  I do think that I am sensitive to some gluten, but also to certain fats.  It is usually pretty easy to figure out the culprit because if I start to feel sick (it feels like my intestines are clenching up) then I know that it was whatever I ate about four hours ago (my last meal).

So, I am still learning to deal with my digestive issues.  I really want this blog to my place to talk about food, digestive issues, and overall well-being.  I will try to include recipes, articles, and talk about all the bad food I ate.  It should be interesting.  :)