A twitter pal asked me the other day to do a post with Moo Goo deets. I've done several posts on Moo Goo along the way and even did a week in the life of Moo Goo a while back. But perhaps we need a refresher course since I'm back in the game and reference my crazy diet a good bit. I'll try to keep this quick and simple (I've got a pile of work to do, after all).
"Moo Goo" (short for Moo Goo Gai Pan, duh) is what I affectionately call the diet and herb regimen my acupuncturist has me on. I started this last May and kept it up through our November IVF cycle. Then I let loose some with the holidays. OK maybe a lot. Somehow the holidays carried over into February. Hello, Valentine's Day... the holiday season is really long. Plus I had my surgery in January which required regular doses of Loritab and mint chocolate milkshakes. But with our upcoming FET cycle, I finally got back on board hardcore last week. I considered March 1st my official back-on-the-wagon day.
As for the diet, here are the major NO's...
- No gluten/wheat
- No dairy
- No alcohol
- No caffeine
- No cold drinks or food
- No raw vegetables
- Low sugar
- Not a lot of seafood
Sounds like fun, right? Here are some things I AM supposed to eat..
- one hard-boiled egg everyday
- high protein
- nuts and seeds
- vegetables (cooked)
- fruits with seeds
- brown rice
So basically that leaves me eating lots of meat, veggies, and fruit. I actually have stayed off of caffeine this entire time - even through the holidays. I did fine off of it, so I figured why not continue? I never had that much to begin with - usually just one cup of coffee in the mornings. (The trick now is to get in a high protein breakfast - then I'm fine.) I used to have a diet coke once in a blue moon, but I try to stay away from sodas altogether anyway. And I'm not an iced tea person (don't even like sweet tea), so no big deal really giving up caffeine. I have gotten in the habit of drinking decaf in the mornings but I'm in the process of stopping that. "Coffee no good for you. Drink water."
Starting this diet almost a year ago was scary because it felt SOOOO restrictive. I didn't know what the hell I could eat. It took a lot of learning, but now it's honestly no big deal. I occasionally crave something I can't have.... I'm a fool for cheese. But I'm just so used to it now. And I've learned how to find other things to satisfy my cravings. Plus if I have a really bad craving for something particular, my acupuncturist has just the needle for it. Chinese medicine is seriously so fascinating. I can eat most of the things I'd normally cook anyway, but with some alterations. As long as I can control my meals, it's easy. What's hard is when you're out at a restaurant or at a party. Party food is like a gluten and dairy tango.
So what's the purpose behind it all? Most simply, the idea is to get my body in the most strong and healthy state possible in order to enable me to get pregnant. A lot of the diet has to do with improving digestion and is a great move for anyone wanting to simply "feel better" - cutting out gluten, dairy, excess sugar, and kicking up the protein. But some of it is tailored specifically for my needs/deficiencies (i.e. the no cold foods). So please don't see this as a one-size-fits-all diet. But I will tell you that simply cutting out gluten and dairy - though yes, it's a big sacrifice - makes me feel worlds better. I have so much more energy. I never have that overly full/bloated feeling after eating. And my allergies are also tons better. Some people are of course very intolerant of gluten and/or dairy but we ALL are intolerant of both on some level. Go a couple of weeks without them and see if you can't tell a difference.
As for the herbs, I'm currently on a very scaled down regimen compared to what I'm normally on when doing treatments. I'm taking just three different herbs (all in pill form) right now - Women's Chamber, Spirulina, and these chewable Pomegranate ball thingees. I'll be back at acupuncture in a couple of weeks, so I'm sure my doctor will get me on all the other goodies once again. OH and I'm also soaking my feet nightly (for 15-20 min) in Tibetan herbs (that are rather smelly). Supposedly that helps with bloodflow and my cold hands/cold feet issues. The Chinese are BIG on temperatures. I feel like they are so much more in touch with the body than we are.
So that's my crazy Moo Goo world. Since starting back hardcore last week, I have dropped 3 lbs (by cutting out certain foods I can't have, but also just by paying attention - I log my calories daily) and I feel SO much better. Makes me ask myself why I ever stopped! How quickly I forgot how good I feel on this diet. Geez, how did this post get so long? I gotta down some herbs and get back to work...
1 comment:
I follow the paleo diet, which is very similar. The principal is to remove the foods that cause inflammation in the body and result in various diseases, including infertility. I swear, everyone should try cutting out grains, sugar, legumes and dairy for 30 days and see how they feel. It's amazing. I lost over 8lbs of fat in 6 weeks, and I am petite. I definitely had (and still have, but not as much) excess fat, but I was still a size 4/6. Now, I'm a 2/4 and still shrinking. But, it's what it does on the inside that's the most amazing! Good for you for taking charge. :)
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