I have no idea where to start with this post. Do I start with the fact I'm having a new flare, despite 'clean' eating? Do I say that I'm glad my mini-meltdown from yesterday is over? Do I explain that despite thinking I was ready to reintroduce old foods, I may have to eliminate new ones?? Maybe that last one is a good place to start. It was the cause of the mini meltdown anyway and I need to start thinking of solutions, not dwelling on things I have no control over.

So here it is. I think that I am reacting to FODMAPs. Many IBS sufferers will be familiar with this acronym. Straight from Wiki:

FODMAPs are short chain carbohydrates and monosaccharides which are poorly absorbed in the small intestine, including fructans, galactans, fructose and polyols. The term is an acronym, deriving from "Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides and Polyols"

I had a little flare after eating cabbage and then a huge flare yesterday after eating a whole globe artichoke the night before. Yummy fresh, wholesome artichoke. Now added to my 'can't have' list.  Great.

On this occasion, there was nothing else that could have caused this flare other than the offending green ball. When I thought cabbage may have caused a flare,  I asked for some advice on the Facebook page The HS Diet Connection and I was told to consider FODMAPS. Now, I had heard of them before, but any elimination diet is overwhelming enough and when I started the AI protocol and looked at FODMAPs I just ignored the latter and focused on the AI diet. I was a bit overwhelmed as it was and I think that trying to cut out FODMAPs would've tipped me over the edge.

I have been doing the AI diet since February and although it's been hard, I don't feel as daunted by a new regime as I did back when I started. I think I am ready to make a change. From today I will spend a ridiculous amount of time (that I'll never get back) researching various internet resources on FODMAPs and familiarising myself with new recipes in order to fully embrace this new food lifestyle.

I did a basic search and found this beautiful table, produced by Aglaée the Paleo Dietitian, which stopped me spinning off the deep end and gave me a good place to start. Her site is stacked with info about all the variations on the paleo diet and has been a great place for me to start with this new look at foods. The following picture is used with her permission.

There are a few things that I am confident that I am ok eating. Well cooked onions, garlic, sweet potato and sauerkraut have all been my good friends over the past few months and I think I can tolerate them fairly well. However, this might be the completely subjective view of a person in denial. We'll see. For the purpose of staying sane and still being able to eat more than just chicken and carrots, I am reintroducing some of the old foods that are ok on the FODMAP chart. Starting with eggs. 

So, today has been a new 'Day 1' for me. I feel a bit lost again and a bit sick of it all. Just when I thought it was safe to leave Google alone for a while, I have to start at the very beginning of a new way of eating. Life could be worse I suppose. There could be no Google at all and then I'd be moaning about that.

And to get through it all, once again, I am playing the 'glad' game, remembering to be grateful for all the amazing stuff I have - although right now, I'd probably trade it all in for some Lindt 85% dark chocolate!

Tyla asked me what it is like to be a parent. I said that it is the best job in the world, but it can also be the worst. I know she understands that statement, even though it sounds harsh. One minute she makes my heart feel like it's fit to burst with pride and love and the next, I am tearing my hair out trying to deal with a stubborn 'teenager', who refuses to do as she's told. Lately it's been more of the former and part of it has manifested from her approach to how we eat now. We have become more united and she has shown me strength of character - beautiful independent thoughts exude from her. To explain though, I guess I'll have to go over a little of how our eating habits have changed in our home.

When I set out to eat a Paleo diet, I spent hours doing my usual research and my mind floated dreams of us all eating pile of vegetables and fruit, good protein and eliminating bread, pasta and all the 'bad' foods from our household. I had no idea how I would implement it, nor how it would pan out. I read about several different approaches to applying 'the changeover' at home; from the extreme, who ban everything and take a blanket approach within their household to those who made the changes for themselves and left the family to eat as they were before.There was not a great deal of in between, but maybe people think others don't want to read about people, who (like me), go through waves of eating styles in their home based on the ethos of eating Paleo and more sustainably.

So I introduced Paleo to the family and let them decide. Ed backed me and from day one our main meals were strictly non-processed and free from grains, rice, white potatoes and pasta. There was no more take-away pizza, no more beautiful mushroom risotto, with white wine and parmesan (Tyla's favourite) and no more spaghetti bolognese. Tyla understood the changes and although she was a little reluctant, she soon became a massive fan of vegetable tagine and sweet potato with prawn Thai style soup. I carried on buying her any cereal she liked; I also bought bread, butter, milk and cheese. When Tyla started school over here in September, she ate school meals - carb-laden and although sometimes reliably sourced and organic, for the most part a lot of processed food.

At Christmas, family and friends sent tons of chocolates, sweets and biscuits from the UK - a lovely idea, but not great for a family who were trying to develop a new way of eating. I encouraged home baking, as I always have, and emphasised to Tyla how great it was that we could see what ingredients she was putting in her sweets. I gave her constant and well-deserved praise for the beautiful cakes and cookies she made.

When my HS got worse, I decided to take the autoimmune approach and eliminated everything I needed to, with no cheating at all. The family were subjected to more meal changes; no tomatoes, spices, chilli and eggs. Cooking got a whole lot harder and we had to get more creative. There were a lot of roasted vegetables, roasted chicken, pork. More sweet potato chips, stir fry broccoli, onion and a constant struggle to try and get leafy greens into our diet. A trip to Ed's family went really well - everybody accommodated my changes and even though there was the usual chocolate, milk and pancakes for everyone else, together we had amazing main meals - simple but delicious fish and chicken dishes and organic vegetables. We encouraged Tyla to eat how she wanted and explained that being at Nanny's on holiday was a good time to indulge, if she wanted to - and she did. As the diet continued I found I had a reaction to red meat and so homemade burgers, BBQ steak and ground beef were off the menu. More changes, restrictions and struggles, but we kept looking for more recipes.

One day when I was writing a shopping list, Tyla said to me that she didn't want any more sugary/chocolate breakfast cereal.  She told me that she wished to be healthier and have more protein for breakfast. It helped that the paediatrician in New Orleans had told her that protein was an important part of her breakfast - funny the things kids remember. She said she was going to start eating omelettes instead. She decided that to do this she would shower the night before to allow herself time to cook breakfast. And she did. She cooked mackerel omelettes everyday for a longtime. As she became more confident in using the hob, she took a bigger interest in cooking. She started reading my recipe books and writing lists of ingredients for me to buy. She then started baking alone. From the weighing of ingredients, peeling and cutting fruit to using the oven.

Since then she has cooked apple crumble, cakes, upside-down apple and walnut pie. She made an amazing BBQ sauce from a paleo cookbook and I often find her with her head in a recipe book, plotting her next bake-off. She tries hard to eat like me. She asks how much protein is in her food. She eats large helpings of salad with her dinner, without even being asked. She still eats sweets if she wants to, but they are never bought by me. My Mum asked if Tyla would like some sweets and I suggested she buy Tyla some silicone cupcake moulds. Tyla loves them!

She's back on cereal now, but it's organic muesli, instead of Coco Pops. She has tried soya milk instead of cow's milk. She talks about how different foods make her feel. She has an awareness of her diet, that last year even I didn't have.

So this is how we do it in our house. We don't all eat the same, but there are no special allowances when it comes to our main meals together. We try new foods and recipes often and we encourage baking - even if it is nowhere near paleo. We cook together and eat together and this is one of the parts of our lives that has made us closer. Tyla still drives me insane and is as stubborn as a mule, but she is educated, objective and very considerate. I am proud of my daughter and her approach to eating, even if it is not the same as mine.

Hangover. Day 3.

Wow. This is not good. How did I used to suffer this pain all the time? I am 3 days into recovery from my 'binge' on Saturday and my HS is horrible! I have new spots, pain and all over discomfort. It hurts to sit down again - well, it always hurts a little to sit down, but right now? Horrible! I am taking paracetamol again - just one in the morning and one at night to help me sleep. I am having to completely strap all my wounds up, to stop the pain that I am getting from the chaffing. there are so many unmentionable side effects from a flare, I am just going to stop right now!

Monday was a complete right off. Now that was due to the wine hangover. When did it get so hard to overcome a night of drinking? I guess I didn't feel so bad Sunday, because I was still buzzing a little from the lovely evening we'd had the night before, but Monday was a different story. I was tired, in pain and just one thing after another went wrong - I even locked myself out and had to break in by climbing through the neighbours' gardens - not an easy feat when you are suffering a big HS flare!

The good news is I'm coming out of it though and I know it will get better than this. Before, a flare like this would have really gotten me down, as I would have had no clue as to how to reduce the pain again.   I wouldn't say I feel completely in control, but at least I know that by staying on the right food path, the inflammation will slowly subside. Even though I am moaning now, I know that the reality is that this pain could be 100% worse right now. My 'golfball' has not swollen back up to a golfball since I started the AI diet. All the HS spots I have right now have done a complete cycle over the last three days and at the risk of sounding icky (which we always do with this disease!), all are leaking nicely!

So it's been a tough couple of days, but I am still feeling positive. The worst thing I can do is start thinking about what I haven't/can't do when i'm in pain. This morning I put zero pressure on myself to achieve anything and it worked; no expectations for me =  increased motivation. In the end, I managed to bake bread for the rest of the family (which always makes you feel like you've achieved something doesn't it?) and ended up doing a lot of washing and housework - success!

As far as the diet goes, I am pretty keen to start reintroducing foods in a controlled way soon. I hope I don't trip myself up again and manage to stay on the right path!

Hangover Day.

I had a fabulous evening with friends last night. It was a perfect end to a not so perfect week. Last night I ate most everything I am not supposed to, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a conscious choice and almost certainly swayed by the fact I was having a flare up anyway - what's a couple more days pain once you're in it?

I have three suspects on my flare list. Number one - gluten. Straight forward, right? You'd think so. But it was an accident. I was making pasta for the kids - they don't always eat everything I do - and I cooked the carrots in with the pasta. When I dished up, I absent-midedly ate a few of the carrots. Oh. There's gluten in the water and probably soaked all the way into my otherwise innocent carrots. What an idiot. So, instead of having a lovely piece of homemade flatbread with garlic infused olive oil and parsley, the olive oil dripping down my chin, whilst I savour the moist, hot, doughy piece of heaven....I got carrots. Idiot.

Number two: Lady's time of the month. Boo. 'Nuff said.

Number three: Walnuts. A conscious decision to have walnuts, as I had already started to flare from either Suspect One or Suspect Two. Ed made an amazing dinner of organic chicken breast, filled with pesto, with a side of sautéed cabbage and paris mushrooms. The pesto recipe came from my Well Fed cookbook and it happened to include walnuts. It was delicious. Walnuts may not have been the culprit, but as I was on a downward spiral already, who knows?

So there we go. By last night, I had already flared up pretty bad. My decision to slowly reintroduce foods was thwarted again, by an accidental ingestion of gluten, damn hormones and well, a slippery slope from there. So, last night we had this:

An appetiser of julienne cut raw carrots and radishes, with a creme fraiche and chive dip (I didn't have dip). Then I made the aforementioned flatbread, dripping with roasted garlic infused olive oil and parsley, cooked on a pizza stone ( I had a bit of this - first time I've had flour in three months).

For main we had marinated a huge rump steak in olive oil, salt and pepper in the morning and left it all day. The same with two duck breasts, skin on. We also had pork strips, just 'nature'. Just an hour or so before dinner, we squeezed the juice of a Sanguinello orange (blood orange) into the duck marinade.

These were cooked on our BBQ and seared with a salad of rocket, iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced fennel, sliced radish and diced cucumber, with a Sanguinello, lemon and oil dressing. The combination of all the meats and the salad, especially with the citrus dressing was amazing! I probably enjoyed this food the most, despite the other food indulgences. There's nothing quite like grilled meat with an amazing salad.

My other downfall. Wine and pudding. Ty had made an amazing apple crumble and once I started tucking into this, I helped myself to quite a bit! It was probably nothing compared to the portions I would have had before, but I guess there is no such thing as a 'good' sized portion of flour, butter and sugar! We drank 3 bottles of quality red wine and finished off with some organic Brie and Tommes cheese. Heaven.

I woke up at 4.30 am in a bit of stomach distress and with a headache. I had one (usually prohibited) ibuprofen, lots of water and went back to bed.

So, here it is. Hangover Day. But this morning I feel good. I had a great night. I didn't beat myself up about what I ate and today all I am craving is salad. I am not in hideous pain (yet!) I hope I stay on course and that my flares go as quickly as they came. Roll on beautiful Sunday!

We are making plans to move pretty soon and the house is a little chaotic. On the plus side, we have already packed a few boxes and I have managed to finally get motivated to put Nina in nursery. She starts properly next week. Just two mornings, but it's an ad hoc facility, which is really cool and based on our income, is only 1.10 euro an hour - fab!

Finally the HS swelling is going down - recovering from my red meat, salmon, vinegar experiences has been pretty tough. I guess like falling off any wagon, when you had been doing so well, picking yourself up again is a challenge. I have been more careful again, apart from the odd coffee and a couple of small glasses of good white wine this week. I have been taking my Serocytols medication and occasionally remembering to take my magnesium and other homeopathic remedies. I have been gorging on fresh coconut, which is probably not a good thing. Is there a recommended daily allowance for coconut?? I really should Google it up. Aside from that though, my face has cleared up and I feel good. I am going to try duck breast on the BBQ this weekend and see if it affects me. I am feeling more in control and ready to start a more structured reintroduction of foods.

I have been reading more and more posts about about people finding diet has helped them improve their HS. It's fantastic to hear it from so many. It's a tough disease and sometimes it seems all you ever read is negative comments from people. I have to remind myself that the pain can take you into a dark forest, where even the strongest of us lose sight of the light. I am grateful that my journey is mostly positive and I have the support to keep on battling this disease in the most natural way possible.

I have never been what I class a 'sporty' person. As far back as I can remember, I admired those with a lean physique. No 'bulging hips' or pot belly, the ability to run and run for ever, to push themselves no matter what. Even when I was a kid, I quit ballet at age 5. My reason was that I thought I couldn't point my toes properly. Everybody else's feet looked beautifully arched, whilst my flat-footed 'point' just didn't look the same. I never told my Mum why I didn't want to go anymore and later in life, she told me the ballet teacher was sad to see me go, because I had been one of the best in the class! I guess like most things in life, being 'sporty' is all about perception.

Since then I've been a rower, I've attended boxing training, I've been a gym member and even took a GCSE in PE. I still never truly felt sporty. Then in 2007, I started running. It was a revelation to start running at my own pace and find that I could run and run for many miles, so long as I kept a reasonable pace. Later, when I worked in a prison, we would work out and run up to 4 days a week in our lunch hour - perfect! No need to get up super early, nor go to the gym after work. Plus, it was a good break from our desks in the middle of the day. I kept it up until I was 24 weeks pregnant (not all of it, just the occasional run by the end) and since then, my activity levels have plummeted!

Today I am feeling good pain for the first time in an age. Not the usual soreness of open wounds or swollen skin, but good, healthy, 'it hurts to get on and off the toilet' kind of pain! My legs ache, as does my torso and I am physically worn out. And it feels great!

I ran a fairly short distance - about 4 km/2.6 miles - but it feels great to have finally got out there again. My average time was about as quick as it used to be when I was fit - I was pretty shocked. However, it's not because I am miraculously athletic after such a long time out of the saddle, it's just because I'm carrying an average of about 34 pounds/15.4 kgs less than before. I shouldn't be surprised by this basic science, but I am easily awed by so many things in life! My HS didn't flare up, nor did it cause me any pain during the run. The area was a little more swollen in the evening, but no more than when I have been walking a lot.

Anyway, one swallow doesn't a summer make; so, I need to stop being so happy about doing one run and get motivated to start doing more and more to tone up this newly thin body!

I'm five days back into my diet and seem to have made another little faux pas. Today I have swelling and pain again - boo! I think it's either the apple cider vinegar, or the organic smoked salmon.

Organic, but from my research, still toxic??

Before I made a dressing for my beautifully pressure-cooker steamed artichoke, I need to find a substitute for balsamic vinegar after my last experience left me a little inflamed. I had read quite a few different sites yesterday on the effects of apple cider vinegar and they all seemed very pro this type of vinegar on the autoimmune protocol (now I'm wondering if I had been reading 'Doc' sites or just blogs...hmmm?). Now I am having another little look, there appears to be a huge debate over the quality of apple cider vinegar and what effect it can have on you.

I had had a bit of a flare last time I ate organic farmed salmon, but I had forgotten about it. So now I am trying to do a little bit of research, so that it stays in my brain. I must remember not to be lured in by the organic-ness and I remember why I should not be eating farmed fish.

It's all about keeping the Omegas 3 and 6 in balance apparently. Now, there is so much sciencey stuff attached to this and I would love to spend my days immersed in the ever elusive search for the perfect balance of fatty acids in my system, however, I have 'home' stuff to do (and a life that doesn't revolve round me!).

I did do a little research, and as with most things food related, I wish I had never opened the flood gates! I found so many articles on how farmed salmon is ridiculously dangerous for the ecosystem and how the labels for organic fish have much lower restrictions than those on farmed animals. There is quite a comprehensive article on the The World's Healthiest Foods site, explaining all the science behind the imbalance of Omega 3 and 6.

This article about Canadian salmon is interesting, 'Demystifying "organic" farmed salmon: Is there such a thing?' and obviously a little Googling it up produces a plethora of the 'whys', 'whats' and 'wherefores' of eating salmon. An article here gives a bit more background into what we should be eating and steers the topic away from the eco/ethical debate, focussing on the health issue more.

Back to my search for the 'perfect salmon to meet my Omega ratio requirements', I found another little article on "Balancing Omega-3 and Omega-6". It doesn't talk about farmed salmon, but does give an insight into how the imbalance affects people's health.


After trying not to get too sucked in by the whole salmon debate online (and limiting my exposure as to why eating anything that has a pulse makes me a bad person), I have managed to skim the surface of farmed vs wild salmon and the many reasons I shouldn't eat it farmed.

I found a little fact sheet that summed it up with this:

"Don’t eat wild Atlantic salmon and farmed salmon. The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California recommends wild Alaskan salmon as an alternative, while the UK-based Marine Conservation Society suggests organically farmed Atlantic salmon."

With the apple cider vinegar debate still looming, I think a little more eating experimentation will have to occur, before I can make any confirmed conclusions between the salmon and my HS. In the interests of health and general eco-equilibrium of world balance, my conclusion is that I should probably just eat wild alaskan salmon once or twice a year (preferably when I'm near Alaska to minimise my carbon footprint). Perhaps this is my cue to start looking for a wild, line-caught fish oil supplement....

This time last year and hadn't even considered giving up any of these foods. A couple of month's down the line, I had started a "Paleo" diet, having read a little about how Hidradenitis Suppurativa could be an autoimmune disease and therefore influenced by diet. At that early stage, I knew then that I'd never be able to cut out eggs if I was hoping to get enough protein in my diet without bankrupting us. I definitely could never have envisaged living without tomatoes, spices and chilli - my staple foods for cooking up tagines, curries and most of my evening meals. Six month's down the line, and many hours of research on the internet, my diet is almost virginal (slight exaggeration, but that's how it feels sometimes!). I am a fully fledged autoimmune protocol diet fan!

What I should be drinking right now.....

As with any times of restrictions in life, I found that it helps to have some kind of boundary or end date in sight. Without this, my motivation to abstain wouldn't have lasted past my initial pain-motivated, stubborn determination. I set my timeframe as 60 days of a complete elimination diet, before starting to reintroduce foods one at a time. Somedays, I would comfort myself with the fact that I may only need to do 30 days and other times, I would face the (sometimes depressing) reality that this diet may become my way of life. Forever. However, for the sake of sanity and positivity, it is good to keep in mind that there are definitely worse realities in life than this!

....what I'm actually drinking right now
(NOT recommended for AI elimination diet!)

Just snacking on a piece of fresh coconut with a lovely cup of freshly brewed cup of Fairtrade organic Ethiopian coffee (which should read 'a lovely cup of organic mint, nettle and gunpowder green tea', but no-one's perfect!)  and thinking that I'd share a little of what I have read and researched in terms of things to avoid whilst on the autoimmune diet. Despite it being a little negative to start with what I can't eat, it is a known fact that bad news is far more exciting/interesting than good news...so we'll start with what we can't eat....

Foods to avoid

• Eggs
• Dairy, including all dairy (yes, even fermented dairy, goat's milk and any thing else that comes from an animal's udders)
• Cereal grains (rice, oats, wheat etc)
• Seeds of any variety.
• Seed and vegetable oils (all except coconut oil and olive oil, which I have in abundance - see Foods to Eat')
• Spices derived from seeds (cumin, coriander, mustard - anything which I used to eat that made my food taste good)
• All nuts, including nut butters.
• Legumes, including all types of beans, chick peas (garbanzas), lentils, soy, peanuts etc.
• Any soy derivatives (soy milk, yoghurts, tofu, soy sauce)
• Refined sugar in any form.
• Honey in any form.
• Processed foods - bread, pasta, any gluten-free 'health' alternatives, cured meat, ham, bacon.
• Alcohol (boooo)
• Grain-fed red meat (after my bad experience of an intense flare up after homemade burgers, this is off the menu!)
• Nightshades. This includes tomatoes, all types of peppers, including bell peppers, pimento, chilli pepper (excluding black peppercorns), egg plant, tobacco (not many people still eat this, but you probably shouldn't smoke it either!) and common old potatoes.
• Coffee - especially if you are a caffeine addict! (I am not a coffee drinker per se, but I have started to have a cup here and there, in the name of rebellion and inner freedom. Also, I haven't noticed a reaction from it..yet)
• Fruit juices (too much concentrated sugar, not enough fibre).
• Any food that contains an ingredient that you cannot pronounce, like stock cubes and sweeteners and anything containing sweeteners, like sugar-free gum.
• Many vinegars  - I even avoid organic balsamic vinegar; I think the 'concentrated grape must' contains too much sugar.

So it's not a long list, but the combinations of processed foods out there are endless. Dark chocolate, carrot cake, "paleo" muffins, cereal bars, smoothies, V8, gluten-free crackers - so many things that look innocent (ooh, Innocent Smoothies - yum yum...No. Stop it. Illegal), but are now off limits. Melissa Joulwan, author of Well Fed, a beautiful paleo recipe book, tried the autoimmune diet for 30 days and as she puts it, there is zero "food fun" during that period.

Anyway, enough of what can't be had and onwards and upwards to what can and should be delightfully savoured in the name of self-healing....

Foods to Eat

• Fresh vegetables - anything in season, although when your diet is so limited, I've found it's better not to fully restrict yourself to keep some variety and sanity in your life.
• Beautiful squash and versatile sweet potatoes (I know these are vegetables, but they become your "pasta/rice replacements", so I think they deserve a line on their own
• Fresh fruit - I have read so much about limiting fruits, eating one piece per meal, eating them before dinner not after - oh so many pieces of advice, but I just tend to eat as much as I want. It may have a negative affect, but it's got to be better than eating a handful of Haribo Tangfastic jelly sweets.
• Fish - preferably wild and line caught. 
• Grass fed beef and pastured meat of any variety and game.
• Poultry, again organic and not battery farmed would be best.
• Coconuts, coconut oil and coconut milk (preferably with no guar gum and BPA free- although hard to find unless you have dedicated organic shops).
• Olive oil and olives (organic as non-organic contain various preservatives).
• Herbal teas (I'm bang into Jasmine green tea- amazing!)
• Naturally dried fruit (although I'd avoid this as a staple ingredient as it's too high in sugar).

Ok, so the 'Foods to Eat' list looks shorter, but when you consider all the amazing varieties of fruit and veg in the world, it is an endless list of variety and choice. I know that to back this all up I should include all the yummy recipes that we try every week, here at home. One day I will, but until then, I'll leave it to the experts, like Michelle Tam from nomnompaleo.com and Sarah Fragoso from Everyday Paleo.

Until then, I am back on my autoimmune 'wagon', and hoping to start reintroducing foods in the coming months. For all those who are embarking on this journey, it is baby steps all the way and a constant reminder to "be kind to yourself. Bon courage!

I'd love to hear people's experiences of how they have survived the elimination diet and things that have or haven't worked.....

I am not a physician, licensed dietician, nor nutritional specialist. The dietary information provided is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness or to provide medical advice. it is advised that you make your health care decisions based on your own research and the advice of a qualified health care professional. Good luck!

So much for avoiding inflammatory foods. By the end of the day of 'pain', I decided that whilst I'm having a flare up, I may as well indulge....I never said my resolve was endless! Ed has a garage full of good wine and, well sometimes it's hard to say no to a 90 euro bottle of wine! We are celebrating and not just my 8 weeks of strict eating. We have made an offer on a piece of land and it has been accepted! Woohooo!

Whilst off the wagon, I have had a couple of days of indulgence. Another rump steak on the BBQ - lush! And also, Ed managed to get free tickets to a wine exhibition (think free wine tasting on a grand scale) at the Parc des Expositions at Bordeaux Lac. We picked up our free glass at the entrance and voila! The selection was enormous, so we narrowed it down by trying the organic wines first. We stuck to Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne. Then as we went along we narrowed it down by the look of the vendors! We bought six bottles and headed off. It was a great experience and a really good way to find lots of lovely new wines to fill up our wine fridge. Next year, hopefully we will be following suit with the French and bringing a trolly to fill up the car with a few boxes, not just a few bottles!

In the evening we cooked up a rump steak on the BBQ that had been marinating all day in olive oil, salt and pepper. We had it with a mushroom mix of oyster, paris and closed cup mushrooms, sautéed in coconut oil with onion and garlic - lush!

By the evening, the pain had stepped up a notch, as it always does after I've been walking around a lot. I was struggling to sit down and when I went to bed, sleep evaded me. I resorted to taking an ibuprofen - something I have avoided since trying to heal my gut. The relief was amazing and at about 2.30, I finally drifted off to sleep. 

Today, the pain continues and the inflammation around my spots is back. I am sitting down like an old woman and I know I will have to apply all my dressings properly if I want any kind of comfort today.
I am day 2 back into my diet and despite the pain, I feel good.

Far from being a hideous experience, I can say (in hindsight!) that this has been educational and motivating. At least I know for sure that my diet does have an effect on HS and the past two months have not been a waste of time. Nothing like a good flare up to remind us how lucky we are when are days are pain free. 

Wow. I am in pain today. It was the red meat - I am sure of it. I woke up and the pain was back in my butt - like it used to be everyday before I started this autoimmune protocol diet. The area is inflamed and it hurts to sit down. I can't believe I had almost forgotten how that constant severe pain feels!

I was getting so used to just a little mild discomfort and enjoying being able to sit down without wincing. I was also catching myself crouching down super slow, thinking I might put pressure on my spots and realising that I didn't need to.

But today it's back. 

The shooting pains up the side of my butt cheeks. Perching on the seat cushion, so I don't put any added pressure on the spots and strapping up the area, to avoid any friction pain on top of the swelling pain. The grumpy mood I'm in because of the pain. All back after one meal of red meat.

I had discussed it with Ed before and we had guessed that red meat might have affected it, but that was back when I was eating a whole load of inflammatory foods and the constant pain meant it was hard to distinguish which foods were doing what. Now I am sure. No more red meat. Well, at least no more regular, supermarket beef. Grass-fed beef? It might be an option, but I am still trying to source it here in Bordeaux. We had always said when the meat had run out in the freezer, we would be looking to buy grass-fed (and even better, organic) beef. Now, if anything, it is the only option for me.

So after nearly 8 weeks on the autoimmune diet the great news is that I am definitely healing. I  inadvertently reintroduced an inflammatory food and to my surprise, the results are super clear. I thought I was ready to reintroduce other foods back into my diet, but after this experience, I think I'll wait a little longer!

Tyla has done it again! She is the Queen of Mushroom Picking and this week, she has found morels - no less, she has found them in...wait for it....our garden!!

She found 100 grams of these babies!

I had no idea when morels grew  -I just assumed they would be around in October - the same as all the others like porcinis (cepes) and oyster mushies. But no! They are here. And they taste A-MA-ZING! Ed cut them, leaving the stalks in the ground and we hope they spore some more. They grow well in sandy soil and they're hollow. To prepare them, you rinse them well and voila -ready to cook! They are not to be eaten raw, as they are mildly toxic.

We made some homemade burgers, with onion, garlic, salt and pepper and parsley from the garden (no egg and cumin, as I'm still on my elimination diet). I prepped some baby spinach, ripe avocado and we fried up some pork strips that I had marinating in olive oil, salt, pepper and dried garlic. For the morels, we had two separate recipes. For Ed and Tyla, they fried some garlic in a tablespoon of butter, until soft. Then they added chopped up Morels and cooked for another couple of minutes. Then at the end, added a tablespoon of white wine, salt and pepper. I had mine the same, but olive oil instead of butter and no white wine.

We fried the burgers on our Le Creuset griddle pan, and served with the pork and morel sauce.

O. M. G!! 

I have never tasted mushrooms so good! Considering I wasn't feeling too optimistic about the dwindling supplies in the fridge, I was super excited about the meal we created. I really could have eaten that dinner twice. Roll on more rain and more morels!