So, if you follow my facebook page, you already know that I'm going to be doing the LEAP protocol and MRT test. Just had the blood test a few days ago, so I'll be getting my results in about two weeks. My lovely dietician is Courtney Rinehold of Rinehold Nutrition. Yes, I'm a nutritionist and I just hired a dietician. Crazytown, right? She's so amazing though, and the only one doing the LEAP testing around my area. We discovered this on our way to a buddhist temple to meditate a few weeks ago. I'll save that story for another blog. ;)
Anywho, you might be wondering what the LEAP protocol and MRT testing is. I'd tell you, but it's a little too sciency for me this early in the morning and I wanted to just bust this blog out super quick like, so I'll give you the official version at a later time. But for now, the gist is: certain foods cause inflammation in the body. Each person has different foods that do this. Sometimes those foods can be tricky tricky healthy ones, like spinach, salmon, basil, lettuce, almonds etc.....which is just mean! This inflammation leads to ALL THE THINGS that could be wrong with you. IBS, Crohn's, aches and pains, depression, fatigue, migraines, weight fluctuations...the list goes on for days. The goal is to remove those inflammatory foods for a certain amount of time until your body heals, inflammation goes away, and then you can gradually add these foods back in to a degree that won't trigger the inflammation again. Easy peasy, right? Probably not. I am going into this assuming all my favorite foods are what's causing the inflammation, but with Courtney's help, and my own foodie creativity, I should be fine. Plus, I'm kinda desperate and this is fascinating, so here we go.
My main reasons for doing this testing are as follows:
1.) I can't seem to lose weight. Scratch that. I can lose the weight, but I am really struggling with staying on a healthy diet that will actually help me lose the weight. This could possibly have to do with how inflammation is affecting the communication between my brain and the hormone leptin. Food addictions and cravings are all part of this equation. See this article HERE. So, let's say my go-to healthy/clean eating foods are THE PROBLEM. Well then that would explain the vicious cycle of starting a clean diet, and falling right off within a few days.
2.) SOFA. KING. Tired. Like woah. So tired.
3.) Hashimotos. Yes, I have had hashimotos for about 20 years, but this whole inflammation thing is connected and can only improve this condition, which will only improve everything else, like metabolism, immune system, fatigue, etc.
4.) Bursitis in my leg and plantar fasciitis in my foot. Did I mention I'm 90?
So those are MY top reasons for doing this testing. It's not cheap and may not be covered by your insurance, so I don't recommend you get this unless you're serious about it.
I'll be following up in two weeks after the results are in, and will keep you informed of what I'm eating and how it's all going. If you have any questions, let me know! If you've done this before, I'd love to hear your story too!
In the meantime, let's all say a prayer that sour cream isn't one of my NO foods, mmmkay?? Thanks! xoxo
