Happy Anniversary!

I recently realized that I have been Crohn's Flare-Up Free for one year!!!!! How wonderful is that?! I haven't gone this long without a flare-up since before we were married.

It makes me feel like dancing to this song:

(I don't really like the original music video. AAAAAANND if you want to dance, you can too!)

Everybody's Crohn's symptoms and treatments are different. Through trial and error and careful observation I figured out that if I eliminate refined sugar I'm healthy! I'm not 100% strict though. I still eat breakfast cereal and sometimes granola bars and stuff like that. I mainly avoid sweets like candy, cookies, cake, and the like.

My last flare-up was last year right after I graduated. I visited my family in California and went to Trader Joe's, like I always do, for some dried mangoes!! They are one of my favorite snacks ever. I also decided to try their dried persimmons (which are now also one of my favorite dried fruits; they strongly rival even mangoes!) and pineapple... which is where I went wrong.

I ate a whole bunch of the dried pineapple and the sugar plus acidity caused a flare up :( Not so fun.

I did have a scare a few months ago when, at a baby shower, I ate some popcorn that had white chocolate drizzled on top. I thought, "There's not that much chocolate on it!" But then I ate a piece and my whole world shifted. It was one of the most delicious things I had ever tasted! Glorious popcorn with decadent white chocolate.... I can still taste it in my mind...

My body usually gives my a couple days of warning before I have a flare up, and thankfully it did this time. I stopped eating any sugar, and stopped it before it started. Few! (I don't think I even told my husband. I didn't want to worry him. Sorry dear!)

Sometimes I'll have dreams where I eat candy, or donuts, or cake.. or everything. Seriously I have recurring dreams like this. My husband always likes it when I get to enjoy sweet treats in my dreams. I don't know if I like it or if it makes me sad. Maybe a little of both.

Truthfully I still crave delicious sweets. I wish I could eat things everybody else eats, but I can't, and I've accepted that.

My new goal is to satisfy my sweet tooth, not indulge it. Sometimes that can be accomplished with just an apple. Sometimes I'll make pudding or experiment with cookies. They're rarely as amazingly delicious as, say that popcorn with white chocolate, or white chocolate macadamia cookies... sigh, but that's okay. I want to be satisfied, not indulgent. That may seem sad to you, but I really have accepted it, and I'm okay with that fact.

If not having refined sugar can help me stay healthy, avoid horrible pain, throwing up, trips to the ER, having to take medication every day, unnecessary medical bills, and inconvenience my family, not having that white chocolate covered popcorn, or other sweets that make me cry, again is worth it.

                                                 

In the spirit of eating sweets made with honey, maple syrup, and agave, here are a few of my favorite treats I make:

Black Bean Brownies, or as my husband calls them, "Frownies" (Fake Brownies :) Blend it up and bake.

Magic Crust Custard Pie. Another blend it up and bake.

Honey Vanilla Pudding. I really like sticking rice in this and making it a non-traditional rice pudding! (Frice pudding doesn't sound very good)

Peanut Butter Brownies, or as my husband calls them, "Prownies"


I basically like sweets I can make in 10 minutes or less. Enjoy!