Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 1
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Please help me find a diet that's good for me
First time poster here, so if this isn't the appropriate area for the forum, please move it mods. I will try to keep my initial post short and answer any questions as they come up.
About Me: I am 25 and about 220 pounds, and I'm about 6 foot 1. At 19 I had back surgery, that prevented me from doing anything athletic for about a year, since high school I have gained about 40 pounds. I also have chronic heartburn which has turned into a condition called Barrett's disease. Barrett's means that the erosion on my esophagus has turned precancerous. While my chances of getting it are less then one percent a year, it's still a serious condition, especially considering the average age of the person who gets it is 72 years old. I also have a hiatal hernia, which causes additional acid to spill up my throat.
My diet has been pretty much crap over the years. Typical stuff, eat out too much and eat too much of it. With that though, I don't eat many at home snack foods like ice cream and chocolates and such. It's the fast food that's a killer. I guess some positives are I pretty much only drink water and tea, with the occasional sprite, as in like once or twice a month.
My exercise has gone up drastically in the last couple of weeks with the addition of our dog. I say I walk her between 25 minutes to an hour a day, a plan I tend to keep up with. But, that's about it, I work from home as a freelance writer so I don't need a lot of "high energy" foods, or at least I don't think I do.
Also, I am trying to ween myself off of OTC prilosec. I am in day three, and in major pain because the stomach acid comes back with a vengeance when going off these drugs. I'm hoping to remain off them, as they have been the cause of some other side-effects, with the one I'm most concerned about it the consistency of my bowl movements. Embarrassing as it is, I believe the long term use of prilosec has left me with too much gas in my system and causing diarrhea nearly everytime I go to the bathroom. Three days off it I am already "seeing" a change. Also, I am barely having any dairy products now, as I have switched to soy milk, and have been loving it.
So it went a little longer then I planned, but I think that's about the jist of it. I would need a diet low in spicy foods, but that's about the only thing different from a normal diet I can think of. I am asking your help because I have never attempted a diet before, and I am hoping with a healthier lifestyle I can also be more motivated to become a more proficient writer, and a better husband, as I feel I have been "down in the dumps," which can also be a side-effect from long time prilosec use. Thanks again and I look forward to hearing some advice from you guys while I browse the forums.
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