Digestive Cookie

It's been 5 years since I've posted to Digestive Cookie. But I've got more to say. I'm taking my original tumblr blog and movin on over to Insta. Hello again and I hope to see you over there.

Every spoonie knows how important bedding is.

When your elaborate morning and evening medication, vitamin and fibre supplement regime leaves you feeling like this.

Love is when you have a bad gut day and your husband makes you homemade chicken soup.

🍑Canned and frozen fruit have a bad rep. They can seem like the unfortunate cousins of fresh fruit, but for people with IBD, using canned or frozen can be one of the only ways to safely enjoy fruit. Ever since my pregnancy, I've been looking for something sweet to eat in the evenings. It's also a time to celebrate that glorious 4 hour stretch between my day job of minding the baby and my night job of minding the baby (where my husband can respond to her if she wakes up in the first few hours after being put down to bed). 🎉 Party. I'm also really committed to eating whole foods. I could sit down and eat store bought sweets but a) I think homemade is probably WAY better for you (your body and your soul) and b) Any "food" with fake or mystery ingredients in it makes my gut rumble something fierce. My Crohn's is really try to tell me something here - "Hey! Quit making me process plastic! I don't like to eat gunpowder preservative either!" (Seriously. I just looked up the "TBHQ" that is in Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. Never again). Genius moment this week: I had some leftover crumble mix kicking around in the freezer (can you ever have too much topping? My last jam packed crisp did, apparently). So I took a small ramekin and filled it with canned peaches (most canned fruit is easy on my gut). I then packed the crumble on top and baked it in the oven for about 20 mins until the peaches were bubbly and the crumble was golden brown. Delicious. Instant. Dessert. In the photo is my Grams crumble recipe (written in her adorable chicken scratch. I miss her so much but having her recipes in her handwriting makes me feel closer to her). You can use any crumble topping recipe and it will likely be delicious. Just omit the nuts! Baker's note: I substitute butter for the margarine (read above on fake ingredients). Mix all the dry ingredients together and cut in the butter. Massage it in with your hands until it incorporates with the dry ingredients to be a sandy texture. Keep it in a ziplock in the freezer for instant deliciousness. Enjoy your summer fruit, Crohnies. A bit differently than everyone else but just as tasty. 🍒🍉🍑🍐🍓

Us crohnies don't have a big network of friends - food friends, that is. That's why I was excited to reintroduce myself to pudding. How could I forget about creamy, delicious, digestible chocolate pudding? But none of the boxed garbage. Who knows what's in that? Plus, I have a strict 'real food only' policy. If I can't classify it as 'food' with basic recognizable ingredients, then I don't eat it. Think: Flavoured chips, candy, weird rubbery chicken breast, sandwich meat, anything really processed. If I can make something myself and be entirely confident about what's in it, then all the better. No food fear and a general sense of satisfaction. So if lactose is still in your circle of friends, I highly recommend making pudding. The recipe isn't kidding. The prep really was 2 mins and the cook time only slightly more. Rich. Creamy. You'll forget that you have a stupid restrictive disease. Amazing. Here's the recipe: https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/en_US/recipes/2804/quick-creamy-chocolate-pudding.html

Posting a purple pic in support of World IBD day. Raising awareness - Confident that a cure will be in my lifetime! Happy World IBD day, Crohnies!

I haven't posted in a while because this little muffin has kept me very busy. Let's just say we spend a lot of time together. I'm 6 months post partum now, and despite the bad sleep deprivation, I *think* my Crohn's is still under control. It's hard for me to tell whether the complete fatigue I feel is from getting up 200 times/night or whether it's fatigue from the chronic disease. This whole phase of my life has really thrown me for a loop. The coping mechanisms that I usually employ, I don't have time for! No time for aggressting (aggressive resting), sleeping (ha!), long baths, reading, yoga... I know that I'll be able to do these things again eventually, but I feel a little lost without them. Especially the sleep. BUT! Look at that Bubs! She makes it all worth it.

I found an awesome chart for my lovely friends and family trying to understand Crohn's Disease: IBD does not = IBS These acronyms are often used (accidentally) interchangeably.

Crohn's Blacklist Series: Celery

Love is when your husband buys you a new toilet. And then installs it. He knows that if I'm going to spend a lot of time in there, it needs to be awesome.

A big part of my chronic disease management has been self care. Taking baths, choosing what I eat carefully (very beige and digestible foods), massage therapy, yoga practice and mindfulness exercises. In the last 4 months I have had no time for any of these. No minutes to myself - barely enough time to use the bathroom. I am a new mother. 24 hours a day with no breaks. I knew it would be hard (and don't get me wrong, I do have a lot of help from my husband), but I didn't think it would be THIS hard. The sleep deprivation especially makes me worry that my Crohn's will flare with a vengeance. I feel like $h!t all the time now - I haven't felt like this in a long time, maybe since before my last surgery. And of course accompanying the sleep deprivation is my old friend anxiety - not a helpful companion. Everyone tells me that the infant stage passes so quickly and they musically trill "enjoy it!!" I am enjoying some very sweet moments. But in those not so sweet moments, I think about all of the other Spoonie mothers out there. How do they do it. When you have a child you no longer come first. My health no longer comes first. How do you stay well when you're an after thought?

A warm, comforting soup on a torrentially rainy west coast day. I used this recipe and kept the spices mild. I also just used 2% instead of the richness of half and half and whole milk. If milk agrees with you, then this puréed beauty is pretty Crohn's friendly! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/cheesy-cauliflower-soup/

Hi baby!

This just happened to me: Was pregnant, on Remicade and developed a squamous carcinoma on my leg that needed to be removed today. To my crohnies and Spoonies on Remicade - Don't ignore any moles or skin lesions!!

I got MSG'd.

Happy 2016! My resolution? To take a cue from my little one, chill and go with the flow. CTFO in 2016 and enjoy each moment because this time will go fast! Maybe I just need a snuggly bear suit of my own.