It was about 32C (90F) and humid all last week. Remember how I said we live in a country with no AC? Yep. And I don't just mean in our houses, in most stores as well. And the establishments that do have AC seem to think lowering the temperature to simply 'not broiling' is satisfactory. There has been nowhere to go to get relief except my car. Even throughout the night, the heat wasn't subsiding. So my son hasn't been feeling well the whole week. I have been too hot to eat carbs, so that's been mildly helpful. But my son, who doesn't normally want junk food, has been craving pizza and I have been craving a not-slaving-away-in-a-hot-kitchen option. Of course our first week of SCD had to be an unbearable one!

This is the meal routine we're falling into now:

BREAKFAST: Fruit salad and/or eggs with a tall glass of water 

(still have yet to brave making our own yogurt but we haven't missed it yet)

LUNCH FOR HIM: An assortment of fruit and raw veggies, cheese, sliced chicken*

LUNCH FOR ME: Salads (ingredients such as: avocado, spinach, tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic, etc.)

DINNER: Meat and veg

Staple fruits, veggies, and snacks we've been using:

For drinks, we're both pretty good about water. But I also make a lot of lemonade and orange juice. It helps that we have one of these from IKEA. Flavoured Perrier helps as well. 

I also pour a jug of filtered water and soak slices of orange, lemon, and lime with mint leaves and refrigerate it for flavoured water. I just keep refilling the water as I use it and change the fruit and mint once a week. 

Since I don't use all the mint in one go, to avoid it wilting before I use it all, I fill up ice trays with water and stuff the leaves inside, then freeze. That way I can just throw the ice cubes into water or the blender for lemonade later.

We've been making smoothies. Easiest is handfuls of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and spinach blended with freshly squeezed orange juice. While you won't need a lot of the flavour fruits, you'll need about 4-6 oranges to make the base. More smoothie recipes here.

I have some health complications you can read about on the My Health page. It's essential for me to eat low-carb, but in the past year with my son being sick and us moving overseas and all that, I have failed to keep to my regime as much as I should. So I have felt better this week. Even my son said I look healthier.

Meanwhile, within a few days, my son's symptoms were already improving. He still has nausea and a persistent headache, but he says both have been somewhat better. He still has cramps, which I believe are partially from trapped gas and will take a while to correct if Breaking the Vicious Cycle is correct about all this. But he also has had chronic diarrhoea and, within a few days, he was much more regular. He hasn't been regular in over a year! He was terribly constipated for 5 months and then it switched to diarrhoea overnight and has been mostly on that side of the spectrum ever since. So this is a huge improvement for him.

Furthermore, he hasn't had a consistent appetite since this condition all started. It may be because without carbs, meals aren't quite as filling, but he has been hungry and asking for more all week. As a result, he's eaten more food this past week than he has in ages.

We have both been low on energy, but I'm sure the heat has played a part in that. But it is motivating to see some results already and makes me feel confident we will continue to see improvement with time.