An Introduction

New blog, first post... what to say, what to say? 
I suppose an introduction to myself would be appropriate.
 
Hello, I'm Mrs. VanderLeek.

Did any of you just picture a 60-something Elementary School math teacher with her grey hair pulled up into a tight bun? 

Yah, that's not me. 

I'm a 20-something working-from-home mother of two (so far).  My eldest boy is coming up on 3 this spring, while my youngest boy will be turning 6 months just before Christmas.  He, the youngest, is the reason I'm writing this blog today.  Well, it may not be fair to blame him exclusively, but he was the one I was pregnant with when I got gallstones.
He was about 2 weeks old when I started getting awful pains around my ribs that shot through to my shoulder blades.  I remember the first time it happened I was doubled-over on the bathroom floor, trying to force myself to stand up to find my husband to take me to the hospital because I could hardly breathe when very suddenly all of the pain stopped and I could breathe perfectly fine.  It was one week and two more attacks later that I would find out that it was my gallbladder which was inflicting so much pain; one tiny, little, pear-shaped organ was causing more pain than I could bear, despite my track record of two completely natural, drug-free deliveries. 

I had never thought about my gallbladder before and I had no idea what it even did at first.  But, never one to stay in the dark, I Googled 'gallbladder' and saw plenty of lists of things that I should refrain from eating until the situation was resolved.  Ice cream, fatty steaks, corn-on-the-cob... so much for a summer of backyard barbques and trips to the local creamery.  After 9 months of a restricted diet due to morning sickness and listeria concerns, I was facing an even more restrictive diet, and it was one I felt convinced I would follow to the letter, because the punishment of disobeying and getting another gallbladder attack was one I never wanted to experience again.  Little did I know how hard it would be to follow...

First there was the issue of finding out what I could and could not eat.  I automatically ruled out all red meat and pork (I had already had a reaction to both of those things) which left me with poultry, eggs and fish as my primary protein sources.  Unfortunately, it only took me two weeks until my body could no longer tolerate eggs and another week until many types of fish and any dark poultry meat would give me a reaction as well.  Corn in small quantities was okay for a week, dry, air-pop popcorn for three months.  Coffee was okay for 4 months (and I must say, that has been one of the hardest things to give up!).  The list was ever-growing and my options were shrinking. 

The next big issue, after finding out all of the "cannots," was not getting bored with the "cans".  I ate a lot of salad for the first month.  And hey, there's nothing wrong with eating salad, but when everyone else is going for seconds of steak and you're going for thirds of a tossed salad with little-to-no dressing, it gets tiring.  I love to cook.  Love, love, love.  However, very few of my recipes were low-fat, or, at least, not as low-fat as I needed them.  I began looking for new recipes but I had a lot of trouble.  I found gallstone recipes for beet soup (which I was supposed to eat every day) and I found lots of "low-fat" recipes that had 15 grams of fat per serving, which was about 3x the safe amount for myself.  What I didn't find was a great database of recipes tailored to my condition.

Ergo, this.

Furthermore, when a friend was diagnosed with MS and started a low-fat diet to help ward off symptoms, I realized how it was more than an isolated, temporary group of people that would need access to such recipes.  My sister suggested I write a cookbook - but since that would be a multi-year project, and I'm busy as is, I opted to blog instead. 

Which brings us to now. 

I amassed quite the range of low-fat recipes during the 6 months I suffered from gallstones.  The end is in site for me; I am currently one week away from my scheduled gallbladder removal.  However, I know there will be many other people afflicted with different medical conditions which will require them to cut fat out of their diets and I know that it can be hard to cook for yourself, and your family, while adhering to very strict requirements.  But I also know that it is possible, and I hope this blog helps make the task a little bit easier.


Mrs. VanderLeek