the gluten test

Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday were my days to test gluten.
Day 1: no pain. Gluten in salad dressing and rice for dinner.
Day 2: oatmeal, rice, chicken fingers. some pain, nothing major. Until I got up for the restroom during the night. Gluten is one reason for the knots in my calves.
Day 3: oatmeal, vegan alfredo (pasta), & fried pork chops. Pelvic pain. Pain when going up stairs.
Saturday: should have been a day to return to the control stage but instead Tomika & I had a cookout. Awesome. I ate dairy, nightshade (beans, smoked sausage- everything else i had was nightshade-free), gluten, soy, nitrates, sugar. I'm hopeful that I'm still in shape to test my next category (nitrates) beginning Thursday.  I have a smoke sausage and beans for tomorrow but then I'll return to abstinence. My hot dogs are nitrate free so my only nitrates were the smoked sausage.

For a minute, I thought that I finally found something I can eat. hahahaha. I'm ruling it a positive, though perhaps not as severe as dairy & nightshade plants.

Onward, forward!

This time, I will identify some ways to make some changes forward. One thing is to limit myself to 4 frozen meals per week, compared to my norm of 5 biweekly. That's 6 less per month.

Blessed Be.

EDIT: I've also become angrier this week. A few people have been brave enough in the past to tell me my personality is better when I am on the allergen elimination diet. In part because of their strange comments and in part because I do not want to be mean to Tomika when she has done nothing to deserve it, I notice that my insides have been darker this week. At the same time, work life has gone down in ways with a climax hitting this week. That could be why I'm angry because work makes me FUCKING ANGRY right now. * deep breath * But here I enter the note. It might be useful at a later examination point.

how that diet is going...

my first video blog.

Week 1: Partial Allergen Elimination Diet

I have now completed 1 week of trying to detox from things that make my body hurt. Yea!!! But I feel no difference. This does not surprise me, because I think that's how it's always been, but it does disappointment me.

I've done a fair job of complying with the technical requirements of the diet this go-round: no dairy, no nightshade plants, no yeast, no gluten, and & no nitrates. I've done a much worse job of implementing the common-sense aspects of it: less pickles, little sugar. This weekend, I've begun thinking about other things that can't be healthy to a detox, such as coffee (as I enjoy my morning cup now). I have made no special efforts with raw food this week and raw is good to detox. I did order milk thistle and a detox tea, both begun on Friday evening.

Thursday night is $1 night at our minor league baseball stadium. $1 entry, hot dogs, popcorn, beer, and sodas (tiny cups). Small Town Progressives went. It was my largest turn out yet-- 4--lol. Monica & Susan finally met and Susan adores Monica. I adore them both. The 4th person was a newbie and male. My favorite thing about the Red Birds Stadium in Memphis is the food. Yum, yum! I wanted to know if Pringles Park measured up so I had to (chose to) deviate from the diet to compare, but I enforced limits and resisted a lot of yummy and strongly suggested things during our evening. I went in with the agreement that I would try the hot dog and polish sausage (gluten, yeast, & nitrates), so those are all of the forbidden items I had that night. And soda, maybe aspartame now that I think about it. They were both yummy but I can't wait to go back to get some nachos and that delicious looking ice cream everyone was going on about. This was major deviation 2.

Major deviation 1 was Tuesday at the Bakker's Rack. The Bakker's Rack has delicious blackened catfish, served with salad, so I can absolutely eat there. But my *love* there is the poppy seed chicken. It appears as their daily special once every other week (recent knowledge) and was the special the first time I ate there back in early fall (or longer). I have NEVER seen it there again since that first time. Sometimes I call and hope; I always check when I go in. Never. Until it was off limits. I ordered it. I ate it. If anything, I wish I had requested a double serving, no sides. Gluten and dairy from what my table and I gleaned.

But at home-- no blatant rule breaks, minus 1/2 gluten-free beer before the baseball game to help me not have beer there. I started the week with a plan in mind of what I could eat and managed to get by. Lunch is always the most difficult. I bought catfish Friday then later realized I don't know if that place cooks using corn mill (okay) or that fish fry, which contains gluten. So there's definitely been potential for mistakes of which I'm not aware but I'm sure that always happens.

Week 2: Slated to stay in the control phase. I'm thinking of adding a 18 hour fast to it-- a period of not adding junk for my body to wade through to empty out the bad. I am slightly frightened that the corn, soy, sugar, pickles (acid), or something else in my diet will prevent me from feeling that drop of pain that I desire and need in order to test a specific category. But I press forward. I will tell the difference because I'm taking in less. Yes. Today, I am making artichoke chicken and trying to hit up Cindi to find out how she made that simple artichoke we once shared. I think I just microwave it.... Today, I will juice more vegetables and see how that goes. Today, I will plan my week's menu. Again, I can do this.

Blessed be.

new commitment

Tomorrow, allergen elimination begins. But it won't be as extreme. No dairy, no nightshade plants as I know they increase my pain. No gluten, no yeast, no nitrates; these are my categories to test. I look forward to the day when I test something and my body does not wig out. I've eaten hoards of things I will not be able to eat these past few days and I feel the effects.

My plan, this time, is to work the control stage for 2 weeks. I will pick up something to help with this detoxing phase, perhaps some milk thistle. I understand that raw and more fiber help detox. Week 3- test 1 category. Week 4- test the other. Week 5- it's over.

Today, I spent a good deal of time cooking for the week. I made a dozen waffles, flax seed added. 4 apple cinnamon muffins with flax seeds. 2 egg scrambles. pizza. I'm covered for breakfast this week. Monday's lunch will be my super yummy pizza-- is it the pesto or almond cheese that made it so good? Rice with zucchini and mushrooms is another option for the week. Possibly leftovers. Lunch will be the most challenging. For eating out, I can eat at Abby's, salad (but salad dressing?!), beef patties, grilled chicken, Stevo's Wings (teriyaki chicken) .... maybe there will be more to come.

life summary

It has been a while since I've been here to write. Praises to the Tilley for installing my new keyboard. Now, typing isn't such a pain.

So, how to sum up life? I'll start with Fitness & Health 'cause I received an e-mail inquiring about that and I don't think i ever answered.

Fitness/Health: They suck. I exercised for that week, then stopped. I got into Christmas shopping instead. That had a brilliant start. I'm excited about the gifts I'm giving this year. They are "bigger" as in more expensive than usual. One of my giving highs is buying little Christian some Yamaha electric drums. If you have not already, go to his facebook entertainment page and like him: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christian-Merriweather/179567812100172 Fatigue increases and wanes; all-in-all no better than I was when I started exercising.

I joined the YMCA 'cause they were waving their membership fee and offer water zumba, self-defense, and yoga. I have yet to actually use that new membership, however. I'm on week 1 of membership I believe.

I half-way tested nightshade plants as an allergen. Those things are messed up! They make me burn. One night, I woke up thinking I was on fire. I checked my bed thinking my electric blanket had sparked it and took off my shirt thinking it was on fire. The results aren't that bad unless I eat a bunch but wow. A co-worker nicely told me she thinks they negatively effect my personality as well. lol. I'm finding they are a hard thing to avoid. I eat sour cream b/c I like it. Nightshades, particularly tomato based items, just seem 'bout impossible to avoid. And ketchup!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my. It was just today that I realized I need to stop using it so liberally. *weep, weep, weep* What do you like with your french fries? Umm. I guess I'm not supposed to eat those either. *pout*

Right now, I feel bad 'cause I'm only about a week out from the experiment and went through 2 night shade plant intense holiday parties since then. So. much. pain. And I gave mom my trauma oil 'cause I'm a nice, caring daughter. I'm hoping the health food store is open tomorrow so I can replace my bottle.


For the pursuit of Love: I'm kind of fed up with this to tell you the truth. This year has seen me dating 3 different people & getting hurt and hurting in the process. You previously read about me dating 2 people at the same time. Tilley & I lasted longer but broke up about a month ago. She was really angry about me ending that relationship. I was noticing the horrible things that people who dated me were saying so I traveled to livejournal to ponder. The review of each relationship since 2010 showed me that it's better for me not to be nice and to be less honest. Twice since 2010, there was a situation when I told someone I wasn't feeling them but they didn't hear it. My only rationale is that my tone was too soft and I was too nice. I'm not sure how to be mean when I say such things but "I think we should be friends" and "I don't love you" isn't forceful enough for anyone to listen to what I'm saying. Anywho, I'm on take 3.5 as I went on a date with Memphis last weekend. I've also fought with her since then. I have serious doubts on going back down that road but here I am. We'll see. It'll be nice if it works out but today's not a great day for finding optimism from me. I think I'm tired and have a massive to do list of important tasks-- energy drain, spirit drain.

Christmas: We're having our first that I remember family pot luck. My cousin and her mom now live together and wanted to host it. I love getting with my family. Always.

New Year's: no clue what I'll be doing

Work: Frustrating. Friday, I could honestly say I didn't want to be working there.

Church: I think I don't go 'cause I don't expect to find anywhere that I like and am fully accepted. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll return to the Episcopal church and see how that goes.

Good night, friends.