Onward towards heatlh (I sincerely hope)

[Coffee]

Pjena, that would be a good idea but the only place I knew who would have that would be Wholepaycheck and that's totally out of my way home. 

 

I stopped at the store by the library last night and picked up gluten free bread, snack bars, and crackers so that I could have a nice variety for today.  One of the issues I had was making sure there wasn't any soy or dairy in the product but I knew I wasn't going to be able to skip the sugar in these.  Unfortunately, by the time I got out of the library I was very hungry and figured decided to eat one of the snack bars.  Not a good decision.  It left a weird aftertaste in my mouth and then when I got home I decided to “try†the other items.

 

So right off the bat I know I have a bad psychological response to these items.  What happened was they started a binge reaction in me that needed crunchy and starchy to satiate. Thankfully I was aware of the effect and was able to mitigate it but it left my stomach feeling uncomfortable, and I had difficulty getting to sleep.  I also woke up this morning groggy with my eyes and face all puffy.  I am continuing on with the reintroduction today starting with the bread this morning for a sandwich for breakfast.  I have my standard veggies, fat, and meat for lunch but I'll have some of the crackers with that.  I also brought one of the bars since I have a feeling I'll be hungry before lunch. 

 

Breakfast has left my stomach a little achy so I'm going to make sure and take some digestive enzymes with lunch.

[Coffee]

Well that wasn't very fun.  Basically my digestive system was in distress for the entire day.  I did end up eating the snack bar because I was hungry before lunch and stuck at my desk on a conference call.  It didn't do much except add to the achy feeling.  I had lunch around noon and since it was basically compliant with only the crackers, that seemed to help my poor system settle down a bit.  I then had a hamburger with avocado and lettuce on the gluten free bread for dinner.  By that time most of the day food had worked itself into the lower abdomen and I had some pain there. 

 

One of the things I had previously noted way before the W30 was that when my stomach hurts, I want to eat more to try to soothe it.  I actually reach for bread-y and snack-y type things when that happens too.  Looks like these may have been the reason my stomach was hurting in the first place. 

 

This morning I slept in since it's my day off and woke up with a swollen face and feeling slightly hungover.  So for the non-gluten grains it looks like the only actual one I can eat with minor bad effects is plain old white rice.  Now, I may also be able to have some others like plain old quinoa or straight up corn on the cob, but it's clear that I really need to avoid the gluten free food-type products.  I doubt that's going to be much of an issue.

 

Update:  I am also sneezing and my sinuses are full today as well.  Ugh.

[Coffee]

Gluten day.  Since my STBX is still here he has plenty of stuff with gluten in it so I used a piece of rye bread to make a 1/2 sandwich for breakfast.  Ugh, my stomach started aching after I ate about half of it and I started belching.  This is with a digestive enzyme, too.  I'm sitting here looking at the last 1/4 of the sandwich and I have no desire to finish it so I won't. 

 

I plan on going out today so I was going to stop off for lunch at Chipolte but I see their flour tortilla has soy in it.  I'll probably stop at Carl's Jr. then since their bun doesn't have soy and I can modify the rest.  Otherwise I might just pick up a bun from the bread baskets at the supermarket (if their ingredients are listed) and make another sandwich with otherwise compliant ingredients at home.  I may also just make some noodles and top them with olive oil to see how I react to pasta. 

[Coffee]

Well that was interesting. I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some gluten containing items and one of them was a store bagel.  I decided to try it in the car and the first thing that hit me about it was that it tasted sweet.  The other thing was that its light texture and chewy exterior made me want to just stuff it in my mouth as fast as possible.  I had to force myself to finish chewing and swallowing the first bite before I took another.  I did not eat the whole thing, only a 1/3 of it, and my stomach started aching after a few bites and I did start belching.  Neither the psychological nor the physical reaction to this was worth the damn bagel.

 

I picked up a Kashi personal pizza and a frozen macaroni & cheese to try out as well.  The pizza was alright, and the cheese, artichoke, and spinach topping seemed to help with keeping my stomach from rebelling.  But it wasn't great and something I could pass up with no problem.  What I do notice is that now I want to keep eating and eat something crunchy. 

[Physibeth]

Sounds like you got the answers on gluten that you may not want but need. I've found that my reaction to most grains is a need to eat all the things as well. Makes me very cautious about when I indulge in grains and I usually try to limit it to meals out so I have to stop eventually. 

[pjena]

I also tend to want to eat more to soothe a hurting tummy.  I've been working hard this past year to recognize that and stop it in its tracks.  You did a great job being methodical about your reintros! 

[Coffee]

Unfortunately I wasn't totally compliant yesterday.  There's a week long code updating and training course here and I had a morning class yesterday.  They give you passes for the buffet after class and I went down there because I needed to find some coworkers.  I ate as clean as I could at the buffet but my stomach was still upset afterwards. 

 

I also wound up taking half of a cinnamon roll at work when I got back.  It was awful and way too sweet.  So today and tomorrow I will be compliant but Thursday I'm back for an all-day class so I plan to be complaint as possible with lunch.  Friday is my birthday so I plan to have a few favorite items from my favorite restaurants and then go back to compliant eating for another couple of days before I then start riding my own bike.

[Coffee]

So Tuesday and Wednesday were totally compliant days.  I had a compliant breakfast on Thursday and did the best I could at the buffet for lunch and then had a complaint dinner.  Didn't have too many issues from just the lunch so I was feeling pretty good on Friday.  I slept in and then went to Caesar's for lunch where the only thing I avoided was beans.  It sat pretty heavy but it did not deter me from going to the spa.  I sent a good three hours there and then planned to walk around downtown but they had an event going on.  So I did not get to have my favorite Thai food for dinner.  I wound up having some bagged popped corn (underwhelming) and a sandwich on gluten free bread for dinner.

 

This morning I felt like I was hung over and my sinuses were full.  Ugh, I'm still sneezing and blowing my nose and feel crappy.  I thought about how I would feel like this most days before the W30 and it strengthened my resolve to eat paleo from now on.  I do need to try one more reintroduction so I'll have a couple more compliant days then give mayo with only the yolks a try to see if it was the egg whites that irritated my stomach. 

[Coffee]

So I ate mostly compliant for the weekend but did have a few "treats" off plan.  I went back to eating on plan Monday for breakfast and lunch.  Then at dinner I ate left over Nacho bites that my STBX left in the freezer since he moved out yesterday.  It was a totally emotional thing and it sat badly in my stomach.  I'm actually looking forward to the rest of the week being totally compliant so that I can get my digestive track back in order.

 

As a side note, I've just realized that my skin has continued to improve even during my reintroductions.  I've had a couple of eruptions on my chin but overall it's looking really good.

[Coffee]

Oh boy what a few weeks some TMI will follow. 

 

I've been eating mostly compliant with an occasional use of sugar and not really worrying about the minor amounts of soy lecithin in things and was doing fine.  Except I made a mistake and made some meatza with tomato sauce.  Completely forgetting about the whole nightshade issue I ate it for almost a week at one meal.  My bowels were not happy with this and so I dropped night shades again.  I then got sick and was just scrounging for the most part since I was having difficulty cooking and shopping.  However, I just kept getting pain and cramping sometimes bad enough to have me bent over in pain.  So I went back to full on whole 30 starting this past Sunday. 

 

I've still been having pain and diarrhea issues but thankfully it seems to have started to subside.  I made some bone stock on Sunday and have basically been having that for dinner and then adding it to some meat and veggies as a soup for breakfast.  I just wish I knew what it was that was still causing me so much pain and bowel issues.  I'll keep on the W30 for another week to see if that helps but if not, I may have to either see about going to the doctor or restricting even more.

[Coffee]

So things have mostly cleared up.  I cut out onions and garlic and cut down on avocado to see it that would help and it seems that it did.  I also went to my local vitamin shop to see if I could get some gelatin but they didn't carry it.  I asked what they would suggest for leaky gut (since I had a suspicion that this may be part of if not the issue) and got the slippery elm and other one (totally blanking on it right now) and they have seemed to help quite a bit.

 

So my pain has mostly gone away but I still have it and I'm going to track my food much more carefully for the next week to see if I can pinpoint the culprit.  I do believe that the Lara bars are an issue but I'm not sure if it's the nuts or something else in there. 

Today:

Coffee w/ coconut oil, cocoa, cinnamon, fiber & gelatin (no reactions)

M1: Paleo wrap, chicken, cooked spinach, raw spinach, goat cheese (no reactions right after eating)

 

M2: Pot roast w/ the sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions I cooked it with and a banana. (no reactions after eating)

 

One very bad meeting full of frustration and a trip to the grocery store I bought and ate an ice cream cookie sandwich.  As expected I am now feeling crappy in the stomach.  I also had some hard salami and some hard cheese. 

[Coffee]

I had been doing fairly well but over the last few weeks I've noticed myself creeping closer and closer back to how I was eating before.  Then I got sick and for a couple of days and I just said F-it since I was feeling crappy anyways.  So starting tomorrow I'm back on a modified Whole 14 at least.  It'll be modified since I'll be taking some vitamins and supplements that have some non-compliant ingredients.  However, my blood work last month showed me low on D and low on B-12 again so I need to take them along with the thyroid and adrenal supplements my doctor prescribed.  I will be completely compliant on the food, though.

 

I have my squash prepared, my sweet potatoes ready, and my ground beef and chicken for the week cooked and in the fridge.  Hopefully being strict for these next two weeks will get my head in a better place for making the best choices for my body and well being.