lujo's reintro

[lujo238]

So this topic is a bit late since I started my reintro on Sunday with dairy.  Better late then never though right?  For my dairy reintro I had some cheese in my egg at breakfast, some more different cheese at lunch and some ice cream after dinner.  There were no immediate reactions.  My gut seemed to handle the dairy fine.  The next day tough I was noticeably stiffer going up and down the stairs. My mother also had joint stiffness and puffiness under her eyes.  Possibly an increased sensitivity to allergens.

 

I'm not sure if the dairy has anything to do with this but last night I was helping my daughter paint her nails and the polish remover gave me a terrible headache.  When I got in bed a couple hours later I started to cough and basically tossed and turned for a long time before I could sleep.  Was that the polish remover itself or did the dairy contribute?  Also my daughter got in bed with me and the scent of her shampoo was awful.  Can dairy make you more sensitive to scents and more prone to an allergic reaction to those scents?

 

Today is my wheat/gluten reintro.  I probably should have put it off because I am still feeling bad from yesterdays reaction to the strong odors.  I didn't though as I am on a tight schedule and doing this with my mother and I agreed to do it all together.  I had two slices of rye toast with my breakfast this morning.  So far my stomach feels fine.  I have a small headache but I woke up with one so???  I brought some pita chips to eat with my lunch and for dinner I am having a slice or two off a loaf of French bread I have always loved. 

 

As a side not it is hard to do a clean reintro without having cross contamination.  I had some leftover pasta salad a friend brought to book club this weekend and I was going to have some of that with lunch.  Nope it has cheese and beans in it.  Grrr.  Processed foods are even worse.  The whole wheat bread my kids love and I was going to eat with my lunch had a laundry list of non-compliant ingredients.  Not to mention stress and other life factors that are out of our control.

[lujo238]

Felt better by lunch so ate the pita chips and immediately felt worse again.

[peahen65]

Wow, lujo. Sounds like wheat may def be a problem. Yikes. Did you try French bread tonight and feel bad again?

[lujo238]

Holy cow I feel bad.  It is 3 in the afternoon and I just got out of bed.  Don't know if was all the wheat or if I just got sick but I went to bed last night feeling bad and woke up this morning feeling like I was dying.  I have had a splitting headache, freezing, shakes, cant stand the smell of food.  My chest hurts from all the coughing.  ugh!  Was all this possibly the wheat or am I sick as well?

[EmayPA]

I hope you feel better soon, lujo!

 

If you really want to try again, I'd wait 3 days (assuming you're not actually sick)  and try the gluten again.  It may well leave you with no doubt.

 

My sympathies.  Gluten is on my never ever again  list. 

[lujo238]

Well I am back to work today.  Feeling better but still not feeling good.  For breakfast I managed to eat an egg white and a pear.  I was trying for deviled eggs and dropped my yolks and mayonnaise on the kitchen floor.  I got one of the egg whites down but couldn't eat the other.  The pear wasn't easy to get down either but I made myself eat it.  I still feel so weak.  I've got tuna salad with lettuce and raw zucchini packed for lunch.  Hopefully by then I will feel more like eating.

 

I should have never tried to introduce gluten when I was already under the weather.  I don't know if my illness was made worse by the gluten but I can say it has made me super cautious of wanting to try gluten again.  I am going to try the rest of my reintroductions on the weekend I think. 

[lujo238]

Made it all day at work yesterday but was ready to come home and go to bed by the end.  Ate a quick dinner of leftovers.  My fridge is getting bare again.  Time to make a list and shop for another week.  I am feeling better but my head is still clogged so no reintro for me until I am 100%.  That's going to mess up our timeline for Easter but oh well.  I find I am mostly ready to hop right back in to whole 30.  I felt so good for the last month.  I did drop a few pounds.  My pants are all getting looser.  Why quit when I was clearly ahead?  Wheat will be hard to give up forever.  There are a few treat type foods I may consider on occasion like my Nana's nut bread we only make 2-3 times a year anyway.  But that is something to think about later.  For now I just want to get better. 

[peahen65]

Hope you are all better very soon, lujo!

[lujo238]

I am feeling better today but first thing this morning I closed all the windows and turned on the AC.  While out at my daughters soccer game yesterday it became clear to me that the pollen beast has descended on North Georgia.  Everything is coated in yellow.  I didn't want to do it but woke up this morning with my eyes feeling like they were full of a sandy gummy mess.  I had been getting some exercise by walking the park during my daughters practices but I am also moving back indoors to the gym for that this week. 

 

As for reintros I plan to do non-gluten grains this Wednesday if my sinuses continue to clear up.  My kids are out of school for spring break this week and I am taking the boys to see the new Captain America movie.  That should be fun.  I have to admit I have let some added sugar creep back into my life.  I bought bacon this weekend from the local farm that has some sugar in it.  It is otherwise compliant though and I am moving forward into the next phase of things.  Sticking to meats with no added hormones or antibiotics is a definite permanent change.  My mom ate eggs at my sisters house the other day and came home saying the regular eggs tasted funny now. 

Next weekend will be legumes as long as this weeks non-gluten goes good.  Any negative reaction though and I am waiting longer between trials.   

 

I am still planning to do another Whole30 later this year but I am also branching out and researching other Paleo paths.  I'm looking for what works best for me and may end up right back where I started but I do want to read more, try more, do my own experimentation of one. 

[mcjule]

Lujo, I hear you on the allergies!  I am feeling them too and it's sometimes hard to tell if it was from the wheat intro or just spring pollen but as they are lingering I think it's the pollen!  

[lujo238]

Getting ready to do non-gluten tomorrow.  Fingers crossed it goes better than wheat did last Wednesday.  Post Wole30 I find myself wishing for something more to say.  Everything is going well though so there's not much.  I am starting to think about Easter brunch.  My mom usually makes biscuits and gravy and told me this morning she was going to make them anyway for everyone else.  I have mixed feelings about it.  On one hand it is a special occasion but on the other hand I feel like we should be setting a better example.  I'm not sure which way we'll end up going.  Other than that we will have a big fruit salad, hard-boiled eggs, Scotch eggs, sweet potato hashbrowns, and that's all we've got so far.  I usually do a big egg, veg, and cheese casserole of some sort.  Plus there are usually baked goods up the Wooohaa.  Should I still put out some bagels or banana nut bread for those not eating Paleo?  Lots more decisions I guess.  Oh and how do I color brown eggs?  I guess I could by some cheap white ones just for that.  Any opinions welcome.

[lujo238]

So far so bad with non-gluten.  My head immediately got stuffy after a bowl of oatmeal.  UghI  I was really hoping non-gluten would be okay.  I am totally bummed.

[lujo238]

Some good reinrto news finally.  Had some corn tortilla chips and a couple hard taco shells yesterday with no ill effect.  Took my kids for $1 tacos at a local restaurant.  I ordered two chicken tacos for myself with no cheese.  I also had some of their chunky guacamole and super hot salsa.  It was so good.  The only thing I did do wrong is probably eat more of them than I should have.  I didn't even miss the cheese.  Next time maybe when I am all done with reintro I will also have one of their fabulous margaritas.  One step at a time though.  Also I had some popcorn at the movie.  No added butter.  No problems there either.  So looks like corn is going to be okay.  In moderation of course. 

 

I ended up not even trying the rice last night because I was not hungry at all for dinner.  We were planning a Mexican style chicken and rice soup.  We will have it tonight instead.  Should I try the rice?  We aren't planning to reintro anything else until next weekend but will likely not be 100% compliant on Easter Sunday.  I think dairy will be the main addition though and I will avoid most everything else. 

[mcjule]

Hi from vacation! I have found that while avoiding gluten, grains, dairy, and soy isn't that hard getting enough protein is! I had salads with fish one day and chicken another but the protein portions were tiny! Breakfast is the only meal I'm getting enough protein with eggs and meat. So I've had some nut snacks to tide me over. Last night I had a bun less burger that was better. My coconut milk for breakfast is great too!

Lujo, so oatmeal was bad but corn was ok?? Interesting!

[lujo238]

I finally tried the rice in my soup last night since we ended up skipping it the night before.  It was okay I guess. So far no increase in stuffiness or stiffness.  I'm not a huge rice lover but I guess it's good to know I won't have to pick it out of stuff.  We made homemade Mexican style chicken soup and I just put a scoop of rice in the bottom of the bowl.  We did use brown rice but just the store brand so nothing fancy.  When I asked my daughter if she wanted rice in her soup she said, "is it yellow? I only eat yellow rice."  Really? Since when?  Kids are funny.

[lujo238]

Beans!  Yesterday's bean reintro went well, mostly.  The only thing I had a little trouble with is peanut butter.  I forgot to eat some at breakfast so I started with split pea soup for lunch.  I endeed up having two tablespoons of peanut butter about an hour before Zumba.  Within 30 minutes I was in the bathroom.  I was afraid I was going to miss Zumba but after that one time my tummy settled back down.  After Zumba for dinner I had Applegate hot dogs, baked beans, and fruit salad.  The baked beans were requested by my son.  I was afraid they would be the worst aas they were the only one I ate that were still in their whole bean shape but nothing happened.  Yay!  So looks like beans on occasion are okay and peanut butter could be good for constipation.  LOL

 

First Zumba class in 6 months last night.  OMG! Thought I was gonna die for the first 15 minutes.  My legs are much heavier than they were last time.  After that though my muscles got looser and it got easier until the last 15 minutes where the exhaustion kicked in.  My knees felt a little sore but stopped hurting once Zumba was over. 

[peahen65]

Yay, for Zumba!  And yay for beans being okay!  I think I will intro peanuts and beans separately for that reason, especially since snack nuts really messed with me during the WholeLent. They are nut-like enough to make me wary.