Too much to think about -- martihana60's reintro in progress

[martihana60]

Hello friends,

I've been away from the forums for a few days, but not from the program. I was Whole30 compliant for about 63 days. I'm calling it a whole60.

I was at first going to reintroduce grains. But then I thought about it. I've limited grains for YEARS, so I don't see the point in reintroducing them now. I expect that introduction will happen sort of accidentally sometime in the future.

Dairy. Now that's something I might want to try again. So I did. The reintro was a dismal failure. Not that dairy made me horribly sick, or that it opened me up to eat up every creepy thing I could get my hands on. No demons were released. It's just that I was attacked by too many variables all at once.

First, sometime around day 60 I stopped lying to myself and accepted the idea that I probably do have a sensitivity to eggs. I hate to admit it because I love eggs. But since around September 2012 I've had a sort of mysterious upper respiratory discomfort with symptoms that I am told resemble asthma. Which is one of the top 2 or 3 symptoms of egg sensitivity. I did not fully realize it for the first 45 days or so of my WholeWhatever, but at some point the upper chest symptoms had disappeared! I hadn't used my rescue inhaler in weeks. Those of you who've been with me from the start (thank you so much!) may remember that for days 30 through 45 I'd given up eggs.

As I returned the eggs to my diet, there were no immediate symptoms of sensitivity, but perhaps a week or 10 days in, the asthma feelings of tightness, not being able to catch my breath, and almost panicked breathing came back fairly strong. That was before I'd reintro'ed dairy.

So a possible sensitivity to eggs is the first variable.

Then, I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, with its world famous cherry blossoms. In fact they are so famous that it seems as if every home and business establishment within a 100 mile radius has a cherry tree on its property! And the cherry trees, along with many other flowering trees and shrubs, are in full bloom, since warm spring weather came in around my day 64, the day I started back on the dairy. In fact, I have a cherry tree and a tulip tree in full bloom about 25 feet from my bedroom window. The pollen load this time of year even causes people who normally don't have allergies to react anyway.

On top of the renewed bronchial symptoms, I've had some nasal symptoms including congestion or inflammation or both, and some significant discomfort in the left side of my head, neck, throat, and left ear.

I've also had some gastrointestinal upsets, but they have been intermittent throughout the program. I am finally taking probiotics daily, and they seem to be helping, at least for these past two days.

So. Is it the eggs, the dairy, or the pollen? I'm really not sure what step to take next, so I've returned to being W30 compliant, MINUS eggs and PLUS a little xylitol in my coffee only, for two days. (I added the xylitol 3 mornings ago, in the yogurt I had for breakfast. If I were going to have symptoms from it, I wouldn't expect them to be respiratory in nature. One wonderful thing [of the many!] about Whole30 is how little sweetener I need in my coffee now.)

I'll stay at this current compliance level for at least a few days and see if the respiratory things clear up. If they don't improve at all, then I'll suspect pollen. I've had trouble with tree pollen before.

More later. I'm happy to be checking in, and I'd love input if anyone has any.

[EileenRBe]

Welcome back! Hope you get the eggs/respiratory thing worked out. Hope you can at least enjoy SEEING the blossoms!

[martihana60]

They *are* visually beautiful!

AND my immersion blender made me the best cauli mash I've ever had! Tried it for bulletproof coffee, too, but the Vitamix still seems to do a better job with that.

[martihana60]

At my workplace, many people think food is kindness, so there are always goodies lying around. My boss has a jar of Dove dark chocolates permanently installed in his office, and we have his permission to eat at will. And people are always bringing in pastries or candy. In fact, it has become a tradition that if you go on vacation, you bring back a treat from the area you've visited.

Just a day or two ago, someone brought in muffins in the morning, and someone else put out a plate of cookies in the afternoon! Like they can't even figure out that one treat a day is more than enough!

Through the blessings of Whole60, I've developed the ability to just walk past these treats and say to myself, "I'm just not eating these things right now."

That is amazing for me. It used to horrify me the amount of food people left out to share. Oh, poor me, don't they understand that when you're 100+ pounds overweight, carbs are NOT love?? Now it's just not a big deal. I have not had ONE of those treats at work since I started my W60 on February 5.

[pjena]

Hi. I'll be very intersted to hear how things go and what you decide about the eggs. My asthma got worse since a week before my W30 started, which was when I started eating eggs every day. I'm going to try cutting them out, I think, to see if that is the cause. I'm in a similar boat, though, because at the same time the snow started really melting, which exposes snow mold which is one of my worst allergies. So, is it eggs or snow mold? No way to tell excpet by cutting out eggs to see if things get better and add then back another time when my other allergens aren't so high and see if the asthma comes back. Big bummer!

[Nadia B]

Hi Martha, great progress, well done. I can relate to many points in your post.

Dairy equals stuffed nose and swollen throat for me. Plus nasty breakouts all over my face the very next morning. It usually takes up to 3 days for my body to recover from casein (is that the thing in dairy right?).

I had to give up eggs. I really hope to bring them back to my diet someday, but as recent test showed - not in the nearest future. I love eggs so much. On the positive note - I really got used to eggless breakfasts and working fritters etc without egg as a binder. I made homemade mayo for my parents and had some of it. No reaction followed, which makes me think that it's just the whites (most common allergen). However buying a cartoon and throwing away every single egg white is brutal. Unless I collect them and make merenges for my co-workers

Speaking of the office - mine is exactly the same. Tons of sugary treats on every surface. Worst part is when people try to offer/force you to eat them. "Oh come on, you are not going to ruin your diet, just a piiiiiiiece". Collective eating is a powerful instinct. This is where Whole magic kicks in usually. I don't fight anymore with the feeling "I want it but I shouldn't". I really don't want to. You should be proud of yourself for dealing with this food pressure!

Hope your breathing gets better soon.

[martihana60]

Hi Martha, great progress, well done. I can relate to many points in your post.

I had to give up eggs. I really hope to bring them back to my diet someday, but as recent test showed - not in the nearest future. I love eggs so much.

Nadia, for most of my adult life I've eaten at least two and as many as 6 eggs 5-7 days a week. I love eggs! And I think I will once again be able to reintroduce them, but only perhaps 1-2 servings (2-6 eggs) a week. I've also read that it's the egg white that is the most common cause of allergic reaction. So when I do reintroduce eggs again, I'll start with white-less mayo.

[LoisH99]

I live about 2 hours south of you. The tree pollen counts have been very high for the past week or so. I think that might be playing at least a part in your congestion. I'm on day 23 of my Whole30 and I'm SHOCKED at how well controlled my allergy symptoms are this year. I have been through allergy testing and tested positive for many environmental allergens (29 out of 30 on the initial skin tests!). Typically this time of year I am sneezing, coughing, and rubbing my eyes like crazy, despite taking Claritin. This year? Just a little congested if I spend too much time outdoors. It's AMAZING. I will be curious to see what brings symptoms back during the reintroduction phase.