10/26/2016
In case someone didn't read my last post. I went to get tested for food allergies and the results were not in my favor. Read that post for all the details. Adjusting to the soy free and yellow dye free life has been the most challenging out of all the foods, and I thought the tomatoes would be a problem, but when you have nothing to put them on they don't become a problem. I'm just going to break this down in to different categories of struggles and changes.
Grocery shopping:
I now have to read all the labels. My grocery trips now take over two hours for less than half a basket of food. I shop at a small town store that has half of an organic isle that everyone avoids, so I am all alone for most of these two hours. I break out into song "im all alone in the organic isle..." and the grocery employee asks if he can help me with anything. I say, "Yes." We just stare at each other for an awkward minute and he asks, "well....?" to which I reply, "I'm looking for food." He gives me that no shit look. I then list off everything I can't eat and he leaves basically saying I'm SOL. Continuing on through the store I realize that I can no longer eat chocolate. What kind of life am I living? I check out pay my $80 for my 10 or so items and leave broke, hungry, and sad.
Eating at restaurants:
Well I can't do that anymore. The only thing I can get anymore is a salad without tomatoes, lemons or their juice spritzed on the salad to keep it fresh, no cheese, blah blah. They might as well feed me a head of lettuce and I'm not paying $8 for a $1 item.
Eating at home:
Eating at home is fine. I eat a lot of meat, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. I can still eat Sweedish Fish. (that is red candy for those of you like my mom that didn't know), but I can't eat that Sweedish Fish Oreos. But if I want bread, pasta, pancakes, cake, you know all those delicious carbs? I have to make them completely from scratch like the true baker I am. It shouldn't be a problem since I've been to cooking school....twice...I just don't really own all that baking stuff.
Eating at work:
I have to pack my lunch daily. Since you know that whole going out to eat thing isn't an option any more. The only problem is, I forget it at home. So sometimes I am just stuck drinking coffee and eating some cheerios because I'm not allergic to those. I'm still working on that.
Calories:
Calories are only somewhat of a problem. Not that I eat too many, but that I don't get enough. I eat at least five times a day and still only manage to eat 800 Kcals a day. This includes while working out too. I need to find a way to increase this.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
A new way of eating
10/19/2016
I have been having a lot of stomach issues for the past month. The last time this happened it turned out I was allergic to potatoes and bananas. Instead of doing an elimination and reintroduction diet which can take months to complete, I decided to undergo a day of torture and get allergy testing for 58 foods.
The process itself wasn't that bad. It was annoying. It was itchy, my back was burning, I couldn't scratch it. I had to take a few Benadryl after it was all complete. The results were devastating. I am allergic to the following foods:
Shellfish: including clam, crab, oysters, shrimp, etc
Fish mix: cod, flounder, halibut, mackerel, tuna, etc.
Lemon
Soy beans
Tomatoes
Yellow Dye
Bananas
Potatoes
I'm also lactose intolerant.
My first reaction to this news: I can't eat pizza anymore! Followed by tomatoes, soy, and yellow dye are in everything! What am I going to eat? The doctor said, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but you're right blah blah went on about tacos. My last thought was who the hell is allergic to lemons? Thank god I'm not allergic to coffee.
Now I have basically narrowed it down to I can no longer eat processed foods. I have to put those two cooking schools to use and cook more often. I can eat meat, fruits (most of them at least), and vegetables. I will find other things in time that I can eat. For the next three months I have to keep a strict food journal about what all I eat and the digestive reactions I have from the foods to see if there is anything else that I can be allergic to that they can test by blood. If I seem grumpy it's probably because I'm hangry.
I have been having a lot of stomach issues for the past month. The last time this happened it turned out I was allergic to potatoes and bananas. Instead of doing an elimination and reintroduction diet which can take months to complete, I decided to undergo a day of torture and get allergy testing for 58 foods.
The process itself wasn't that bad. It was annoying. It was itchy, my back was burning, I couldn't scratch it. I had to take a few Benadryl after it was all complete. The results were devastating. I am allergic to the following foods:
Shellfish: including clam, crab, oysters, shrimp, etc
Fish mix: cod, flounder, halibut, mackerel, tuna, etc.
Lemon
Soy beans
Tomatoes
Yellow Dye
Bananas
Potatoes
I'm also lactose intolerant.
My first reaction to this news: I can't eat pizza anymore! Followed by tomatoes, soy, and yellow dye are in everything! What am I going to eat? The doctor said, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but you're right blah blah went on about tacos. My last thought was who the hell is allergic to lemons? Thank god I'm not allergic to coffee.
Now I have basically narrowed it down to I can no longer eat processed foods. I have to put those two cooking schools to use and cook more often. I can eat meat, fruits (most of them at least), and vegetables. I will find other things in time that I can eat. For the next three months I have to keep a strict food journal about what all I eat and the digestive reactions I have from the foods to see if there is anything else that I can be allergic to that they can test by blood. If I seem grumpy it's probably because I'm hangry.
Monday, September 26, 2016
5 am rise
9/26/2016
It has been a while since my last post and there are several things in my life that have changed and one of them being that my alarm clock now goes off at 5am on most mornings. Why would I do this to myself? Do you know how much one can get done before the rest of the world rises? It is a great feeling and I seem to feel more awake the rest of the day. The rest of the post will take you through my morning as I experience it.
5:00am first alarm goes off and I do hit snooze. I'm not that crazy yet. I can not just rise and shine.
5:09am I hit snooze again but am more awake and prepare mentally for the next alarm to sound.
5:18am The alarm goes off. I am prepared to open my eyes. I scroll through social media for the next few minutes and see nothing has really changed over night. I just really want to wake up to something shocking. So if anyone can post that news between 10pm and 5am that would be great.
5:25am another alarm sounds. This alarm is the hardest. I have to not only get myself out of bed, but I have to get my dog out of bed and get her outside. She is not a morning person. I put her outside, start the coffee pot, and make my oatmeal. I let the dog in, she goes back to bed while I eat my oatmeal and pour my coffee over 2 ice cubes so it is easy to drink and I don't burn all the taste buds off my tongue. While sipping on my coffee, I get dressed into my athletic, Speedo brand swimsuit and throw on shorts and a tank over it, then quickly chug the rest of my coffee so I can brush my teeth.
5:45am I grab my stuff and run out the door into darkness. I listen to the radio for the traffic to see which route I will be taking into the city. I decide the interstate will work, I will deal with the traffic.
6:10am Who else is there to talk to in the morning than people from the other side of the world? This is one of the only times I can talk to my Australian friend. We try to call each other once a week even if only ten minutes. I love this time.
6:40am I arrive at the gym. I call my mom real quick to tell her everything I need to tell her.
6:50am Finish getting ready for the pool in the locker room.
7:00am Enter the room with the indoor pool. I throw my hair up, put my earplugs in, and goggles on. Sit on the edge of the shallow end, with my toes dipped in. The enter all the way into the pool. It is cool. I warm up by swimming two laps free style slowly. I then stretch a bit. It is now time to hit the swimming hard. I take a sit of my Gatorade. I kick off the end and start my freestyle to one end and back. Then back stroke one end and back twice. Then breast stroke one end and back. Back stroke one end and back. Time for stretch break. I feel my shoulder muscles aching so much at this point. I know I do not have full range of motion in my strokes from previous should surgery. The next four laps will be working the legs only. I start my way down the pool kicking as hard and fast as I can without any use of my arms to propel my forward. I feel the burn in my legs. Time for some Gatorade and one for stretching break. I swim several more laps at a moderate pace without a notice of the outside world. Just focusing on my breathing, my muscles, and sore joints. Going back and forth and switching stokes at the end of each lap to eliminate some joint pain. I stop for a few seconds. Then take one slow freestyle lap to cool down my muscles.
7:40am I exit the pool and enter the hot-tub immediately. I stretch all my muscles once more in the heat before showering.
7:45 Shower and get ready for work.Then head over to work for a productive day.
I hope to eliminate that snooze or at least one of them. I hope to not only improve my swimming, by improving my speed, my endurance, and stoke, but to add on to it by adding another exercise element somewhere in there in the morning or maybe the afternoon. One step and lap at a time though.
It has been a while since my last post and there are several things in my life that have changed and one of them being that my alarm clock now goes off at 5am on most mornings. Why would I do this to myself? Do you know how much one can get done before the rest of the world rises? It is a great feeling and I seem to feel more awake the rest of the day. The rest of the post will take you through my morning as I experience it.
5:00am first alarm goes off and I do hit snooze. I'm not that crazy yet. I can not just rise and shine.
5:09am I hit snooze again but am more awake and prepare mentally for the next alarm to sound.
5:18am The alarm goes off. I am prepared to open my eyes. I scroll through social media for the next few minutes and see nothing has really changed over night. I just really want to wake up to something shocking. So if anyone can post that news between 10pm and 5am that would be great.
5:25am another alarm sounds. This alarm is the hardest. I have to not only get myself out of bed, but I have to get my dog out of bed and get her outside. She is not a morning person. I put her outside, start the coffee pot, and make my oatmeal. I let the dog in, she goes back to bed while I eat my oatmeal and pour my coffee over 2 ice cubes so it is easy to drink and I don't burn all the taste buds off my tongue. While sipping on my coffee, I get dressed into my athletic, Speedo brand swimsuit and throw on shorts and a tank over it, then quickly chug the rest of my coffee so I can brush my teeth.
5:45am I grab my stuff and run out the door into darkness. I listen to the radio for the traffic to see which route I will be taking into the city. I decide the interstate will work, I will deal with the traffic.
6:10am Who else is there to talk to in the morning than people from the other side of the world? This is one of the only times I can talk to my Australian friend. We try to call each other once a week even if only ten minutes. I love this time.
6:40am I arrive at the gym. I call my mom real quick to tell her everything I need to tell her.
6:50am Finish getting ready for the pool in the locker room.
7:00am Enter the room with the indoor pool. I throw my hair up, put my earplugs in, and goggles on. Sit on the edge of the shallow end, with my toes dipped in. The enter all the way into the pool. It is cool. I warm up by swimming two laps free style slowly. I then stretch a bit. It is now time to hit the swimming hard. I take a sit of my Gatorade. I kick off the end and start my freestyle to one end and back. Then back stroke one end and back twice. Then breast stroke one end and back. Back stroke one end and back. Time for stretch break. I feel my shoulder muscles aching so much at this point. I know I do not have full range of motion in my strokes from previous should surgery. The next four laps will be working the legs only. I start my way down the pool kicking as hard and fast as I can without any use of my arms to propel my forward. I feel the burn in my legs. Time for some Gatorade and one for stretching break. I swim several more laps at a moderate pace without a notice of the outside world. Just focusing on my breathing, my muscles, and sore joints. Going back and forth and switching stokes at the end of each lap to eliminate some joint pain. I stop for a few seconds. Then take one slow freestyle lap to cool down my muscles.
7:40am I exit the pool and enter the hot-tub immediately. I stretch all my muscles once more in the heat before showering.
7:45 Shower and get ready for work.Then head over to work for a productive day.
I hope to eliminate that snooze or at least one of them. I hope to not only improve my swimming, by improving my speed, my endurance, and stoke, but to add on to it by adding another exercise element somewhere in there in the morning or maybe the afternoon. One step and lap at a time though.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Spring Break 2016
3/14/2016
It's been awhile but here I am. Last week was Spring Break at the University I work at. I have Friday's off so I got an extended week. Someone said, "We are a culmination of our experiences, so go out and experience. Don't be stagnant and boring." I thought I would give a detailed break down of my Spring Break.
Friday 3/04: I stayed at my parents house that day. I woke up early and took Cooper to get groomed. He wasn't happy at all to be dropped off but was thrilled to be picked up. I also ventured around town by going to the bank, going to Walmart to buy everything I might need for my hiking first-aid kit (more to come on the hiking story), and Taco Bell. For dinner, we went to a local restaurant called Joe's. I ordered a pancake since I can't eat meat on Friday's during lent. It was horrible. You could taste that the cooked it on the same grill that they cooked their "fish special" on, without cleaning the grill first. I guess that is what I get for not ordering the fish.
Wednesday 3/09: Another day at the clinic. Our clinic has started a weight loss challenge. I submitted my weight and made a plan to lose some of it. We shall see how that goes. During the lunch hour, I go to the gym and walk on the tredmill at in incline for 30min, I run a few other errands. Back to the clinic in for a late night. Then I venture home, which take 2 hours due to pouring down rain and flooding.
Thursday 3/10: I wait for some shower glass installer to come and go twice to make measurements. I guess because they say, "measure twice cut once." Then I venture out into the pouring rain once again to go meet Olivia at Houston's restaurant. The chicken and Kale salad was delicious. To make things even more healthier, I went to Whole Foods with her next door. All health concerns went out the door when I saw the gelato and memories of Italy flooded my mind and I had to have some. I had to get somewhere quick because the sky opened up, and roads were closing by the hour due to flooding. Back to Brandon's house I go. I sadly had to miss the Gilmore Girls tournament due to weather conditions, but James and I will make our own, because I love that show.
Friday 3/11: It started out as another day watching the food network but then I went to several banks to do banking stuff, then I met my brother on his lunch break at Walgreens to give him gifts for Ellie. My baby girl who turned 4 that day. She got peanut butter (the only people food she can eat) and some treats. I then drive around town a bit to see some of the flooding of the Wolfe River and notice all the wild life displaced by the flooding, yet they are still having fun playing in the water. I go downtown with Brandon and we should have gone to the Grizzlies game that we had tickets too, but we stayed on Beale. We first visited Topper at Jerry Lee's then we went over to Dyer's, where I ate a deep friend PB&J (only in the south.) Then due to me drinking a lot of Miralax for the past two days, I HAD to go home then. If you don't know what I 'm talking about, then google Miralax.
Saturday 3/12: A day off from the clinic. I wake up and make Brandon breakfast in bed. Scrambled eggs with diced ham and toast. We then spend the whole day shopping for stuff for our hiking trip. We first go to Academy Sports. We buy some pads to sleep on and a few other small things to make life on the trail easier. Then we tried to go to target. We made it in the door and picked up a couple of items but it was too busy, so we left without our items. Next stop was Sports Authority which is going out of business. Brandon bought some clothes at a great price. Finally, we went to Bass Pro Shop. We both bought clothes and water reservoirs. We feel a lot better about having at least the essentials for our hiking needs. We then went to my brother's house and ate some BBQ and hung out with the birthday girl.
Sunday 3/13: We sprung forward and hour. Brandon and I went to eat at IHOP. I once again got a ham and cheese omelet. I then went to clean the warehouse. Back at his house, we tried some dehydrated meals we bought during out shopping adventures the day prior because it is better to know now, when you have more food options than when you are in the middle on nowhere and you don't have anything but that as an option to eat. I must say, what we tried wasn't that bad. We ordered more online along with some other things from REI.com (I think this is my new addiction.) We then watched The Walking Dead (good episode). Then we had tornado warnings and I thought, "oh no, we ate the emergency supply food for dinner before the emergency." There wasn't any tornadoes. Crisis adverted.
That was my Spring Break. The end.
It's been awhile but here I am. Last week was Spring Break at the University I work at. I have Friday's off so I got an extended week. Someone said, "We are a culmination of our experiences, so go out and experience. Don't be stagnant and boring." I thought I would give a detailed break down of my Spring Break.
Friday 3/04: I stayed at my parents house that day. I woke up early and took Cooper to get groomed. He wasn't happy at all to be dropped off but was thrilled to be picked up. I also ventured around town by going to the bank, going to Walmart to buy everything I might need for my hiking first-aid kit (more to come on the hiking story), and Taco Bell. For dinner, we went to a local restaurant called Joe's. I ordered a pancake since I can't eat meat on Friday's during lent. It was horrible. You could taste that the cooked it on the same grill that they cooked their "fish special" on, without cleaning the grill first. I guess that is what I get for not ordering the fish.
"Cooper all Groomed"
Saturday 3/05: I do have another job that wasn't quite on break yet. I went in to work a long day at the clinic. In the middle of sedations, I was plagued with a migraine. I took my migraine medicine as soon as possible along with some Tylenol, and it eventually went away. Thankfully, I had my medicine on me or I would have another week of headaches. We ate some good One and Only BBQ for lunch and our day didn't turn out to be as long as we thought it would be and we left at a decent hour. After work, my boyfriend and I watched the UFC fights and I called all of them correctly except the last one where I predicted McGregor to win.
Sunday 3/06: This is the day I should have gone to clean the warehouse, but I wasn't feeling it due to the migraine the day before. The medicine make me want to sleep due to a drop in blood pressure. So I stayed at my boyfriends house that day. He grilled out some steaks while I cooked some green beans and baked beans. Being a man, and not listening to my grilling advice, my streak didn't come out a perfect medium rare. (Future grilling tips: place steak on grill for 4min, then flip and cook for additional 3min. Do not keep flipping it every min.) We then watched The Walking Dead while eating a S'mores dip.
"S'mores Dip"
Monday 3/07: I stayed in bed most of this day watching the food network channel because why not? I then cleaned the warehouse and went home. The day was uneventful yet great, because we all need a boring day in our lives.
Tuesday 3/08: I wake up at 5:15 am, this is very early for me. I get dressed and drink some coffee so I can go to work with my dad. Today's "work load" required him to fly to Winterhaven, Florida for a meeting. I could have sat at home all day, but I figured why not sit on a private jet then in the sun for a few hours before we face days of rain? I had lunch with the pilots and ate a ham and cheese omelet.
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| "Sitting in the Sun" |
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| "Palm trees and the Jet" |
Thursday 3/10: I wait for some shower glass installer to come and go twice to make measurements. I guess because they say, "measure twice cut once." Then I venture out into the pouring rain once again to go meet Olivia at Houston's restaurant. The chicken and Kale salad was delicious. To make things even more healthier, I went to Whole Foods with her next door. All health concerns went out the door when I saw the gelato and memories of Italy flooded my mind and I had to have some. I had to get somewhere quick because the sky opened up, and roads were closing by the hour due to flooding. Back to Brandon's house I go. I sadly had to miss the Gilmore Girls tournament due to weather conditions, but James and I will make our own, because I love that show.
Friday 3/11: It started out as another day watching the food network but then I went to several banks to do banking stuff, then I met my brother on his lunch break at Walgreens to give him gifts for Ellie. My baby girl who turned 4 that day. She got peanut butter (the only people food she can eat) and some treats. I then drive around town a bit to see some of the flooding of the Wolfe River and notice all the wild life displaced by the flooding, yet they are still having fun playing in the water. I go downtown with Brandon and we should have gone to the Grizzlies game that we had tickets too, but we stayed on Beale. We first visited Topper at Jerry Lee's then we went over to Dyer's, where I ate a deep friend PB&J (only in the south.) Then due to me drinking a lot of Miralax for the past two days, I HAD to go home then. If you don't know what I 'm talking about, then google Miralax.
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| "Ellie as a Puppy" |
Saturday 3/12: A day off from the clinic. I wake up and make Brandon breakfast in bed. Scrambled eggs with diced ham and toast. We then spend the whole day shopping for stuff for our hiking trip. We first go to Academy Sports. We buy some pads to sleep on and a few other small things to make life on the trail easier. Then we tried to go to target. We made it in the door and picked up a couple of items but it was too busy, so we left without our items. Next stop was Sports Authority which is going out of business. Brandon bought some clothes at a great price. Finally, we went to Bass Pro Shop. We both bought clothes and water reservoirs. We feel a lot better about having at least the essentials for our hiking needs. We then went to my brother's house and ate some BBQ and hung out with the birthday girl.
Sunday 3/13: We sprung forward and hour. Brandon and I went to eat at IHOP. I once again got a ham and cheese omelet. I then went to clean the warehouse. Back at his house, we tried some dehydrated meals we bought during out shopping adventures the day prior because it is better to know now, when you have more food options than when you are in the middle on nowhere and you don't have anything but that as an option to eat. I must say, what we tried wasn't that bad. We ordered more online along with some other things from REI.com (I think this is my new addiction.) We then watched The Walking Dead (good episode). Then we had tornado warnings and I thought, "oh no, we ate the emergency supply food for dinner before the emergency." There wasn't any tornadoes. Crisis adverted.
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| "Dehydrated Food" |
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