Waging a war.......... on YOU

I've been really terrible at updating the blog lately.

I've been busy with work, school, wedding prep and projects.

We finally got the invitations done and mailed out.  It was the perfect excuse for me to buy a craft cutter and now I just need to find enough time to work on .svg files for paper crafting as well as creating jewelry designs and finishing out the semester :)

I've noticed that weight loss/health has taken sort of an angry path these days.  Everyone is intent on getting ripped, demolishing fat, getting their asses kicked, etc. I'm not sure why every woman thinks they need to get below 20% body fat and needs six pack abs. I really don't want to "kill it", whatever "it" may be. I'm sick of the screaming commercials for some new ass kicking workout.

Does it really have to be that way?

Don't get me wrong. I don't think there is anything wrong with being strong.  I don't think there's anything wrong with being muscular. I've worked plenty of jobs in my life that required me to be strong.  But really, do we need to look like body builders (I've always been rather grossed out by them personally).

Is this necessary? Or attractive?

I'm not sure what people are into killing, but if killing it equals the above, I'll let it live.

I have to say if I've learned anything in the last 3 years its to be gentle with myself.  I didn't get that principle in all the years I did yoga. I pushed myself to be the most flexible in a class. I pushed myself as hard as I could. Which is totally NOT what yoga is about. I pushed my body by working out 3 hours a day, 7 days a week.

My shoulder injury has taught me to be gentle with myself. I have learned my limits. I may not like my limits all of the time, but I accept them.

I don't need to destroy fat. I don't need to punish myself for my food choices by spending an extra hour at the gym if I eat something "bad". Hell, my entire diet is "bad" by the standards of most of the diet industry. I eat fat. Lots of fat.  I eat protein, a pretty good amount of protein. I eat veggies, probably more than I ever did as a vegetarian in my youth.

As much as it pained me, I threw out everything I thought I new about health and fitness and I've changed my life for the better. Without supplements. Without shakes. Without punishing my body. Without punishing my spirit.

Take a second to think about it before you wage another war with yourself.  Take a second to think about being gentle and kind to yourself.  It might make all the difference in your life and in the world. Our lives are full of enough crap - everyone's a warrior, everything needs to be destroyed, killed, ripped, etc.

Think about the impact those words have. Affect a positive change in your mind and you will see positive changes in your body.

It's a Miracle

I know I had been frustrated with the whole elimination diet thing.  I wanted to give up more than a few times.

Well, I just have to say I'm glad I didn't.

I made it through today without sneezing more than a couple of times.  I made it through today only blowing my nose once or twice (not including my netti pot time, as my nasal passages feel so dry now that they are not running like a faucet).

In fact, after I started thinking about it, I've made it through the last few days without sneezing or a runny/stuffy nose.  After the effects of the miso soup faded (which took about 3 days), I've been pretty allergy symptom free for an entire weekend.

I know that sounds like a weird thing to be excited about, but considering the last 10 years of my life have been filled with nasal misery (at times going through 2-3 boxes of tissues a week and sneezing so uncontrollably that I would have to pull my car off the road), 3 days of minimal sneezing (maybe 3-5 times in a day) and a scant handful of nose blows (maybe 2-3) is a miracle.

I am going to wait a couple of weeks to see how long this lasts (or if it was just a fluke) before I attempt to start adding foods back into my diet.  There are somethings I find I don't really miss as much as I thought I would (nightshades) and others I can't wait to add back (eggs and nuts).

It will be a SLOW process trying to add things back in.  I plan to try a food and wait 72 hours to evaluate how I feel.  If all seems to be good, I will try that food item in small quantities for a week to see if that changes any sort of reaction.  If no reaction is present, I will wait an additional week to add the next food.

Let's use an egg as our example.

I try a single yolk (the least allergenic part of the egg) on 2/25.  I will observe how my body reacts until 2/27.  If all seems good, I will then eat a yolk a day until 3/6.  If that seems to be working for me, I will wait until 3/13 to add a new food while continuing to keep to 1 yolk a day.

It really seems like more work than I really want to do, but I have to say that not sneezing and not having a constantly runny/stuffy nose feels AWESOME!

I still have the feeling of some sinus pressure though and I would love to have my sinuses adjusted sometime in the near future.  I've taken some time away from the adjustment process to know if my diet is really helping my allergies or if the adjustments were a part of  the reduction as well.

You don't soy

I think I may have pinpointed one of my allergens tonight.  I went to dinner tonight and tried a bowl of Miso Soup.

By the time the meal was over my nose was running, my sinuses swelling and I had started sneezing.

The only other thing I had was a sashimi plate and if I'm allergic to raw fish, I'm screwed.

At first I thought it was the obnoxious VS fragrance of a patron at the table next to us.  Earlier in the day, the drunk girls on the train started spraying that garbage and the nose running and sneezing started but went away within an hour of getting away from the stink.

It's been more than 5 hours now and my symptoms have NOT gone away at all.  My poor nose is raw from tissues (and yes, mom, I have the ones with "potion").

I had to take a box of tissues upstairs with me when I was working on my homework.  I haven't had to take a box of tissues up to the common area since prior to the start of my AIP diet.  For me, more than a month of not having to have tissues available in every room of the house (or in my car, in my purse, in my messenger bag, etc.) is a miracle.

With the obvious triggers, like that VS garbage (how does anyone think that stuff smells good and why do people feel it necessary to carry fragrances and reapply throughout the day?  If you shower on a regular basis, you should be good to go.), I have found that smelling something else can ease the reaction.  So far the "other smell" that is working for me is peppermint essential oil.  It seems to "reset" my sense of smell so I can no longer smell/taste the offending odor, but it doesn't linger and cause me to smell peppermint for a period afterward.

The peppermint oil does NOT alleviate the symptoms I am currently experiencing.  I am miserable.  I sound like crap. I feel like crap.  My nose is running so badly that it's actually dripping.  The right side of my sinuses are totally swollen (I can still move some air through the left side of my nose).

The good thing is though, I can live without soy.  That is one of the many things that I have eliminated that I can care less about consuming again.  It DOES eliminate any number of "convenience foods" that I may have consumed before because almost anything that has an ingredient list has soy or some soy derivative in it.  But, if that's the case, so be it.  I've grown accustomed to making almost all of my own meals.  It's not that hard to do (although if you ask the people in my CA Art in Cultural Context Class, people have no choice but to eat convenience foods because, like, cooking is haaaaaaaaaaaaard.)

What I can't wait to reintroduce are nuts and eggs.  I tried an egg yolk a couple of days ago (apparently the whites have proteins that can be more allergenic than the yolk as a defense mechanism).  My sinuses felt slightly swollen, but I can't tell if that was coincidence or a reaction to the egg.  After my sinuses calm back down from this incident, I will try another yolk to see what happens.

This whole process has been annoying and time consuming but not needing to carry tissues with me everywhere I go or having intense sneezing fits has been pretty awesome.  I can say I still feel as though NST adjustments may help with any alignment issues of my sinus cavities but until I get the food sorted out, I'm not going to get my sinuses adjusted.

Armpits aren't supposed to feel that much pain!

I've been looking for a massage therapist that does orthopedic massage for over a year now.

Getting a regular "relaxation" massage only exacerbates my shoulder issues.  I've had a Massage Envy membership for a while now and once the therapist I had been seeing in Folsom was unable to keep working, I hadn't used many of my prepaid massages.  In fact, I gifted most of them over the holidays and had planned to cancel.

I had called the Massage Envy near my place (at the Metreon) several times asking if they had anyone who did Orthopedic massage and was told no every time.

Well, Massage Envy didn't process my cancellation and charged me for another prepaid in December.  I really didn't want to get a massage that was going to increase my pain.  I scheduled a facial instead.  While I was waiting I took a look at their therapist bios.  Wouldn't you know, they had TWO therapists that do orthopedic massage.

I booked an appointment with Kim for the next evening when I saw that!   I figured I would give her a shot and cancel the next day if she didn't work out.

A thing to know about orthopedic massage: it is NOT pleasant. It is not a relaxing massage that relieves stress.  It is painful. VERY painful.

Kim poked and prodded and pushed and pulled.  In fact, most of my one hour session was spent on my left shoulder's inflamed connective tissues and scar tissue.  But I didn't mind.  I knew I was there for specific body work and Kim seemed very knowledgeable. It hurt like hell though.  After 13 years of physical therapy, surgery and discomfort, I knew it would be.  If you've never had anyone "poke" you in the armpit, the armpit is capable of feeling intense pain.  I don't recommend testing it out though.

She had a few recommendations for me diet-wise (most of which I have already adopted, she was impressed with my natural health knowledge).  One of which was to make a super strong ginger tea using about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches of fresh ginger and 6 cups of water.  Let it boil to reduce it to about 2 cups of "tea" and drink that throughout the day.  I'm going to give that one a shot since I'm not taking any supplements during this phase of AIP, including turmeric.

I know that the amount of inflammation in my shoulder is less than usual, but I had hoped that AIP would possibly eliminate it.  On the plus side of AIP, I think my nasal allergy symptoms are improving.  They are not gone yet, but they are improving.  I was able to have a massage laying face down and not sneeze or have my nose run.  I was even able to mostly breathe through my nose during the entire session (the right side of my nose still gets "stuffed up" when I lay down. It is really bothersome, but it seems to drain faster when I change positions than it used to).

I did find a resource that would have helped immensely when I started on my AIP journey almost 3 weeks ago.  Paleo Plan is a fantastic website that helps make the paleo lifestyle easier and more convenient.  I've gone there for recipes and info over the last year.  What I didn't realize was how comprehensive their 21 Day Paleo Cleanse eBook was.  I purchased the Toadally Primal Wellness Bundle and the 21 Day Paleo Cleanse was included.  

I highly recommend checking it out.  The $25 price is a drop in the bucket when it comes to the ease with which you will be able to make the transition.  It has 3 weeks of menus, shopping lists and even tells you what days you need to do prep work for another meal.

Even if you don't think you have allergy or autoimmune issues, give it a shot.  I have to say I'm down 8 pounds since the 6th of January and almost down to my goal weight.

Weekend Cheat

I've made it through about 2 weeks of the AIP diet.  I've had a couple of set backs, but I won't let those deter me.

I made it through 12 days without any cheats.  Until I went shopping for my wedding dress.  I went back home to look for a dress with my mom (and found the perfect one at the first store!).  After looking for my dress, my mom and I were starving.  Old Town Grill was the first option (they used to have Emu burgers, which were awesome!), but I was feeling a bit burned out on bunless burgers.

I love sushi a lot, so my mom and I went to Amerikan Ichi.  I was going to go for sashimi to stick to the plan, but I couldn't really pass up all you can eat sushi!  Oh sweet saba! So I ate rice.  Quite a bit of rice.  It was super delicious.  I stuck to only nigiri, not that that makes a huge difference when I'm not supposed to be eating rice.

I was pretty phlegmy the next morning and sneezing more than I have in the last 2 weeks.  I was also achy, but I think that was more due to my spill down the stairs the day before. I was super sore.

We drove to the coast on Sunday to remember my brother.  I made a tasty breakfast of kale and GF sausage before we hit the road.  I stuck to it and had a couple of sausages as a snack, but was still starving.  We stopped in the tiny town of Bodega, where they have crab mac n' cheese.  Justin tried it (and it smelled delicious!).  There weren't a lot of options and I was hungrier than a small piece of smoked salmon would have taken care of.  The store had an amazing number of gluten free items (so surprising), even their chowders were gluten free.  They had several options.  I would have loved to have had a traditional chowder, but sort of figured that dairy and nightshades would have been worse than just the nightshades in the manhattan style.  It was super tasty!

But I've been sort of congested and runny nosed for the last 2 days.

I'm not giving up yet, though.  Several of the real food bloggers out there claim to have reversed food allergies by following an elimination diet.  Hoping it can happen!

On the up side of this diet, I'm down 8 pounds in 2 weeks.  I'm down 24 pounds since moving last August.  Even though I was making tasty treats throughout the fall, the weight was staying off.  I'm not having any treats at the moment though and my starch consumption is way down (no potatoes, which means no fries!).  I do walk more, so I think I'll bust out my pedometer and track it.  I know one or two days a week, I walk to the train and then walk from the train to work (about 2 miles).

Weight loss wasn't really the goal of doing AIP, but I'm almost down to my goal weight.

AIP - Intro/Day 3

Okay, so I found a blog I can't get enough of: The Paleo Mom.  I know I'm not a mom.  I'm not even entirely paleo most of the time.  But if you really want to get down the the how and why of paleo or AIP paleo, this is a good place to go.

I had been toying with the idea of the GAPs diet for a really long time, but couldn't commit.  I hadn't heard of  AIP (auto immune paleo protocol) until a couple of weeks ago.  I don't know why, but the idea of an elimination paleo diet seemed so much easier for me to commit to than GAPS.  I some how stumbled upon an auto immune paleo group on facebook, introducing me to the concept of AIP.

AIP eliminates the following from your diet:
Eggs
Nuts
Seeds
Nightshades
Alcohol
NSAIDS

These are in addition to the already eliminated gluten, grains and dairy.

So what's left you ask?  Good quality meat, fish, veggies, and healthy fats.  Oh and plenty of fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kombucha. Some of my normal seasonings are out (no peppers!) but I've made due so far.  (granted I'm only on day 3)

So to see if this actually works, none of the above for at least 30 days.  I'm also NOT taking my turmeric supplement to see if there is any improvement in the inflammation of my joints if I make additional dietary changes.  Also, no Nasal Specific Technique treatments.  No matter how terrible my sinuses feel during this time.  I need to see if changing my diet really helps.  My nasal allergies are the real reason behind this experiment.

I have to say after three days, my sense of smell seems more acute.  Not sure if the two are connected, but holy crap it seems like every smell is amplified.  I'm not exactly sure when children needed to start reeking of cheap perfume, but they do these days.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Ask anyone who has had a cubicle, desk, office etc., near me in the last 10 years.  Ask my poor Justin.  My nasal allergies aren't just miserable for me, they are miserable for everyone around me.

Oh, I'm also starting a separate blog to share my art and other fun stuff, including 3D printing!!!!!!!

Eat FAT?

I wanted to write about a realization I had the other day that was pretty awesome.

I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember.  I've tried every diet on the planet (low fat, low calorie, vegetarian, high fiber, Weight Watchers, etc).  I spent most of my life being stressed out about what I ate, when I ate it, if I was working out enough, counting this and counting that.  Let's just say that wasn't the most wonderful way to live.  Freaking out about food and whether or not I was spending enough time at the gym is surprisingly stressful.

I've made a lot of changes to my diet in the last couple of years and I realized the other day that I am not constantly thinking about food or beating myself up about not going to the gym or working out any more.

I went on my first diet when I was 11 years old.  I remember eating nothing more than lettuce and yogurt for months on end.  I also started exercising obsessively around then as well (at least 2 hours a day).  I lost a bunch of weight, but ended up getting seriously sick with pneumonia and gaining it all back.

When I was 16, I lost about 40 pounds, but was spending 2 or more hours a day exercising and became a vegetarian around that time.  I never felt awesome, but I thought I looked great.

I became a firefighter when I was 18, which only fueled my gym addiction.  In addition to the grueling work of fighting fires, I was working out at least 2 hours a day during season and spending 3 or more hours a day at the gym during off season.  I was also eating the brilliant diet of Diet Pepsi and some sort of carb-y goodness (a sugar cookie or bagel) and drinking copious amounts of coffee to kill my appetite.

I was thin, but didn't seem to be very toned.

The years progressed and my diet changed (I brought back limited amounts of animal protein to my diet but was still strictly eating low fat and high fiber/grains), but my body never really changed.  Even at my thinnest, I still looked soft.  I made an attempt at a low carb diet once under the advice of a personal trainer.  I have to say about 6 hours into it, I wanted to kill someone for a muffin.  I stuck with it for a few months (but it was still low fat) and was able to get pretty toned even on only an hour a day at the gym.

About a year after that, I got into a car accident that curbed my gym habit hard!  After finally getting things back in order from that, I started to have debilitating pain that prevented me even at times from walking.  Needless to say, I started gaining weight (even while on Weight Watchers during this time) and I swear doing Weight Watchers made me feel even more hungry!  All I could do was think about food.  Plan out my meals. Allocate my points. Calculate how much of ANY activity I could do to earn more points.... It was terrible!

In 2010, I stumbled upon

ant it changed my relationship with food forever.  I had been reading about coconut oil and all the wonderful things it can do for you, including boost your metabolism.  I have to say that changing to a high fat, moderate protein and lower carb diet was quite a transition for me.  The idea of actively seeking out fat and ADDING it to my diet had me nervous.  I was worried I was going to blow up even more than I already had.

I bought my first jar of coconut oil and forced myself to start eating it (even though it went against everything I thought was the right way to eat).  Well, it's been 2 years and I haven't gained any weight from adding fat and in fact, my weight is down.  It's not a rapid weight loss miracle, but slowly and steadily, I was keeping weight off, not losing and gaining repeatedly.

I've got more to share about this subject, but I had a moment of extreme gratitude when I realized that I haven't told myself "you better go hit the treadmill" or "you need to exercise for x amount of time" to make up for some item that I have just consumed.  In fact, it was awesome to realize that I allow myself to have dessert now without worrying about how much weight I'm going to gain.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I tried to mentally calculate the calories or fat grams I'm eating.  I'm looking and feeling better than I have in a LONG time. And I think for the first time ever, I can really say I'm comfortable being me.

Adventures in Allergy Treatments - Day 12

NASAL ALLERGIES

Okay, today has been the worst day since before I started the treatments.  I have been sneezing on and off and had to blow my nose quite a few times today.  I am not alternating between running like a faucet and being so congested I can't breathe though.  Also, no sinus pressure and no sinus pain even though I've been sneezing and my nose has been running.

I have another treatment scheduled for Monday, so hopefully I get back on track. I still maintain that even with the sneezing and nose running today, my symptoms are entirely better than they were. I swore I was allergic to myself because it didn't matter where I was or what I was doing, I had extreme allergy symptoms. I thought when I went to North Carolina last year, that I would get away from whatever I was allergic to.  Not so much, which lead me to think I was allergic to my self.

GLUTEN SENSITIVITY

As far as the whole bee thing goes, I think part of the issue with my arm is hypersensitivity to inflammation.  After getting stung by that darn bee yesterday, my entire arm hurts and I've had some of the burning and tingling in my pinky and up the back side of my arm to my scapula.

While I've been tested for Celiac before and the test was negative, it seems as though I have a sensitivity issue more than an actual allergy.  I have had joint pain as long as I could remember, been lethargic, always cold and had some intense digestive issues over the years.

The pain in my left arm had been so intense that I could not use my arm.  Multiple specialists couldn't figure out anything that could have been wrong, and I had tried so many homeopathic remedies it was ridiculous.  I had even tried cobra venom. COBRA VENOM!!!!!!!!

After being told "just don't use it" about by arm (not that easy when you are a lefty, but I did it. I managed 3 semesters of art school teaching myself to be right handed), I didn't really know what else to try and had resigned myself to becoming a righty and learning to do everything over again.  Until a friend told me how awesome she felt after going gluten free.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.  I don't think there is really any one "right" way to live, you have to listen to your body to find the right balance for you.  I had maintained a low fat, high fiber diet for most of my life.  I added fat back into my diet in September 2010 after reading "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. Just that addition made a world of difference in how I felt.  But I was still eating a lot of grain based foods (though I was at least eating my grains properly soaked/sprouted/fermented).

In January 2012, I made the leap to gluten free.  For a bread addict like myself, it was not super easy, but it was easier this time around than the time I had a trainer put me on a low carb diet (I thought I was going to kill someone for a muffin) because I was also eating low fat as well as low carb.

I can say that after 6 months of gluten free, I have become really good at listening to my body.  I usually tell within 3 hours if something has gluten in it or has been cross contaminated.  I also kept a pretty boring diet for the first few months so I was really able to pinpoint any issues.  For the most part, I'm eating a modified paleo diet (I like my raw dairy) because there aren't a ton of really good gluten free alternatives to bread and baked goods.

Again, I don't think there is any one right way to live, but if what you are doing obviously isn't working (you shouldn't feel like crap all the time - that is NOT normal), it may benefit you to try an alternative to what you are doing.