Still at it

Okay, I'm still at the no dairy thing.  I'm adjusting to it.  I don't have raging cravings for cheese like I thought I would, though there have been a few days that I REALLY wanted a gluten free pizza, but take the cheese away and it's just not worth it.

It has been 23 days since my last sinus adjustment, which was seemingly easier than ever before (I had been dairy free for about 3 weeks prior to that adjustment).  I don't think I'll be able to make it up for another adjustment for at least 2 more weeks though (going to Gunny's 90th (yes, I typed 90th) birthday party.

I hadn't really been using my netti pot with much regularity since I started getting my sinus adjustments (for the sake of science) just to make sure that the effects I was feeling were truly related to the adjustment.  I've used it here and there in the last 6 months (typically after working on a particularly dusty project) and noticed that the drainage was still slow even when I wasn't cruddy.

Well, I accidentally killed my Kombucha Mother (it caught the mold - first time ever in almost 10 years of brewing) so I was without my Kombucha for more than a week and caught whatever nastiness is going around the elementary schools right now.  I've been sickly for a little over a week (super congested, headache, cough, etc), which blew the plans for Thanksgiving crabbing.

Due to the amount of crud building up in my face, I decided to bust out the old netti pot.  Prior to sinus adjustments and dietary changes, it could take 10 minutes just to get the water moving through my sinuses (I know, it's gross) and even then, it was barely a trickle.  And no, that was NOT when I had a cold.  That was just daily, run of the mill netti usage.  Even after I started adjustments, it was still a bit slow going, like everything was swollen.

I have to tell you, even with all the crud built up, the water is flowing freely.  It's moving the crud quickly and easily, which has never been the case before.

As much as I had to admit it, I think my nasal swelling was largely related to dairy.  I still have a bit more "science" to do though.  Raw dairy has different effects on people than pasteurized, homogenized dairy from what I have read.  My next step will be to test to see if there is a difference between the two that I notice.

No! Not the cheese!

I know it's been a LONG while since I've updated the blog...

In the 2 months since I last posted, I moved, started a new job and started attending school full time.

Well, considering I've moved to an area with entirely different allergens than I had been living in (plus some nice sea air as well) I'd like to be able to say my allergies are better times 1,000.  I can't.  At all.

I already suspected my allergies were not entirely environmental (still can't deal with fragrances) after a trip to North Carolina in 2011 and I've been back and forth between the Sierra Foothills and the Bay Area for about 5 years all with similar allergy symptoms.

I had gone about a month here in the Bay without getting my sinuses adjusted (can't really find a chiro here that 1. does the adjustment and 2. would be willing to work with my latex allergy) and I was MISERABLE (I'm pretty sure poor Justin was just as miserable if not more so considering I was waking up through the night sneezing and blowing my nose).

I've started making the trip back home every other week or so to go to Gold Country Chiropractic for sinus adjustments and while it's sort of a hassle with school and all (I've not taken a full time class load in forever and AAU's full time class load is intense) it is totally worth it.  But even with the sinus adjustments, I still am having allergy issues.

Then I got the brilliant idea to do the GAPS diet.  The GAPS diet is a super restrictive elimination diet that people usually use to heal the gut, but there are a lot of resources out there for it, so it seemed like a logical starting point for my elimination diet.

Well, I got lazy.  And overwhelmed.  I share a kitchen with 4 other people, so the amount of prep that would make this diet easiest wasn't really going to happen without a lot of freezer space and fridge space.  And the food seemed pretty boring (I really like food, especially good food).

I decided "hey, maybe it would be easier to just eliminate one type of food" instead of eliminating everything except boiled meats, bone broth and winter veggies (also boiled).

I decided upon dairy as my first food group to eliminate.

That doesn't sound like much until you realize how much I love cheese.  Especially since giving up gluten.  Cheese has always been a go to snack for me.  I'll grab a couple of slices of cheese, a handful of nuts and an apple and I'm good to go.  The fruit and cheese plate at Starbucks is my go to snack when I am out and about because the crackers are packaged separately and aren't touching the other foods.  There is nothing more wonderful than a delicious cup of Gold Coast Coffee Company coffee with heavy cream.  I will eat whipped cream by itself.  You get the picture, I LOVE dairy.

I'd gone about 2 weeks of no dairy (no yogurt, no cheese, no cream) and Justin and I went to dinner the other night at Triptych, where they have one of the few gluten free deserts I would call DELICIOUS (White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake).  So I ordered it without even thinking about the dairy.  While it was super tasty and I savored every bite of it, I was a little apprehensive about what the next morning would be like.

Well, it sucked.  A lot.  I woke up sneezing, nose running and so congested I was back to mouth breathing.  I wanted to cry.  The only thing I had done differently was that damn piece of cheesecake.

It got me thinking though, is it all dairy?  Is it just pasteurized dairy?  Perhaps I can handle raw dairy?  Fingers currently crossed that it's just pasteurized dairy.