So I kept doing this diet, past the 4 week mark because I felt really good and I was too lazy to figure out what order to ‘challenge’ foods back into my diet. Anyway, I tried out TOMATOES on thanksgiving, because our friend brought some from their garden and they looked really good. No major side effects, but I did have that pre-canker sore feeling all over the inside of my mouth for about 12 hours afterwards. So, next I was thinking of trying out WHEAT.
Last night we tried to go to a Greek restaurant but it was closed. We ended up at a soulfood place across the street. I thought I was ordering all ‘legal’ things – yam fries and different spreads such as chickpea and another one was catfish spread. I knew there would be WHEAT crackers, and thought it was a good chance to challenge them (I couldn’t eat anything else on the menu and I was really hungry). When our food came, I realized I was going to be challenging a lot more than just wheat.
The yam fries had SUGAR on them! Tasty, but they’re on the hit list! The spreads were white (a.k.a. containing DAIRY products). I tried to focus on just the chickpea one, but I wasn’t even sure what was in there, besides chickpeas. Once I started, I just kept going. I ate all of the spreads, sampled all of the WHEAT crackers and ate many of the salty-sweet fries. Over all a pretty tasty meal (the company was better than the food).
Until…….an hour later. My stomach was churning so badly that I took two Peptos (the chewable sugar free ones we accidently bought once and never got around to returning – yuk!). It helped for awhile and I went to sleep, but was unpleasently awoken at 1:00 a.m. with hot flashes and a belly like I think I’d feel on a fishing boat in Puget Sound. I’d taken the last of the two Peptos before bed, so I tried water. Nothing worked. I just laid in bed feeling miserable until about 2:30 when I drifted off to sleep only to awake every hour or so until it was time to get up anyway.
Today all day and tonight, even now over 24 hours after the meal, my stomach is still angry with me. We got more (regular) Pepto and I’m drinking peppermint tea. That’s what I get for my food binge…..all those eliminated foods will stay eliminated, for now.
Lately I have been reading this Field Guide to Produce in my spare time. I am on this elimination diet based on my natropath doctor’s recommendation. After getting tested for food allergies by an energy measuring device (it was a little like I imagine a lie detector test would be), I have eliminated 23 items from my diet. Some are not foods I would normally eat, such as kelp and aspartame but then there are what I refer to as “the big 4.” Lactose, Corn, Wheat and Sugar. (Yes, I meant to capitalize them, these are the mainstay of my past nutritional habits! They are important.) So what to do with this new information…..? Experiment!
I’ve been finding that even though I am extremely filled as far as time goes: teaching, parenting, being a wife, time for me, church stuff, living in community…..I still enjoy making time to cook healthy foods that taste good. With that in mind, I decided to do this elimnation diet as a sort of personal experiment. I use the Field Guide to help me with my farmer’s market shopping and then when I get home with how to best prepare it. My favorite part of the book is the section for each produce where it lists flavor affinities, it helps me get my brain and juices flowing!
Overall, I feel an unexpected AWESOME! Really, I have more energy and am in an all around better mood. The other night I came home from school and Jared asked how I was feeling. My response? Like the Bionic Woman!
Today is day 20 of the diet and so far I have made it through Halloween without a single piece of candy. Tomorrow is my birthday, I’ll let you know if I make it without a cake for probably the first (and last) time ever!
These two pictures are some of our autumn bounty just from today! Last spring, Jared planted heirloom carrots, and 4 1/2 months later, we got these beauts! They are tasty too! On the way home from the aquarium today, JJ and I picked up leaves, and then grabbed these carrots out of the ground from our backyard community garden. I like the red ones best, but the yellow one in the middle is fun too because it looks like two carrots got together for a little party!
JJ’s cross-eyed view is a close up of a chestnut. Big trees grow throughout Capitol Hill, and we picked up all of these, via flashlight, at Miller Park tonight. JJ had his plastic pumpkin bucket and we scoured the joint. It was really dark and difficult to see, so when our lights hit something shiny, we cheered and stuck it in the pumpkin head. Unfortunately, the flavor of our chestnuts was not stellar…..but they did smell good as they were roasting (as the Christmas song implies), and a bowl of them on our dining room table makes our home feel festive.
Next year, I vote “yay” for heirloom carrots in our garden and “nay” for locally foraged chestnuts.
My first mentor teacher surprised me one day after school by informing me that she was leaving immediately to get her nails done. Susette is a wise, midwestern, salt-of-the-earth kind of woman. Not someone whom I’d peg as vain. I was the peon, a student teacher, so I simply smiled and said, “Have fun,” acting as though I were used to people I knew getting their nails done (I wasn’t). Susette’s nails weren’t even long. Isn’t that why people got their nails done, to have them lengthy and flashy? Hers were neither, she would’ve taken out a 5 year old otherwise! It wasn’t until Thanksgiving that I felt close enough to ask Susette about her nail fetish. She simply laughed and replied, “Ha! Several years ago, another teacher and I treated ourselves to manicures every other week. It was a way that forced us to leave once in awhile right after school, and that allowed us pampering after taking care of others day after day.”
I was a student teacher and didn’t have extra income, but later that year, I DID begin to treat myself to the same; a monthly manicure, with “tips”-but not long ones. I enjoyed the idea for awhile, but then it became cumbersome and tedious, plus it kind of hurt! I had all of my tips removed and allowed my real nails to grow back in and have had them short ever since.
A couple years later, however, I learned about pedicures. Now, that’s my teacher indulgence. The foot and leg massage is my favorite part, but I enjoy the heck out of those little tiny designs they paint on too.
I never knew salons and schools went hand in hand, but believe me, I’m a better teacher when my toes are singing a pretty tune!
Here it is, I am now officially entering the 21st century world of blogging! I plan to keep you updated tidbit by tidbit on the fascinating (ha ha!) life of this 30-year old. Today, I am merely doing tedious paperwork for my National Board Certification for Teachers (something I am certain you will hear more about). www.nbpts.org I am finding that it is difficult to verify my work experience, given I taught in a different school every single year since I graduated! It will be a gift to teach in the same classroom with my same (fabulous) co-teacher at TOPS. www.topsk8.org/classes/grade1 More news to come…… …out!
