More Tweaking...

I've lost a few pounds since my last post in January. Not much, around 5, but it's stabilized. Which is good, because I haven't gained any more, but bad, because I haven't lost any more. Some very stressful personal situations have come up in the last 6 months that I know aren't helping! They have caused me to lose sleep, which makes my body less able to function, which causes more stress, which causes me to lose more sleep... It's a vicious cycle...

I had a major gallbladder attack in March, the first in a long time. I was vomiting bile and ended up in the ER. I had a smaller one this week, but I think I know what triggered it (food intolerances + a 1-day exposure to a large amount of environmental allergens).

I also found out that I have arthritis in my lower back. I've known since '09 that I've had it in my left ankle, but it rarely bothers me (that's the one I have a rod and 8 pins in). I suspect I also have it in my left wrist (which I sprained badly twice in high school and get tendonitis in).

My inflammation levels are climbing :( I'm off work for the summer so I'm looking into making a few more dietary changes.

In researching eating plans to lower inflammation, the one thing that kept coming up was the Mediterranean diet. I knew a bit about it but not much. So I spent some time looking up the specifics - what is and isn't allowed, pros and cons, rate of long-term success, how to adapt it to lower carb, etc.

Here's what I like about it:
Emphasis on whole foods
Easily modified/customized
Not very restrictive
Relatively easy to stick with long-term
Dairy isn't the devil ;)
Nothing to count
Not very different from what I'm doing now (so only minor tweaking vs major changes)

The things I don't like about it are the same as any other healthy way of eating:
More planning
More meal prep
More cooking

Any plan I do has to be flexible. I'm already limited by the foods I react to, and at least 4 times a month I'm on the road for 6+ hours at a time. I have to eat on the road those days, and between the amount of money I have to spend on those meals, what I react to, and what's available on the route, I have very few options, none of which really fit in any healthy eating plan. But if I can do well the rest of the week, that one meal off-plan shouldn't be a big deal. And I have to allow for celebration days, like my birthday and anniversary, along with occasional meals out with family and friends.

Which leads me to another thing I like about the Mediterranean plan... The emphasis on the social aspects of eating. You don't see "cheats" mentioned. The native Mediterranean culture sees "cheats" as an occasional treat to enjoy with friends and family, in moderation. No guilt, no shame.

So here goes...

(and if you're reading this, drop me a comment so I know I'm not just talking to myself ;) )

Tweaking

I've gained more weight :(

I'm trying to tweak things a bit with my eating. I considered some other options, but I think this is what I'll go with. I briefly thought about trying to go full keto, but it's just not realistic for me at this point, and on days when I don't get enough carbs, my blood sugar drops and I get lightheaded etc. So I'm trying to find that sweet spot.

1. Lowering my carbs at work (lunch/snacks) by 10-15g
2. Increasing fats more at lunch and the rest of the day

I'd like to do 1-2 higher carb (under 100g) days a week also. When I have the boys for the weekend, staying at my weekday carb level isn't realistic. Especially when at least once a month, they want a pasta meal! So my goal is to "allow" myself to eat a bit more carbs when they're with me, but still keep it around 100. I don't want to spend the limited time I have with them stressing about food, but I also don't want to blow off eating how I feel best. Under 150g is considered low carb from what I've read, so I am still under that.

I've been under a lot of stress and haven't been sleeping enough, and I know that doesn't help! Along with eating more carbs over the holidays.

One positive thing... I'm smaller at this weight than I was last time I was here (9 years ago). I think it's partially from eliminating gluten, partially that I have more muscle tone. But I'm not close to a healthy weight. I carry it fairly well (I don't look like I weigh 175 lbs at 5'2"), but most of the gain has been in my stomach, which is definitely not healthy!

On another note... My Achilles still hasn't healed completely :( And it's been joined by tennis elbow (where did that come from???).

So that's my update...

Carbs

The school year started a couple of weeks ago so I've been back at work. I'm still playing around with amount and timing of carbs.

Drinking a protein shake for breakfast is working really well! I don't get hungry before lunch, even with having cafeteria duty right before my lunchtime. When I did duty two years ago, I was having to eat a snack beforehand.

For lunch, I've been eating about 20g of carbs + protein + fats. When I get home (3:45-4), sometimes I eat a snack, but not always. It's usually a small carb snack as up to this point, I've averaged about 35-40g (net) for the day.

Yesterday I brought Greek yogurt for lunch, and ate a carb snack (15 g) during my afternoon break. My body didn't do as well. I ate the snack because I could feel my blood sugar was a bit low. I don't think it ever really balanced though. I was very sluggish the rest of the day. I ended up drinking a little coffee for an energy boost to get some stuff done that needed to be taken care of, but once it wore off, I went back to having no energy.  I was also a bit emotional last night. I know there are other reasons, but I wonder how much what I had eaten was a factor.

Today I am a bit achy too. It could be because I'm taking less antihistamine, but I suspect it's from yesterday.

I'm going to start paying more attention to when I eat carbs, what I eat with them, etc, and see if I notice any patterns.

Sick

It's been a month and a half since my accidental gluten ingestion. I am *finally* feeling like it's (mostly) cleared my body. The number on the scale has just dropped a few pounds this week, after gaining 5+ with the reaction.

Last week I was sick with a bad cold. I still haven't fully recovered. I know gluten messes with my immune system. I think that's part of the reason I was so sick. I took Quercetin and vitamin C a few times a day. It helped!

One weird thing when I was sick... I ran a fever Tuesday night. Not high, around 100. Wednesday morning, my temp was only 95.9 :o It went up to 98.x later in the day, and has seemed fairly normal since.

Rice

NOTE: All g are net carbs

I usually eat a bit of carbs at lunch, unless I know I'm going to have carbs at supper. Balance!

Yesterday I had a shake before I went to work for a half day (around 12 g). Since I wasn't planning on eating a carby supper, for lunch I ate grits with cheese (22 g). The only other carbs I had were 1 tsp demerara in my coffee (4 g) and 1 square of Ghirardelli Twilight Delight (4 g).

Last night I ended up eating my favorite frozen dinner for supper (http://www.shopwell.com/full-circle-butter-chicken/poultry/p/3680036784). It is fairly healthy, with real ingredients. I add more chicken and a bit more cream. But... 42 g.

At 84, my total carb count for the day wasn't bad. Higher than usual, but not terrible by any means!

Before I ate last night, the swelling in my hands and feet had finally gone down for the first time since the episode Sunday night. When I woke up this morning, I'm swollen again :( Not nearly as bad as I was, but it's noticeable.

I've been trying to minimize rice. I've been saying that I don't tolerate it well. I think this is more evidence of that. I do okay with (GF) oats, grits, potatoes, etc.

I absolutely LOVE that frozen dinner! A friend who lives out of state recommended a butter chicken seasoning packet that looks like it has good ingredients (nothing I react to in it obviously). Once I find it in a store here, I'm going to try it, without rice.

For now, I'm going to continue keeping rice-based products to a minimum.

Gluten Reactions Suck - Stage 2?

My last post was Thursday of last week. The symptoms were easing. They say it takes about 30 days for gluten to really clear your system. I think this week is evidence that it's still wreaking havoc in my body...

Sunday my stomach felt a bit off. I didn't eat anything unusual. Yogurt and coffee for breakfast. Roast, beef broth "gravy" over 1/2 cup of brown rice, and Brussels sprouts for lunch.We had to bring the boys back to their dad's, so I had my usual extra cup of coffee before we left. I also took a dose of Pepto in case I had stomach issues brewing, which would be a big problem on a car trip!

I ate a string cheese on the road. When we got home, we ate some leftover chicken and coleslaw. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Shortly after, my stomach started hurting. It got worse. The pain would come in waves. I laid down and pressed on my gallbladder to see if it was causing me problems. It wasn't any more sore than the rest of my stomach. The most tender parts were in the lower middle area. I could feel stomach acid backing up into my throat.

I finally got to sleep about 2:30am. I woke up an hour later in worse pain. I got up and sat in the bathroom. The pain kept getting worse. I was beginning to think I needed to wake up my husband and have him bring me to the ER. It was that bad! (says the woman who's suffered at home through numerous gallbladder attacks and stuck gallstones) I finally vomited the undigested contents of my stomach. TMI Food that I had eaten 14-15 hours before looked freshly chewed, despite acid burning my throat as it came back up.

The pain eased after my stomach emptied. Monday I braved some chicken broth and Jello. My stomach still didn't feel good, but it didn't rebel. Tuesday I had a small bit of coffee (to avoid a caffeine withdrawal headache) and a little more food.

Today is Friday and my stomach still doesn't feel back to normal. I'm taking it fairly easy. Yesterday I had a second cup of coffee in the afternoon. It was also the first day I've eaten veggies (a small bowl of coleslaw).

I'm wondering if it's a delayed digestive reaction to the gluten. Especially since my stomach was okay last week. Everyone ate the same thing as me with no problems. I was so sick. And scared :(

Thoughts?

Gluten Reactions Suck :(

(I originally posted this in July but I think it got out of order when I made a minor edit in August)

Last week (beginning of July) my husband ended up in the ER :( Turns out it was "just" a kidney stone, but it was pretty scary! When we stopped at the pharmacy, I picked up a bag of a new Ghirardelli Intense Dark flavor. I paid for it and opened it while we were waiting to fill his prescriptions. Ate one.

Tuesday when I woke up, my stomach felt a bit weird. I took some Pepto and didn't think anything more about it. By that afternoon, my emotions were out of control :( Every little thing was making me upset to the point of tears. I had to make the 5ish hour round trip drive to bring the boys to their dad's. It was a tough trip!

By the time I got home that night, I started thinking there was something really wrong. My anxiety hadn't been that bad since..... my last gluten exposure 2 years ago. I tried to think of everything I had eaten in the last couple days. The only thing I could remember having different was the chocolate. I eat Ghirardelli Intense Dark on a regular basis. But this was a different flavor. I pulled up the ingredients online (the bag was downstairs and I was upstairs).

Ingredients: Sugar, Unsweetened Chocolate, Glucose Syrup (Wheat), Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Cream (Milk), Butter (Cream, Salt), Nonfat Dry Milk, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Vanilla Extract.

*facepalm* 

There it is, right in the ingredient list that I did not check :(  I'm so anal about checking labels! I guess after being in the ER with hubby, with the boys, having to get his car from his work, etc, I just wasn't thinking. Plus I know I can eat GID normally, so I think that played into it too.

My stomach never acted up too much, but my anxiety was through the roof! I got upset easily. I was sad. I had no motivation to do anything. I was absolutely exhausted. My heart rate would jump whenever I did the least little thing.  

I found something that helped a little. I take Quercetin as needed for allergies. It took the edge off the anxiety. 

Sunday evening I finally started feeling somewhat human... Today is Thursday. I'm still fighting the anxiety but it's better. 

If the little bit of gluten in one square of chocolate that had a wheat-derived ingredient affected me that much, I'd hate to see what more would do!