holisticmere

pic from engagement photos

2006-01-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

I figured I'd throw in one of the pics from the engagement photos. Lindsay did a great job and gave us 600 pics to choose from. Excellent. I like this one b/c we had a seagull that posed for the shots and really added to the pics, I think. Plenty of them that are seagull-less but this one is pretty cute. Kind of has a Northern Cali feel to it I think, what with the rocks and grey day and Adam in a jacket. Can't complain about that-- anything NorCal makes me happy. :)

day 109

2005-12-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I lucked out yesterday and my crown had come in a week early, so instead of replacing the temporary crown with the hole with a new temporary they just put in my permanent crown (with temp cement, in case I really do need a root canal on that tooth). Within an hour I started to feel better. I'm still getting tooth sensitivity but have found out that while I thought it was coming from the same area as the headaches it seems to be coming from the lower left tooth that he had to drill very deeply a few weeks ago. I will wait it out and hope that it gets better on its own but I anticipate the possibility of a root canal on that tooth eventually. The filling already fell out once when it was first done and the dentist explained that it was in part due to its size and in part due to the fact that it is on the side of the tooth rather than the top. Boy would I like to just get this stuff over and done with! I'm glad I've done it, in spite of all of this b/c it's made me realize how messed up my teeth were even though I thought they weren't too bad!

Went back to the naturopath Wednesday and we're now working through the IBS issues. Got my food sensitivity test back and it said that I should eliminate dairy products and not eat sugar within 6 hours of eating fruit. Sugar and honey are on my no list so not much worry about with that, but he said same goes for rice syrup. I don't use rice syrup too often but now I'm going to make an effort to not eat it within the 6 hrs. of eating fruit.

Food balancing can be so complicated. He suggested that until we sit down and go through my foods and come up with a plan, I could continue to eat cheese as long as it was raw and organic. So "Organic Pastures" company, here I come. That seems to be the only one that is both raw and organic that they sell at either TJ's or WF's. I need to clear out the cheeses that are remaining in the house first but I plan to start that part of my eating as of next week.

It's hard because with my EPC foods list and my limitations from my IBS, I don't have a lot of food options left. I know I'm not balancing nutritionally as well as I should but for what I have as options I do a great job. It's just so limited thanks to those IBS issues that come up with half of my EPC approved foods.

Will hit a bump when we go to MD next weekend, but traveling is always pretty hard. It was a bit of a challenge to eat the way I eat when in San Fran but I know, even if I get a bunch of things from WF and TJ's while I'm there it'll still not be possible to stick 100% to the EPC (or raw/organic cheeses) during that time. Good thing it's a short trip! We're really looking forward to it though. The engagement party will have a bunch of people that we rarely get to see and it's just so nicely planned-- can't wait! Bummed that one of my bridesmaids and one of the flower girls will not be able to come but there will be some other people there that we haven't seen in a long time or that Adam hasn't met yet.

Foods for today:
org. banana
rice protein drink w/ modified citrus pectin
grapes
cherries
leftover pasta (tricolore rice pasta, cheese, bit of cream, spinach, broccoli, spices)
Vit. C water

All kinds of other craziness that I will report on next week... Happy New Year everybody!!

day 107

2005-12-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

Major pain from my tooth. Went to the dentist about it yesterday-- a whole fiasco I won't go into full details but let me just say I'm starting to think of finishing the crown and the last 2 mercury amalgams and then going to another dentist for the cleanings I'm supposed to have in January. This massive perpetual headache that has forced me to go against my "no meds" policy and has resulted in me taking Tylenol every 2-3 hours up to the max of the daily dosage. Horrible, but I can't function unless I'm taking it. Once it wears off I'm crippled by the headaches and the tooth sensitivity. Another appointment with the dentist tomorrow that may or may not help. I'm tired of being in pain and this temporary crown is horrible (not to mention the HOLE in it)!

Anyway, on to bigger and better things. Got another appointment with the naturopathic doc today. I had two tests that had to be done that I haven't been able to do yet but hopefully we'll be able to do some other things in the meantime. We did a food intolerance test last week and I'm hoping the results will have come back from that. I've been trying to take the supplements as suggested but there are a lot of them and it's hard to coordinate throughout the day. Hopefully I won't have to take these for too long...

Foods are going well-- I think it's true what Dan Millman said at the health expo a few months ago. If you stick with something religiously for 30 days, you can stick with it forever. Once you force yourself to do it every day for a month, it naturally becomes a part of your daily activities. I'm sure that'll be the case for these supplements too, but with the cost of some of them I'm hoping it won't be more than a couple of months total! :)

Foods for today:
org. banana
org. grape juice & 1/2 water (w/ 1 tsp. modified citrus pectin)
leftover pasta (asparagus, broccoli, cream, cheese, EPC-ok spices)
roasted veggies (potatoes, beets, butternut squash)
grapes
cherries
water w/ 1 tbs. rice protein powder and 1 tsp. modified citrus pectin
Vit. C water

day 102

2005-12-23T11:39:00.000-08:00

Well, the dentist didn't do the last 2 fillings. We're going to wait until the 5th when I get my permanent crown put in. He felt that since I was having so much pain with what I already had that it would be best to wait. My headache went away when he gave me the novocaine which made me pretty certain that the problem is in the area of the crown. He also gave me something to help the sensitivity of the other teeth. This morning I was in so much pain (again) that I could not function. I held out until the last minute and finally took some Tylenol. Whatdya know. The pain all but went away. I hate taking any meds but this was a severe situation. I always laugh at the Tylenol commercials whenever they have people on there saying, "I just had open heart surgery. My doctor prescribed me Tylenol and it really worked!" Maybe I'll nod in agreement next time. I think my ability to get something out of a product like Tylenol is different than it was years ago b/c my body has been so "clean" for so long now. No meds (other than homeopathic/herbals) no taking Tylenol for every little headache that comes through, etc. I used to have to take at least 3 or 4 for it to even do a little. I took two today and within about 20 minutes or so I noticed a huge change. Glad I have that as an option if the pain comes back.

Foods for today:
org. banana wasn't ripe when I opened it so just had a bite
water with vanilla flavored rice protein powder
leftover pasta with broccoli, cheese, cream, garlic, salt, bit of cayenne

It is a little difficult to resist all the candies and chocolate during this time. I have a huge bag of chocolates for the staff that is sitting next to my computer right now. 50 large chocolate Santas. And to my right I have Ghiradelli chocolates, some other fancy chocolate bars and specialty hot cocoas that I plan to give as gifts if anyone comes up to me that I need a gift for at the last minute. What restraint! I'm in my little EPC zen world avoiding all the sugar...

day 101

2005-12-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

mini gripe session:

Ooh, I'm regretting making what I made last night. While it was delicous and EPC approved, it apparently is not IBS approved.

Then this afternoon I have to go sit in the dentist's chair again and get the last of the silver/mercury amalgams out. My teeth hurt soooooo badly, which is normal, but man am I in pain right now!! I can't wait for the sensitivity to go away!!
The temporary crown they put in last week seems to be the source of my headaches (either that or the excessive drilling they did to the tooth underneath of the crown).

I don't take any painkillers like Tylenol or Advil so I'm just suffering through. Sometimes i feel a teeny bit better (headache-wise) when i drink my vit. C water, but I learned online this week that taking Vitamin C on the day of a Novocaine shot can reduce the effectiveness of the Novocaine. Good to know! Anyway, that means plain water for me today.

I found a protein powder that only had rice and vanilla as the ingredients, both of which are on my good list. It's something that the naturopath suggested so I'm giving it a shot. We were out of ripe bananas this morning so I had milk with protein powder for breakfast instead of my usual bananas.

Lunch will be leftovers from dinner last night (like I didn't learn already...) but I don't have anything else to eat so that's got to be what I eat. Oh well. I think it might be the corn that's getting to me. The dinner included: kidney beans, spices, corn, lettuce, mango, homemade guacamole, cheese, etc. I ate it with corn wraps last night but today's lunch is without it. Really tasty but not so good on the tum tum.

One of the things that the naturopathic doc did was a regular food intolerance test. It will be interesting to see that b/c it groups types of foods together (e.g. nightshade veggies, legumes, etc) and has some pretty interesting charts and stuff. It was relatively inexpensive so I figured I'd take it for curiosity's sake and see how similar the ND inflammation test results are to my regular food intolerances.

day 99 - reflecting on money and medical costs

2005-12-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I went to a naturopathic doctor yesterday. It was a very long session-- almost 3 hours but we had a lot to cover. That's one of the nice things about naturopaths-- they actually take the time for their patients. The down side of course is that it's not covered under insurance it's not cheap, by any means. I've been hit with a few financial pitfalls recently, mostly for medical things. I've been trying to fix some of the medical issues I've been delaying and let me just say, DON'T PUT IT OFF! It will cost you in so many ways!

What's hit me the hardest is the dental work. I didn't realize (one never does...) how much the cost would be as it became inevitably more expensive once they started rooting around in my mouth. I've generally been very good at going to the doc or doing alternative treatments when I have medical problems but I've put the dentist off for years. Now I'm paying for that mistake-- both with my wallet as well as my health. Fortunately it's the back teeth so my teeth don't look icky, but there were quite a few cavities that had to be filled. I am proud to say though that by the end of this week all mercury amalgams will be out of my mouth. It's about time, too. I've been talking about getting those removed for years now. All my fillings will be refilled and new cavities will be filled for the first time.

The really stupid thing about it is that I KNOW that dental problems can result in health problems. It's just one of those things where I put off the dental work to do the medical stuff. In the meantime the dental problems got worse and my medical problems continued... A vicious cycle until the dental work is done. But it's just so damn expensive. Plus, I now have a crown which is necessary (saw my tooth-- it's half of what it used to be) but the insurance won't cover it b/c they feel it would only need a filling. So, upon the recommendation of the dentist and after seeing how much he removed from my tooth, I agree to pay out of pocket for a $1000 crown. Insanity. Beyond that, any teeth that didn't have mercury amalgams before that now have the new porcelain fillings are also not covered under insurance. I'll be out almost three thousand dollars when this is all done. Ouch. That hurts as much if not more than the drilling.

At least my teeth will be fantastic afterwards! The naturopath is going to put me on a mild chelation-type supplement to help draw the mercury out of my body (modified citrus pectin) so that we can remove as much as possible from my system. Adam and I joked last night that I was spending almost as much on myself lately as if I had gone onto "The Swan". (Not endorsing that show, just mentioning it.) Obviously not that much b/c there's no plastic surgery, etc involved here but what with the dentist, EPC, naturopath and my recent glasses loss (more on that in a minute), well, it's a good thing I got my Christmas presents before most of these purchases came up...

Here's a copy of my PCOSliving posting about the glasses situation:
subject: Wow. Christmas spirit...

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So yesterday Adam and I had the engagement session with our wedding photographer. We had the session on the beach in Malibu. It was a ton of fun and in spite of my embarrassment with my weight the pics looked like they came out really well (from reviewing on his digital camera). It was a great session. Towards the very end we were doing silly stuff in the water and I gave my glasses to the photographer. He put them on his head to take the last few shots. Somehow during the process they fell off into the water and were swept out to sea...

I called my eyeglass place today hoping that I had some sort of loss insurance. They looked it up and I didn't so they decided to call my insurance company. Now, let me repeat. I had no coverage for them. I had just bought a new pair in July and was not eligible for another pair until next July. Somehow the woman from the glasses place explained the story so well to the person at my insurance that they felt bad for the situation and were in the Christmas spirit... They decided to allow me to get another pair anyway!

This is incredible considering with all the extras, indoor/outdoor tinting on the lenses, special wire frames, scratchproofing, etc these puppies came to $784. (Still can't believe that. It's not like they make me breakfast in the morning or anything...) Since the insurance is going to cover their part, I'm paying $227 for them. Still more than I had to throw around for them but holy cannoli-- I'm willing to do that!!

Anyway, I just thought I'd share a nice story about good people doing good things for others during the holidays.
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Nice. Still had to pay a bit of it, but it could have been a lot worse, or I could have had to get a crappy pair of glasses until next July.

Foods today:
2 org. bananas
leftover whole wheat pasta (w/ cream, cheese, spinach, broccoli and herbs)

Because of my temporary crown (have it for 2 or 3 weeks before the permanent one comes in), I can't eat anything chewy or crunchy so that rules out a lot of things. I am not eating as much which is not really good b/c I'm not eating that much to begin with and I do prefer to eat smaller amounts throughout the day. Oh, well, it's again worth it if I can fix the dental issues I've been putting off for so long...

day 93

2005-12-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

Busy day today so just a quick post...

First, foods for the day:
2 org. bananas
org. kiwi
leftover roasted potatoes, butternut squash and beets with yogurt dressing (garlic powder, cayenne, chives, salt)
dried mango (unsweetened and unsulfured)

My mom contacted me from the British Virgin Islands yesterday and today. They are helping a couple sail their yacht from South Carolina to the Carribean. Apparently the boat leaked a lot on the trip and now they're not sure if they're sailing back to South Carolina or not. They may just leave from Puerto Rico a little early. It's so funny how she's traveling around practically non-stop these days. They barely spend any money except for transportation costs but they're getting to see to all kinds of people and places. :)

The next plan after this is to head over to Houston (Spring, TX) to visit with aunt Michelle, David, the kids and Grandma and then are leaving on Christmas day to fly back to Berkeley. Next they're heading to Colorado to visit with uncle Barry and Ben and Grandpa and Linda. The plan is to surprise Grandpa on his birthday again this year. It'll be his 81st and I know he'll be super surprised. He was last year when we all arrived for his 80th. It was a short 2 day trip but we had so much fun in that short time. They'll then head back to Berkeley for a couple more days and then fly out to Maryland for our engagement party. Who knows where they'll head after that. I think it's great that they do this. They're semi-retired at this point and if they can figure out ways to afford to do it and don't have jobs or pets or anything to worry about, why not?!?

We're getting our engagement photos done this Sunday. I'm sure they'll turn out great but it is a challenge seeing myself so heavy... Who knows, maybe by the wedding I'll look totally different!! Ya never know (and one can only hope)... :)

day 92

2005-12-13T07:27:00.000-08:00

Still going strong on my EPC foods. I've tried reintroducing a couple of things. It might be too early b/c I'm having a heck of a time kicking this inflammation, but not getting triggers so I think I'm ok. It is pretty obvious when I've hit triggers in the past so I think I can safely say that chives, asparagus and sage are all ok. Next is artichokes. Oh, how I've missed my asparagus and artichokes! :)

I didn't have time to make a full meal today so today's foods will be:
mango slices (unsulfured and unsweetened)
org. banana
cheddar cheese
Ryvita crackers
kiwi
vit. C water

Not sure about dinner. There will probably be beets involved because we keep getting more from the delivery service. I've found these wonderful prepackaged ones from TJ's made by "Melissa's". They're prepeeled and cooked so you can pretty much do whatever you want with them right out of the package. The ones we get from the delivery service ARE organic so that's much better but they require cutting, peeling, cooking, etc. Probably going to make some more of the org. fingerling potatoes I got at Whole Foods, too.

Thanks to a suggestion by Ian I am seeing a naturopathic doctor who will be doing a leaky gut test (look up lactulose mannitol test if you want to learn more...). This should help us see how things have been working thus far. I have been taking the Aqua Flora daily but it seems my candida is more aggressive than we thought so I may have to take nystatin. The naturopathic doc has some thoughts on that too. My appointment with him is next Monday. Once I've got this all figured out I will really be ready to rock!

So here's something crazy... I'm applying for a reality show. Wouldn't that be wacky if I got it! Not going to say more about it until I'm further in the process but if I get it I will let everyone know! Wish me luck!! I think I have what it takes to be part of the show and think it would be loads of fun!

I'm very happy that I finally dropped off the mailings that needed to be sent. I'm terrible at doing that... We still have to mail all of the Christmas stuff but we at least have finished doing the returns and got the boxes sent over to Iraq for Tarra's nephew's company. Mostly just this and that toiletry stuff but we did throw in some playing cards, socks, snacky stuff, stress balls, tea, etc. Gotta love those new flat rate priority mail boxes! We sent 2 of them and it came out to $7.70 X 2 and having weighed them I would have spent more than twice the cost if I'd sent them in a non-flat rate box!

Shameless plug: Still looking for a gift for the person who has everything? How about a sheet of PhotoStamps! www.photostamps.com

That's the new product our company sells and having given them away for Christmas, birthdays, weddings, baby announcements, etc I can say that they really do make great gifts. Plus, they look cool in the 8 1/2 X 11" frames and make much better gifts that way. :)

day 80

2005-11-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to transition into eating a very strict diet for a little while to kick start my system. We had a lot of ND ok foods (milk, cream, cheese, crackers, cereal, etc) that I want to cut out for a couple of weeks and see if it helps me. My biggest problem lately is that I have these IBS issues that keep coming up and they're making it very difficult for me to restrict my diet down to only a couple of things. There are a lot of foods that seem to aggravate my IBS, many of which I cut out in the beginning (e.g. brussel sprouts, cauliflower, etc) but I'm finding quite a few others that seem to bother me and have been part of my cooking/eating for the last couple of months. Issues have come up with nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts), onions, garlic, carrots, etc. I'm finding I've got fewer and fewer things that are ok on the list b/c of these IBS issues so that's been challenging. I can't do the American Supplement exactly the way EPC intended, being a vegetarian and needing to eat combinations of things to get the right amount of amino acids, etc, but I will be reducing to many fewer options once I clear out a bit more of the foods in the fridge that may go bad during that time.

Today's foods are:
org. banana
org. grapes
almonds (b/c of the IBS issues I hold off until later in the day to eat those but it's a quick snack to fill me up when I'm really hungry)
leftover mashed potatoes with cheese, cream, roasted garlic and spinach

Tonight I'll be making something with the butternut squash, baby potatoes and beets again. Probably roast them like I did on Monday night with the grapeseed oil, salt and rosemary.

day 77

2005-11-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

Well we're back from San Fran. We had an amazing time. We drove up Friday night and stayed at Penz' home in Santa Clara (got there late-- after midnight thanks to LA traffic). Bodie did some barking that night which was bad b/c Penz lives in an apartment complex and the people upstairs from him had a newborn (4 days old). The baby was sleeping right above where Bodie was barking, but he's not accustomed to hearing noises like other people walking around, etc. Could have been a lot worse though. That night we didn't do dinner (Adam had a little Del Taco) b/c there wasn't anywhere with ND ok foods so I just had some of the things I brought and stopped much later at a rest stop looking for something I could eat. I hunted through all the salty things and happened to find that Fritos are only made of ND ok ingredients! Couldn't believe it. Ordinarily I would never eat something so processed and unnatural but at least I know there's a junk food that I can eat a little of in a pinch like that.

The next morning we got up and drove to Treasure Island (the island between SF and Oakland) and met up with Mom, Neil and his six kids on their docked boat for Thanksgiving brunch. Mom made me a ND quiche and peaches so I had something almost the same as everyone else. They had fruit salad, cranberry bread and crab quiche and I had spinach and egg quiche and peaches. It was great-- very thankful to her for doing something so kind.

Meeting the kids was great (I say kids loosely, they're all between 22 and 36). Ashley brought her dog Mushi and Ella and Bodie got to meet him. Most of the time they stayed in the car (it was cool out and they just slept) and we all hung out and talked. Mom did an early Xmas for everyone b/c they'll be in the Carribean during that time (sailing from South Carolina to Saint Thomas and Puerto Rico and back I believe). Her gifts seemed to go over very well-- particularly the "Hadley's Home Sweet Home Honey" with Adam's excellent label. Hadley is a real estate agent and was looking for something to give at her open houses that separated her from others.

After brunch we went to check into our hotel (Burlingame Sheraton, near SF Airport) and took a much needed nap. We didn't get up until about 5:30 and decided not to meet up again with Mom and Neil since I wasn't feeling great and we were still pretty tired. I wanted to find a nice place to eat so we drove to Half Moon Bay and found this adorable restaurant but it had a fixed menu for Thanksgiving and neither of us could eat it. We kept driving around until we found a place close to the hotel in Burlingame that was a Chinese restaurant. We went as close to ND foods as was possible. We got veggie pot stickers, veggie egg rolls, spinach in garlic sauce, broccoli in garlic sauce, steamed rice and Adam also got veggie egg fu yung. It was really good and while I know there were a couple of little triggers in there (e.g. little bits of tofu in the pot stickers that I tried to pick out), it all went pretty well-- no soy sauce or anything in the sauces and cooked in corn oil. We ate it back at the hotel. We found that b/c the dogs were either with us or in the car all the time we wanted to do more things near to them. It was a real people/dog bonding weekend!

Friday we got up and I tried to find a place to eat but resorted to stopping at a local health food store to get Ryvita crackers and ND ok monterey jack cheese. We ate those until we could get to lunch with Mom and Neil. We first stopped at the Museum of Pez that just happened to be in the same town where we were staying and got the tour of all the Pez (he had one of every one out there) and then got 13 new ones for Adam's collection. What a happy camper he was! :)

We then drove up to Berkeley and met Mom and Neil at the most beautiful dog park-- huge area with trails and long walks along the water-- great sweeping view of the Bay, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges,etc... can't even describe how pretty a place it was. There were tons of dogs there and all of them seemed to be having fun playing, swimming, catching balls, sniffing butts, etc. It was like what dog heaven would be if designed by a dog. I believe it was called Point Isabelle. Let's see if I can find some pics online...
(main site: http://www.pido.org/)

http://www.bahiker.com/pictures/eastbay/
pointisabel/websize/10channel.jpg

http://www.bahiker.com/pictures/eastbay/
pointisabel/websize/05trail.jpg

http://www.bahiker.com/pictures/eastbay/
pointisabel/websize/29view.jpg

http://www.well.com/user/pk/waterfront/
photo-of-the-week/Isabel-0303.jpg

(Sorry for making them two lines but it messes up the blog if they go all the way across.)

Bodie's still not good with coming when called so Ella and Bodie stayed on leash there but still had a great time. We then left and went to another caged dog park in Berkeley where we took the dogs off leash. I of course was worried the whole time that he'd jump the fence and take off down the road (he's a major jumper) but they both did great there too. We then went into Berkeley and ate at a restaurant that Mom and Neil love. I had a humongous salad that may have had a couple of triggers but I did pretty well with it all things considered. It was lettuce, kidney beans (picked out the garbanzos), avocado, hard boiled egg whites (the took out the yolks for me) and cucumber with blue cheese dressing. Who knows what was in the dressing but I seemed to tolerate it pretty well.

Mom and I then went to her storage place (they were leaving that night to go to DC and then on to SC) in Alameda while Adam and Neil went to his son, Irik's, commune (th one where Wavy Gravy lives) and hung out with him for a bit. Also they went back to the gated dog park.

That night we did a few trips around the airport so Mom and Neil could get their standby tickets and then went to dinner in Alameda at a local Italian place. The closest I could come for that was a quatro formaggio pasta but they explained the noodles were cooked with a small amount of olive oil in the morning (talked to the chef). He washed the noodles well in hot water at my request before preparing them in the sauce and it was outstanding. I didn't seem to have a reaction to it either so I guess he got all the olive oil off of them. The sauce seemed to just be cream, butter and cheese and it appears I was ok with that one. Yum. Had the rest of it later than night and it was just as good the second time around...

Yesterday we checked out of the hotel at 11:15 and took off for Santa Rosa. I thought it was only about an hour from Burlingame (duh) and so my minor detour wound up taking up half the day. We did get to go into wine country and go over the Golden Gate so all was not lost with it. We stopped in Santa Rosa and had brunch (I had breakfast potatoes and an egg white omelet with white cheddar and horseradish creme fraise, cooked in butter, which seemed to be triggerless, too.) After brunch we started our long drive home. My plan was to take PCH (the 1) until we hit Santa Cruz. We did that but my intention was to be done with all of that by about 3 or so. Not so much-- we didn't get out of Santa Cruz until about 7 or 8 and we didn't wind up getting on the 101 until way later than planned. We got home last night at around 1:30 am. Looooong drive! But we made it and it was a great trip nonetheless.

Apparently there was a terrible accident on the 101 in Santa Maria at around 7 am today so I'm glad we didn't stop somewhere and get up early to finish the drive. I was starting to fall asleep at the wheel and contemplated stopping to get a hotel room but it seems that it was good that we just drove straight through.

It's been a long time since we took any kind of trip and as always we had a great time together. It seems like it was only made better by having the dogs with us too so I'm sure we'll do more of that in the future.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty non-traditional but it sure reminded me of all the things that I'm thankful for.

day 72

2005-11-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

Not much time so here's my foods for today:

2 org. bananas
peanut butter (peanuts, salt. from 365, Whole Food's generic brand)
cheese and crackers (Kavli Crispy thin crackers)
C water
maybe some dried mango or dried banana later on

Dinner-- unsure, but I'm probably doing a Mexican-y type thing. We have the wraps, kidney beans and spices, corn, mango for mango salsa, cilantro, lemons and avocado for guacamole, cheese, lettuce, yogurt (in place of sour cream), etc. Adam loves this dish-- I think he'd eat it many times a week if I made it for him that often. :)

Tomorrow we head to San Fran! Can't wait!!

day 71

2005-11-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

Well this week will be an interesting challenge. We're leaving Wednesday night for San Francisco and it's going to be very challenging to eat within my ND foods. Probably easier there than any other city but it's still hard when you don't have a kitchen to cook in and have to rely on restaurant food. I'm going to do the best I can with it and stay as close to it as possible. Even when you think you're safe you may still be hit by a trigger, so I'm always a little apprehensive about it before I eat out. I had to go out for my sister's birthday last week and although I went as close as possible I still was hit with triggers for several days afterwards. I had mac and cheese and sauteed spinach and garlic (sauteed in butter, not EVOO). I started to feel awful that night and it continued for several days afterwards. I was actually thinking I was getting sick too, but it went away the next day so it was then that I realized it was just a reaction to the food I'd had on Wednesday.

I've decided for the trip to get as close as possible to what I can eat and then start the American Supplement suggestions next week to completely flush my system. Certain things I will still do everything I can to avoid-- those that have a tendency to bring on candida I will avoid at all costs-- sugar, yeast, etc. I'm really looking forward to this trip though-- it's going to be a lot of fun I think and I think it'll be good to get the dogs out and about for several days. I'm sure it'll tire them out, too!

Foods today:
org. banana
Organic Valley org. cheddar cheese stick (2)
mango slices (unsweetened and unsulfured)
org. grapes
homemade creamed corn
sauteed spinach with roasted garlic bits, white balsamic vinegar, grapeseed oil, salt
roasted butternut squash and beets w/ grapeseed oil, salt, fresh rosemary

Adam went crazy for the creamed corn so I think I'll post that recipe on PCOSliving in case anyone else wants to try it.

Woo-hoo! 3 day work week!!

banking cord blood

2005-11-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm really sick of these random comments left by people attempting to get bloggers to check out their "banking cord blood" sites. It's a good cause and it's being completely ruined by these people who think that advertising through blogger's comments sections are the way to go. What kind of fake comment are you going to leave today, guys? "Oh my gosh. Funny internet landing me on your blog. I loved reading about day 57 though. Check out my banking cord blood site to find out more about banking cord blood. Enjoy my banking cord blood link." Idiots. I'm tired of deleting their fake comments. At least we have the option of deleting them. :)

day 66

2005-11-16T15:57:00.000-08:00

Pretty swollen in my calves yesterday and some issues with my knuckles today. Most likely die off from the candida. Bummed that the mercury removal from my teeth didn't happen yesterday but we do have all the appointments set up for Dec and Jan. At least by the end of Jan I should have a lovely set of teeth well sealed without mercury this time!

Today's foods:
leftover butternut squash and beets (grapeseed oil, salt, fresh rosemary)
cheese and Kavli thin crackers
freeze dried strawberries

Going to have a tough time at dinner tonight since we're taking my sis out for her birthday. I'll do the best I can. Trying to find place that offer baked potatoes and steamed veggies. That's usually best. Eh, I'm not going to stress about it-- that would only worsen my inflammation! :)

My baby sis is 22 today. My how time flies. I still remember being 9 1/2 and driving down the shoulder of the highway with my mom hoping she'd get us to the hospital before the baby came. Almost helped my mom deliver my sister on the highway! Fortunately she made it, throught traffic in the nick of time. :) What a good girl-- I'm lucky to have her in my life.

day 65

2005-11-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

Foods for today:
org. banana
small org. oj (1/2 water)
leftover pasta (cream, cheese, garlic, butter, sage, rosemary, salt, whole wheat pasta)
freeze dried strawberries
maybe almonds and dried mangoes later

vit c water

Placed my orders for the jewelry I *may* wear for the wedding. It's so hard to tell when you order online but hopefully it'll be right. Here are the links to all the pieces:

lotus pendant (lotus is a theme we plan to use throughout the wedding):
http://www.isabellacatalog.com/1873.cfm

s shaped necklace (pendant will go on this)
http://www.overstock.com/?page=proframe&prod_id=1400375

earrings:
http://www.novica.com/itemdetail/index.cfm?pID=67083

trying to decide between the two bracelets:

http://www.novica.com/itemdetail/index.cfm?pID=57342

looks like I bought the last one of the other bracelet, so it's the tiny pic shown in this blog entry. Wish I had a bigger pic! :)

day 64

2005-11-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

My foods are still going well. Made some soup last night that turned out pretty well after much cooking and adding miscellaneous (ok'd) herbs and spices. Had it for lunch today. It was: potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, corn, spinach, brown rice, kidney beans, fresh sage, cumin, salt, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper (just a little of the last two). Turned out pretty good after a lot of cooking. Tummy's a little upset today but that's b/c I've had so many carrots an onions in the last 2 days and my IBS foods still do weird stuff here and there. Broke up pieces of rye bread (rye, salt, water, no yeast!) in it that gave it a little more oomph.

Other things I've had today:
org. banana
peppermint tea
almonds
unsweetened and unsulfured dried mango slices
vit c water, about 10 g so far, trying to up my dosages these days

I'm so excited-- we're going to San Fran for Thanksgiving. Should be very interesting as we are bringing the dogs with us and can't keep them at the hotel room when we're gone so they're coming with us no matter where we go. Michael will be watching the cats at home. So nice to have him nearby to help! It'll be both fun and funny, I'm thinking...

We'll be able to meet Neil's kids, at least 5 of the 6 of them. The plan is to meet them on Treasure Island on Thanksgiving Day-- they'll be sailing over from Berkeley, we'll drive over with the dogs and have brunch on the boat. No clue what else we'll do that day but we're hoping to get a chance to check out one of Neil's kids digs (I say kids loosely, the guy's in his 30's)-- the guy is a master carpenter who lives on a commune in Berkeley with the one and only Wavy Gravy. Anyone remember him? He's a 60's icon and one of the main names at Woodstock. It'd be cool to meet the guy. We're going to have a blast no matter what-- we never have the time to go anywhere and we both love it up north. I'm planning that Saturday we leave early and take the drive down from SF to Monterey via PCH. It's so beautiful, my favorite stretch of road and it's not scary yet like it is in Big Sur. Once we hit Monterey/Santa Cruz we'll head down away from the coast, on the 101 or the 5. Very much looking forward to this...

day 59

2005-11-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

Well, issues with my back have come up again. I think I picked something up incorrectly on Sunday-- maybe that case of water bottles. I'm too stubborn for my own good sometimes...

I need to be upping my vit. c to get better but I'm almost out (forgot to buy it last weekend). Think I have some of it here at work so maybe I'll use that until I can buy more this weekend.

Foods are going just fine. I feel that my belly is getting smaller since I started taking the Aqua Flora. I don't think my weight has changed all that much but I don't feel as bloated. Stomach's still working out that Candida "die off" but it does seem to be gradually getting better.

Foods today:
2 small org. bananas
almonds
lunch: leftovers of brown rice, corn, baby green beans, sesame seeds, sesame oil (added after cooking), basil, bit of butter and grapeseed oil, garlic, lemon, shallots, salt

maybe some dried mangoes and dried banana but I'm thinking that may be contributing to my stomach funkiness so I may hold off on those for a couple of days to see if that makes me feel any better. We'll see-- may depend on how hungry I am later today.

Someone at work today commented that it looked like I had lost a lot of weight. I know I've dropped a couple of inches and a few pounds but it's nice that someone at work has noticed. Makes me realize that it's obvious to more than just me and Adam. :)

day 57

2005-11-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

Good stuff. Adam did a wonderful thing on Friday and called Madeleine Bistro that morning and gave them my foods of ok and not ok foods. They spent Friday coming up with a menu for me and I ate with confidence on Friday night. How nice!! He's so good to me.

I seem to have thrown out my lower back and am having sciatic nerve problems today so I'm only going to write a short one today.

Today's foods:
2 small org. bananas
dry TJ's whole wheat cereal
flattened, dried banana, nothin' else
dried mango, unsulfured and unsweetened
2 slices of rye bread (no yeast-- ingredients: rye, water, salt) with cheddar cheese (all ok ingredients) and fresh basil

Not sure about dinner. Probably corn, fresh green beans and roasted veggies-- beets, butternut squash and potatoes.

day 53

2005-11-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Made soup last night-- put way too much rosemary in it and then battled the taste of it to try to get it right. Didn't turn out too bad in the end but it was hard to fix. Also tried making dumplings but they weren't very successful either. Eh, you win some, you lose some...

Today I have:
organic banana
cheese and crackers
vit c water
dried mango slices (unsweetened and unsulfured)
dried banana slices (same as above)
maybe some walnuts

I ate something yesterday that got my IBS going so I'm trying to take it easy today. No craziness until it settles down.

day 52

2005-11-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

Still doing well with my ND foods. I was feeling better this weekend and thinking it might be from hitting the 1 week mark on the Aqua Flora I decided to give the scale and measuring tape a go. I had lost 3 pounds and 6.3 inches since the last time I checked. I see even 1/2 pound down as a major change. It is generally nearly impossible for me to lose weight, so any change in the downward direction is very good news! Looking forward to checking it again either this Sunday or the following one-- haven't decided yet if I'm going to do it every week or every 2 weeks, as suggested by EPC. I think it's really important that we don't lose sight of some of the more important things when doing this ND way of life. Weight loss is good, and is important to me, but getting rid of all of those other symptoms is equally important. I'm starting to feel better in general over the last couple of months and that is a significant thing that shouldn't be discounted.

Ok, I've got a training session to conduct soon so let's get to the foods of the day:

whole wheat cereal, dry (100% ww, nothing else)
2 small org. bananas
mango slices
org. plum
peppermint tea
leftovers for lunch-- tricolored pasta (colored with ok foods-- beets, spinach, etc) from TJ's with corn, green beans, 1/2 and 1/2, cheese, a little garlic and salt
walnuts possibly later too

No clue about dinner yet. Depends on what we get from L.O.V.E. Delivery today (Los Angeles Organic Vegetable Express). Probably something that involves spinach and possibly potatoes since I already have those at the house... Maybe I'll make soup again since we have potatoes, spinach, carrots, basil, rosemary (no onions though), etc... that went over well and lasted for a few days. Hm. I'll have to ponder that later.

day 47

2005-10-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

Temptation day today but I won't cave! We're having our annual Halloween potluck at work today and we have some excellent cooks (who specifically make veggie-friendly things so I can eat them). I plan to take a small plate of items (if I'm pressured to eat something) and then throw it out when I get to my desk. I brought some raw veggies that I can eat so I'll probably munch on those in front of people so they think I'm eating the other things and then toss the rest. Hate to waste food but it'll be a small amount and I will only do this if I'm pressured to eat.

People in general don't understand that I can't eat what other people eat. It's ok, I don't expect them to, but it's amazing the pressure that people put on you "oh, it's only a little" "I made it especially for you!" or "it's only for today". They don't realize that "only for today" means potentially several days of trigger food symptoms afterwards. It's very clear in my mind what my body does with triggers. I mostly feel it in my joints and get more swelling but it does not feel good. I'm achy and grumpy and just feel yucky in general. No thanks. No eggroll or dessert or whatever is worth that to me. I did bring a big thing of leftovers for lunch today so that's good-- I will fill myself up on that. So here's what's on the menu today:

org. banana
org. plum
almonds
leftovers from dinner (made mexican wraps-- today I'm having the filling only: spicy kidney beans, cheese, lettuce, homemade guacamole, homemade mango salsa) YUM!
Kavli or Quilts crackers
vitamin C water

maybe some raw broccoli and cauliflower that I brought for the Halloween potluck. I also brought veggie chips, carrots, celery (can't have the carrots b/c they're on the same tray as the celery), Whole Foods guacamole and eggplant dip. I won't have either of the dips since I can't have eggplant and don't know what hidden triggers lie in the guacamole, but others will like it, I'm sure...

Adam's going to Doug and Jeanne's wedding this weekend. I hope he has a good time! I have pretty much no money until I get paid on Monday, so it'll be a pretty quiet weekend. I may meet up with Mom and Lauren tomorrow and keep myself occupied while Adam is doing his thing. Sometimes it's nice to have a quiet evening though-- plenty of wedding things I should be working on! :)

Have a good weekend, everybody! Stay healthy and happy!

day 45

2005-10-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Crazy, crazy! Life just gets too busy sometimes, you know? Lots of good things in the works. More on that next week.

Food wise-- I'm doing great with my ND foods. Just a natural part of my life now. May have some challenges with it coming up in the next few weeks but as I said, more on that next week. I've been taking the Aqua Flora since Saturday and I didn't have any major side effects from it. It's only 2 tablespoons every morning 20 minutes before you eat so it's no biggie to take. Only side effect that I seem to have gotten from it is feeling a bit tired and feeling a little like I'm about to get a yeast infection. Hasn't actually happened and I don't expect it to, it's just one of those things I think my body's doing to tell me it's fighting it!

I'm feeling good this week all in all. There are a couple of things I need to do to get my life more on track. I need to start getting more sleep. This 5 1/2-7 hrs of sleep is just not enough to me and I feel like I'm starving/depriving myself of something it needs. Sleep is a necessary element of the healing process and I don't think my body will be able to kick the PCOS until I start getting more sleep on a regular basis. Second thing that needs to be done is a reduction in my stress level. I'm having some stomach problems (IBS things) that seem to be coming towards the end of the day and I'm sure they're not only candida and IBS related but also just stress related in general. I need to start taking some chill out time to get better with that as well.

Onto my foods for today:
org. banana
org. plum
almonds
Kavli crispy thin crackers (oh they're so good. subtle but so good.) Ingredients: whole rye flour, water and salt.
cheese (soft full fat)
sliced beets

lots of the old vitamin C water

Speaking of water, have you all tried that Trinity water-- actually it is bottled as a mineral supplement b/c of the stupid FDA. Apparently if your water is too pure it has to be called a mineral supplement instead of water so that it's not bombarded with a ton of flourides and chlorines, etc. What BS. Anyway, it's really, really good. Smooth and it tastes really good. It's the only water I think I'll drink untouched. Everything else is getting a healthy dose of vitamin C before I consume it! :)

Dinner I'm not sure about yet but I know it's going to involve fresh green beans, spinach and whatever comes through in our organic fruit/veggie delivery today. Boy do I love that thing. If you're in the LA area I highly suggest it: www.lovedelivery.com. Adam's actually doing the website for it and we're getting the veggies and fruit as a barter. The new site is obviously not up yet, as you can tell if you go to that page, but it should be up in the next few weeks. It's going to be great and I really hope it helps his business. He's a good guy doing a good thing and he deserves to have a sucessful business.

day 39

2005-10-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I got the UPS tracking info for the Aqua Flora-- seems like it'll arrive on Friday. Not sure if I'll take it then though b/c I've got a very important appointment on Monday and I can't afford to be sick for it.

Last night for dinner I was too lazy to make a real meal so I took crackers and shredded cheese over them, stuck them in the oven for about 10 minutes and then topped it with avocado and lemon juice. It was pretty yummy but more of a snack than a meal.

Today's foods:
Nature's Path org. instant oatmeal (org. rolled oats, sea salt) with banana, brown rice syrup and barley malt (I'm eating it right now. Man, is it good. Crap I just read the package and it says it may contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts or soy. I'm so careful to check things but this must have slipped past me back when I first started buying my ND foods. Damn, guess I won't be buying this again...)
Cabot extra sharp cheddar cheese and Kavli thin crackers. (boy those crackers are good!)
org. plum
dried mango (unsweetened and unsulfured)

As always, loads of vitamin C water.

I'm supposed to get a massage today, but I don't think I'll make it in time and I'm not really in the mood. I probably should go though since I don't know when I'll have the opportunity again. I'm supposed to do it once a week until we've gotten past some of these muscle problems I got from walking around in that boot for so long...

day 38

2005-10-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm ordering the Aqua Flora today. I was waiting for the woman from the company to call me back but I don't think she is going to do so. I'll call them later to ask a few questions and then place the order.

Last night for dinner I made baked potatoes with a little butter, cheese, sour cream and big dollops of homemade guacamole. I also made some spinach with fr. sqeezed lemon juice and boiled, then roasted, beets. Delicious.

Today's foods include:
org. banana
peppermint tea
org. oj
org. plum
dried mango slices, unsweetened and unsulfured
leftover potato with cheddar cheese and guacamole
walnuts

Not sure about dinner. We get the organic delivery of fruits and veggies today so it will probably depend on what comes in that.

Clint and Heidi's Halloween Themed Wedding Cake

2005-10-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

Clint's sister is a cake maker. Because of my ND foods I wasn't able to eat any but it was amazing to look at! Apparently it took her 82 hours to make and decorate. It was incredible, down to the tiniest detail. The gravestones are all names of the wedding party, the bride and groom are skeletons and there's even a bat flying above the house and a cat to the left. You can't see it in this pic but the trees even have scary faces. It was amazing. Too bad she doesn't live around here, if she did I'd have her do our cake without hesitation!

Clint and Heidi

2005-10-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

How do a goth/synth pop musician and his blushing bride dress for their wedding? Like this! (BTW, they looked great and it very much fit their personality!)

day 37

2005-10-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging... Sometimes I have to (heaven forbid!) work at work and I never have time to do it at home.

This weekend was full of surprises, from having to eat foods with triggers to learning what else needs to be fixed before this ND way really kicks in! We went to a really cool wedding on the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

I did ok, all things considered-- I had a bunch of crackers before we got there and got appetizers that appeared to be within my ok foods... There was a salad that you add your own dressing to-- I ate the lettuce and the hearts of palm (not tested) but gave Adam the artichokes that appeared to be in olive oil and didn't do the dressing b/c it was a raspberry vinagrette (raspberry = no). But then the entree came and it was an ND horror story! It appeared to be drowning in olive oil (no no for me), was a pasta with black pepper in the pasta (b.p. also a no no) and had almost all veggies I couldn't eat or weren't on the ok list: yellow squash (I'm treating like courgette, a no no), carrot (ok for me), zucchini (no), eggplant (no) and asparagus (not tested). I ate the pasta and the asparagus and left the rest. Man, I was laughing so hard when that food came out-- it was like someone won a dare about how many no foods one could put on a plate! As hard as it was, I rejected the cake, although I've had her cakes before and they are delicious. It was the groom's sister that made it. I'll add a pic of the bride and groom and of the cake above this blog entry.

Also, Ian identified something on my no list that is pretty key for me. I've got candida on that list and while I thought it was some sort of English word for some type of cooking yeast, it turns out that it is the only thing they test for that isn't a food. I'm ordering Aqua Flora today and going to knock this sucker out as fast as possible. I'm going to take a day off too since this is reported to make you very sick for 4 days-- I figured I'll struggle through day 1 at work and then be off for 2 weekend days and 1 work day. I should be ok after that, hopefully! Can't wait to get started on it!!

Today's foods are:
org. oj
org. banana
dried mango slices, unsweetened and unsulfured
peppermint tea
org. plum
leftover quiche-- yummy!! Here's a recipe and what I made with it for dinner last night: http://pcosliving.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1023

Not sure what I'll make for dinner tonight, will probably be baked potatoes and beets with a salad but I'll have to see what we've got when I get home. I've got physical therapy for my foot this afternoon-- we'll see how motivated I am to cook after that!!

Lots and lots of rain today, hopefully it'll be dry before I get home so I can go over Topanga instead of battling the 405...

day 32

2005-10-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Still doing well with my foods. I'm really proud of myself for doing this as well as I have so far. I've only eaten out twice and haven't found times where I've been cheating "just a little". The first eating out experience was at Follow Your Heart, the local health food restaurant and that went just fine. I'm sure part of it is the ingredients they use are much closer to whole foods than a lot of places. The second place was last Saturday at Michael D's, a local diner. While I was very, very specific about what I could and couldn't have, I learned the hard way that even when you tell them "with this, not with that..." you can still get those hidden triggers that people talk about.

It was so subtle that I didn't realize it even was a trigger that I was feeling. I couldn't understand why I was so depressed on Sunday and I couldn't figure out why my knuckles ached and my fingers were swollen. Duh. Hidden trigger. I'm guessing it was either that the butter they use had soy in it, the flavoring they put on the potatoes (that I didn't know they did until afterwards) had something like a pepper in it, or that since it's all cooked on the same grill as other things that something like olive oil seeped into my food from a previous order.

Whatever it was, I did not like it and I do not want to feel that way again. The manager's all took out our boss for lunch yesterday (Italian, ah, a hidden trigger nightmare) and while they thought it was a little weird I didn't eat anything. Saturday's experience was enough for me to just say no to temptation. I ate before we went and brought my TJ's bottled water with C and some paperwork (wedding-related, not work-related) to keep my hands busy while they ate. Worked out ok and I was glad that I didn't eat anything there...

Saturday we're going to that friend/co-worker's wedding where I'll have to eat something, but I'm going to try to avoid food there as much as I can. And hopefully we'll be able to duck out early, right when they cut the cake. Bummer I can't try the cake-- it's being made by the groom's sister who is an amazing cake maker and the one she made for my bosses wedding was delish. Here's a pic of it (it was so beautiful and appropriately themed, too):

http://www.frostingwithflair.com
/html/cakes/html/multi/html/fire_and_gold.html

(tried to just add the pic but it didn't work properly and putting it all on the same line was messing up the blog page. sorry for the complication!)

So for foods today we have:
org. oj
org. banana
leftovers from dinner (whole wheat pasta w/ basil, cream and parm and corn)
Quilts crackers
peppermint tea

lots of vit. c water! I'm trying to increase my intake of water. It's hard for me to drink more than 64 or so oz. but I'm aiming for 100 now. Particularly b/c I want to increase my C intake and I don't really want my water more tart and C-ish than it is now. :)

day 30

2005-10-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Wow. A whole month of eating ND foods. I'm just glad that I've been able to make it a comfortable lifestyle change. Saturday we're going to a wedding and I'm anxious about the food situation there, but I plan to eat before we go to make it a little easier. Most importantly I need to make sure to avoid the cake and the bread (no yeast or sugar). I think the veggie option is "pepper pasta" whatever that means. Sounds disgusting to me-- hope they mean red or green pepper rather than black pepper. I'm sure it's tastier than its name.

Last night for dinner I made roasted potatoes, beets and turnips. They turned out pretty yummy. I could have roasted them for a little longer but it was late and I was tired of cooking and had already had them in for like 50 minutes. The turnips were a little bitter and I think the extra cooking might have helped that. I made a cilantro sour cream to put on top of them and topped it with spring mix. It was really pretty, if nothing else. Very colorful!

Today:
org. banana
peppermint tea
org. orange (if it's still good, not sure yet)
leftovers from dinner
dried mango and pineapple (unsweetened and unsulfured)
walnuts
Quilts crackers

Haven't begun to think about dinner yet...

day 29

2005-10-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

So today's foods are:
org. banana
org. plum
small amt of leftovers from dinner and some cheddar cheese on crackers (dinner was kidney beans w/ spices, cheese, sour cream, lettuce and homemade mango salsa and guacamole. It was so good I wish I had more left over. :)
peppermint tea
mango and pineapple slices, unsweetened and unsulfured
vit. C water

We were low on water this weekend so I didn't drink as much C as usual. I'm very glad to have gotten more water from the store last night. I hate not taking in enough C each day. Makes me feel crappy.

On a high note, we think we've found the musician for the wedding. His name is John Stack and he plays with my friend Steve Zukowsky in Which One's Pink (Steve is also in Led Zepagain). I hope it all works out-- it's been a long time coming to find someone!

I have a lot to do today and I hurt my back yesterday so I'm in pain and busy-- as a result, not going to take as much time today for this. More tomorrow...

day 26

2005-10-07T06:39:00.000-07:00

So last night I made corn on the cob, green beans (steamed first then cooked w/ a little butter and garlic) and roasted potatoes and beets w/ grapeseed oil and fresh rosemary. A little dollop of sour cream on the potatoes and beets. Yum. Also had a white tea. (White tea is the young version of the green tea plant. All ingredients are on the ok list.)

Today I'll be having:
1 slice of havarti (milk, salt, enzymes)
org. banana
peppermint tea
leftovers from dinner
a few whole wheat crackers
dried mango and pineapple slices (unsweetened and unsulfured)
org. plum

Tonight's dinner might be a bit of a challenge. I'll have to make something quick and healthy. We're going to the Sagebrush Cantina to see my friend Steve Z's friend play acoustic guitar (the guy plays in Which One's Pink with him). We're hoping he's the guy that'll do the wedding, but I emailed him days ago and haven't heard back and am not thinking this is the one yet. Frustrating. I'm so sick of looking into musicians for this. We just aren't finding what we want. After that we're going to the Canyon Club to see Steve's band Led Zepagain. They're always fun and so good even Jimmy Page has been to see them! :)

day 25

2005-10-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well we went out to eat last night and everything seems good so far... I had: water, a smoothie of frozen banana and fresh squeezed oj, a plate of steamed veggies: cauliflower, carrots, broccoli and cabbage. (They also included sweet potato but I didn't eat any of the veggies that had sweet potato on them. I was a little nervous about that b/c the waitress didn't know that it was part of the dish...) When it came out I saw that it had something extra in it-- I almost sent it back but figured I'd see what I could do with the ones that didn't have sweet potato on them. I also had a baked potato (confirmed it wasn't baked with olive oil, etc) with broccoli, butter, green onions, cheese and sour cream. I shouldn't have gotten the plate of steamed veggies as the potato was enough and I knew what was in that one...

So, today's foods:
org. banana
mango and pineapple slices, unsweetened and unsulfured
org. plum
Ryvita crackers and cheese
peppermint tea

I think for dinner I'll make the corn on the cob, green beans and roasted beets and potatoes w/ rosemary.

I got a massive leg cramp last night that may or may not be because I have stopped taking my vitamins (hard to know for certain what's in them) and I think I'm lacking calcium and magnesium. I just read an article that said that cheese and milk consumption can actually reduce calcium absorption, so the increase in dairy that I've had lately may actually be counterproductive. I'm going to go to Whole Foods tonight and grill the vitamin people on what's in the vitamins. I may just make a list of possibitilies and then call the vitamin companies to get greater detail before I take anything. We'll see how it goes...

day 24

2005-10-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's going to be a busy couple of weeks. A new project just came up and I'm going to have to dedicate all spare time to it. I need to keep in mind that in the midst of craziness at work that I can't let it affect my stress level.

So last night we (FINALLY) found the right photographer. He's awesome. Lindsay Kan. Can't wait to get our engagement photos from him. It'll be really nice for Adam and I to get a professional photo of the two of us. Before I went I ate a big bowl of whole wheat cereal with milk and an org. banana and then had a couple of slices of cheese. When I got home from it I made scrambled egg whites with spinach and cheese and 2 slices of yeast-free toast.

Today I don't have a lot for lunch so I'm making due with what I brought. Foods I plan to eat or have eaten today:

org. banana
org. carrot juice
dried mango and pineapple slices, unsweetened and unsulfured
Ryvita (my new name for them: Dryvita) crackers and cheddar cheese (milk, salt, enzymes)
walnuts
org. plum

Today is Adam's birthday so we're going out to our favorite health food restaurant, Follow Your Heart. The only things I can really have on the menu are a salad (sans dressing and fancy stuff) and steamed veggies (cauliflower, carrot and broccoli), but hey at least there's something there I can have! Better than any other restaurant I've found so far. Unfortunately it means I'll be eating some of my IBS foods but at least I can eat something. Poor Adam hasn't been able to have his FYH burger or reuben in weeks (we used to go at least once a week), so it'll be good to go there tonight.

day 23

2005-10-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Doing well today. I had a crazy tension headache yesterday that lasted for pretty much the entire day. Gotta make sure my stress level isn't affecting my health. I think the fact that I forgot my vitamin C waters yesterday may have played a role in how I felt. To make matters worse, I forgot them today too! I'm doubling up at night to help it but since it leaves your system after 1 1/2 hours there's only so much you can do when most of the day is gone before you start drinking it. Gotta remember it for the rest of the week-- I don't feel as good when I'm without the C these days.

Today's foods:
org. banana
org. carrot juice
dried mango and pineapple, unsulfured and unsweetened
leftovers: whole wheat pasta w/ spinach in an onion, garlic, cream, butter, salt, cheese sauce (no beets left, we ate those last night too)
org. orange
org. plum
walnuts
crackers

No idea about dinner but we're meeting up with another photographer tonight. Hoping that this is the guy for us. His references are great so far and I like him so far over the phone! Sheesh, it'd be really good to scratch that one off the wedding planning list!! I'm guessing dinner will be rushed since I won't be home until late. Maybe just a bowl of cereal w/ a banana or something... We'll see when I get home. Adam is riding tonight after we meet the photog, so it's just me I need to cook for. Guess I'll see how hungry I am then and judge by that. That's a good thing about my ND foods, there are lots of healthy snacks I can grab through the day but usually at night I either want a full meal or just something small if I don't feel like cooking. I'm not eating whatever's available or picking something up while I'm out when I don't feel like cooking. THAT is a great change!

day 22

2005-10-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here we start the 4th week with EPC foods! I'm pretty proud of myself for doing it so far, but I'm so focused on getting better that this is a lot easier than some of the "diets" I've done in the past. At least this time I really am looking at it as a way of life rather than a diet.

My stomach has been doing really well with this stuff since I stopped eating those major IBS foods (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc). The real test is going to be when we go to Clint and Heidi's wedding on the Queen Mary on Oct. 15th. I will be eating as close to ND foods as I can, but you can't really specifically ask for this or that when you're eating at a wedding...

Today's foods:
org. banana
org. mozzarella string cheese (milk, salt, enzymes)
walnuts
dried mango and pineapple slices (unsulfured and unsweetened)
leftover carrot casserole (carrots, milk, cheese, butter, salt, yeast-free breadcrumbs)
crackers
almond cookies (recipe on PCOSliving, made them last night. interesting and pretty tasty!)
org. plum
org. orange

Not sure about dinner tonight. Depends on if I go to the store. If I don't go to the store I'm thinking about doing a rice pasta with spinach, onion, shallots, etc in a l/f cream sauce.

Halloween pic

2005-09-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Who/what should we be this Halloween? We should probably start planning it now!

Cora

2005-09-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

Here's Blackie's sister. She's really a girlie girl cat. Has sweet little mews and is just very graceful and dainty and sweet. Sometimes a little too sweet but it's usually requires a love-fest for about 10 minutes a day and then she's back to being lovely and not at all annoying. :)

Blackie

2005-09-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Here's my boy. The 18 pounder. He's a big love bug, but mostly just to me. It took him a while to like Adam (jealous, I'm sure) but they're good now. :)

Pandora

2005-09-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Pan Pan (Pizza! Pizza!-- sorry, little in joke we have around our house). She looks so serious in pictures but she doesn't look like that when you actually see her!

day 19

2005-09-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't post yesterday b/c the only thing I could do was stay glued to streaming video from the local news stations. The fire has gotten within maybe 10 miles from the house now and it feels awful around there. Smoke all through the sky like you wouldn't believe. I've got a killer headache and a cough today b/c of the smoke and carbon monoxide in the air. I feel terrible for my animal's tiny little lungs. Poor babies.

Yesterday's foods were pretty standard. Didn't feel like making dinner so I had frozen grapes and cheese and bread. The bread was horribly dry and I tried to make a dressing out of ok ingredients but it was just gross.

Today I'm having:
org. oj
org. banana
org. Horizon string cheese (milk, salt, enzymes)
cheese and crackers for lunch
peach
dried mango and pineapple

Not sure what I'm going to do for dinner. Guess it all depends on whether Adam decides to go to Big Bear tonight. I'll probably make the pesto pasta I was going to make last night.

day 17

2005-09-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well not it really seems like I'm getting into further along with this thing. Day 17. Cool.

Last night I didn't feel like cooking and Adam was supposed to ride (mountain bike ride = Del Taco or Taco Bell for him, he looks forward to it) so I made some cheese and crackers when I got home from work and had a bowl of cereal (100% whole wheat, nothing else) with a banana later in the evening. Lame, I know, but we all have those days!

Today's foods at this point will be:
org. oj
org. baby banana
frozen grapes
Quilts crackers
cheeses (all only milk, enzymes and salt)
unsweetened and unsulfured pineapple rings and mango slices
peach
peppermint tea
walnuts

For dinner I think I'm going to make the mashed red potatoes that I was going to do last night and some sort of other veggie. Can't remember what else is in the fridge!

I'm feeling pretty good at this point. Look forward to checking my weight and measurements on Sunday with my new scale!

day 16

2005-09-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

Here I am, chugging along with this ND way of life. I think I'm doing pretty well with it so far. I found a problem with a food last night which was a surprise-- don't know how I missed it in the store. The tahini I buy from Whole Foods says (in the tiniest font you've even seen) that it's processed in a plant that also produces treenuts, soy, etc. Unfortunately that means that I'm going to have to track down another tahini soon. I am having it for lunch today in the meantime. Hopefully it won't affect things too much until I can get a new one.

Ok, so last night I sauteed spinach with a little butter and lemon juice and roasted potatoes, beets and parsnips with grapeseed oil, salt and fresh rosemary. I made the tahini dressing but added some yogurt this time to it. Seemed to cut the overpowering sesame-ness of it a bit and made it creamier. Yummy dinner!

Today's foods include:
org. carrot juice
peppermint tea
org. banana (2 b/c they're the tiniest ones you've ever seen!)
fresh pineapple
dried mango
peach
Quilts crackers
leftover root veggies and tahini
walnuts

For dinner, I'm not sure yet. I think I'll make some mashed potatoes with the org. red potatoes we bought this weekend, but I'm not sure what else I'll make with it.

Feeling good. Now that I've removed the IBS foods like cauliflower and brussel sprouts, I'm not having the cramping and bloating that I had before. A little achiness in my shoulder b/c I slept wrong but other than that, I just feel good. That's a long time coming. :)

day 15

2005-09-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

Busy weekend! Whew!

So last night for dinner I made an adapted version of Emeril Lagasse's mac and cheese that was pretty tasty. Could have been a little more creamy-- I think next time I'll add more milk and less flour. I can't imagine how dry it would have been had I added the breadcrumbs that he suggested! I also made green beans (bummer not to be able to add soy sauce, I love them with a little bit of it.) and corn on the cob.

Today's foods:
org. carrot juice
org. banana
unsweetened and unsulfured org. dried pineapple rings
peach
leftovers from dinner
org. orange
100% whole wheat crackers "Quilts", got at WF

I've decided to remove some of the IBS foods for a little while until I get this under control a bit more. Since my gut isn't healed, my IBS is still causing gassiness and bloating. I'm going to stay away from cauliflower, brussel sprouts and cabbage (as well as broccoli and onions, but not as much). I'm going to use less garlic but not eliminate it altogether.

I bought a new scale last night (was hoping to do it before yesterday's weigh in but just didn't have the time earlier in the weekend) that's a Weight Watchers scale. They're good because their accuracy is better than most. To two tenths of a pound. I know I'm not doing the measuring correctly because I can't seem to take it in the same spots and some areas look like they've gone up and others have gone down. That just doesn't make sense, so I know I'm doing it wrong. I'll get the hang of it at some point...

More importantly, I have other symptoms that are either better or have gone away. My achiness and joint pain that I had before is gone. Once I stopped eating the brussel sprouts and cauliflower my stomach problems went away. I have this new sense of calm that is hard to explain but even when something is really trying, I have this underlying relaxed feeling that dominates even when I'm upset or angry. Related to that, my moodiness in general is much, much better.

I haven't gotten the crazy drops in weight or inches that I was hoping for yet, but the fact that there is any change in that at all (crappy scale says I've dropped 4 pounds which for me is a miracle) shows that this is working. Particularly since I am consuming lots of calories and fat through dairy and nuts that ordinarily would cause an increase in weight for me. Glad I'm starting week 3 today. It's nice to be getting further along with it-- it is becoming easier as I go and as I know what to look for when I really need something quickly. On Saturday we were going to a party for one of Adam's co-workers, Marc. It was a cookout, etc and I knew I needed to get something to eat in advance. We went to Whole Foods and I found a cheese that was just milk, salt and enzymes and crackers (those Quilts ones, like Triscuits) and ate that before we went with a green tea that only contains what's on my list. I felt great and was totally full- no desire to go hunt through everything looking for veggie foods.

I need to ask Ian about a date sugar that I found yesterday at Whole Foods. The ingredients are dates and whole wheat flour, both of which I can have. Hope so, that can be used in place of sugar much more easily than rice syrup since it's powdered! :)

day 12

2005-09-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Alright! I'm making my way through this ND way of life pretty well!

Last night after my massage (which was terrible, more on that in a minute) I didn't feel like cooking so I just had a bowl of cereal (100% whole wheat) with milk and an org. banana. Funny thing was I wasn't really hungry either. Nice change.

Adam had a frozen TJ pizza with veggie crumblies and accidentally put the open bag of them on top of the butter and cheeses in the fridge. Contamination city! Now I'm totally worried about eating that stuff but I can't just throw out a whole fridge full of food because of this. Anyway, we'll see if it affects anything. Guess it's a good experiment...

I had so much cramping last night (still revenge of the sprouts?) that I was apprehensive about going to get the massage. I now know to cancel appointments when I feel like that. It was a miserable experience. I was totally tensed up and in anguish through the whole thing. Not to mention the horrendous fear that I'd accidentally let 'er rip in the middle of the thing. Sheesh. Don't try that one, people. Learn from my mistake!

Foods for today:
org. oj
org. banana
yeast free bread
soft full fat cheese (it's like a mix between brie and gorgonzola)-- so yummy
grapes
handful of nuts
org. brown rice cakes

As for dinner, I'm not quite sure what we're having. We're going to see Willy Porter play at McCabe's guitar shop in Santa Monica (finally! too long between WP shows!!) so I'm not sure what I'll make beforehand. It's going to be a busy couple of days.

Have a good weekend all!

day 11

2005-09-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling really good today. A little funky in the tummy but nothing totally out of whack, just a little brussel sprout revenge-- internal gasiness. My energy seems to be increasing and my ankle swelling seems to be getting better. It usually comes and goes so I don't want to get overly excited about it for a bit until I know it's not just a temporary change. I can't wait to weigh and measure myself on Sunday. I'm sure that things are getting better, I'm starting to feel a real difference in my energy and puffiness. Still having some mood swings, but that may either be from food withdrawals or b/c I'm coming up to my period in a few days.

Last night I made brussel sprouts and scalloped potatoes. I haven't made scalloped potatoes in years but I found a recipe online that didn't contain any trigger foods for me (except for black pepper, which I substituted for dried rosemary), and figured I'd give it a shot. I'm making a lot of potatoes lately (I've been avoiding them before now because of the high glycemic index) but Adam doesn't really like them... I asked him the other day if there was any cooking method where he really liked them and he said scalloped. Figured I'd give it a shot.

I have to say, it was pretty tasty. It had: thinly sliced potatoes, butter, milk, whole wheat flour, salt, rosemary and cheddar cheese (shredded a little bit of asiago over it at the end, too). I also made a huge salad (the remnants of which I'm having for lunch) of spring mix lettuce, avocado, beets and kidney beans. I made the tahini dressing again (tahini, fresh lemon juice, garlic, avocado oil, salt) for it but this time I added chopped walnuts to it to give it a little crunch.

I know Adam is feeling like he's missing a main course (we used to eat so many soy-based meat substitutes) but at least he's not going without a huge plate of nutritious food. He'll get used to being without the fake meats after a while, I think. Plus, he's still eating other foods when he's not at home. (How was that French Toast slam yesterday, honey?) :-)

I had a request for the info about my casserole thingy I made the other day (thanks, Tara!), so here's what I did. I originally planned to make twice-baked potatoes but when I finished baking them the first time around I tried to scoop out the middles and the skins fell apart. I figured I'd just get out a big pan and throw the stuff all together.

First, I baked about 6 medium sized-potatoes in the oven with a little grapeseed oil rolled on them. I started cooking broccoli (cut into tiny pieces, like the size of a nickel or dime) with a little butter on the stove in this huge new pan we just got from Target. It's monstrous and I love it!!

I then attemped to scoop out all the middles into the pan and added butter, milk and salt. I mashed the potatoes with a potato masher and then decided to use all those floppy potato peels, so I cut them up and added them to the mix. I then added shredded cheddar and some shredded parmesan or asiago, can't remember which. I added more milk to keep it from sticking. That's about it! It wound up being kinda like mashed potatoes but with chunks of potato skin, broccoli and cheese in it.

Ok, so on to today's foods:
org. oj
org. carrots
org. banana
org. grapes
mango slices
pistachios
leftover salad and dressing from last night

No clue about dinner yet. I may stop at the store after my massage. Sooo defeats the purpose of it though, doesn't it? At least I'm going into Whole Foods and not Vons or something. There's at least a little more of a healthy, positive atmosphere there.

I went to the ortho doc last night and although I was having a bad ankle day yesterday he agreed that things were getting better. I now only have to use the crutch when I do a lot of walking (like if I'm in a store, etc) and the rest of the time no crutch! :)

So that's for the next 3 weeks and then I start physical therapy. Woo-hoo! Finally! I'm pretty sure my EPC foods will help me over the next couple of weeks to reduce the inflammation in my leg, too. There are days where it barely hurts at all and others where it barely feels like it's gotten better. He thinks that with the PT that I'll be back to normal soon after that. I hope I get to pick the PT-- had a great one in Calabasas for my headaches back in the day. I'm guessing not though since there's a PT place on the bottom floor of the ortho building. Eh, we'll see when the time comes.

I'm going to have a food challenge when I go to a wedding in October, but the plan is to eat before I go, pick at the food that's offered to me and eat as close to the diet as I can. It'll be good practice since those things are going to come up along the way. A co-worker of mine wants to go to lunch next week and insists that I should do it even though he knows about my diet and food restrictions, etc. I think I might, just as a test, but will put it off for a couple more weeks first to get the inflammation more under control. We're going to go to CPK and I'm planning to get a salad (bring my own dressing) that only has ok'd foods in it. We'll see what they can do with that...

reality tv

2005-09-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

I think it's really funny that Adam and I are the only people we know that have been watching Rockstar: INXS. INXS was my first big band favorite in middle school-- I loved them and knew the words to all their songs. For my first poster purchases as a kid I bought 3-- the one of INXS, and 2 kids dressed up as punks. I wonder if they still have that poster out there. Well, can't find it in a quick search online. But they were cute. Back to my point. The show was good! It was nice to see up-and-coming vocalists sing songs that I loved. And as much of a jerk as I thought JD Fortune was in the beginning, I ended up 100% backing him in the end. They made the right choice. The others had talent but he was the only one that could sing the INXS songs the way they're meant to be sung.

I was all kinds of anti-reality show for a while. But then I found some good ones. I found some that not only were truly entertaining to watch but that had positive outcomes. I'm tired of watching trash on TV. I'm tired of all the negative and the laugh tracks and the same stuff over and over. I enjoy watching someone pursue a goal and accomplish it. So you know what, I don't care what anyone thinks about reality TV. There's some really positive messages out there in them and there are some people really doing something with their life as a result. I am inspired by shows like Biggest Loser, Rockstar: INXS, Amazing Race, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, etc. I know some of it is altered to keep it interesting. Who cares? It's closer to real than a sitcom. It's about time we had something positive on the air.

day 10

2005-09-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

So I had little motivation to cook last night and decided to have some cheese and crackers for dinner. Later on I had a bowl of cereal with organic milk and an org. banana. (How great is it that there's a cereal out there that's only ingredient is whole wheat?!?) The cereal is from Trader Joe's and is called "Shredded Bite Size Wheats".

Today's plan:
organic oj
organic carrot juice
banana
nuts
org. brown rice cakes
org. grapes
mango slices (unsulfured and unsweetened)
swiss cheese (all ingr. ok) and Ryvita crackers (ingr: whole grain rye, salt. also says "manufactured in a plant that processes sesame seeds", which is also ok for me)

and good old water with vit. C.

Dinner seems miles away right now but I do need to cook up the rest of the brussel sprouts and I'm contemplating making homemade (baked) potato chips. No clue what else I'm going to make-- I certainly need to make a salad with all of that lettuce that's about to go bad in the fridge, so I'll probably make one with lettuce, cucumber, kidney beans and tahini dressing.

I've got my ortho doc appointment today. Too bad I spent Monday walking around the house without my crutch b/c my leg is hurting today. Not a good way to convince your doc you're done with your crutch. Hopefully he'll say I can be done with it soon. Sometimes it seems almost completely better, other times it's as if it hasn't healed at all. If he thinks it's getting worse he's going to put me in a cast-- how does one explain to an orthopedic surgeon that it's a result of gut intolerance and that it'll fix itself?!?

As an aside, the one big challenge that I've found with the ND foods is that I am eating foods that I was avoiding because of my IBS. Since the inflammation has not been able to be reversed yet, my IBS is still in full swing with some of these foods. I can't tell you how bloated I look when I eat certain foods like cauliflower. I love it but man, it hits me hard. I look forward to the time where my PCOS is under control to the point that my IBS is under control. It's like killing two birds with one ND diet (no offense to the birds).

So as of Sunday, which was only 5 days after the first time I weighed myself (didn't get a scale or tape measure until Tuesday night of last week), I had lost 5 pounds. The bad thing is that I may have lost 10, I may have lost 2 or I may have lost 5. 5 is what came up the most so I'm sticking with that one. Why? I'm not sure how accurate that is because the scale sucks. My advice, friends, don't buy a $20 scale from Target (that's probably obvious to the rest of you but I thought it would work in a pinch). I think I'm going to take it back before I weigh myself again this Sunday. It's a worthy investment.

As for the measuring, I've totally screwed that up too. I don't think I'm measuring the same spots which totally defeats the purpose of this. I guess the good thing is that I'm down from what I was before, but it's probably going to take me a couple of weeks before I start doing it correctly and get good, accurate results to show everyone.

Ah, well. It's all a learning process and at least for the first time in so long I can't remember, things are FINALLY going in the right direction!

day 9

2005-09-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been slacking on the blogging over the last couple of days. I took yesterday off of work and at 11 am decided to take a nap... 4 1/2 hours later I woke up!! Guess my body is recovering from these changes to my diet. We've added dairy (with all ingredients checked) to the foods and it has made cooking much, much easier. I made a spinach and whole wheat fettucine alfredo (sheesh, how long has it been since I had that) and brussel sprouts on Sunday night that rocked the house. Yum. Who thought there'd be a diet that said ok to that?!?

Also, on Friday night I made "Mexican" wraps with homemade guacamole, mango salsa (not a tomato in sight), sour cream, cheese, lettuce and spicey (my spices from ok list) kidney beans wrapped in the corn wraps I found at Whole Foods that only contain corn, wheat and water. So good and Adam loved it too!

Last night for dinner I made cauliflower and a potato, broccoli and cheese casserole. It's not what I originally planned to make but that's what we ended up with and it was actually really good!

Today's foods:
organic oj
org. banana
org. carrots
pineapple
leftovers from dinner
nuts
mango slices (unsweetened and unsulfured)

I've been in a bit of a funk over the last couple of days but I'm sure it's because of withdrawals-- I'm sure the recovery takes longer than a week.

Not sure what I'm going to make for dinner tonight. Probably something involving the veggies we have in the fridge and some sort of grain.

day 5

2005-09-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well, the restrictions on certain foods are making me very creative. The problem with creativity is that sometimes it results in something incredible and sometimes it's awful. The latter category is how I'd describe dinner last night. So now I know that barley should not be made like rice and should not have sesame seed oil, spinach, garlic, salt, savory and lemon juice in it. Sounds like it'd be good, but no way. Yuck. Adam was sweet to attempt to eat it.

The butternut squash turned out a little better. I wouldn't exactly say it was a resounding success but it was a little more edible. In that I boiled the butternut squash and then baked it with a little butter and drizzled a little of the rice syrup on it. Threw some savory on top for good measure. :)

Anyway, not looking forward to lunch today as it's the leftovers from last night but sustenance is sustenance! I'm just glad I'm not eating food that's making me sick.

More today with the same snacks:
dried mango slices
org. brown rice cakes
nuts, nuts, nuts
org. banana
org. oj

And lots o' Vit. C water!

I'm actually looking forward to coming home tonight and cooking. I'm getting my massage today instead of tomorrow so my motivation to cook might be down some after that but I am enjoying the adventure of creating dishes that work within the diet. Next week starts the use of dairy (but I'm going to be careful to not do it in excess) which should add a ton of new options!

day 4

2005-09-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

Ha-ha! Day 4! Feels good to be chugging along with this thing. Can't wait until I've hit the 1 month mark with it!

Ok, so... Last night we had the pesto on whole wheat pasta and spinach with lemon juice & grapeseed oil. I had a glass of 100% concord grape juice with it.

Today's menu is:
100% organic oj
organic banana
organic brown rice cakes
organic carrots
dried mango slices (unsulfured and unsweetened)
grapes
nut mix (almonds, walnuts, peanuts-- salted)
leftover pesto pasta

For dinner I'm pondering making:
roasted butternut squash
sauteed spinach with lemon and grapeseed oil
big salad of lettuce, kidney beans, carrots, cucumber with tahini dressing
might try to make barley tonight too-- never made it other than in soup before.

And as always, my trusty vitamin C water is close at hand throughout the day.

So I feel that I'm doing pretty well here with this. It requires a bit of planning, but what life change doesn't? I feel good about this and am glad that the toxins from all of that crappy food that I've been eating is leaving my system. Things will get a little easier when I add dairy (cow's milk/cheese/yogurt is on my ok list) but for now I'm having fun with a revised version of a vegan diet. It's nice to be eating so many vegetables and whole grain foods. I don't want to get into the habit of relying on dairy to be the main course in this but it'll be nice when it is added b/c a lot more options will open up.

I feel even better today. I'm not getting enough sleep but I'm still doing just fine. My body's aches aren't obvious and I do feel more alert than my sleepy day I had yesterday. Tomorrow I'm getting my massage and he's going to work on the legs most, particularly my messed up one. We're getting pretty far with it and I can really feel a difference these days. I'm just glad I'm finally taking control of my health!

day 3

2005-09-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so last night we had:
fresh steamed brussel sprouts
brown rice and kidney beans with basil, savory and a little egg white
corn on the cob
100% concord grape juice

Today I plan to have:
organic banana
organic oj
nut mix
dried mangos
pistachios
brown rice cakes
carrots
grapes
leftover rice and kidney beans and brussel sprouts

Tonight I'm thinking of cooking:
pesto on whole wheat pasta
spinach with garlic and lemon juice
fresh baby yellow beets, roasted w/ garlic and grapeseed oil

So far, so good! No major side effects/withdrawals, only the IBS on the first day (I'm thinking that might have been left over from what I ate the day before).

My biggest problem with it at the moment is just coming up with menus every day and realizing that I'm going to need to grocery shop a couple of times a week in order to keep the veggies fresh! :)

day 2

2005-09-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I figured it was a good idea to list my foods over the next few days. Nice to journal a new meal plan, at least at the beginning!

Last night's dinner wound up being:
baby potatoes, turnips and yellow beets roasted with grapeseed oil, salt, garlic, fresh chopped rosemary and savory
spring mix lettuce with kidney beans, cucumber and carrots
tahini dressing: tahini, garlic, juice from 2 fresh lemons, salt and avocado oil (100% avocado)
100% organic concord grape juice
5 dates

Oh yeah, and yesterday I didn't wind up having any of the rice cakes

This morning:
organic banana
organic 100% oj
nuts: walnuts, peanuts and almonds

Later today:
pistachios
grapes
organic brown rice cakes
dried mango slices
leftovers from dinner

All through the day: lots o' vitamin C water!

Dinner:
Not sure yet, possibly--
corn on the cob
fresh brussel sprouts
brown rice and kidney beans
maybe another salad

So that's day 2! Adam and I recorded my measurements last night. Let me tell ya, that was a treat. Nothing makes you feel more like shee-t than realizing your thighs are bigger than some women's waists. C'mon New Dawn! Looking forward to my new body and new energy!

New Dawn

2005-09-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

So I spent this weekend reviewing my list, pondering the options I had and considering the best way to do this. Yesterday we got rid of everything in the cupboards that was on the no list. It was nice-- felt like a fresh start. Last night we went to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and spend a couple of hours reviewing every little detail of the ingredients in everything.

I decided that I would only get items that were 100% on my ok list. No "well this thing has safflower oil and it's not on my no list..." If it wasn't on the ok list, it didn't go in the cart. Same for items that said that they were produced at a plant that also made an item on my "no" or not on the list. As pure as I could find it. I'm not even going to buy milk or yogurt until I've done this for a week or so, even though the ingredients are ok in it. It was a bummer to find that all of the non-milk milks (rice, almond, etc) all had other ingredients in them, but I'm going to eventually add milk into my diet (even though cow's milk is so bad for you, it's on the ok list so I'll add it back into my diet slowly).

Here's what's on the menu today:
1 organic banana and organic 100% (not from concentrate, fresh squeezed) oj
dried mangoes (nothing but mango, unsulfured and unsweetened)
organic rice cakes (organic brown rice, no other ingredients)
organic carrots
grapes (I think they're organic but can't remember, from TJ's)
peanut butter (nothing but peanuts for ingredients, NOT made in a plant w/ soy, etc)
pistachios, almonds, walnuts, peanuts

For dinner I plan to:
roast some potatoes, turnips, carrots and beets with fresh rosemary and one of my new oils (avocado, walnut, grapeseed? not sure which)
make a salad of lettuce, cauliflower and kidney beans and make a dressing of tahini, garlic and lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
might have some of my new unleavened bread, too

And as always, lots and lots of Vitamin C water. I also found an organic 100% concord grape (no apples in sight!) juice from TJ's that might go with tonight's dinner.

The one bummer is that we couldn't find the scale or the tape measure last night. Might just have to go out and buy them again-- I really want to keep track of these changes as I'm sure they'll start to happen very quickly.

Thanks to everyone who kept me positive while I waiting for the test results (Tulin, Kerim, August, Ginger, and all!!)--it made a world of difference! Here I gooooooo!!!!!

i feel like crud

2005-09-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Eating bad food for as long as we have now seems to really be taking its toll. I'm still taking the vitamin C and my other vitamins, but I can feel the effects of this on my body. I'm so thankful that Adam has been taking care of the food situation since I went on crutches (and taking care of everything else, too...), but I really need to start my ND diet soon. I can feel all kinds of body aches and tiredness, etc. I'm avoiding the scale b/c I dread thinking that I've been gaining weight during this time, too.
Hopefully the testing is going well over there-- I'm really anxious for the results but I definitely don't want them to rush it and risk inaccuracy.
It's amazing what processed foods will do to your health. This will be a good contrast to how I'll feel once I've been on the diet for a little while. I made a list of all the medical problems that I have/have had, upon Tulin's suggestion. It was good to come up with the list but I don't think I'll post the entire thing. Makes me feel like an ogre with some of these yucky symptoms. Here's a portion of the list:

body aches
headaches
pain/stiffness in joints
start of stress fracture
tiredness/exhaustion
difficulty waking up
no sex drive
don't want to be touched
thin hair/hair loss/shedding
swelling/puffiness throughout body
swollen ankles
weight gain
depression
allergies
yeast infections
droopy upper eyelids
low energy
food cravings (esp. salty foods)
IBS/Crohn's disease
bruising
skin tags

Gross. Can't wait to see changes. Gotta keep thinking that it's only a couple more days. I guess it's good that I've hit rock bottom right before I get better. It'll be easier to compare that way.
Anyway, more after I have some news-- I don't really have the energy to write more for now. Just gotta force myself to stay positive for a little longer and then it'll come naturally...

blood work

2005-08-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it's going to be a bit before I get the test results from Ian. No worries, we have it set up for next Monday and it'll be a pretty quick turn-around after that.
Got my labs back today that I asked my gyno doc to do so I'd have a baseline to compare before and after the New Dawn approach.
I should have done them about a month ago because I'm looking at solid proof right here that just upping your Vitamin C will help your PCOS symptoms! Adam and I have been eating terribly lately-- partially b/c I'm on crutches and don't want to cook and partially b/c I was looking (foolishly) at it as my last hurrah before a complete changeover in my diet. Anyway, in spite of all of this, I'm looking at liver panels that are completely within range. Unbelievable!! My c-rp is still showing positive, but I've only been doing the C for a little while. Unfortunately the lab didn't run the test properly and the only thing it shows is that I'm "positive" for c-rp (duh, I could have told them that). The nurse is looking into the possibility of getting more info from them. Let's hope.
My cholesterol is still high of course, but considering the "devil may care" attitude I've had with cheese and eggs lately (and the fact that I didn't fast before it!!), it's no wonder that it's still high.
I'm going to have to do more research on testosterone. I always thought that my PCOS was a result of an abnormally high testosterone level, but mine is way, way under normal levels. More to come when I know more.

excited and exhausted

2005-08-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am patient when I have a timeline, but when there's no timeline I get to a point where I have no patience whatsoever. I am sooooo anxious to get the results back. At first I was really excited for them for two main reasons: (1) I'm curious from a research standpoint what the data is and how it is presented and (2) I really want to know my foods to avoid. Now more than anything, I just want to know the foods-- I'm sick of feeling sick and just want to start getting better. Of course, I don't want the process hurried either-- I DO want accurate results, so I suppose I'm just going to have to continue to wait. Ugh.
It feels like I've got a carrot dangling in front of my face and it's just out of reach. I'm tired of feeling sick all the time and just want to start my New Dawn!
Hmm. Maybe I should start the elimination diet-- at least I'd know that I wasn't eating unhealthy food...

Docs, the test, C and me

2005-07-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm booked for Monday morning for the bloodwork! I'm really excited. I've started drinking my water with Vitamin C this week. Currently taking 6 grams per day but I may up it in about a week or so. I'm really looking forward to getting the test taken and getting moving with this thing!
I'm so thankful for Tulin and Kerim and the help that they've given me with everything. Adam's very appreciative of it too. I think he's really hopeful that these problems I have will get better soon. My symptoms don't just affect me, they definitely affect him too... so it's no suprise that in addition to wanting me to be healthy, he's looking forward to the positive changes for both of us.
I'm also hoping to get other bloodwork done soon w/ my gyno doc (she wouldn't be down with bloodwork to a lab she didn't know, so I'm not having my EPC stuff done there) so that I can get a baseline for c-rp, testosterone, cholesterol, glucose, etc. I need to remember to do the measurements soon, as strangely I'm already feeling less puffy (that the Vit. C working?). Hmm.
I've got an appointment with my ortho doc next week as well to see what he says about the boot. Guessing from the fact that my ankle and foot still hurt, I'm not expecting him to tell me I can stop wearing it. I just hope he doesn't say I have to wear crutches.
Man, I'm tired today. Maybe I'll up the Vit. C before the end of the week. It does seem to be helping with my energy a bit, and so far my stomach seems to be taking it with no problems.
It wouldn't be a surprise to me if I found out that wheat was one of my triggers. Seems that on the days I eat wheat I'm tired right after the meal and even the next day. Maybe it's soy, not wheat. Course it could also be something as random as asparagus. Who knows...

you are what you eat, drink and breathe...

2005-07-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Horrible article on Yahoo this morning shows how many toxins we have in our bodies. Unbelievable what we give to our children before they even take one breath! One more reason to think that people are having greater problems with illness b/c our immune sytems are already being compromised before we even get sick! (Makes you want to live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and grow your own food... as long as it's far away from contaminated streams, etc.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050714/hl_nm/chemicals_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report released on Thursday.
Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment.
The report by the Environmental Working Group is based on tests of 10 samples of umbilical-cord blood taken by the American Red Cross. They found an average of 287 contaminants in the blood, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA.
"These 10 newborn babies ... were born polluted," said New York Rep. Louise Slaughter, who spoke a news conference about the findings on Thursday.
"If ever we had proof that our nation's pollution laws aren't working, it's reading the list of industrial chemicals in the bodies of babies who have not yet lived outside the womb," Slaughter, a Democrat, said.
Cord blood reflects what the mother passes to the baby through the placenta.
"Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical-cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests," the report said.
Blood tests did not show how the chemicals got into the mothers' bodies, or what their effects might be on the babies.
MERCURY AND PESTICIDES
Among the chemicals found in the cord blood were methylmercury, produced by coal-fired power plants and certain industrial processes. People can breathe it in or eat it in seafood and it causes brain and nerve damage.
Also found were polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are produced by burning gasoline and garbage and which may cause cancer; flame-retardant chemicals called polybrominated dibenzodioxins and furans; and pesticides including DDT and chlordane.
The same group analyzed the breast milk of mothers across the United States in 2003 and found varying levels of chemicals, including flame retardants known as PBDEs. This latest analysis also found PBDEs in cord blood. Slaughter had similar tests done on her own blood.
"The stunning results show chemicals daily pumping through my vital organs that include PCBs that were banned decades ago as well as chemicals like Teflon that are currently under federal investigation," she said in remarks prepared for the news conference.
"I have auto exhaust fumes, flame retardant chemicals, and in all, some 271 harmful substances pulsing through my veins. That's hardly the picture of health I had hoped for, but I've been living in an industrial society for over 70 years."
The Government Accountability Office issued a report on Wednesday saying the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the powers it needs to fully regulate toxic chemicals.
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the EPA's Toxic Substances Control Act gives only "limited assurance" that new chemicals entering the market are safe and said the EPA only rarely assesses chemicals already on the market.
"Today, chemicals are being used to make baby bottles, food packaging and other products that have never been fully evaluated for their health effects on children -- and some of these chemicals are turning up in our blood," said New Jersey Democrat Sen. Frank Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record), who plans to co-sponsor a bill to require chemical manufacturers to provide data to the EPA on the health affects of their products.

Home is Where the Adam Is (usually)

2005-07-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, it's quiet here this weekend what with Adam at his cousin's wedding (aside from Bodie's barking and whining b/c he's gone). In some ways it's nice to have some time to myself, but it feels so strange when he's not around. We're used to doing almost everything together so when we're not together for longer than an evening we both feel like we should be getting back to each other!

Some say that you should have plenty of time without each other to appreciate the time you have together, but I know my life is infinitely better when he's around already-- I don't need that reminder! He'll be back tomorrow so it's not that long, but it is amazing all the little things that get done so much easier when there are two people (ha, or just him) doing them! You don't realize how often a puppy has to go outside until you are down to one person doing it.

I booked my PCOS test with the epc site last night, just waiting now to hear what dates are available. Look forward to getting started with that. I've been reading New Dawn when I have a moment and I'm almost done. I may spend a good bit of tonight finishing it and working on Insulin Time Bomb. I'm very glad that there are two options for that, as usually I would have to do the elimination diet rather than the test, but I am also grateful that we had the extra money to put towards the test. (Hey, who needs to pay their bills on time anyway?) I hope we can get enough together so that he can be tested as well. I would love to be able to find the reason for the medical problems that he has too. Just falls in line with all of the other natural health things we've been doing over the last couple of years.

Ok, more at another time. Gonna go do some wedding research and then take Bodie to his training class. (I have to admit, considering how sweet and quiet Ella is, it's nice to have a loud, male, protector-type dog around the house, too.)

carbolicious

2005-07-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

If you ever want to know how processed foods in our society have become, go into Whole Foods with the goal of finding foods without corn, soy or wheat. And this is at "WHOLE Foods"-- I shudder to think of all of the processing in the regular stores.

I found a spelt pasta last night at WF that is really good. What is Spelt, you may ask? It's one of the earliest grains ever farmed (along with yummy fierce competitor quinoa, pronounced keen-wah). It's a much less refined grain than wheat (although it is a distant cousin), and because of its protective husk it's much less likely to be affected by pollutants and insects, hence less of a likelihood of pesticide use during farming. (The one I bought was organic though, so no need to worry about that for this one.)

It has also been found to be an alternative to wheat for some people who have wheat sensitivities.

I'm not saying no to carbs though. I'm taking the New Dawn test in August to find out what I need to avoid (hooray no elimination diet, just being more careful as much as I can until I've been tested and my results are back).

I'd duke it out with the best of the Atkins crowd regarding carbs. There is a reason why our intellectual evolution increased dramatically with the advent of carb consumption. Regardless of how many of 'em I find I need to avoid, I WILL find alternatives. Heh. I'm the queen of research and I look at my life as one big research project. Just call me guinea pig.

Wait-- on second thought, don't call me guinea pig. Just think of me as one. Pass the kale, please...

testing, testing

2005-07-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

So Adam and I just talked and we've decided that we'll most likely go ahead with the test for me. Wish we could afford to have both of us do it now, but we can't and my symptoms are more severe than his. Hopefully at some point we can get his done too...

Still waiting on my books. That's probably the most frustrating thing for me right now because I am so motivated and yet I have to wait and wait and wait. I hope at some point it will be set up where these will be shipped from inside the US so that delivery times will be less than a week rather than over a month. Also frustrating when someone from outside the US ordered and got theirs in a week's time. Lucky dog! :)

Mail hasn't come yet today, so I'm going to think happy thoughts for it to arrive this afternoon. Once it comes, goodbye world, it'll be Meredith vs. the book until its done!

mere pic

2005-06-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

mere

Well, here I am just trying to figure these things out. Some of the moving around through Picasa and Hello over to blogs and to PCOS living is a little more than my distracted mind can parse right now. Guess I'll just leave this here until I decide to do more with it.

bear after haircut

2005-06-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Ella and Bodie in Lala Land

2005-06-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

Ella Bear is the sweetest dog on the planet. She just wants love. That's all she asks for... love. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we learned a little something from her?

So her new puppy friend Bodie (we've had him for a month-- he's 5 1/2 months but looks bigger in this pic b/c of the angle) has decided that when we're not looking he should chew on Bear's face. She's got some eye problems as a result. I decided to try out these Doggles to help her during this. I can't believe she's willing to wear them but she looks awfully cute, doesn't she? (got them at entirelypets.com) (One pic is before a shave and a haircut (two bits) and the other is after.)

Adam thinks it's ridiculous, but animals have the same UV issues that we do so it's actually a good thing to do for your dogs when they're out in the sun (only use while you're watching them, of course).

I think it'll be a lot more training sessions for Bodie before he gets his own pair of Doggles. If my glasses and Adam's cell phone (buh-bye number 9) are any indication, everything is a chew toy in the eyes of the Bodmeister.

foods to avoid and some random rantings

2005-06-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

I know waiting for the book is essential and that we all have different foods that affect us, but reading the info from Amy about corn and zucchini has really made me think. I've been doing some "what if it's _____ that I need to eliminate" and it's been interesting thinking about these what-ifs.

I've been thinking about this a lot after having read a posting last week that was on the PCOSA site. The woman wrote a scathing message to Ian about what she would and wouldn't do. She says she'd rather be sick than give up sugar. It's just amazing how incapacitated we are by the thought of eliminating foods.

I've been a vegetarian for 14 years now, so I know what it's like to eliminate foods. I eat dairy and eggs (some, not a lot), but there are many other things that I have eliminated. Adam and I were just talking the other day about how long it's been since I had a gummy bear or gummy cola bottle (yum, those gummy cola bottles were my favorite) and jello. The thing is, it may be briefly hard to give something up, but if you believe in it enough, giving up anything is worth it in the end.

So my what if game that I've been playing lately included sugar, soy, wheat, citrus, potatoes and a few other things (we've been eliminating a lot of other things too, just for general health and glucose levels). I've even considered the possibility (although I would hate it and feel guilty with every bite) of having to give up a vegetarian diet and go back to eating meat. I could do any of these, if it meant the difference between puffy, uncomfortable Meredith and happy in my own skin Meredith. I would do it, in a heartbeat, if it meant getting better and having that extra spring in my step.

I know we all have different financial situations, and trust me, I've been there (many times) when $25 was a huge amount to drop on something that wasn't a "necessity", but what greater necessity is your ability to live longer, healthier and happier? Is sugar or $25 really worth giving up the opportunity to move past PCOS? I don't think so, at least not for me.

Someone commented that the $25 was ridiculous to put towards a book that may or may not cure their PCOS and I do understand their skepticism (we've all been burned on this or that to lose weight). Another woman came back to say that it might save them countless sums in the long run on all the meds they are taking for this thing.

At one point a few years ago I was taking up to 9 different meds at once. At another point I was being given drugs that a few years earlier I never would have considered and was told that this would definitely fix my weight problem (Meridia, Phentermine, etc). All of those nasty meds that altered my body in whatever way chemically didn't do squat for my weight. The doc even told my other doc that the only explanation was that I was psychologically imbalanced (she didn't say it that nicely) because the things she told me to do would have worked on anyone else.

No wonder we feel like crap about ourselves as a result of the symptoms of PCOS. The docs make us feel terrible about ourselves, the media makes us feel less of a person for our body size and even the average person walking down the street takes one look at us and thinks about how much food such a big woman must eat to stay so big (especially here in LA!!). This is not only a medical issue, it's a cultural one, too. Thank god for the men who see larger women as beautiful, and thank god for our ability to think for ourselves.

It's somewhat of a surprise to see how many women with PCOS at one time had eating disorders, but it actually makes a great deal of sense. Even at 100 pounds I thought I was enormous, and I can still remember thinking how huge I was compared to my tiny, beautiful step-sisters and my thin friends (it didn't help that at 5'7" in 5-6th grade I towered over the other girls). If we were predisposed to have eating disorders and the depression and body image issues that came along with it, well geez-- no wonder we are where we are today!

I'm excited about taking my natural health knowledge and the info in the books and turning this info into a life change. How great is it that we may have the opportunity to help the future generations of PCOS-inclined women before their symptoms start? We're around at a good time and I hope we all are able to share what we learn with others so that we can help eradicate the majority of sufferers of this thing. There will always be the skeptics that refuse to give up sugar or corn or whatever, so we can't help everyone, but we certainly can do something about all of the women who are ready to make that change.

dolphins and swelling

2005-06-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like a dolphin to make everything seem a-ok! This pic was from an amazing 2 week trip that I took to Hawaii in 2001, volunteering for an organization that studies dolphin intellect. While that's not my focus in school anymore, I still scan the horizon every time I'm near the ocean in hopes that I might see some sort of marine mammal. Don't know if I'd ever get to work and home if I took PCH on a regular basis.

Maybe that's it-- maybe it's not PCOS! I'm just growing sympathy blubber! My wish from childhood that I could be a dolphin is finally materializing! hehe.

It's amazing to see how different I look, even in just 4 years. I've probably gained 45 pounds since then and you can really see it in my face... well actually, you can really see it everywhere. Not so much in the pic below it, but in many of the pics we have. I remember when I was in high school I thought I was monstrous (at 135-140 lbs) but back then I had not one stitch of a stomach. These days no matter what, I can't hide that infamous PCOS midsection.

I think one of the reasons why I'm already in agreement with a book I have yet to read is that the concept of these symptoms being a result of inflammation makes so much sense! I read so many posts that people use the terms "swollen" and "puffy" that... of course!... inflammation would be the cause.

Here's the definition of it from dictionary.com:
in·flam·ma·tion ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nfl-mshn)n.
1. The act of inflaming or the state of being inflamed.
2. A localized protective reaction of tissue to irritation, injury, or infection, characterized by pain, redness, swelling, and sometimes loss of function.

I have this weird problem with one of the bones in my left leg that was made worse when I started doing aggressive working out with a trainer in the beginning of the year (yeah, that's all I needed was anything that would suggest I shouldn't exercise). They did an MRI and said that my bone was inflamed and that if it continued that I'd get a stress fracture. So I'm walking around in one of those ski-boot lookin' brace boots until my appointment next week. The sports med doc told me if it wasn't better by then I'd have to go on crutches for a month. I hate to admit it, but my ankle does not feel any better. Stupid crutches-- that'll be fun!

Anyway, here's my thought. If the rest of my body has all these problems due to inflammation, why not my bones, too? Makes me think that it's possible that when I figure out the problem with the rest of my body that this problem will get better too. Seems to make sense, doesn't it?

Hope that book comes today! I actually have several people I'd want to buy it for as well, but since it's been nearly a month now, I don't want to buy any more until I get the first one.

Have a great day everyone.

meredith and phoenix in hawaii

2005-06-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

mere with phoenix

Adam and Meredith

2005-06-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Adam and Meredith

New Days and a New Dawn

2005-06-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I want to thank Tulin personally for sharing her story and mentioning the blogs of some of the women affected by PCOS, and the men who share in their pain and provide strength during the difficult times. Her story has mirrored my own and has given me new excitement for the end of my PCOS! Thank you to Kerim, Tarra, Matt and Amy for making your blogs and inspiring me to do one as well. I really look forward to tracking the changes in my body once I get these books!

Over the last couple of months I have become quite the slacker with regards to my classes-- I'm studying to get my doctor of natural health degree (through Clayton College of Natural Health), and have barely cracked a book in ages. Once I get back into it I really think I'll be able to pick up steam and move along nicely! I'm very much looking forward to taking my experience with PCOS (and all the many other symptom-related problems I have/have had-- IBS, Crohn's, depression... the list goes on and on) and applying what I've learned in a business that helps many people, particularly women with inflammatory conditions.

Can't wait for New Dawn and Insulin Time Bomb! I'm very excited about the changes that will come as a result.