Food for June 21

June 21, 2011 in diet with 0 Comments

So each day this week, on the way back from the gym in the am, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up vegetables for the day. I’m going to just start with what I bought today, which, funny as it is, includes no vegetables!

Today I bought organic, unsalted cashews. An organic orange chocolate bar. (Of which I only break a piece of when having a cocoa craving!) And a Naked “Red Machine” which I just sip though the day.

For lunch I had whole wheat noodles (soon to be eliminated) with extra virgin olive oil and fresh ground salt and pepper.

For dinner I had two slices of whole wheat (again, soon to be eliminated)  bread with Jif peanut butter.

I have to get rid of some of the things I have around the house, so for now, some items are not organic. I know it appears I did not eat much today, but I did snack a lot – and I am adjusting to this, so I am sure soon, I will consume more. And right now, for some reason, I really have been very satisfied with what I have eaten. I have consumed less but have had wacked energy bursts.

 

Anxiety

June 21, 2011 in milk with 1 Comment

Anxiety. This is tough for me to publicly announce. When I was in my early-mid-twenties, I was hospitalized for a week from anxiety. I had gotten to a point where I would end up on public bathroom floors and become immobile with fear. I would literally be afraid I had eaten something bad and was going to vomit or shit my pants. This fear caused me to start cutting foods out of my diet and that started with chicken. I thought I was getting sick from chicken. Then, red sauce… and it all went down hill from there. Right before I went into the hospital I was 112 lbs and had been living off of cream of rice and chocolate milk. They were my ‘safe’ foods. It was very uncomfortable for me to be 112 lbs. That is underweight for a person of 5’5” height.

I was really lucky to have two awesome therapists since then and one amazing psychiatrist. These people really cared for me and believed in me. They saw the huge amount of effort I poured into getting better. Yes, when I was very ill, I took medications to help me function. This went with the therapy and eventually, my own thoughts were enough to keep me from such anxiety. These days, I am doing real well. I had some serious anxiety a year ago but I know when it is coming and to reach out for help, so I am OK!

What that came down to was HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL. Last year, I had started the Nuva Ring again. It was like throwing gasoline on a small fire. I finally figured this out – went to the pharmacy and pulled my records from the time I began birth control to that day. I compared this to my history of anxiety and it lined up. RIGHT ON THE MONEY. I had poisoned myself with estrogen through my entire 20′s. There was one exception to this, the anxiety I had in 6th and 7th grade. I now understand that the three months I spent over the toilet, thinking I was going to puke as a kid, was from the hormone changes during early puberty. (That poor little kid!) What is more important about my youths bout with anxiety, before each panic attack, my Dad would have fixed me a beautiful, wonderful, PERFECT chocolate milkshake.

I believe at this time, that the remaining high anxiety moments (occurring randomly with no reason) in my life are from the imbalances in my hormones caused from a poor, poor diet.

Now, because of my history, I am a little nervous about playing with my diet. However this time, I am armed with LOTS of great info on HOW to eat, where as before, I was just… thinking things were making me sick and eliminating them one by one for no reason. I didn’t add new foods to my diet then and now, I am armed with natural food stores, tons of great recipe blogs and  the information superhighway.

Symptoms for changing my diet/milk elimination.

June 21, 2011 in acne, constipation, dairy, diet, heartburn, hormones with 6 Comments

Raw and dirty folks, here is what has been going on with my body and why I have chosen to stop consuming milk and other dairy products, cut way back on grains and make vegetables my primary source of nutrition.

Sinus problems. I have had a sinus headache a great majority of the time. I have pseudoephedrine with me all the time along with ibuprofen to knock out any sinus headache as soon as I feel it. If I do not, it gets out of control, hits migraine status and I can am useless of the rest of the day. I have to retire to a dark room with no noise. Milk/dairy causes phlegm, and not just in your nose, in your intestines as well. The constant irritation of phlegm and phlegm production in my sinuses is likely what has caused years of throbbing sinuses. I had gone to an ear/nose/throat specialist in my twenties as well, and although he didn’t see a problem, he prescribed me a medication to spray up my nose. I didn’t use it. My ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine worked better.

Acne. At 31 years old, I have waited and waited for my skin to clear up already! I have spent lots of money on products and even did the very destructive Accutane treatment in my mid-twenties. Accutane actually MUTATES the oil glands in your skin to help you produce less oil. I cannot believe I did that to myself. I do believe my body is strong enough to correct whatever damage I did since I was young and still am. It was something I was so embarrassed about, I was willing to take the risks that came with that medication. I knew my acne was coming from inside of me, I wash my face plenty and the infection always comes from far, far under my skin.

Heartburn. Since I was a KID, I took TUMS like crazy. My Dad lived off of them and so did I. My father and I would connect on ways we could combat our heartburn, sharing recommendations and our stories about drinking garbage so our intestines could be examined. I used to drink milk with red sauce and pizza… thinking the creamy-ness would sooth my acidic stomach. False. Milk causes an acidic stomach. So does cheese, yogurt and ice cream.

Constipation. Every time during a general physical my doctor would ask how much I went to the bathroom per week. “About two times”, I would say. She would always be surprised and give me a medication for IBS. I never took that medication. I don’t understand why her first instinct was to ask about my diet! Instead, I was immediately given a prescription for more toxins. There are SO MANY NATURAL ways to empty your large intestine, I don’t see how she didn’t mention them first. Anyhow, no wonder my damn stomach hurt all the time. And this could be another reason for heartburn, my digestive system just, isn’t flowing well – at all. My Grandpa loved cheese (dairy) too but always said you couldn’t eat too much because it was, “asshole solder“. Ha, that still makes me laugh.

Having a digestive tract that isn’t emptying out regularly is very, very unhealthy. Toxins are not leaving my body at the rate that they should be. My body has to eliminate toxins though my skin when this occurs, causing acne and pre-mature aging. I have lately seen my age more than I think I should as well.

Other hormone imbalances. I haven’t had any issues with mood that have gotten me into trouble, but I have absolutely hurt some feelings and put some relationships on the rocks. Milk is full of estrogen which is given to cattle in order to keep them producing milk at a maximum rate. I am interested to see if my monthly cycle is effected by the missing 7-9 glasses of hormone filled milk I would usually consume per day. Estrogen is a very serious culprit for me with anxiety as well.

Anxiety. I am going to create another post for my history of anxiety. See it here. I am now sure it is related to estrogen but I think milk too has been a huge factor in the destructive anxiety I have suffered in the past.

I am currently a healthy weight 123.4. I actually have already lost weight from the changes that I have made. Losing weight isn’t my reason for changing my diet but if it HAS to happen… so be it. I will have to learn to accept it. ;)

 

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