Elimination diet, day twenty-five

Today was peanuts - no reactions there, thankfully. I do love some peanut butter though - so bad for my thighs, but so freakin' tasty.

Memorial Day, so of course we went to a BBQ at a friend's house. Again, very difficult to eat out while doing this elimination diet. I brought two turkey burgers and a big fruit salad. Unfortunately, one of the turkey burgers was sacrificed to the grill gods, but thankfully the host's BBQ'd pork shoulder was okay for me to eat (no sauce, just paprika and salt). The fruit salad was a huge hit, which sadly meant no leftovers for me. ;) But everything else was off-limits - a blueberry coffee cake, flour tortillas, cheese, sour cream, carne asada (don't know what it was marinated in at the store), potato salad, macaroni salad (with bacon *and* cheese), and then an insane chocolate/cream cheese cake. And chips and cheetos and such as well. Sigh.

When I'm done with this elimination diet, I still will have to watch what I eat like a hawk. I will have a bite or two of that cake, but I can't go overboard like everyone else did - I was kinda surprised to see how much food everyone ate! And the fruit salad was the only moderately healthy option! Aie!

Elimination diet, day twenty-four

Goat's milk was up today - yay GOAT CHEESE! Love love love goat cheese, so that was nice to have again today.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I got some unpleasant esophagus-burning on Friday afternoon, and it hasn't gone away still as I write this. WTF. Not sure if that was a reaction to the wheat - but I haven't had any wheat since Friday, yet the pain remains. I could technically try wheat again tomorrow, but I'm going to wait until this throat-burning goes away first.

Glad to see the finish line ahead (Thursday!) but I need to get sharply focused on losing weight once this is done.

Elimination diet, day twenty-three

Today, chicken and chicken eggs. Very exciting. Had scrambled eggs for breakfast and it was fine. I've been having some wacky heartburn the past two days though, not sure what that's all about. And a headache. Annoying. Perhaps a reaction to the wheat? Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

The other annoying thing is of course, my weight and my insatiable appetite. I'm hungry all the time these days and rarely ever feel satisfied. Very lame.

but tomorrow, goat's milk! Yay chevre! :)

Elimination diet, day twenty-two

Today - WHEAT! Oh man, the excitement. I enjoyed a whole-wheat bagel this afternoon (thanks to Whole Foods for posting the ingredients so clearly, I knew it was safe for my diet), and then I made some awesome lemon cookies with whole-wheat flour tonight that had no dairy. I don't know if these would be so tasty if I hadn't gone three weeks without wheat... but hey, I enjoyed 'em. But the odd part is that I can't have wheat again for the next three days, so I had to eat all the cookies I made. It's a hard life... (and yes, I'm sure I'll see a huge weight gain in the morning).

I have overall felt pretty bleh today - had a headache when I woke up and haven't shaken it yet. Fooey. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Elimination diet, day twenty-one

Hey sugah, how you doin?

Today, cane sugar was my big item. So I just made some rice pudding with the last bit of my plain unflavored soy milk. Y'know... sugar makes a big difference! Nice stuff.

I am sad that my weight keeps creeping up though. One more week of this "diet" and then I need to get focused on actually losing weight again.

Tomorrow is the big test - wheat!

Elimination diet, day twenty

Woo, day 20! Getting closer! ;)

Today is sheep's milk products. I looked a lot, but couldn't find any sheep's milk yogurt or even milk. I was so excited to get cheese though!

I sliced some sheep's milk gouda onto my millet bread and put it into the toaster oven. Awesomeness. I love love love melty cheese. Not having any sort of any dairy for three weeks... I miss it! However, I was surprised at how oily the cheese was. 

Today's the only day I get the sheep's milk though. No new dairy for 4 days to see how things go (but then it's goat's milk, and I *adore* goat cheese!)

Unfortunately, I did have a problem with it - some, uhm, intestinal issues three hours later.  Ugh.  Wonder if I really do have some sort of a lactose intolerance, or if it was just my body going "whoa, what's this that I haven't had for three weeks?".  We'll find out on Sunday I guess when I try the next one.

Elimination diet, day nineteen

This sucks when you're not feeling well, because I can't eat any of my comfort foods. Blargh. At least the all-fruit smoothies at Jamba Juice are good to go, or I'd eat my arm. Tomorrow I get sheep's milk products, so CHEESE! Finally, cheese! Awesomeness. ;)

No new discoveries on the food intolerance side of things. Less than 10 days to go!

Elimination diet, day eighteen

Today was rye and shrimp. Had rye crisp crackers with breakfast (meh) and shrimp with dinner (yum). No reactions going on right now. My weight has flatlined - up two pounds from my lowest a week ago, but overall still down from where I started so that's good.

The rest of the diet is just one or two things a day, since it's up to the higher-likelihood items. Overall so far it seems like I don't really have many issues, which is great news! Glad that it seems like no major issues with barley or rye or rice or oats! Wheat will be the big one, and various milks too. Seems like no glaring answers as to why I'm not losing weight though... hrm.

Elimination diet, day seventeen

Today I totally failed on what I was supposed to try - yeast. I couldn't figure out how the hell to do this one without flour. I bought "nutritional yeast" at the grocery, but it's actually processed with sugarcane - and I don't touch cane sugar until day 21. So I guess it will wait until then!

I did find simple plain boring corn flakes that were not sweetened with extra things, so I thoroughly enjoyed nibbling on that, and then having a bowl of it with soy milk later on. The unsweetened soy milk is really dull, but it did the trick.

I also found a wheat-free bread that works! No added forbidden sugars. So exciting. So very expensive, too. I'm glad that so far it doesn't seem like I have a gluten issue - no problem with barley or oats yet. Going gluten-free seems like an expensive endeavor, and my heart goes out to those who have to deal with all of that.

Elimination diet, day sixteen

Today is the day of corn. I like corn, so this is good. Also: popcorn. ;) Relatively boring day today with the food. Tomorrow is a challenge that I still haven't figured out - yeast. But no flour. Hrm.

Had a big weight gain this morning - too much salt yesterday I think? It's frustrating.

This sore throat is still kicking my butt, too. Sucks.

Elimination diet, day fifteen

More of the same around here - sore throat is still kicking my butt, and I had some sort of a late-night reaction to something yesterday. Maybe the soy? I don't know - I'll have to try to sort that out.

I'm getting dragged down by this, that's for sure - I'm having dreams about food and breaking this diet, and that's not healthy! Less than two weeks to go - I should be able to do this!!

I got my first food from "outside" today - went to Jamba Juice for an all-fruit smoothie. I got the "five fruits" one, which is just fruit and juice, no added sugars or anything, and all the fruits are on my diet. It was nice to have that cold smooth texture for my throat.

Not eating out has been one of the big challenges - I've most certainly never cooked this much in my life! ;)

Elimination diet, day fourteen - HALFWAY DONE! ;)

Woo, halfway there!

However, this sore throat thing is terribly annoying. I'm also really tired and blah. I called my doctor's office this morning and they had me come in since it sounded like strep - but the rapid strep test came back negative, so that's good. They also did a throat culture but probably won't hear back until Monday on that, and hopefully I'll be feeling fantastic by then. ;)

Back to the elimination diet! Today I was supposed to tackle salmon, ginger and oats. I made steel-cut oats for breakfast (tasty but not sure if it's worth the effort), and did salmon sashimi for lunch. But I bailed on the ginger - I know I have issues with it, so I couldn't do it for breakfast or lunch due to meetings at work this afternoon. So perhaps I will get the guts to do it tomorrow morning (and then perhaps the rest of the day in the bathroom, blargh).

I've hit the majority of the quantity in this elimination diet, and now the focus turns to just an item or two each day, since these are higher-allergenic foods. My weight, surprisingly, has gone back up - I had been down 10 pounds from the start, but I've gained almost two pounds back. I think it's all the brown rice that I've been eating the past few days. Need to get more variety in my carbs!

Elimination diet, day thirteen

Have I mentioned this sore throat problem? It's really annoying me. Blargh.

Today was soy - and after some struggle, I finally found a brand of soy milk that's just soy and water - nothing else added. Crazy how almost all soy milks have added sweeteners and other things (and don't get me started on almond and rice milks...). Anyway, I used some leftover brown rice today to make RICE PUDDING! Alas, rice pudding usually has an egg and also sugar, but mine wasn't too bad - added some maple syrup to get some sweetness. Cinnamon, too.

Also, today was barley - never cooked it before, and it's a hassle - soaking overnight and then an hour on the stove (and even on my lowest heat, it boiled over like mad). But it was relatively tasty, and something I hope to incorporate into my diet going forward.

Elimination diet, day twelve

Hrm, seemed like I had some sort of reaction to the dried garlic and dried onion yesterday - will have to try them individually to narrow it down. Also, I had to put so much salt on the venison to make it palatable, I am blaming that for the nearly 1 pound weight gain overnight. Feh.

Today was beef! Woo! Also, potato. And sesame seeds/tahini. So combined with the citrus, garlic and chickpeas from the past few days, I enjoyed some hummus today! I wussed out and didn't make it from scratch, but it was a challenge to find a pre-made hummus that didn't contain added oils! Odd. I really like this new-to-me brand that I bought - Oasis Mediterranean Cuisine.

Anyway. Woke up with a massively sore throat, so that was odd. And I'm really tired. I think I've finally caught a cold or something - made it through winter without anything like that, but this might finally have caught up with me. I'm also struggling with a lot of hunger - I have a lot of trouble trying to get to a "satiated" place. I just want to constantly eat. This is annoying.

I also want something creamy and cold, which I don't really have right now. I made a smoothie with banana, blueberries and strawberries tonight, and put half of it in the freezer for tomorrow. I get soy tomorrow - so I could try some soy milk perhaps, but I want my froyo. ;)

Elimination diet, day eleven

Oh onion and garlic, how I've missed you. I cooked lentils with dried onion and dehydrated garlic for lunch, and oh my goodness, I can't tell you how delighted I was by the aromas in my house. Onion and garlic are amongst my favorites - I probably should've only used one of them in this first dish, but I couldn't resist.

I failed to incorporate new proteins today though - I had leftover duck breast that I cooked yesterday, and then a portion of ground venison left to cook as well. I was supposed to try cod/sole yesterday, but didn't get to it (because I finally found the duck a few days too late, I did it yesterday while ie was still fresh). So I'll push the cod to the weekend when I have two days with no new proteins (it's frozen anyway)

The venison, even with onion and oregano and cumin and black beans... still not a meat for me.

Tomorrow is exciting - beef! potatoes! coconuts!

Elimination diet, day ten aftermath

So yesterday kinda sucked. Went for a hike with friends, and that was good - a bit strenuous at times, which is definitely good (not that I didn't whine at the time!). But afterwards it was really difficult with the barbecue. My friends were curious about the elimination diet, and we made a fruit salad (with mango in another bowl, since I can't eat that yet), which was good. But I didn't bring enough variety for me. I had my venison burgers (which were meh - needed some flavoring in there but I forgot to add anything ahead of time), and the fruit salad. Oh, and some baby carrots. And there were so many incredible smells at the table - I think four or five different meats and sauces and stuff, and then of course, dessert later was insane. And I had fruit salad.

So yeah, that sucked. Trying to think of how I would've handled it if I wasn't on the elimination diet - there was chicken breast, so I probably would've had mostly that, with very little extra sauce. I would've had a rib, because I can't resist 'em. And I would need to try to resist on the desserts - split one of each of the two things maybe? Would I have been strong enough to only split one of them?

It was especially tough when everyone was eating dessert. I kinda hung out in the hallway outside the kitchen so I didn't have to watch everyone. One of the desserts was a chocolate cupcake topped with sea salt - and one of the guys cracked a joke that I could have the salt from the top. Kinda sucked even more. I *really* wanted a bite, you have no clue how good everything smelled! But I knew if I did that, I'd have to start over on this, and I don't want to throw away the ten days I've done. (Honestly, I'd probably just re-do the first four days with lamb/pears/rice/lentils and then jump back into day 10, but STILL, that would suck!) I just am really, really not used to completely depriving myself of something like that. I would've loved one bite, and I need to try to have that mentality going forward - just a small bite of a treat, not two whole desserts like some others had. Social eating is difficult!

There was a good thing from this though, and I'm really trying to focus on the good things here because that was pretty rough last night - normally I've noticed that when I exercise more, I tend to not actually lose weight. I think I tend to overcompensate on calories and such afterward as a "treat", and then get frustrated the next day when the scale goes up instead of down. But I did actually lose a little weight yesterday, which feels good. Although oddly this morning I feel a bit nauseated again, which happened a couple days ago, and is very annoying.

Elimination diet, day ten

Awwww, just in time for me to eat strawberries on my diet, my garden produces its first strawberry of the season. Awww! ;)

This afternoon I'm going to a barbecue at a friend's house, which should be interesting - I'm bringing my own food (venison burgers to grill, baby spinach & carrots, and strawberries & pineapple) which *should* satiate me... but I know there is going to a ton of food that I just can't have at all, and I'm sure it's going to smell fantastic and look great too. ;)

It's interesting that as I've been "dieting" over the previous 4938 years, I've never been this strict about anything food-related. I'll always have a "bite" of something that tempts me. I think this elimination diet is showing me that I can be strict if I need to - but I should of course also allow for treats when possible. Unfortunately, except for some fruits, right now treats aren't possible - but I'm over 25% through this diet and I don't want to blow it.

I'm 13 pounds from my short-term goal (which I'd like to hit by the end of July), 37 pounds from my long-term goal (which I'd like to hit by the end of the year). I CAN DO IT! ;)

Elimination diet, day nine

The hardest thing about this so far has been the pressure to find the right protein for each day. It can be insane! Luckily, I've got my protein for today and the next two days squared away, so that's good.

The thing I learned today is that it's hard to go out without planning about food - I ended up delaying lunch by three (!!) hours because I was out and running errands (looking for these silly proteins actually) and got trapped without something appropriate to eat. I ended up inhaling a banana while walking to another store at one point.

No major food reactions today, yay! Today was testing the rice/lamb/pears, and I had brown rice twice but no reaction (the first day I had some serious stomach and intestinal grumblings which I thought were because of the brown rice, but perhaps was just my body settling into things?)

Elimination diet, day eight

Ugh, I think the duck eggs did not agree with me. I didn't care for the taste - they were extra thick and just an odd texture overall. I woke up at 3:30am this morning very nauseated, which sucks! Couldn't completely shake that feeling all day. Feh.

Today I tried buckwheat groats for breakfast (not bad), along with honey and peaches. Almonds and sunflower seeds were also tried. Bison for my dinner, with some cherries for dessert.

Tomorrow I go back to the lamb/rice/pears to see if any of those things trigger a response. Also add in a few other items, which is always good.

Though I'm trying to not focus on this entirely as a weight loss thing, I am happy to note that I did lose a little yesterday. ;)

Elimination diet, day seven

Big lesson learned - buy the food you need (especially proteins) the day BEFORE you need to eat it. I spent over two hours tonight trying to find some duck, my protein for today. I found a place with frozen duck breasts but I'd have to buy the package (3 of 'em) for almost $30, and that wasn't going to happen. Another place had a whole frozen duck, also about $30, and I'm no butcher. WTF with me not being able to find a simple single duck breast? I should've gone to a French restaurant and just asked if I could buy one off them.

Finally, I found duck eggs at an Asian grocery (sold out of grown ducks). However, if you need pork uterus, I know where to send you now. Blargh.

One thing to note is that my stomach ends up hurting when I get stressed out, and I definitely got stressed during this shopping madness this evening - so my belly is hurting and I have to hope it's because of that and not because of something I ate. Feh!

Anyway, yesterday was the first day I didn't lose weight on this - gained 0.2 pounds, which is negligible but still, every other day I've lost at least a half pound. I think I overdid it with the sweet potatoes, so perhaps that caused something to change.

Today was millet with banana for breakfast, tuna sashimi for lunch, banana and walnuts for a snack and some baby carrots later, and the duck eggs (scrambled) for dinner along with pineapple. I am now slipping on some of the things I'm supposed to have tried - yesterday was peppermint/oregano/basil (just didn't sound good on yesterday's fish and today's scrambled eggs), maple syrup (meant to try it with the millet) and rhubarb (it's in the fridge, just too tired to try to figure it out right now). I'll try to catch up one those in the next day or two, though tomorrow I get honey so I'd probably push the maple syrup to another day.

Tomorrow's protein is rabbit, but I don't really eat rabbit, and I didn't see any in all of my shopping tonight, so my plan is to try a different protein that's not on my list for any of the other days: bison. I enjoyed some tasty frozen bison burgers from Trader Joe's a couple weeks ago, so should be good to make sure it's a good fit for my intestines! ;)

Elimination diet, day six

A new day, new things! Woo!

This morning, I had red quinoa for breakfast with some dried currants. Loved loved loved the currants - tasted like candy after so little sugar for the past few days. The quinoa was okay - I could see making this again with a recipe of things to add to it.

Lunch was halibut and sweet potato - sauteed the fish and sliced the sweet potato into fries and baked those off. Halibut was good but would've been better with lemon. ;) Enjoyed the sweet potato fries so much that I bought another sweet potato and made more of the fries for dinner. ;) Dinner was fresh tuna and the sweet potato fries. I also had some watermelon earlier.

Interestingly, my pilates class tonight kicked my butt more than usual - I think the incomplete diet isn't ideal when working out hard. Eep! Muscle cramps and twitches are not ideal. I'm off my multivitamin while doing this elimination diet, but by the time I have my next class in a week, I'll have a more balanced diet.

Didn't see much intolerance today, which is good. Had an odd half-hour of intestinal cramping but it went away when I ate the halibut. I'm used to having more protein with my breakfast and I think that might be messing with my body a bit.

Yet more things to try tomorrow!

Elimination diet, day five

Woo, new things! I am excited to be moving along in this diet and getting to add new things. Today: the mustard family, kiwi fruit and flaxseed. I'm trying to hit two items in each "family" when I add one, so today it's kale and cauliflower. Had kiwi with breakfast and it was very tasty as usual - tasted extra sweet to me.

Tried kale with lunch - lamb and lentils in kale cups (like lettuce cups). Can't say that I like kale raw. Maybe it's better in a chicken-broth application, but this was just ick. Lunch today was definitely my least favorite meal so far.

Dinner was yet more lamb and brown rice pasta, with roasted cauliflower. I really don't like the smell of cauliflower - and I kept burping it up for an hour or two afterwards. Ew. Maybe it would've been better with some garlic or something, but just plain roasted (with a touch of olive oil) was meh. Roasted the rest of my pears for dessert - not bad, but would've been miles better with a touch of brown sugar or maple syrup. ;)

Tomorrow, I'm off the lamb/rice/pear/lentils for a few days to later test them to see if I react to them. But new proteins and my life goes wild! ;)

Elimination diet, day four

My last day with just pear, rice, lamb and lentils! Woohoo! Tonight I tried some ground lamb with the brown rice pasta and it was almost tasty. ;) With any sort of seasoning, I'm sure it would be good. Tried baking some pears tonight but didn't bake them long enough. ;) Also would've been improved with some cinnamon and perhaps a smidge of sugar or butter.

I did have more brown rice today and I'm having a little intestinal grumbling but not as bad as day one. Odd!

Anyway... tomorrow I get to introduce kiwi, cauliflower, kale and flaxseed. Exciting! And things only look up from there - new proteins on Wednesday! Whee!

Elimination diet, day three

Today hasn't been too bad. I started off with a rice porridge recipe from the elimination diet - essentially long-grain white rice cooked in quadruple the amount of water for an hour. It definitely was pudding-like - actually reminded me of mochi (which is pounded rice and I love it on my froyo!). Anyway, I had some with diced pear for breakfast. More of the same for lunch with a few ounces of lamb on the side. Dinner was brown rice pasta with diced lamb. I'd never cooked brown rice pasta before, and it definitely was al dente to the core. Worked out well after I cooked it for an extra two minutes, and then tossed that with the diced lamb. Would've been better with some seasonings, but hey... ;)

I've been a bit more grouchy than normal today - especially when my husband microwaved a Lean Cuisine French bread pizza and it smelled up the house with fabulousness. Blargh. My cravings are high, that's for sure. Spices! Tomatoes! Bread! CHOCOLATE! ;)

I'm really hoping that this will help me stay on the straight and narrow once I'm finished with the elimination diet - I've learned these past few days that I can handle sacrificing many things in order to lose the darned weight. With the weight I've gained in the past few months, I now need to lose 40 pounds to get to "normal" weight (according to my BMI). If I can average 1.25 pounds a week, I can hit my goal by the end of the year. I so very, very much want to do that.

One more day of lamb/pear/lentils/rice, and then I get to add in kiwi and kale and cauliflower! Woo! And new proteins on the next day! What a wild life! ;)

Elimination diet, day two (evening)

I am so sick of lentils. ;) Three meals with lentils will do that to you. I think I like the green lentils more, but either the green or red are probably actually tasty when you use some herbs, which I'm not allowed for awhile. Doh. ;)

I forced myself to avoid the rice all day, and my intestines thanked me. I've had a little bit of stomach pain today but nothing as bad as last night. So tomorrow, I think I'll try some rice again but carefully. Perhaps brown rice pasta for breakfast, as I need a change of textures. I'll try to find some ground lamb tomorrow too. I miss seasonings and textures! Oh yeah, and sweets too.

I'm still really tired, but so far that's about it - tired and some stomach pain. Yesterday, tired and lots of stomach/intestine pain. It'll be interesting to see how things go when I start adding in other items on Tuesday.

Elimination diet, day two (morning)

Interesting! I had some serious stomach and intestinal cramping and bloating yesterday afternoon/evening, and I'm wondering if I really do have some sort of rice issue - since all I had eaten that day was pears, lamb and brown rice. I did not have rice with dinner and the cramping calmed down a bit. Still feel bloated in the belly today though.

Oddly, I lost 3.2 pounds yesterday. I had gained two pounds the day before though, but seriously, I don't think I've ever lost 3 pounds in a day. Not realistic, but hey, I can't lie and say I wouldn't be delighted to lose a ton of weight in this thing. :D

So today, for breakfast I had red lentils and a pear. Red lentils with no seasoning is not exactly the tastiest breakfast food. ;) Or any food for that matter. Blargh. Red lentils are super-mushy, which is why they're not often served on their own but more in soups and stews. I think my exciting lunch will be... wait for it... lamb and perhaps GREEN lentils! Woo! I might have some brown rice pasta for dinner though, but trying to hold off on the rice and see how things go.

I miss sweets. ;) I'm just trying to keep looking forward to day 5 when I get a couple new foods, but day 6 is all kinds of good things - like basil and tuna and cucumber and melon! Woo!

Elimination diet, day one

Did someone say this was going to be easy? Not me... aie.

First lesson, if you're going to have rice for breakfast, cook it the night before. ;)

The first four days are super-basic: pears, rice, lamb and lentils. Had a pear while cooking the brown rice for breakfast. The lamb took a long time to cook, but I eventually had some with more brown rice. A pear for a snack later. And of course, I'm hungry and really want something sweet. ;) I don't want to overdo on the pears, but I'll probably have another one after dinner (perhaps lamb?). I'll try cooking some lentils with dinner too.

I'm missing spices a lot too - would be nice to add some flavor to these rather bland foods. And really missing sweets. I love sweets, but I know I need to scale back, so this is ultimately a good thing but it's annoying. ;)

My stomach and intestines have been making all kinds of grumbly sounds this afternoon, but I went too long without eating (the lamb took almost two hours!). Hopefully this evening will go okay, and tomorrow will go even better.

Elimination diet prep

I'm getting very frustrated with my body - the overnight two pound weight gains that take a week to reverse... it's insane. I think I have some food intolerances, so I'm going to take the plunge and do an elimination diet to figure this all out. It's not going to be easy, but I found a 28 day plan that looks do-able. Easier said than done, of course. The first four days are essentially a fast but with some food. ;) Four foods, to be exact - pears, rice, lamb and lentils. They're the four least-likely-intolerant foods, and I do go off of them completely a few days later to test them later as well, which is good (I sense I might have an issue with white rice).

I really hope to figure out some of my food issues - and boy, I would love to have some weight loss with this. I don't have any sugar at all for the first six days, and on the 7th I can test maple syrup. No cane sugar until day 21. The hardest for me - no cocoa until day 26.

I'll try to update this as I'm going through it, because I'll be curious to go back and look at my opinions later. ;)

Hope you all are well!