day 1: life after diet

so my 90 days was up yesterday and i haven't weighed myself just yet but last time i checked i had lost 16lbs. i'm guessing i rounded the 90 days out at around 17-18 lbs lost.

so now what? well for starters 6 weeks ago i would have sworn up and down that at the end of the 90 days i would run out and gobble a pizza, 10 donuts and a 2 liter of coke. but now that my official 90 days is over i don't feel that way at all. in fact the insatiable cravings for cake and things like that had vanished i generally eat when i'm hungry (only) and am relatively satisfied the rest of the day. on the off chance i have a super sweet tooth after dinner a scoop or two of coconut water ice cream (agave sweetened) makes the craving go away. i eat less and generally don't feel that crazy full feeling which later turns into full on lethargy.

so what have a i learned: i don't think i'm totally okay, i think that will take years of this and learning to balance. with my minor cheats under my belt i can see that one slip up does not undo all your hard work but also once in a while treats have to stay as such in order to keep succeeding.

i thought about going another 90 days and i thought about ending the diet here and then it dawned on me that it's not really a  diet anymore. it's just the way i eat. that seems oddly satisfying, i think i needed the rigidity of the diet concept to keep me in line and i needed a goal date to make myself stay true to the course.

but i know what bad food does to me, clearly i am more affected by things like flour, sugar, yeast and vinegar  than other people and it's okay for me to stay away from them most of the time. i have lived through these 90 days more than comfortably and i feel much healthier and in tune with my body than i thought i would at the beginning of this journey. i know i will find new temptations and i'm sure i will have my slip ups but i have been inspired both my my feeling of well being and by the changes i have seen in people around me.

i never thought i would find my husband loading up with morning coffee with agave nectar and i never thought i could inspire my dad to lay off bread and beer in order to feel better. will power is an incredible thing when you really want something.

i won't bore you with my revelations. i am happy and excited to take on the non-diet diet of the rest of my life and i hope you'll stick around for the ups and downs.

hugs.

10 days till my 90 day goal

woah!

i can't believe how quickly the time has flown. on oct 12th i will have met my original 90 day goal for following this regimen. there have been ups and downs and while i'm not quite ready to look back and comment on the process (because i'm not quite done) i am happy to report i am not in any desperate frenzy to end the routine.

yes, i have dreamed of walking into a bakery and eating 12 chocolate croissants and sugary sweet latte after latte. but, the longer i take care of business and follow my rules the less and less i am overcome with the insane insatiable cravings i once had.

people keep asking what will happen after my 90 days are up and at this point i am not quite sure what my answer is. i think i'll press on for a few more months maybe until the chirstmas holiday. this will give me an excuse not to ruin it all during halloween.

some quick thoughts about changes moving forward:

• beans are coming back in a big way. beans were my go to cheat food when i was at a place where there were limited options. in those scenarios i never had an adverse effect so i think i'm in the clear on beans.
• i'm not ready for unleavened breads (other than kamut bread) i think i will wait until the new year to test that out. 
• agave is here to stay. no need to mess with sugar, it's bad for me and is high in calories. i'm sticking to agave nectar. in all the substitutions i have used it in it's been fantastic. each type (variety) of agave has it's own properties; amber agave is more maple syrup like and has a combination flavor or brown sugar and syrup, lighter agave has a closer taste to corn syrup and is clean and crisp. 
• kamut (as a grain) alternative was not particularly impressive or easy/quick to cook. i think quinoa and kamut pastas are better alternatives for my lifestyle.
• although it has a bit of natural sugar coconut water is a hydration life-saver. nate loves it for de-hangovering and i love it when i haven't been able to get all the water servings i need in each day. i think it's also on the keeper list.
• roasted salted almonds also make the keepers list because they have stood the test of time as my go to (in my desk & purse) snack. 

i think that's most all for now. i checked today and i've lost 2.2lbs since my last check-in and i'm hoping for 2 more by the 12th and maybe one more period?!!? 

and before i sign off i want to share a little happening that has given me more hope in this new lifestyle. nate went to syracuse for a one week training for work last week. he was on his own with restaurant food daily. i figured he would go wild with hamburgers and pizza (which i think is reasonable). he did mostly eat fast food while he was away but against all my notions he came home craving organic veggies, fruits and yogurt! so while he has been a steadfast pillar of strength and support with me in this.... turns out my martyr has been feeling better and healthy while sharing partially in my lifestyle change. go us!

cheers and happy fall.

-tai

p.s i have some new great recipes from trial and error and friends (like katharine) to share for those who are interested. click here to see these new (and all the old) recipes. 

the proof is in the pudding

before & at 60 days:

(june2010)(july 2010)

(sept 2010)

60 day update

so i have made it unscathed to my 60 day mark.

quick highlights recap: so far my cycle has been back in action (two months in a row, although 6ish weeks apart), i've lost 12 pounds and i am going to the bathroom pretty much every day, if not every other day. i am not feeling tired or slothy even when  i have stayed up way too late. i have noticed a considerable difference in my minor body aches and pains and some of my foot/leg pain has been alleviated.

i actually reached my 60 day mark while in colorado visiting my brother at college with my parents & grandmother. this was a real test for me since it's really the first time i have traveled out of the city since embarking on this undertaking. i actually flew in to albuqueruque and was met by my family at the airport and we drove from their 5 hours up to la junta where my brother is at school.

some of the trip was made super easy and comfortable by my wonderful mom & grandma who packed quinoa, berries, tomatoes & my favorite almond flour/dried cranberry cookies. this made the road trip (notorious for junk food from gas stations) up to la junta easy for me. then all the temptation began, for starters if you have ever stayed in a hotel that has breakfast included you are familiar with the most incredible invention of all time: automatic waffle makers. i was generally able to find some things i could eat, but even yogurts like "light and fit" and "activia" have a shit-ton of sugar in them it's incredible.

out in the real world (not the insulated bubble of nyc) it's hard to find good and healthy food. we spent a whole morning at a country fair where there were turkey legs, funnel cakes, super cheeseburgers, pies, cotton candy, chili cheese fries.... i tell you the only thing harder than not eating fresh waffles is smelling fresh funnel cake and not having some of that.

small town restaurants generally don't have a whole lot of options and i ended up having a couple of not so good salads (one which had a band-aid in it). and at one place i had a grilled chicken breast along with my salad.

i can't claim total victory:   the morning after the band-aid incident i was so hungry i ate 1/4 of a waffle with sugar fee syrup. additionally, on the flight home i had a layover in dallas and forced to select amongst the lesser of 100 evils i opted for a veggie wrap from blimpie.

so officially i have 30 days left on the strict version of the diet and i'm feeling good. i will have to re-evaluate how much longer, and at what capacity i will stay on the diet past the 30 days. we will see what the next month brings and then take it from there. every day at a time.

cheers!

sweet treats (agave sweetened)

i'd been thinking for some time that someone out there must have conceived of an idea to make delicious teats that are tasty and at the same time fit the rules of all these restrictive gluten, dairy, yeast free regimens. my friend mina mentioned that she had tried some ice cream like desserts made with coconut water but couldn't remember the brand.

so i did a little digging and found that turtle mountain makes incredibly good treats.

i tried the raspberry sorbet and the vanilla coconut milk ice cream. both amazing and have a great really smooth texture. they are made with real fruit and vanilla beans and coconut water or milk as the base and they are sweetened with agave.

the best part other than the super deliciousness is that 1/4 of a carton is a single serving which only has 150 calories. hallelujah!

you can find these products at whole foods. try it, you won't regret it.

proud of myself

quick update.

had a mini birthday dinner for a friend last night and nate brought a foursome of crumbs cupcakes. red velvet, peanut butter cup, oreo and some kind of super chocolate kind. i even cut the cupcakes and severed. nate asked if i was gonna cheat a little on this one and i said no. i meant it and i didn't even feel the temptation.

go me.

huge cheats confession and a big suprize

i'll come right out and say it, i had soba noodles and white rice sushi at the us open on monday night.

woopsie. 

i was starving and it was literally the lesser of 100 evils. there were stands for "franks and fries", "burgers", "fresh tacos", pizza", blah blah blah. 

they were actually pretty delicious for stadium food (the soba noodles at least). it hasn't caused any seriously detrimental effect on me so i'm going to chaulk it up to strike 2. the first strike of course being those two squares of slab pie. 

so i'm on strike two. 

but! i got my second naturally occurring period today. hoorah for menstruation. 

that's all for now.

tiny cheats confession

i am still within my 90 day strict phase of the candida diet so technically i'm supposed to be as strict and limited as possible and i have to admit i am pretty proud of myself thus far but i need to get a few quick cheats and realizations about those cheats off my head.

• i have had beans twice (at mexican places to augment the size of my tiny meal once i realize that fajitas with no tortillas is not a lot of food)
• i've had one dollop of mayo (which contains vinegar) on tuna fish on two occasions
• i've had some soy sauce and now that i think about it i'm sure there has also been sugar in some of the sauces on beef with broccoli from chinese takeout places. (probably 4 or 5 times)
• as i mentioned in my previous blog i have had bread and pasta (each on time) which were mixed with wheat and corn flour.
• i've had a few cups of decaf coffee (3 or 4)

all of these cheats yielded in no real feeling of change or negative physical reaction. many of them had such minimal amounts of things i'm not supposed to eat that i think even in this early stage of my diet my body can handle it. i also think beans will be an early add back in after the 90 days i really feel they are a great addition to my personal diet. 

however last night, i was at a wonderful housewarming party and there was a beautiful slab pie with fresh hand whipped cream. i made it the whole night without really cheating more than accidentally having a carrot at the dip station and having a drizzle of soy sauce on some asian wraps. but that slab pie was calling my name. late in the evening i finally gave in and cut a one inch by one inch square put a dollop of cream on it and went for it. 

about 10 min later i did that same thing again. tiny insignificant pieces of pie. my body totally freaked out. i was full from eating lots of other things but suddenly my body was craving pie, i started imagining breaking down and just serving myself  3 massive slices and inhaling them. by body was craving sugar like i have never experienced. the yeast in my body had been fed on the minimal sugar in the two bites and was willing me to feed it more.

at this point i decided to leave, to take myself away from the overwhelming temptation. but clearly i'm not ready for tiny cheats, especially where sugar is concerned. my body is not in balance or control enough to handle that yet. and i think i have to be ready to not be at that place for a long long time. that feeling of salivation and almost un-natural convulsion is the same feeling i used to give into with sweets all the time wondering "if i'm so full how can i possibly be eating ANOTHER cookie or ANOTHER piece of cake?" it was an awful feeling and my desire to taste the pie was not satiated in any way. 

so it's back to the strict for me at least for the next 45 days. 

trial and error

i know i have been slow on the update side but i want everyone to know i have really been busy with work and if i needed to let something slip i figured a good long update in a few weeks would be better than a huge bag of oreos.

so here we go.

in my absence from blogging i have been actively experimenting with new food options and ingredients to see if I can find some solutions to some of the missing staples in our diet.

• kamut pasta: in looking for candida appropriate pasta alternatives i came across several types of kamut pasta options. kamut pasta in general tastes like whole wheat pasta and it does a pretty bad job of absorbing any sauce or cooking liquid you add for flavor. nate was not a huge fan and i think it's because kamut is a dense grain, very hearty and in turn 100% kamut pasta is also very dense and can turn mushy and flavorless very easily. i'm going to keep experimenting with different brands* and recipes. keep you posted.

• * i did find kamut-quinoa swirls which are half of each type of flour. these were generally much better that 100% kamut pasta (italian style anyway)

• kamut udon noodles: i know i just went on a mini rant about kamut pasta but i'm not going to lie these are actually delicious. they have perfect consistency and they stand up to boiling and stir frying very well.They absorb oils and sauce well and they can be used in broths as well as stir-fry's and asian noodle dishes and probably cold in salads although i've never tried. yay!

• quinoa linguine: to be totally honest before i give quinoa linguine a glowing review, the brand I have is 60% qunioa flour and 40% corn flour i just checked the nutrition facts online. i'm aware this is a small form of cheating but i can't stress how incredibly delicious this pasta is with and without sauce. it's very light and has a great bite to it. so if you're willing to cheat a little every once in a while this is much better tasting than 100% kamut pasta.

• yeast free bread: i discovered that the brand that makes my 100% kamut bread has several other options of yeast free bread. i just tried a flax, sunflower seed kamut bread that was very good. again i think this bread has a little wheat in it but the main flour is kamut. it's much larger and less dense than the other 100% kamut bread and much more practical. 

• quinoa flour: my last and most anticipated attempt was to try to make tortillas with quinoa flour. this was a colossally epic fail on my part. quinoa has no gluten in it so naturally the flour products don't have a great binding agent to give the tortillas elasticity. so after preparation and research online i gave it a try and everyone who posted a recipe online that said all you need is water, vegetable shortening and quinoa flour to make tortillas is an idiot. the balls of dough would just fall apart like clay in the pan and the tiny piece i managed to cook tasted terrible. i'm still working on this one.

seriously delinquent & sorry

this is the eventually problem with blogging (and i guess projects in general): you get busy.

so i am working diligently on my thoughtful and exciting update which will hopefully materialize sooner rather than later. keep your eyes peeled.

in the meantime here is a recap. so far i feel pretty awesome with the minor exception of today because i was pretty sleepy in the morning. i have much more energy and people have started to comment that my skin looks brighter and "glowing" but that may be just one friend in particular who is good with compliments.

i have lost 7 pounds so far although this morning my stupid wii balance board said i had gained .7 lbs back. but i won't get to sad about it until i weigh myself again in couple of days and see how i'm doing then.

i have to say i think maybe eating out two times this weekend and then eating the leftovers from one of those meals may have contributed to that .7 as well as my sleepiness today since restaurant food generally has much more salt and added crap then home cooked food. so i'm back in the kitchen this week taking it easy making some fish and chicken and we will see how things pan out.

my goal is to lose 10 pounds and since i'm at 30 days i'd say i'm doing pretty well. i'm sleeping really well and i am finally getting used to drinking all this water. i'm learning some critical bladder control... which is not easy if you know how small women's bladders are.

anyway.... that's the nuts and bolts of it for now. tonight were having swordfish steaks brocolini and pico de gallo over quinoa.

hugs!

delay!

sorry i haven't posted my menu from last week. i am slightly behind and in truth we ordered out a few days last week so i think i may postpone and do a week 3 and 4 menu update this friday.

i'm writing because i am much more excited to announce that i just viisted http://www.edenfoods.com/store/ and i ordered the fixins to help make ..... quinoa sushi!  i'm totally excited. i have been thinking about what kinds of things i can try and branch out into and beside having found great kamut and quinoa pasta i realized sushi is an easy and versatile thing to make and i can load up on veggies and it will be great for lunches.

i haven't pooped since saturday but i am positive the reason is i ate like 2 or 3 cookies a day (the cranberry cookies i mentioned earlier) and while they tide hunger well they are also very dense and perhaps i didn't drink enough water over the weekend to get them good and no as dense.

i'm working on that so i'm gonna stick to veggies and more veggies today, things should be back i order by tomorrow.

cheers and sushi!

micro update

i haven't updated in a few days so i wanted to touch base on how i have been feeling and things.

this past week has been interesting with the diet. i will start with the good news.... i have lost 4 pounds. which believe it or not is a major victory for me. according to my obgyn and my obgyn friend losing 10 pounds can drastically effect how your body's hormones work together.  the bad news is that i have some very basic eating habits that are hard to break even now. many digestive health professionals suggest that if you're going to eat large meals with grains or seeds and protein you should try to have them at lunch time and try for more leafy greens and fiber in the evening. this gives your body longer to digest your large lunch and you are more likely to drink enough water in between meals to help your body process the food properly.

it's hard to have dinner at lunch time and lunch at dinner time. but i'm working on ways of at least balancing out the meals so they are similarly sized and serving myself smaller portions at dinner even if the food is more hearty than my lunchtime salads.

water is really the other key, while my poop has been pretty consistent i find some days that the difference between a great bm (bowel movement) and an okay one is a few more glasses of water. i'm hoping i find a water schedule while at work and on weekends that allows me to drink enough water but not be a slave to the potty.

i also have suffered from overly dry feet for many years, and as it turns out that dry foot was fungus. as of 2 weeks ago my feet have not been dry or flaky at all. it's really incredible what food does to your body.

lastly i found a pretty good cookie recipe, which actually tastes more like a bar or a scone, that has been helping me snack better between meals and at breakfast time. they're loaded with protein and fiber and the recipe is simple so they can be edited to fit peoples tastes.

so those are my updates, today i am sleepy but not from sluggish body feeling just sleepy from lack of sleep.

cheers!

weekly menu recap- week 2

this week i was far less inventive with the multiple menu items. i did however make a five pound batch of new mexican style shredded beef which essentially was the main staple for all the dishes we ate all week. making a large batch of something like that really makes dinners easy all week and it's delicious.


Monday:

• fish, beans & quinoa: pan seared catfish fillets served with garlic cloves halved and sautéed in olive oil and a little butter. long green beans steamed  with whole garlic cloves and tossed in olive oil, lemon juice and fleur de sel. 

Tuesday:

• mock taco salad:  nm shredded beef served over a bed of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, baby bell peppers, red onion & cucumbers. 

Wednesday:

• nm shredded beef & kamut with a side salad.

Thursday:

• mexican night: on friday night we got back to our routine of ordering out from an awesome mexican place around the corner from our house. I ordered beef fajitas and extra pico de gallo and guacamole. i made kind of a fajita salad with some lettuce and mixing all the other stuff together. nate was able to take my side of rice and beans, tortilla and sour cream for lunch the next day so it worked out fine.

Friday:

• disastrous stir fry: this beef stir fry attempt was a failure on all levels. i tried to save some time by ordering a frozen mix of asian vegetables. the mix has a strange assortment of veggies that once inspected it turned out i couldn't eat much of and they must have been frozen too long because the flavor of what i could eat was unappealing. (this is definitely not worth repeating)

cake withdrawals?

i know. i know.

to be frank, i haven't had any crazy insatiable cravings yet. i haven't missed coffee too much, i'm not dreaming of bagels, bow-tie pasta & corn bread.

i can't however, get the image of a big yellow cake with vanilla frosting on it out of my head. it's haunting me.

for the record i haven't cheated. i just need to get this cake business off my chest.

update!

i had started this monumentally long blog about your colon and colon health and blah blah. then i remembered that if i want people to read this darn thing i can't put them to sleep with rantings about the anatomy of their colon.

so instead i will give you a beginning of week 2 update. first of all i have been pooping every day, which is one awesome thing. the more awesome thing is that i'm actually pooping a substantial amount. ergo my body is digesting the food i am eating well and processing it through the rest of my digestive system and colon so well that i'm working like a real person!

additionally, after 3 years of hormone induced periods i started my first natural all by myself period today! sorry if this is gross but my obgyn told me about 2 years ago that the only way to regulate my periods was to stay on birth control pills or to take other hormones by pill or injection.

so i'm pretty happy. in general the pooping regularly thing is incredible. i don't feel bloated or pain when i sit or bend over to tie my shoes i have less pressure on my lower stomach and i feel much less sluggish.

it's only been a week so i am not chalking everything up to the diet... but  it's been a pretty incredible change.

till next time.

shake shack update

first of all inception was incredible and will only be confusing if you don't have an imagination.

second, here are my observations about my first dinner out on my diet:

• i had a double burger with no bun, dry, with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onions. & one plain hot dog.
• hamburgers are really really greasy without the bun to soak up all the fat. 
• the burger was good but i think unless the meat is excellent cheese, ketchup and bun are necessary.
• hot dogs are also very greasy when cooked on a flat top with no bun.
• i like the hamburger better than the hot dog. 
• overall i was pleased but surprised to find that pure protein did not tie me over as long as veggies and quinoa do. i had to grab some chopped veggies and berries about 2 hours later.
• the other thing that started happening last night, which i didn't expect, is that i started feeling very unwell about 30 min after shake shack. 
• i felt almost like i was detoxing, i was clammy, cold, sweating profusely. 
• when i have done cleanses generally there is a period after your body eases into the process that it starts to eliminate all the waste (in this case the bacteria fighting themselves) and your body has a physical reaction. 
• i fell better today but have not eaten anything so we will see.

i know it's not easy taking someone out to eat and watching them suffer with a plain burger patty. nate and skye were very gracious with me last night and i'm very grateful. i'll find a better way to participate soon enough. 

weekly menu recap- week 1

• Monday: i began my week poorly, for certain a place to really mess up this whole process right from the jump. we had a guest over and were so busy socializing that by the time dinner came around we didn't have time or energy to cook anything. we decided to order chinese (but i insisted on a szechuan house which has much more authentic & less greasy cuisine). i had:


• greasy chinese "the better-ish way": beef with broccoli (extra broccoli) with some kamut i had prepared & ready in place of rice.

• Tuesday: 


• mock tacos: romaine lettuce cups with ground turkey breast (sautéed with onions & seasoned in cumin & mexican blend spices) and white quinoa salad (cooked in chicken stock and mixed with cilantro, chopped tomatoes & minced white onions)

• Wednesday:


• meat & mock potatoes:: new york strip steak (pan seared in a little olive oil and seasoned with fleur de sel), cauliflower puree (seasoned with garlic salt, a pad of butter &  freshly cracked black pepper) and spinach sautéed with chopped garlic & extra virgin olive oil

• Thursday:


• super protein salad: chunk light tuna and quinoa over chopped romaine with cherry tomatoes, baby bells, cucumbers & thinly sliced red onions with a lemon/olive oil dressing  plus salt & pepper.

• Friday: tonight proves to be my biggest challenge so far. i am going to see the opening of inception with nate and my cousins skye, alexis, manny and jill. skye had planned to attend the grand opening of shake shack in times square. if you're not familiar with shake shack click here to see their fantastic menu. i don't want to avoid the outing for several reasons:


• a. i'm going to have to figure out how to eat at these kinds of places and stick to my diet. i can't live under a rock.


• this is nyc for christs sake! one time i ate at a restaurant called zen where they make bacon shaped soy to top patty shaped soy on a bun shaped soy something or other. I'm sure restaurants are used to all kinds of crazy diets, requests and questions. right?


• b. nate has been a doll and he has pretty much eaten all the same things as me this week. i think he deserves a chance to stuff his face. 
• if i can make it through this without cheating i can make it through anything. (i think)

i'll post tomorrow morning to help alleviate the extreme suspense i'm sure you all have about my temptation this evening. hopefully, the movie will be good to and i can suggest you see it or not. 

cheers! 

drum roll please...

bad news first:

what NOT to eat:

·         no sugar

·         no alcohol

·         no yeast

·         no grains

o    rice

o    wheat

o    oats

o    barley

o    spelt

o    rye

o    corn

·         no caffeine (caffeine prompts the liver to dump large doses of sugar into the blood stream)

·         no moldy foods

·         no dairy (except yogurt, cottage cheese and butter)

·         no starchy vegetables:

o    potatoes 

o    carrots

o    sweet potatoes 

o    yams

o    corn 

o    beans

o    winter squash

·         no legumes

·         no high sugar fruits

o    Oranges (very moldy as well)

o    Bananas

o    Dates

o    Raisins

o    Melons 

·         no preservatives and additives

·         no refined and processed foods

o    no processed meats like lunch meat, spam, bacon, sausage etc.

good news second:

what TO eat:

the basic and most successful anti Candida diet should consist of nothing but lean meat, eggs, and low carbohydrate vegetables. a small amount of whole fruit, nuts and seeds may be acceptable if they don't flare symptoms.

·         lean meat & fish

o    buffalo (is lower in fat and cholesterol than chicken or turkey)

o    chicken 

o    beef

o    turkey

o    lamb

o    ostrich

o    pheasant

o    venison

o    fish
-No processed meats like lunch meat,

·         eggs

·         non-starchy vegetables

o    cabbage

o    kale

o    lettuce

o    cucumbers

o    zucchinis

o    cauliflower

o    green beans

o    spinach

o    any green leafy vegetable is low in carbohydrates

o    onions

o    garlic 

o    green peppers

o    avocados

o    tomatoes

·         alternate grains

o    kamut

o    quinoa

o    amaranth

·         low sugar fruits

o    strawberries

o    blueberries

o    raspberries

o    blackberries

o    pears

·         sugar substitutes (moderate use)

o    fruit juice sweetened

o    maple syrup

o    rice syrup

o    agave or stevia

the beginning of the end

you may wonder after all my years of blog hibernation, why would i end the hiatus with a blog about the food i stuff my face with. 

the answer goes back to genetics, predispositions and generally not taking great care of myself in my 18-24 years

i grew up in a pretty health conscious household. we ate lots of veggies, tofu, salads etc. so naturally when out on my own in the world i ate all of the opposite kinds of foods. one example, the summer i lived in costa rica my diet consisted of:

1. copious amounts of coca-cola (made with pure cane sugar, the good stuff)
2. trits ice cream sandwiches (delicious vanilla ice cream with fudge swirls nestled between two chocolate cookes)
3. gallo pinto with a fried egg on top (white rice with black beans, and a greasy ass fried egg)
4. maduros & chicharones (fried sweet plantains & fried pork chunks)

this is the most extreme example of my outrageous eating habits but a good indicator of the stark contrast between my nutricious culinary upbringing and my absurd early adult eating habits. 

as i mentioned earlier part if the scenario that brings me to writing this blog is genetic & predisposed. those are annoying things that i can't do much about (other than exacerbate, which is exactly the point i'm getting to). the bottom line is i started feeling unwell in my early 20's. at first small issues crept up, mostly digestion related as well as some strange hereditary toenail fungus i can thank my dad for.

in a young persons life these small health issues generally don't tip the scales for lifestyle change as there are much more important things to worry about than mild discomfort. 

i will comment here that i (in real life, and in this blog) will talk about poop a lot. i call it poop and other derivatives, generally on the infantile side of the lexicon but poop nonetheless. this may make you uncomfortable. if so, go ahead and check the labels for blog entries before you jump in, i'll try my best to tag my poop blogs.

flash forward, i'm 27, married and living in the best/worst food capital of the world, New York City. i should be exercising more, i should be drinking more water, i should stop ordering out 3 nights a week (especially greasy chinese, pizza and spanish food). now i really feel bad. i'm lethargic, i've gained 15-20 pounds of fat weight depending on the day, i can't poop to save my life and literally all i want to do all day is sleep. to top those awesome symptoms i now have toenail fungus on all my toes to the extent that i can't wear open toed shoes. additionally, from my other genetic pot i've been diagnosed by my obgyn with poly cystic ovarian syndrome, a condition which all but eliminates my chances of losing weight, having a normal period or controlling my temperamental sleepiness. 

literally, all of these things had to pile on at once in order for me to realize how sick i am.

so here i am. 

i have known that genetically my dad's side of the family is prone to overactive yeast and an overgrowth of the bacteria candida albicans. this meant very little to me over the past 7-8 years. very recently i decided to make it mean a little more and started researching the condition. essentially, these bad bacteria take over your digestive system and feed on all the bad crap you eat and cause a host of crazy symptoms that typically would seem unrelated to food. i exhibit over 80% of the symptoms, so there. 

later i will post all the symptoms so you get a feel for how widespread they can be. but after speaking with a naturopath and family members i decided to try and tackle this pestering condition head on. 

thus i am starting a strict no yeast, no sugar, no caffeine, mostly no grain diet and i'm taking you along for the ride. i need to be accountable to someone, so why not blog to my friends and strangers who might provide some insight and support as i see how this works out.