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.