so obtuse

How did I NOT see that headache for what it was??? I had swollen fingers that morning, and then a headache out of nowhere. ME. The food allergy watcher!! how did I not see it????

Yes the headache subsided after I ate some lamb, but it was still stabbing my head a bit the rest of the day. It was almost migraine level at one point. And because I’ve been there and am not anymore, I know if I get a bad headache, that is a clue there is something wrong.

So I had to reconsider, why was I feeling so crappy? I’m guessing it was the nutritional yeast I so generously sprinkled on my popcorn the night before. The only other thing I could imagine is that I had too many corn products that day, which could be also correct.

Today I’ve eaten lamb and cabbage. And green tea. And tonight white wine. No issues, oh yeah I had a banana too. So tonight I had a few plantain chips and some almond butter. No issues thus far. We’ll see tomorrow.

I really don’t know why I don’t automatically assume it’s a food issue when I feel bad. I should, but sometimes I forget the situation that I’m trapped within. The sad thing is I’ll be in this situation for the rest of my life.

Oh well, I’m alive. I don’t have cancer. I have a roof over my head, clothes and warm meals. I can buy what I want at the grocery store. I can buy wine if I want. I can take a break from work if I want. I have a LOT to be thankful for. So I will just decide to be thankful for what I have, in terms of relationship and love and friends. I don’t give a shit about the tangible stuff, the material crap. doesn’t matter.

life is about growth, and living. it’s about changing, handling change, going outside your comfort zone. learning the skills you didn’t have before (for me that’s patience). if yo udon’t grow, you wither. if you wither, you die. so you have to choose – grow, or wither and die.

 

 

life is speeding by

Don’t miss out, right? I feel like I can barely keep up. Between my errands, changes in business and new opportunities, an upcoming move and work, I feel like I don’t now what day it is. Yet, somehow, I have managed to cut out some time for me. I’m doing so much better at balancing play, work and me time. Not great, but better.

What I don’t understand is how I woke up at 6am feeling good, fell back asleep and awoke at 745 feeling crappy. Yet here I am, headache and all, writing and pondering the rest of my day. I’ve already completed a few tasks and am happy to see the birds back at the feeders I just filled outside.

So in the time since I’ve last written, we’ve gone from almost clinching an ex-pat job to that situation being put on hold indefinitely. What that truly means is that if the permits to build are obtained, which could happen any day, then we are ‘go’ for the move. If permits are not granted, then this opportunity evaporates, but a new one will likely crop up in it’s place sometime in the future, just in a different location. And we don’t have any idea when that could be.

But, knowing this job was a serious probability for our future, I have a friend to whom we agreed to rent the house. She is in an apartment and has been praying for a home to rent. We have way too much space for the two of us, so we decided that no matter what we would rent the house to her family. She’s very happy and for us this means just fixing the house issues (roof, drywall, broken window from the storm, new flooring), and not having to try to impress people to buy the house. So it’s really a win-win situation.

So now we are moving, only less far. Which is ok. It’s exciting because hubby and I have never had a place of our own. We’re going to estate sale the entire house a few weeks after we move to the apartment down the street. So what we decide to keep will be out and everything else is for sale. This will be a great relief as well. We’ve built up clutter and ‘stuff’ that no longer has true meaning in our lives, and this will be a great way to pass those things along.

I am also working with my brother on some business ideas, and it’s really exciting because we haven’t worked through all the details yet, so I don’t even know all the possibilities this could bring. I’m so thankful for him because when I found out the ex-pat opportunity was on hold I was terribly disappointed. I fell into a sort of depression, and couldn’t see my way out. This opportunity was sitting right in front of me, and I just had to adjust my attitude to see that I was looking right past an exciting proposal because I was wallowing in what I thought the plan was, and how it fell through. A good friend told me, the plan that didn’t work out wasn’t actually the plan. THIS is the plan, so go with it.  She was right. I was just focusing on the wrong thing.

I’m also selling my older long arm machine. And hopefully my wood frame long arm machine as well. And the local quilt shop that I part-time at is having a garage sale late next month, so that’s another opportunity to evict some things that don’t belong in my life anymore. I feel like I’m shedding an old skin, like a snake. It’s quite liberating.

Not everything has quite fallen into place. I have three cats and I need that number to be one before the move. I’m not going to force the issue – my daughters have each expressed some interest in taking one so that might ultimately be the plan. Hopefully something will transpire that works out best for all of us (felines included).

So, there is a lot going on in my life right now, and even more things swirling around in my head that are potential things to be going on. I’m glad I have a getaway coming up. In the meantime I should get out to that greenbelt for a walk. It calms my brain and would probably alleviate this headache. And it will give me a chance to literally stop and smell the roses. 🙂

 

 

mental health day

Every now and again, I have learned (the hard way), that if you don’t take a break and give your body time to rest and recover, you will get sick in some form or fashion. So despite today being Monday, I am taking a day for me.

Doesn’t mean I don’t get any work done. I’m not quilting at the moment, but I’ve done paperwork, bills and fixed a backing. I strung up a quilt, cut borders for another and worked on tailoring hubby jacket. Went grocery shopping and got the goodies for CORNBREAD.

While I was at retreat this past weekend, the hostess made cornbread. I have been thinking about it since. So I bought creamed corn, cornmeal and eggs to make some. I added rice flour, baking powder, a little maple sugar and cashew coconut milk. Sprayed the pan with canola oil. It turned out so beautiful and delicious.

When I ate it, I threw a blob of my ‘fake butter’ on there. It’s a mix of palm and coconut oils with some mint and maybe another herb thrown in to make it taste more buttery. I’m hoping that’s the culprit to my blotchy bright red face and neck at the moment. I feel like my face is on fire. I’m flushing with water now so I can try the cornbread again later, at my own risk. Maybe. I don’t want to invite a worse reaction…

It’s so good to have something steaming hot, freshly baked, right in front of you. In my current condition that’s almost a never. I can’t use most gluten free baking mixes because they have quinoa flour or potato starch in them. Or some other stupid thing I can’t consume. It’s times like these I get really frustrated about what I’m going through.

Today might be a good day to try meditation. I tried it once before with an app but it was short lived. My dad told me today he’s been doing it for 10 days, and I’ll bet it’s helpful. I have to think there is a reason for what I’m going through but honestly I feel like it’s the shitty American processed altered food to begin with.

Not much of a mental health day if I let this one thing take over and bring me down. I’ve got to refocus and change my filter to positive.

I think I’ll read. Starting maybe five years ago, I decided to try to read more. Since I had so much reading to do as a history major and then for my masters degree, I don’t enjoy it as much as when I was young. But I want to read through at least the classics, and then some of my favorites.

I still haven’t made it through Great Expectations. Don’t think I ever will. But I just reread a Roald Dahl compilation of short stories that was given to me by my grandmother in 1984. Next up is The Grapes of Wrath. I read Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller recently. My brother sent it to me and it’s great if you’re a small business or do any type of sales or influential presentations.

Reading, that will be nice. And then maybe I’ll try meditation…

frustration

is exactly what I am feeling right now. Grrr. I wrote a post this morning and it failed to publish, so I left my book on the couch thinking I would try to publish it again later. Which I just did. Which it didn’t do. And now it’s gone.

That on top of my apparent inability to have any wine AGAIN tonight. I had a good bit when hubby and I went out Saturday night. Then Sunday I drank a few sips, red nose. Yesterday tried again, same result. Today same again. My face is hot and red and I am also not happy about this issue. Regardless I tossed the rest of the cup down the sink and have opened a can of soda water.

Because of my food allergies, my options for imbibing are limited. I quit ‘soda’ many years ago anyway so now it just tastes gross, and am not exactly a fan of drinking a glass of sugar-laden juice. Thus, soda water is my beverage of choice when I don’t want plain water.

But here is my biggest frustration of all. Well sort of. I mean, it is, but I’m trying to just ignore it and not care.

If you’ve read my past posts recently, you’d know that I’ve blocked ‘mother’ from communication with me of any sort. I’m still good with that. I don’t need her poison and hateful words. I’m still cool with my dad, but we don’t chat much.

But what I think is that maybe you didn’t know, is that I was adopted.

I was a baby, and it was done through Catholic Charities in St. Paul MN. And through all the various methods I had tried to find out any information, I was blocked at every turn. No info. Except what Catholic Charities had given me originally. At least some of which is true. Basic non-identifying stuff, like height, eye color, number of siblings.

I know this because I recently had a first cousin pop up on 23&me. What a shock it was after seeing a bazillion 3rd and 4th cousins as matches, then suddenly one that was closely related. Turns out his father is the brother of my mother. So the make up of my mothers family was mostly correct according to CC. But, she also stated that the bio father was a twin. I can attest this factor is still not vetted.

I have worked with CC, with adoption angels, DNA detectives, you name it, to no avail. Not even medical information. But with this match on 23&me, suddenly I knew the name of my birth mother, her sisters and brother, their kids, and lo and behold, my half-sister and half-brother.

The only folks out of this group that know about me is my cousin and his dad (my uncle). Uncle told my birth mom about me finding out this info and gave her my contact info. It’s been months and I’ve heard naught. No surprise.

And honestly that doesn’t really frustrate me anymore. What does frustrate me is wondering if I have these half-siblings that have no idea I am out here. Wondering if they would want to know me, if we’re alike at all, if we’d get along. I ALWAYS wanted a sister, and there she is, living her life with zero knowledge that I am even here.

One might say it would be unethical to circumvent mom and let them know I’m here. One might say it isn’t. Regardless I have tried friending them on Facebook so we’ll see where that goes. It might go nowhere. But I’m tired of waiting for my life’s clock to run out waiting on something to just happen.

I get it: mom was raised Catholic and married an Irish guy (Catholic). Probably lots of guilt and uncertainty on her part. I’m sure she didn’t tell the Mr. there was a ‘me’ out here. But still, I AM out here. I’M HERE and they don’t know.

So here’s a little more story for you to nibble on:

I also took a DNA test for Ancestry, because, of course, these two systems don’t connect unless you do it manually through another site called GEDmatch. It’s a handy site, not super user friendly, but it gets the job done. The trouble is if you use 23&me and the other person on Ancestry does not use GEDmatch, you STILL won’t get the match that way. So I did the Ancestry test as well.

I find that site to be sooo much harder to use than 23&me that I rarely go there. Plus I don’t want to have to pay a subscription forever. Because I know I’ll get busy and distracted and pay for a year of non-use. But recently someone had sent me a message.

It was a third cousin once removed or some such thing, wanting to know what info I had. He kept asking quetsions so I went back in to answer. Yesterday I noticed there were two other messages from someone else, so I opened those up and replied to them. Again, nobody close in relation.

And then I thought, I haven’t checked DNA matches lately (I hadn’t logged into that site in maybe 8 months or more), so maybe I should check that. Maybe it’s more user friendly now.

When I clicked on it, a name came up, and some high number of cM’s (I never remember the scale), and the relationship: parent child.

I was stunned.

I saw the last time that person had been on the site was early October 2018. And I hadn’t heard a peep from him.

It was my biological father. He knew I was out there. He saw the match. And he didn’t reach out to me.

So, where does this leave me? In the same exact place I was essentially 10 years ago when I was searching and had nothing to go on. I have two names. I have a photo. And nothing else.

I have given up on wanting a relationship. I have heard on my mothers side that the medical situation is fabulous, so that’s encouraging. But otherwise life goes on in that family without me. And most likely will continue to do so for a very long time.

So I am glad for the tattoo I got on my right index finger. I had it done a few weeks ago, but I was certain I wanted it and I don’t regret it one bit. It’s a Russian finger tattoo, and it looks like a ring. It’s a black dot within a circle, in a circular ring. It represents “orphan”.

I don’t say that wanting or feeling pity, or in anger. I say it to remind myself that continuing to look for my past has been fruitless, so I am considering myself an orphan and moving forward. And that’s just how it is.

Plus that ring finger tattoo looks bad ass.

happy friYAY

For me, truly, it was happy Thursday, because my man came home from a long business trip. We spend so much time together, and truly enjoy each other’s company, so that when he’s gone on a ten day trip like this, it’s difficult. For both of us. I’ll stop there with the mushy stuff.

So this morning I had an appointment with the orthopedic associates about my hip. Thankfully, all is well. I have a common condition that’s basically tendonitis and I just need to do some stretches frequently and consistently to overcome it. Couldn’t have asked for a better prognosis.

But, as I was finishing my cup of green tea prior to my appointment, I started to have stomach pain. I also noticed that my fingers were swollen, like sausages this morning before I got out of bed. The pain wasn’t horrible, I could breathe through it, and it subsided when I got to my appointment. So of course, I had to go through my brain like a rolodex to figure out what I had eaten yesterday or the day before to cause this.

Generally, when I have a reaction to something I’ve eaten, I have one of two results: immediate red face/nose/blotchy face and neck, or symptoms later, sometimes not starting until the next day. When its the former, I can immediately cease and desist what I’m consuming and drink a lot of water to flush it out. Or try to anyway. Unfortunately in this case it was the latter. So it was too late to stop any symptoms from coming on and I just have to deal with what shows up. Which was the swollen fingers and stomach pain. And who knows what will come next.

So I’m sure you’re wondering what it was that got me. Well When I got in the truck to drive to my appointment, I saw the after dinner mints sitting on the center console, and remembered having maybe 8 of those last night. And the day before I had consumed a pint of ice cream. But it wasn’t real ice cream so I didn’t count it (ha). But it WAS coconut based MINT chocolate chip ice cream. Mint had to be the culprit.

So when I came home from the doc I looked at my paperwork and sure enough, mint and basil are in the same family, and basil is a RED food for me (means absolutely not). This is why I tend to not only avoid spices in my food anymore, but I don’t use any herbs. That’s been hard, as I love the natural beauty herbs impart on food and drink. But obviously I can’t chance it.

I thought I would be ok with the mints last night. I hadn’t eaten that many at once in a long time. I have had a few tictacs so I had thought mint would be ok. Well I’m putting it on the no list. boo.

As far as continuing symptoms, who knows. Likely I will have some lower digestive area issues in the next day or so. Hopefully that will be it.

On a happy note it’s a peanut butter and plantain chip day! yay me!

another good day

That’s about it. Not a great day, not a bad one. I slept like shit last night, honestly, but I moved on today as if it were a new day. I volunteered this morning as usual, and kept myself busy, but just didn’t feel right. So I made an appointment with my doctors office.

I learned Sunday that a friend of mine that had visited on Saturday, had come down with some serious symptoms and had strep. So I was wary. Like I said, I slept really poorly last night, which was the opposite of what I was trying to achieve, so that didn’t help. And then I tried to nap this afternoon, to no avail.

When I got home from community service, I went for a walk. It was beautiful! I rediscovered the greenbelt not far from my house that allowed me to feel lost in a forest.

But today, when I left the house and took in my deep breaths, I didn’t smell what I’ve cherished the last few days: that beautiful floral perfume. I wasn’t sure if it was me or them. But by the time I headed home I could tell the breeze was initially at my back, so there was some perfume still in the air. Plus it’s trash day so I’m particularly prone to holding my breath (I refuse to breathe in around a trash can).

The greenbelt was truly amazing. I can hardly believe I forgot it was there! Sooo many birds and squirrels, trees and brush, ground cover and the sounds of birds and squirrels digging around. It was bliss.

Sometimes we overlook the beauty that is right around the corner. We get so caught up in what’s right in our face that we forget to look around and see how much exploring there is to do just in our close proximity.

I was really pleased with my doctors visit. This doc is not my norm, but one I totally respect. I explained the situation and he explained what he thought was the best course of action. I agreed. I think it’s a win win.

So now I am happy that I won’t get worse, and I won’t make hubby sick when he returns. But I feel like I’m being proactive. So I should not feel any worse going forward. So even though I’m going to bed late tonight, I’ll still be able to sleep in and hopefully feel better in the morning .

Oh good LORD I almost forgot! I had the chance to talk to hubby tonight (he’s 6 hours ahead in Europe at the moment). He had a particular request, and it was sexual. I LOVE this man beyond belief, yet it was still hard for me to execute AND send him video per his request. But I did it, and I actually feel good that I did that for him, because it brought him pleasure. But it did take me out of my comfort zone! And damn did that feel good!

So until next time my friends, keep walking, keep loving, keep quilting!

 

 

it’s way too early

This is one of those odd days where I am wide awake in the middle of the night. I didn’t have any wine last night, took my night-time meds (both of which make me sleepy) and then laid in bed for two hours begging for sleep to take the wheel. Three hours later, CJ is insisting I wake from my slumber because he needs some loving. So I pet him and rub his face until I have to use the loo. Then I realize the level of hunger I’ve escalated to while catering to my cat is beyond falling back asleep.

So I arise to fetch something, but get distracted (insert eyeroll) and instead floss my teeth. Yeah, it’s random but that’s what happened. Then I got a mug of almond milk.

And yes, that too is random, but I have this thing about eating during the night. Quite often I find myself hungry during the night and hubby says I should leave some almonds or something next to the bed. Well I don’t like eating anything during the night that would possibly get stuck in my teeth so I would opt for a liquid resolution, and in this case, it was almond milk.

That didn’t even come close to fulfilling my need, so I got up again and grabbed an RX Bar. If you haven’t tried them, I recommend it. They’re like Larabar’s: few ingredients, taste good. Back to bed.

And then we’re scrolling Facebook. And Instagram. Again. Back to the kitchen. Yes, seriously.

This time I cut up a canteloupe that has been ripe. I had put it in the fridge to halt the ripening process so when I open the door this beautiful melon perfume wafts out. It’s been nice for the past few days, but now I want to eat it. So I cut the whole thing up and scoop it into a big bowl.

Back to bed. I rarely eat in bed, but since it’s just me and Fred in bed now (see Insta for the mega-loud purr machine), I don’t mind. Plus now the bedside lamp is on and I’m playing my (as my husband calls it) “dumb pie game”.

It is a dumb game but it’s got a bit of strategy to it and it keeps me entertained at a simple level. I go to Sudoku or something when the ads get too irritating.

I ate most of the canteloupe and finally reached another level of the dumb game. Then I finished the cantaloupe. So now I’m full, my eyes are a bit dry and I’m still awake. Tired of playing the game (tired of the ads, actually) I’m now writing.

Which I meant to do much earlier, like yesterday earlier. I went for another walk and I’m not sure if there’s been a shift in my paradigm but the entire neighborhood looked and smelled beautiful. There was a storm the night before with hail, which defrocked many leaves from the trees and petals from their fragrant little blooms.

I saw 4 or 5 monarch butterflies (one may have passed me twice), said hello to 3 neighbors and saw plenty of birds again. Although there were less obnoxious blue jays hollering at each other.

My concussion doctor told me that the worst thing for sleep is screen time. So I guess I’m not really helping myself out right now. I have to be up in a few hours, so maybe a super-early morning nap is in order. I guess I can make the attempt. So until later…

the experience

The outcome of any experience is going to strongly depend on how much you put into that event. If you open your senses, make yourself just a little vulnerable, you may have a vastly different takeaway than someone walking into the same situation closed off.

I could expand on that but I think it’s pretty clear, really.

When I left for a neighborhood walk this morning (I know, doesn’t sound amazing, but stay tuned), I had a light heart and felt eager to enjoy what nature had to offer today. Right from the start, I was not disappointed.

The ‘hood was quiet, at the start, besides the furious sounding blue jays talking from tree to tree. The sun was warm on my shoulders, and the cool breeze felt good on my skin. As I neared the end of my street, I heard some landscaping equipment and fully expected to find someone’s husband manicuring their lawn. I was surprised to see it was mom, and her two young daughters helping with the yard work.

The girls were eager to show me their hefty piles of leaves as the mom and I exchanged smiles over the beautiful day, and how nice it was that the 90% chance of rain never manifested. I passed a few folks walking their dogs, or maybe it was the other way around. Laurie with her dog, running her 3 miles today, as she does every day. You can easily see she doesn’t really enjoy it, but heart disease runs in her family, so she does it anyway.

I didn’t see my black and white feline friend at her usual doorstep, but I did see a present left for the owner. She must have spent the morning hunting.

I stopped and sniffed some pretty yellow flowers next to a mailbox. They were so sweet. In fact, the air in general smelled beautifully sweet, as if the blooms from all the trees wanted to ensure I knew they were present and accounted for. When the breeze came about, their perfume filled my nose.

Except the corner I rounded to be met abruptly by the smell of freshly cut grass. The lawn mower was still sitting in the yard. I could almost taste the smell of green. Even then I breathed in deeply and smiled at the beauty found right here in my neighborhood.

Pink blossoms, white blossoms, even the Live Oaks looked pretty today. Mostly my walk was accompanied by the sound of the rustling branches, the sky filled with light, whispy clouds that looked like they were painted on a blue canvas, and a variety of birds calling out to each other. By the end of my walk, I spotted a flock of cedar waxwings doing their thing.

I also crossed paths with a small black butterfly. I am glad I stopped in my path to appreciate it. It won’t be there tomorrow. And I might not either.

By the time I got home, I was glowing (female version of sweating). I felt inspired and alive. My experience may have been on the lower end of the scale of grandness, but it was still a wonderful 30 minutes that I feel gave my day a positive start.

There are adventures and experiences awaiting us at every turn. Every day there is an opportunity. If you don’t take it, you will have missed out because that experience has passed. But just like a sunrise or sunset, you can hope for another chance to see and feel beauty the next day. Don’t pass too many days or you’ll miss them all.

And if you don’t venture out and experience what is right around you, are you going to go adventuring up a mountaintop? Or to a far away castle? Or (insert your dream here)??

Start small. Breathe. Smell. See. Feel. Hear. Then grow. Go further. Try something that scares you. Live.

Live.

 

self care

That’s what today is about: self-care. I woke up feeling ok, but as the morning wore on, I just didn’t feel ‘up’. Not so bad that I feel the need to go back to bed, but also not energized enough to do anything.

The weather may be playing a part in that. It’s dreary and 60something outside. Raining on and off. For me, that’s couch weather.

So couch it has been. I’ve decided not to beat myself up about taking a break. Regardless of how much or little I got done during the week, I’m giving myself a break today.

This might not sound like a big deal, but for me, it is. For many, many years I associated my identity as a person with how much I could accomplish. That included my job title, how high of a educational degree I had achieved, housework and other tasks sort of things. Pretty much everything but sleep and recovery.

So this year’s focus has been on me and listening to my personal needs. I feel like this has been helpful to me, mentally and physically. It is hard to let go and sometimes not do things. Just sitting and relaxing or playing a game is much harder than I anticipated. But when I do leave myself alone to rest or just chill, I feel so much better the next day. I feel more energy and drive. And I’m more responsive to others and their needs.

So if you’re one of those moms, or caretakers that is always so busy doing everything for everyone else, take a break. Shut out the noise, say no to requests or ‘needs’ (because no one else does it / makes it / cooks it like mom), and take a hot bath with candles all around. Watch a teary movie. Sit on the couch and play a stupid game. Whatever, just give yourself some time and DO NOT feel guilty about it for even one second!

It will do you more good than you can imagine. And when you’ve done it once, it becomes easier to take time for you again. Respect yourself. You deserve it.

dealing with food allergies

Food allergies, sensitivities, intolerance; the condition goes by many names, which is part to blame for people’s confusion. Food allergies are not only those which result in anaphylaxis. Food allergies are ALSO those which result in immune system response, which is what I have.

The belief was once that children with food allergies outgrew them. Their body learned to overcome those allergies and the person would grow up to be able to eat freely for the rest of their life. Unfortunately there was no study done to authenticate this belief, and through visits like mine to the allergist, the doctors are now finding that about 40% of people with food allergies (like mine) as an adult, suffered them as a child.

I think the toughest part of my life sentence is just that – I have to follow certain guidelines for the rest of my life. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Many people ask me if this came on suddenly. It seemed to, but when I really think about all those symptoms, I started having problems years ago. I just didn’t know back then that this was all related to what I was eating, and some symptoms creep up slowly, so you don’t realize how awful you feel until it all goes away. The culmination that brought me to the allergist was a whole body rash with hives. Terrible, uncontrollable itching came along with that, and my doctor said “sometimes we never now what causes these things”. That wasn’t good enough for me. So I was off to the allergist.

The allergist immediately thought it was food related, as did I. My circumstances happened in a variety of locations (not just home, but when traveling, on retreat, etc). It was not constant. One day I’d be fine, the next a weird rash somewhere, or bloating. So I cut out wheat, dairy and got tested for Celiacs. It wasn’t Celiac and nothing on the standard allergy test came up positive. So I did the blood test.

The MRT (Mediator Release Test) tests your blood against food items and additives. In my case I was tested against 180 items. I was issued a LEAP report that tells me the reactivity to each of the items on a scale, and I was given a card to bring with me (if I dare eat out) to show which items I must avoid. They gave me a booklet of relevant information with all the foods listed, their families and sources and how and when to reintroduce foods.

This is what has been truly useful. I recommend it to everyone and anyone who has been experiencing the symptoms (I listed many in a previous post, but there are near 100). It’s so hard to pinpoint on your own, especially since symptoms can suddenly appear days after eating the problem food.

The test was not covered by insurance, which is ridiculous, but it was still well worth the price. The thing is, if you have food allergies and you don’t address them, you can invite other immune-system conditions into your body (think Lupus, MS, Fibromyalgia). Dealing with this is tough enough, the last thing I need is more issues to deal with!

All that being said, when I got those test results back, I went in full bore. Even on vacation out of the country, I was helped by a kitchen manager that spoke English and avoided anything that would cause me trouble.

An unexpected challenge is going to the grocery store. It used to be so fun to see new things, try new foods or recipes. Now I have such a limited selection that its depressing to shop. I have to read every single label every time I shop. You wouldn’t even now it but sometimes they change the formula and the ingredients will be different than last time you bought something.

Unless it’s a whole food. So that’s mostly what I stick to: whole fruits, raw veggies (some that I cook), and meat, poultry or shell/fish. In my case, absolutely no herbs and seasonings are out. So when a label says “natural flavors”, “natural seasonings” or anything the like, it’s not for me.

The interesting thing is that since eating this way, my ‘bad’ cholesterol went down 85 points. I eat plenty of fat, believe me, but I’m not eating much in the way of things from packages. My blood pressure went down as well.

So where I am right now is not far along, honestly. I received my test results in June 2018 and started right away. I have added in a few fruits, probably 5 vegetables and I can eat any meat. The program recommends 6-18 months of tidy eating before trying to add in the NO foods. Well, my experience over the weekend just confirms my suspicion that I’ll need to take the full 18 months. I had already anticipated this entire year being restricted diet.

And the future? It looks a lot like my current situation, except I’ll (hopefully) be eating a lot more variety. But I can only eat something once every three days. For example, I had a banana yesterday so I can’t have another until Friday. If I do eat one sooner, I will suffer consequences. Last time I did that I got a bad stomach ache. And this rotation will be for the rest of my life.

If you think you may suffer, get tested. There are too many little things you could be missing that make a big difference for you. If you get tested, then buy the book: Food Allergies and Food Intolerance: The complete guide to their identification and treatment by Johathan Brostoff, M.D. and Linda Gamlin. This thick book details everything.

If you are uncertain, get tested, even if you only test for the lowest amount of foods. The way I feel now versus before my test results is the very reason I eat differently. I don’t want to feel that way again! GET TESTED!