Adieu, Starbucks

I'm back, with a new hard drive. Man, you never realize how many preferences, plug-ins, etc. reside on your computer until you have to replace your hard drive.

I spent all evening at a bike maintenance class and am turning in soon, but I don't want to keep my two or three readers in suspense about the results of my allergy test for any longer.

I'm writing an essay about the two week break from wheat and dairy for a fine publication, so I'll keep it short here. I discovered that I am not gluten intolerant (oh, how relieved I was), but that I have a moderate intolerance to dairy. It's not a true allergy, but I realized that milk makes me congested and probably makes my skin break out. So I am bidding farewell to liquid milk, and ice cream, except for a very rare gelato. This is a change that I tried to make about two years ago, but I couldn't summon the will to just give up milk voluntarily. I think I like it so much because the protein in it helps to modulate my blood sugar. I know there are many evil sides to milk, though, and other things have the protein that I crave. I have switched to almond milk, which I find the most palatable of the non-dairy milks.

Yogurt does not seem to cause the intolerance symptoms, so I'll continue to have yogurt a few times a week. If I don't have it, I find that I'm a lot more susceptible to yeast infections (sorry if TMI).

My period of abstinence was grueling at times, but honestly, I felt so good that the cravings were generally easy to ignore. I credit the good spirits to my vitamin regimen, which I started about a month ago. I agree with my nutritionist, who thinks that vitamins shouldn't be used in place of food with nutrients. However, because I feel distinctly better, I must have been lacking some of the vitamins I'm now supplementing. I eat at least 2 servings of fruits and a minimum of 2 vegetable servings a day, but perhaps that was not adequate.

I have a few food pictures to post, but I'm not sure if the camera app is back on my computer yet. More next week!

Living without

Sorry it's been a while. This will be short because it's late, plus my hard drive is dying and I'm afraid to use my computer too much at this point.

I'm on day 10 of a 14 day no wheat, no dairy diet. This is to determine whether I'm allergic to these foods. My nutritionist thinks I could be allergic to something because I've had recurring eczema and sinus issues, plus I retain a lot of water. We'll see. Personally, I don't think it's either of these foods. My symptoms have not improved since I started this diet. But, in general, I have been feeling great for the past few weeks. I credit it to my new vitamin program. I'm taking a multivitamin plus vitamins C, E, and B, as well as chromium, which has had a wonderfully stabilizing effect on my blood sugar. Also, since I started taking the vitamins, I am no longer cold all the time, and I've been sleeping like a log every night.

I'll write on the results of the allergy test next week, whenever my computer is back from the shop. More pictures then, too.

Man, I am really tired of brown rice at this point.