TWO WEEKS!

I made it to about day 32 of my Whole30: Project Wedding before we had a cheat meal. It was totally worth it. We went to Dogs 'n Frys for dinner Sunday night and it was delicious. First of all, they have TURKEY corn dogs. So I always get a corn dog. Second, they not only have turkey bacon but also TURKEY PEPPERONI. And let me tell you, as a person who is not a pepperoni fan, I actually liked this. So I got a loaded pizza corn dog with loaded fries to go with it. Like I said: Worth. It.  

I'd say I'm still eating paleo 90-95% of the time if not more. I did start having smoothies for breakfast a few days a week. They're a little less harsh on my stomach than my standard eggs and sausage were. [Starting to think I may have an egg sensitivity...] Tonight I had some tortilla chips with melted cheese. 

With both of these "cheat meals" (or whatever you want to call them), I did not have any immediate reaction. Of course I do pay for eating this way eventually. It's just baffling that when I eat healthy foods/foods I'm not sensitive to, my stomach gets upset almost immediately. But then I have something like this and--nothing. IBS would be slightly more tolerable if it was at least consistent. 

Two weeks from tomorrow I'll be getting married! I thankfully don't have much left to do. Just a few little things. I'm trying really hard not to worry or stress. It's. So. Hard. That's what she said. 

Although I'm really excited/nervous/anxious for the day itself, I'm also extremely excited for everything that comes after it. There are so many things we've been putting off until after the wedding and I'm ready to get started on those! And I can't wait to get back into freelancing. [And having the time and energy to take on those projects.]

I will also be glad once I can go to the doctor. I'm planning on seeing a specialist about all of my stomach issues sometime after the wedding. Pretty sure the next step is a colonoscopy (yuck). I've been keeping a journal of literally everything that goes in and out of my body. I want to be able to show whatever doctor I see that I have changed my diet and cut out foods I'm sensitive to and I'm still not seeing any improvements. It's time to move on to whatever the next step is because eliminating gluten and dairy has made almost no difference. And, from my experience, that's almost always they first thing they suggest. Been there. Done that.

I realize IBS can be made worse with stress, and there are few things more stressful than planning a wedding, so I'm sure that's not helping. But I'm not expecting a huge improvement in my symptoms after the wedding. And let me tell you, trying to follow a strict diet is kind of stressful too. Food has been the source of several arguments in our house. Mainly we get tired of eating the same things over and over again, but have a really hard time finding new and delicious (but also incredibly easy) meals to eat. 

I really need to do some yoga. We don't have class again until the Wednesday night before the wedding (which I'm not sure I'll make it to). Probably a good thing with all the things I have to do in the evenings over the next two weeks, but I miss it. It's definitely a stress-reliever for me.

Right now, I'm trying to just breathe deeply and think happy thoughts about sitting next to my hubby on the beach ;) 

IBS is a Crap Diagnosis

Whole30 pro tip: Mindlessly eating healthy food in front of the tv will make you feel as bad as mindlessly eating junk food in front of the tv. Lesson learned. Always be mindful of what you're putting in your body (and how much of it).

Today is day 31 of my Whole30: Project Wedding and I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty discouraged. This is my fourth or fifth Whole30 over the last year. That's almost half a year of eating paleo. And for the most part, when I'm not Whole30-ing, I eat fairly healthy. I definitely notice a difference in how I feel when I'm not eating paleo/Whole30 though. I'm more tired, I constantly feel bloated, my clothes just don't fit right, I'm always uncomfortable, my eczema comes back, and I get a lot more pimples. One thing doesn't ever seem to change, no matter how healthy I eat, and that's my stomach/digestive issues.

I've been dealing with this since roughly my senior year of high school (which was EIGHT years ago). Back then and during college, I attributed those problems to all the junk food I ate back then, especially during college. Over the last year and a half, I've cleaned up my diet. In fact, the Whole30 helped me discover food allergies I had no idea I had. The hives that I had broken out in numerous times prior to that and during my first Whole30 completely stopped once I cut out beef and pork. To my disappointment, none of those food allergies were the cause of my stomach issues.

I had an extremely hard week a few months back and ended up at the doctor's office. I had to do tests and give samples (you don't even want to know how gross that is...and for those of you who do know, I'm sorry). The doctor's diagnosis? That particular bad week was probably food poisoning. But overall, I probably just have IBS. She gave me a muscle relaxer to help with the pain and cramping I experience and told me to "just take Immodium whenever I need it."

I accepted that for a few days. Then I decided that I'm an otherwise healthy 26 year old woman and I don't want to take copius amounts of muscle relaxers and Immodium pretty much every day for who knows how long. IBS is a crap diagnosis, in my opinion. And after our wedding and honeymoon is over, I will be going to see a specialist to get more/better answers. I will not accept that someone who is young, healthy, eats paleo at least 90% of the time, and exercises regularly has to take medication daily for potentially the rest of my life.

Frankly, it's just not fair. I started the Whole30 way back when to try to eliminate the problems I was having so that I'd be 100% healthy for our wedding and honeymoon. No one wants to feel like this on their wedding day, in a white dress of all things. And yet, here I am, less than a month before the wedding, and my situation has not gotten better. Sure, I now know a few things that definitely exacerbate my problems, like coffee (which I avoid most days, but sometimes, the need for caffeine is more important). But I can't seem to further pinpoint exactly which foods are giving me problems--if any.

I can't help but feel frustrated and disappointed. There are a lot of things I wanted to do before the wedding that aren't happening now (and really just aren't important), like getting my teeth whitened. But I just wanted to feel perfectly healthy on my wedding day. I didn't want to have to worry about how my stomach would feel that day. But here I am, worried about how my dress will fit. Will I be bloated? What if I have to go once my dress is already on? What if I eat the wrong thing at some point throughout the day? What if the alcohol I drink makes me sick?

Everyone keeps saying everything will be fine. And almost everything will be fine. But the likelihood that I will feel like literal crap on my wedding day is very high because that area of my life seems to be completely out of my control.

I'm Back!

It has been an extremely long time since I posted on this blog (last post was over a year ago), but I felt it was time to start blogging again. I hope you’ll all still have me. 

When I stopped blogging last year, I was in the middle of my first Whole30. Since then, I’ve completed several Whole30s (currently in the middle of my 4th or 5th in preparation for the wedding). Thanks to the Whole30, I’ve discovered several food allergies which include peanuts, soy, beef, pork, and lamb. I found out about all but the soy allergy after my first Whole30. 

I went to an allergist and got tested and those were the allergens I had reactions to. They also told me that I’m sensitive (but not truly allergic) to gluten and dairy. I’ve had to make some pretty drastic changes to my eating habits over the last year (and Chris has been incredibly supportive, even when I breakdown and cry because I can’t eat “normal” food) and I also started getting weekly allergy shots which are supposed to help alleviate my seasonal allergies. 

On top of all that, we bought a house, we've been planning our wedding (which is happening in one month!!!), I was promoted to a copywriter position and then laid off a few months later, found a new job as a teller at a bank, and did some freelance editing (and loved it). I took on a little more than I could handle this close to the wedding, so I had to take a hiatus from doing any more freelancing until after we come back from the honeymoon. In spite of all the changes, I’m doing my best to keep it together. 

I started doing yoga earlier this year and I’ve noticed a lot of changes—physical and mental. Physically, my asthma and flexibility have improved, and my upper back/shoulder pain is almost nonexistent. Mentally, I’ve learned the values of self-care. I know when I need to take a break or say no to something, and for the most part, I’m actually doing it. I’m working hard to be patient and more calm in life (still working on that road rage though…). Mostly, since I started doing yoga, I feel much happier. 

I finally started running again too. On Sunday I tripped and fell for the first time on a run (surprisingly). Scraped up my knee and hand and landed on my hip hard. I was only a mile in to my run, and luckily I had just run past my parents’ house. So I got up and ran back to their house. My mom helped clean up my cuts and scrapes and I went back out to finish my run. And it was the best run I’ve done probably ever. I ran 5 miles and my pace was under 10 minutes the entire time! I felt so proud and accomplished after I completed that run. Maybe it had something to do with the adrenaline from getting hurt, or maybe my Whole30 “tiger blood” finally kicked in. Either way, it felt incredible. I’ve started running with a Flipbelt, so be on the lookout for a review on that soon! 

This past year has been a crazy whirlwind. Unfortunately, I’m still having a lot of the digestive issues I was having before I started my first Whole30, so I’m planning to go see a gastroenterologist after the wedding and hopefully I’ll have some answers. In the meantime, I’m doing my very best to eat as healthy as possible and take care of myself. When my stomach gets bad, I don’t try to stick anything out anymore. I just go home and rest (when I can, anyway). I don’t try to suffer through parties or barbecues anymore. Some nights I go to bed early and lie in bed with a heating pad on my stomach. 

I’m so grateful to Chris and my family and friends for being so supportive over the past year. I even convinced my mom and sister to do a Whole30! :) 

I can’t guarantee regular posts again until after the wedding/honeymoon, but I’m going to do my best! 

 

2014 Goals

In case you're wondering how I did with my 2013 goals, well I failed miserably with almost every single one of them. It was kind of depressing to look back at those and realize I had attempted a few of them and failed, and others I apparently immediately forgot about.

2014 isn't off to a great start either. I think my biggest goal is to get healthy. And the junk I've been eating lately isn't going to get me anywhere near that. Chris and I have both been feeling like crap lately and the crap we've been eating is probably at least 95% of the reason why. (The other 5%, at least in my case, is allergies/asthma.) And I'm tired of feeling like crap. The best way to change that is to change my eating habits.

Which is where this gets really tough. I don't care what people say...it is expensive to eat healthy, especially when you're unemployed. Then there's also the problem of getting Chris on board. He pretty much hated when I tried going gluten-free last year, although he was nice and sort of did it with me. That was temporary (mainly because it just didn't work). This is a permanent change I'm talking about though. Eating primarily fruits and vegetables, less meat and carbs, and basically zero junk. He won't like that one bit.

I won't lie, I'm not sure I'll like it either. At least not at first. But I do know that eating crap makes me feel like crap. Eating healthy on a daily basis makes me feel great. I want to feel great all the time. I haven't quite figured out how I will afford all this, but I want to do it.

So that's my main goal, but here's a list of them:

1. Get healthy.
I plan to do this by eating clean and working out. The working out part hasn't really happened yet because it's been too cold to run outside and I can't afford a gym membership. That will be one of the first things I do when I get a full-time job though.

2. Get a full-time job.
It sounds kind of bad, but I'm to the point that I just want a full-time job. I don't care if it doesn't involve writing and editing. I can't afford to be unemployed and I really don't want to have multiple part-time jobs.

3. Start planning our wedding. 
This is a really daunting, overwhelming task. There are so many decisions to make and weddings cost so much money. If I could afford to, I would just hire a wedding planner so I wouldn't have to do it all myself. Wishful thinking.

And that's it. Honestly. I'm hoping that fewer goals means I can really focus on them and accomplish them. The first two are the most important to me and sort of go hand in hand. But the third one ties in to the second one as well. I refuse to really start planning until I have a full-time job. There's no point in making plans before I can afford them.

If any of you have any tips to help me reach some of these goals, I'd love to hear them!
How to eat clean on a budget. Job search tips. Wedding planning tips. Send 'em my way!

Updates

Sorry I've been M.I.A. for over a week now. I've got three weeks of school left (yay!) and a lot to get done in that short amount of time (boo!). So you may not hear from me again until after finals.

Aside from school (which isn't going too badly, just lots and lots of work), things are going pretty well lately. We had a good weekend.

Oh and last Tuesday was day 30 of being gluten-free, and also the last. Chris talked me into going to Buffalo Wild Wings that night, so I got the pepperjack steak wrap and had a beer. I didn't eat most of it--we had an appetizer too so I got full pretty quick (and I wanted to finish my beer since you can't take those to-go lol).

I've been eating foods with gluten in them since then and I haven't noticed a big difference, except that I'm definitely not eating as healthy (which makes Chris happy). I talked to my mom over the weekend and she agreed with what I had said previously--that most people who have a gluten allergy and go gluten-free notice major differences almost immediately. And it made me feel better that she's heard that too and I didn't just imagine it!

My next step is to try fiber pills I think. Apparently fiber just kinda works in whatever way your body needs it to. So I'm gonna give those a shot for a while and see how that goes. I really can't afford to go to the doctor right now anyway, so I'll just keep experimenting and see what happens.

Chris and I are house-hunting again. We probably won't be moving until after our lease is up in October, but we're starting to look anyway, just in case we find something really great. We're looking to rent a house (or townhouse) in the Arnold area mainly so Copper has a fenced-in yard. Arnold will only add five or ten more minutes to my drive depending on how far away from the highway we are and I can stay on one main highway the entire way. Highway 32 sucks, especially at night when the weather is bad (like it was last week).

Copper got some new toys this weekend and she destroyed a couple others including her tennis ball :(

We got her a tire/rope and she really likes it :)

You can see the tire/rope better, but she has
crazy eyes in this one lol. RIP tennis ball.

And this is a random picture of the cat that's
always outside my office--I like to text Chris
pictures of it and tell him I'm going to bring it
home because Copper needs a friend hehe :)

Most of my free time over the next couple weeks will be spent on homework, so you may not hear from me again until May! I'll try to post again soon though :)

Gluten-Free Day 23

So I've been doing this whole gluten-free thing for almost a month now. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing a huge difference.

I've read that cross-contamination can be a big problem for some people, and I haven't be overly careful about that, so that could be part of the problem.

Or it could be that I don't have a gluten allergy (at least not a severe one anyway). I don't know. I'm going to stick it out until the end of the month (since I started it, not to the end of April), and then go see a doctor.

Well, I might keep doing it until I actually go see the doctor. I don't know. I guess it will depend on how soon I can go. I don't even know where to start as far as looking for a doc goes and stuff. I definitely want to see a gastrointerologist if I can.

If any of you have a good doctor or know someone who does, let me know. I could use some help!

In the mean time, I'll keep doing this gluten-free stuff and see how it goes. Going gluten-free sucks. Gluten-free things are more expensive in general, and you have fewer options to what you can eat overall. I think my biggest issue with it is that I'm still not seeing a big improvement in how I feel.

From my research and talking to other people I know who are gluten-free, most people noticed pretty significant improvements in the first few days and the first week. Here's a few I've read/heard:
Improved digestion (almost immediately)
Improved complexion (fewer pimples/breakouts/etc.)
Improved mood (less depressed, overwhelmed, etc.)
Improved sleep (more restful, not waking up more than once during the night)
Increased energy levels (less fatigue)
Etc.

There's probably more, but those are the ones that stood out to me.

My digestion has changed since I've started this diet, but I wouldn't say it has improved. I get more pimples now than I ever did as a teenager. I haven't seen any change in my mood, except that maybe it's worse sometimes (which could be from not getting to eat what I want and the stress of buying gluten-free foods). I haven't seen any change in my sleep habits. I don't have increased energy. In fact, I think I feel more tired now.

There are plenty of other explanations for most of these that could be the reason I haven't seen any changes--stress from school and work effects just about every one of those areas where people have seen improvements and I'm not. Obviously there's not much I can do to make either of those less stressful. As far as the fatigue goes, that could be from stress as well, but I've noticed that it's becoming more difficult to get myself to go the gym on my lunch breaks. I've even been skipping a few days here and there, or taking it easy at the gym because I'm so exhausted.

Maybe I'm not seeing a lot of improvement in my digestive health because I haven't been super diligent about the whole cross contamination thing (seriously, some people suggest not even using the same pots, pans, utensils, etc.--even after they're washed--because that could potentially cause problems. I don't know about those people, but I can't afford to replace everything in my kitchen that may or may not have come in contact with something that contained gluten). And some people can be affected by the most minuscule amounts of gluten (even some products that are labeled "gluten-free" can still contain trace amounts of gluten in them; and there's always the possibility of cross-contamination before you even buy your food from the store).

It's really hard to tell what's causing what here. Maybe gluten is the problem, but with all these other factors, I'm not seeing a huge improvement like other people have. Or maybe I'm not allergic to gluten at all so cutting it out is making zero difference on my overall health.

I guess I really won't know anything until I see a doctor. Even then, I seriously doubt I'll get a straight answer as to what's causing all of my digestive problems. But maybe I'll at least have a better idea of what's going on so I can make some changes that will actually help.

Any tips, suggestions, doc recommendations, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Updates on Life and Such

Here's a few quick updates:

I've lost 7-8ish pounds in the last month or so. Could have something to do with me getting sick twice, or going gluten-free, or both. I do know that it's not from working out. This week is the first I've gotten to work out three days in a row in at least 3-ish weeks.

I did yoga on Monday and there were only 4 people in the class (I guess a lot of people were still Spring Break-ing). I always enjoy the class, but with just 4 people, the instructor was able to really pay attention to our form and correct us and that was really helpful. And we did a lot of plank poses. I was definitely feeling those yesterday!

Yesterday I did the elliptical. I felt like I was pushing myself really hard (and I once again forgot my inhaler--woops), but according to the screen, I didn't get anywhere near 2 miles which is what I normally do, and I burned just under 400 calories, and I can usually burn more than that. I don't know if it was because I was tired or what but I was exhausted after that.

I went home, skipped dinner for the second (maybe third?) time in a row this week, and just watched SVU with the pup until about 10:30. I don't know why, but I haven't had much of an appetite lately, plus I've been eating my lunches later too, so maybe that has something to do with it. But I figure there's no point in wasting my time making myself dinner/wasting food if I'm not hungry.

I've had zero motivation to get any homework done since, oh, about Saturday. And I have stuff due tomorrow. And just a ton of stuff to do in general with no real deadlines. So I keep putting them off. Which will bite me in the ass sooner or later. Probably soon because that's the way my luck goes. But I wrote a sonnet two-ish weeks ago and I wrote a book review which I haven't done in forever. I really need to work on revising my poems so I can submit them to a few lit mags, but it's such a daunting and overwhelming task. So I'm putting that off too. For now. I'm totally screwing myself. I know this. :p

My boss bought me a present:

From Fab.com. It's a lab (not labradoodle) and it's brown,
so she thought of me and bought me one. Cute :)

I think that's just about everything. Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was kind of...lame. I got a little bit of homework done. Not much though. I did thoroughly clean my house though and got all the laundry done. Go me! 

Friday night I went to bed pretty early after watching SVU for a few hours. My life is so exciting. Saturday I did homework, cleaned, and got gas/did the grocery shopping, and I'm super glad I did. 

By Saturday night, it was raining at my house. I woke up early Sunday morning because it was my little sister's 21st birthday and I was going to take her to breakfast for mimosas and then we were all gonna go to Fast Eddie's. Well, Mother Nature shit all over those plans. I called my parents at a little before 7 and they told me to stay home because the weather was starting to get bad up there (it was doing nothing at my house at this point). 

So, I put my pj's back on, threw the sheets in the washer, had some cereal for breakfast, put in a Disney movie and drank some chocolate wine. 

Yes, I did drink half the bottle. On a Sunday. Don't judge me. 

My power flickered on and off a few times, but never went out for more than a few seconds, thank god! We got mostly freezing rain/ice throughout the morning and then it turned into snow a little later. I'd say we got 2 or 3 inches, but it was so windy, most of it just blew around rather than sticking to the roads or anything. It was enough to make the roads nice and crappy this morning though.

Meanwhile at my parents' house in St. Louis:

Not sure what they finally ended up with,
but my mom said they had about 10 inches
around 8:30 last night when I talked to her.
A lot of other people had closer to a foot. Yuck. 

Pretty glad I ended up staying home yesterday, although I was bummed I couldn't celebrate with my sister. That's okay though. We'll just get drunk on Easter or something ;)

I got up early this morning because I knew I would have to clean my car off. It took me about 45 minutes to get my car cleaned/scraped off/defrosted and get the driveway shoveled. A barking puppy is very little help with these things. 

The roads in Farmington sucked (although they suck even when they're dry...), but once I got on 55, they were just wet mostly. The snow decreased gradually--Cape got nothing. On the one hand that's nice that I didn't have to drive in snow/ice the whole time. On the other hand, we have school today and everyone in St. Louis is off. Lame. Oh well, we're off on Friday, so I guess I can't complain too much. I'm going to get my hair cut and then go to the eye doctor and hopefully get some new glasses and contacts. 

I hope you all had a good weekend! 

PS Still doing this gluten-free thing. It still sucks. :(

Long One

Brace yourselves, this is gonna be a long one. 

The short version is I got sick. 

The long version:

I skipped my workout Wednesday to meet a deadline. I knew if I worked out at my usual time, I wouldn't get the project done in time, so I decided I'd go once I got the project finished. Well, by the time I got it finished, I was exhausted and my throat was hurting. So I decided to just give it a rest and I'd get back in the gym on Thursday. 

I got through my class that night okay. My throat still hurt, but nothing terrible. I got home, had dinner with Chris (eggs, asparagus, and sausage) and then went to bed. 

By the time I woke up Thursday morning I felt terrible. If it weren't for my class that night, I probably would have stayed home that day. But I went to work and progressively got worse. I did however make time to stop by My Daddy's Cheesecake to get some cookies to bring to class. 

I'm assuming they were good since there were only
a couple left by the end of class. 

By the time my class started that night I was miserable. Sneezing, sore throat, body aches, chills, etc. And of course, not only did the class go the full time, but it went over. My friend Angi let me borrow her sweatshirt to use as a blanket, and everyone just kept giving me these pitiful looks all night. Not fun. 

I finally got home and went straight to bed. And felt terrible for not eating the dinner Chris had cooked for us. Unfortunately, I didn't have the option of staying home all day on Friday. I did get to leave around 1:30 though. I stopped at Walgreens to buy some Nyquil and then I went home and straight to bed. Chris came home later and brought me a Sprite and a York Peppermint Patty to make me feel better :)

Saturday morning we got up early to get ready for my friend's wedding. I would have taken some pictures, but I felt like crap. It was a small wedding and the reception was almost immediately after (pretty early in the afternoon). We stopped at the Schnuck's next door and found a nice little Gluten-free corner. So I bought myself some bread to try. Probably should have bought more, but oh well. 

I was only able to eat the salad at the reception, but it was pretty darn good. And everyone else's food looked good lol. After the reception we went back to my parents' house to pick up the puppy and head home. 

We ended up staying for dinner (I had another salad while everyone else had pizza--luckily I don't really like the pizza they got, so it wasn't torture or anything to watch them eat it). And we stayed until the end of the Blues game (which of course went to overtime). I'm glad we stayed though. Even though I felt like crap, I had a good time--and we got a free dinner out of it ;)

And Copper tried really hard to make friends with my kitty Cocoa: 

You can't really see her, but Cocoa is under the chair.
They stared each other down for a good ten minutes.
It was hilarious. 

I woke up Sunday morning from my Nyquil-coma to the smell of bacon. We had bacon and gluten-free bread/toast for breakfast. Super healthy :)

After that we headed out in the stupid rain to go do our grocery shopping. Thanks to Chris, we actually found some gluten-free stuff, like the Quaker rice cakes/snacks and stuff. (I swear those did not exist last week when I was there!) It was a pretty successful shopping trip. I got some new gluten-free snacks to try, and we bought corn flour tortillas for our tacos that night. 

The corn flour tortillas were interesting. They don't taste too bad, but they fell apart pretty easily. That could also be because we were trying to stuff too much into them ;) 

I went to bed Sunday night feeling a little bit better. We had done some laundry and watched a couple movies and I took a nap. At some point in the middle of the night that all changed. I woke up the next morning feeling terrible. I got up, fed the dog, and then texted my boss to tell her I wouldn't be in. 

Once Chris got up around 7, I took some more Nyquil and went back to bed...and didn't wake up until almost 5. After I got up though, I felt significantly better. I showered, watched some tv, and then made dinner. I made spaghetti squash with ground beef and tomato/alfredo sauce, and a side of asparagus baked in the oven with a little olive oil and parmesan cheese. It all turned out really good. 

After dinner we caught up on some shows and watched Bates Motel--not bad so far although kind of confusing since it's the prequel to Psycho, but it's set in modern-day. And then we went to bed. 

I woke up feeling quite a bit better this morning. Not great, but a pretty big improvement over the past few days. I spent most of today catching up at work and I'll spend the rest of my week at work and then at home doing homework. Lame way to spend Spring Break. 

Daylight Savings Effects, Gluten-Free: Day 2

So while everyone else was complaining about losing an hour of sleep and that makes Monday suck even more, blah, blah, blah, I was busy being super productive.

I was pretty busy at work yesterday, but I got a lot done. Then I went home, cooked dinner (spaghetti squash with italian sausage--which is gluten-free, btw--and pasta sauce), did the dishes (and by that I mean I rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher), folded laundry, showered, fed the dog...about the only thing I didn't accomplish is write a poem for my class tomorrow. So hopefully I'll get that done tonight...

Copper woke us up at 3:30am Monday morning, which I suppose is sort of understandable since technically that would have been 4:30. I think. I'm confusing myself. And I still haven't changed the clock in my car...just when I had it figured out on my old car, I bought a new one and it will probably take me just as long to learn that as well...I digress. This morning she woke us up at 1:30am and then again at 3:30am. I had all sorts of mean things to say to her. She better get her shit under control because that is more exhausting than just waking up at 4:30am every day. Ugh.

It's my second day gluten-free. So far I see zero difference in my intestinal health. I know, I know, it's only the second day and I'm sure it will take more than a week to notice a difference (if any), but it's frustrating.

As I mentioned earlier, we had spaghetti squash with italian sausage and pasta sauce for dinner last night. Pretty tasty if you ask me. Chris liked it too even though he gets cranky with me for making him eat vegetables :p I had enough leftover for two lunches this week, so that covers today and tomorrow. Tonight I'm on my own for dinner because Chris has to be in St. Louis late tonight and then work early tomorrow. After I go pick up the milk I forgot to buy on Sunday, I'm going to make eggs with spinach and asparagus. And maybe throw in some tomatoes. And top it off with parmesan cheese. And my boss baked me more bread, so I'll probably have that with it too. :)

Since I'm going to be in St. Louis this weekend for my friend's wedding (really, really hoping for good weather), I think I'm going to stop by Trader Joe's. I know they have a lot of gluten-free stuff that most grocery stores don't have. Do any of you have any favorites I should try?

Gluten-Free: Day 1

Grocery shopping yesterday was basically a joke. I did some research online over the weekend to find out what I can and can't eat and found that most foods have a gluten-free option now. You can find a lot of gluten-free breads in stores, gluten-free cereals (which I was already eating anyway), etc. So I left the house with a semi-positive attitude toward this (minus the fact that I was going to Walmart).

I got my fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese, frozen vegetables, etc. Basically everything I knew I wouldn't have to check the label for. Then I went for cereal because I knew what I wanted and knew that it was gluten-free. I got a box of Honey Nut Chex and a box of Cinnamon Chex. Both are delicious. And the Cinnamon Chex tastes kind of like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. :)

Then I went for the bread aisle. Long story short, I bought peanut butter and jelly for no reason because this Walmart (possibly all Walmarts?) doesn't carry gluten-free bread. They have a large variety of other types of bread which contain less than a certain percentage of gluten, but none are gluten free. This was discouraging.

I decided if I couldn't have bread, I could at least buy rice cakes or something to slather with peanut butter. Problem is, Walmart doesn't sell those either. Not the Quaker brand, not the Walmart brand. Nothing. I checked several different aisles I thought they might be down, twice.

So my plan for having a pbj with some form of gluten-free bread or whatever was pretty much ruined. Instead I'm having cereal for lunch. I guess I can at least be glad that I don't have to have the same cereal for both breakfast and lunch.

Because of all that discouragement and frustration and all the irritating people there, I left. Without several other things I needed. Like milk. For my cereal. And something to have for dinner on Thursday. And something to eat for dinner last night.

On top of all that, it was raining. A lot. Walking out with my cart and loading groceries in my car got me substantially wet. I came home to the mini lake in our front yard. And it was raining harder. By the time I got all the groceries out of my trunk and through the front door, I was dripping. My feet were soaked from walking through the lake, my pants were wet, my hoodie was soaked, my hair was soaked.

I did have McDonald's for dinner last night since it's the last time I'll be able to eat fast food for a while. Tonight I'm making spaghetti squash with italian sausage and pasta sauce. Obviously the squash is gluten-free, and the pasta sauce says on the label that it's gluten-free (among other things). The only thing I'm not positive about is the sausage, but I'm pretty sure it's safe. Guess I'll find out later.

Anyhoo, I hope your Monday doesn't totally suck! And if you have any easy gluten-free recipes or anything, I'm open to suggestions :)

Gluten-Free

My stomach issues are not getting better. I have learned that the best way to deal with this is trial and error first--then go see the doctor. The last time I saw my doctor she said I might be lactose-intolerant. She said she wanted me to cut out ALL dairy for a month or so and see how I did. First of all, that was torture. I love milk and cheese and other dairy-based things. I hated soy milk. It was awful. I was just miserable. And to top it off, it made zero difference.

I'm thinking when I decide to go back to the doctor, A. I'm going to see a specialist rather than my regular doctor, and B. I'm going to be prepared. I've already tried cutting out dairy and that didn't work. The next possibility is gluten. Again, this pretty much sucks because it means no wheat. And I love bread. But I know if I were to go to the doctor tomorrow without trying it, that's what they'd tell me to do. No tests, no answers until I know for sure it isn't lactose or gluten that's causing me problems.

Luckily, there are a lot of foods that are gluten-free now, so that helps. I talked to my boss about it a few weeks ago and she told me she makes bread with some sort of rice flour and whatnot and she said she'd bring me some the next time she made it. She came in yesterday with a slice for me and it was delicious. Beyond my cooking skills? Probably. And I can't tell you exactly what's in it, but I do know she added poppyseeds and cranberries (and I topped it off with a little jam and butter).

Proof that not all gluten-free things will taste terrible. 

And now for the weekend recap:

I got almost all my homework done Saturday (or so I thought--I now have two days to finish the rest of my homework for my research class...grrr.). Chris came home and we had planned on going out for dinner and possibly trying a restaurant in downtown Farmington. After sitting on the couch for a while, we decided we'd prefer to just stay home. So he went to McDonald's and got us some dinner and a couple Sprites and we watched Saw. We also possibly watched Saw II that night. I can't remember. 

On Sunday, we did our usual routine--woke up, went to breakfast at the Factory Diner, went grocery shopping, and then came home to watch more Saw movies. I believe we watched Saw III-V. So we have another two or three to go. I don't know. Those movies are weird. But Chris likes them. And I make him watch Disney movies with me constantly, so I kinda owe him. 

 We also got Copper a nice big bone to chew on:

It apparently has a "real meat" center--that stuff stinks!

It's raining/snowing/sleeting/etc. I told Chris we should quit our jobs and move to a beach. His response? "I could just transfer to a store in Florida." Totally do-able. Except for the part where I asked him what I would do all day and he told me to take cooking classes--yeah right. 

First of all, I'm not a terrible cook. I just despise it with every bone in my body. And working full-time and going to school full-time makes me want to never ever cook. Seriously. I had ice cream for dinner last night because I didn't feel like making hamburger helper. And yes, I'm well aware that ice cream for dinner is probably not the best thing for my stomach, but let me remind you--I'm not lactose intolerant! :) 

Anyhoo. It's Tuesday. It's raining. I started my morning getting hit in the face with Copper's pea-soaked tail. Fun stuff. I imagine that's similar to parents who change their baby's diaper and the kid shoots pee in their face. It's hilarious when it doesn't happen to you. 

Have a good one everybody!

P.S. If you have any tips/recipes/whatever for eating gluten-free, I'd love to hear them!