Detox Update aka-I am not good at denial.

I am clinging on..sort of.  The highlights:

• I am down 3 pounds in just a few days.
• Dairy is back in-I caved on the coffee thing.
• wheat and legumes are still out.
• I have drastically reduced portion sizes on anything diary related.
• no alcohol even though our brand new bar was finished this week!

Interesting:

• Two days into the thing I passed out asleep at 10pm..this is unheard of for me.  
• I am back to night time wakefulness.  Probably the result of caffeine back on board.
• Dairy included is much more livable.  I supposed I might dump the dairy again later...when I can add something else back in or if I find a vein of inner strength.

Shop News:

• This place is jumping.  I had a solid string of customers today.  some bought stuff, some did not.  I am not sure if this is because of the yarn bombing i put up on the front or word of mouth is getting around.  Either way I am thrilled.
• I started knitting a shawl..fun fun, easy easy and in cool silk yarn

Detox Hell

The venting bit:
I started the 'It Starts With Food" 30 day detox diet.  I am in 24 hours and it SUCKS!!  The headache appeared last night right around bedtime.  I still have it this morning.  David (nice guy that he is) brought me in a cup of home-brew, supposedly the good stuff, plain with no milk or sugar tea this morning.  It tasted like acid bath.

After drinking about 1/4 of a cup of the vile stuff I brought the rest downstairs and dumped it.  We are going to have to find someplace that sells our good tea again.  Safeway used to have some called Revolution black tea.  It was the only place we had found it.  Now they have every funk-i-doodle kind except black.

Breakfast.  David was going to make some home-made mayo but clearly forgot.  I cracked open two boiled eggs..damn cannot put butter on them (no dairy) so extra virgin olive oil it is- with salt and pepper.  I did this and discovered that extra virgin olive oil is not very good on boiled eggs :(.  I have left half of it.

Now that I have that off my chest:

1.  I amazed that one can feel so crappy so quickly on this detox gig.  For goodness sake you would think I am giving up something vital (Ok..perhaps I once considered a frapp vital but come on..meat, fruit and veg?  It shouldn't be this hard.

2.  Yesterday's food:  Breakfast:  Tea (my last tea bag of the good stuff), 6 macadamia nuts and a handful of blueberries.  Lunch:  sliced pan fried apples with unsweetened applesauce in an omelet. Snack: 6 macadamia nuts, 6 olives, fruit and coconut milk smoothie (1/4 cup coconut milk, handful of blueberries, 1/2 a banana and plenty of ice).  Dinner: oven slow roasted chicken with mushrooms, carrots and orange peppers.  Snack: handful of blueberries and macadamia nuts.   I tried to drink more water but it didn't go down easy (I am a baby without artificial sweetener or sugar obviously).

3.  The scale:  down 2.5 pounds this morning.  Maybe it will be enough to keep my head in this game?

4.  Small Tina victory:  I actually walked into Starbucks and ordered an acceptable drink:  unsweetened Tazo Passion tea (a big one).  I don't know if it has caffeine and it is not the mouth bursting flavor loving chocolate and mint thingy I am used to but...I am drinking it.

Lifes Little Pleasures

My friend Caroline has an absolutely wonderful blog topic today.  She of course does hers much more eloquently as she is one heck of a writer. She has inspired me to do a much shortened version over here at my space.  What are your top ten life's little pleasures?  add your blog link to the comments so others can go look!

1.  Clean sheets-right out of the dryer in the Winter and right off the line in the summer.
2. finding a knitting pattern and casting on stitches for a new project.
3. Waking up with my cat at my feet and realizing I have another hour I can sleep.
4. Sitting with friends and having a good chat (this usually  involves coffee, wine, or some other beverage and sometimes knitting).
5.  Coming home from work (or in my case upstairs) and finding that someone else has cleaned the kitchen.
6.  The anticipation of boarding an airplane headed off for a fine vacation.
7. checking in on your blog during the day and seeing that there are comments.
8. Picking a bouquet of flowers out at the farmer's market.
9. Seeing the glint of understanding and excitement in someone's eyes and face when you help them 'get' the math or knitting or crocheting :)
10. Waking up to sunshine.

I am still here-but reading for another foody adventure

The shop is going gangbusters and I am working my hind-end off.  This is really good though.  I am so happy the shop is going well.  I am now trying to figure out what to get in for Christmas stock.

Food-Oh man.  I am so stuck at 180.  I am totally tight enough but I have lost the plot in a big way.  In addition (I might have already moaned about all of this but you just get to listen to it again).  My ankles are still swelling like crazy.  I have even gone numb in about half my toes and up into part of my foot.  

David has been reading (as we nerds tend to do in this situation).  Apparently it if very common for co-morbidities to start coming back after a period following weight loss-nice one eh?  NOT!

This was one of my big-time annoying co-morbidities.  So what does a girl do?  Why another crazy diet of course :)

My friend Andrea told me about this book called It Sarts With Food.  She is right in the middle of her 30 days of hard work. There is also a webpage. The diet is geared at reducing bodily inflammation in a variety of ways.  Basically you cut out most of anything good :)  and spend 30 days eating meats, vegetables, and fruit. There are a few extras in the mix but that is gist of things.  

The authors arguments are that seed products and dairy products have a high incidence of throwing your body off hormonally and linked to imflamation (something I have felt was huge throughout my weight-loss).  they argue that these two items are strongly linked to something they call 'leaky gut'  your intestinal system getting irritated and leaving your system susceptible to harmful enzymes and 'things' getting into your blood stream.  

The authors discuss the link between some of the foods we eat and behavioral changes that set us up to have unhealthy relationships with food. Finally they talk about nutritional density (something lapbanders are really supposed to attend to).  I have just gotten to the part of the book that shifts from what I should not eat and why to the part about what I should eat and why.

 So far the book has been really good.  Most of the stuff fits with all of the research David (hubby) has been doing over the last two years on diet and nutrition.  It fits with the advice I was given by my band surgeon.  It fits with just plain old good nutrition.  Best of all..I have dabbled with it just a little for breakfast (I will start the thing whole hog next week after I finish the book).  Just sharing a scrabbled egg and a few pieces of fruit with Grace in the morning instead of having just a frapp or other drink has had a HUGE impact on my appetite and how I feel in the mornings.

Sooo..I recommend the book thus far.  Has anyone heard of it? have you tried the diet?  Do you want to give it a whirl with me?  I have a feeling I will need some moral support.  I already have a commitment from David and Grace...They are going to give it a whirl too.

Concert and Day off

A friend and I always try and go see the Bare Naked Ladies when they come into town.  They skipped Portland this year but had a concert up in the Seattle area and we bought tickets.  Of course a trip to Seattle required and overnighter so I left the store with David and took a day and a half off.  The concert was excellent as well the shopping, lounging by Lake Washington and good old chitty chat on our way up and down to Seattle.

New band:  I love blues and funk.  The lead singer for Bighead Todd and the Monsters has a wonderful smooth voice and excellent guitar skills.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uKw-PonCmM

 My friend Linda and I at the concert.  It was quite cozy.  I was seated next to a woman who must have recently fallen off a motorcycle .  She had a broken arm and some severe scabby road rash-on my side of course. I was worried that I would end up with a big arm of puss rub off :)  It was fine once we all stood up for the music and I had a glass of wine.  My friend Linda was next to a heavily pregnant woman.  Still great fun and road rash woman did offer and take this picture so..the cozy was the least I could do.

A photo of Bighead Tom and the Monsters.  Put him into pandora and have a listen.  Really good.

OH M G..don't even ask me about my weight.  It is a train wreck.  It is hot out this week.  I am retaining water like a mad thing and the scale hit 181 today.  My guess is from my ankles and boobs that at least 8-10 lbs is water.  It is so annoying.  I am going into see my GP tomorrow to see if we can work out what is going on.  I would rather not treat the symptom and try and figure out why I am packing on water but if water pills are the only answer I am going to go for them.

xxxooo