Adventures in Cooking and Eating

Acupuncture in Blacksburg, VA

2010-04-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

I get acupuncture in Blacksburg, VA, at New River Healing Arts. Greg Bryson performs acupuncture and massage therapy at the clinic. The address is 203-A Church St., Blacksburg, VA, 24060, and the website is www.newriverhealingarts.com.

62.5% There!

2010-02-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

So I've been on this trial for 2.5 weeks and it has been quite interesting. Almost immediately after I started this (within a few days), my acne improved, my dry and scaly "winter" hands resolved, and the gurgling in my stomach after meals stopped! Amazing! I've also noticed less tartar buildup and probably the most exciting change has been my increased energy! I don't feel as tired as I did before I started the trial. Now for the negatives....a few times I had massive pizza cravings. Once the craving was so strong that I spent $7.99 for a small gluten-free frozen pizza! Yikes! I made some delicious wheat-free brownies but had too many and kept getting a sore throat :(. Eating out is very difficult unless you go to Asian restaurants, I've found. Thai food seems to be the safest. You have to watch out for soy-sauce (WHEAT) and some of the sauces in Chinese cuisine. Eating at a non-Asian restaurant is just not that enjoyable anymore because the food selections are so limited. About a week into this trail I went to a Mexican restaurant and felt pretty sure that there must have been wheat in the corn tortillas and corn chips because my hands got dry and scaly again and my stomach gurgled after the meal. But those symptoms resolved a day or two after the meal. Also I must report that I had one known blunder - I accidentally bought some Thin Mint Chocolate ice cream (yes the Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint) and had a small bowl of it on Thursday. After I realized what I did I promptly gave it away to a friend. The only obvious problem from ingesting about a quarter of a Thin Mint? Dry hands again. On the bright side I've tried some delicious wheat-free recipes - pancakes that are every bit as satisfying as traditional pancakes, soups, and casseroles!
ONLY 1.5 weeks to go! Then I get to have all the pizza, cheese sticks, BEER, and brownies I want, and wait to see what happens! All in the name of science! :) I have mixed feelings about this upcoming part of the experiment because I'm afraid I won't like those foods as much anymore (and hence be let down) or else I WILL like them but will feel extremely bad after eating them. Then I will be forced to make the big decision....to wheat or not to wheat.
Bye for now,
Suzanne

Trial of a Wheat-free Lifestyle

2010-02-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

Today I am starting a new phase of my life...a phase where I take control of what I put into my body. I know that is a little melodramatic, and to be honest I've been "watching what I eat" since I can remember. BUT this is different because I am pursuing a change based on a desire to improve my overall health, not just prevent cancer, stay at a certain weight, or have my body look a certain way. This is different because I have listened to what my body is saying for the first time maybe. It has given me signs that I may have a problem with something in my diet (that at this point I LOVE) and I am going to listen.

I am putting this in a blog for several reasons:

I want to have proof of this process - whether it succeeds or fails.
I don't want to "not remember" how I felt at various phases.
Whatever happens I know that someone else out there may benefit from my experience, and if the web isn't for sharing, I don't know what it's for.
Writing is therapeutic
I want to experiment with blog life and this is what's happening in my life right now.
I don't want to waste any paper in this process.

So today, February 2, 2010, I am embarking on a wheat-free trial. I will not knowingly ingest any wheat product for one month. This should give my body enough time to adjust and for me to see any improvements from a wheat-free diet. I am not a nutrition expert, but I am a veterinarian and I'm interested in improving health of all beings. I will faithfully post my progress in this adventure.

I can't figure out how to post subthreads so I will just have to continue here for now. To help me remember, I am going to post my stats for the day:

Sleep - last night I got about 8 hours with some interruptions from my kitten, Hu (to right).
Food - breakfast of one egg with cheese, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 small potato pancakes, dark cherries with yellow Greek yogurt; lunch of 1/2 buffalo burger with bleu cheese and tomato (sans bun of course), mushrooms cooked with worchershire; snack of dark chocolate covered cashews; dinner of bangkok pad thai (rice noodles) and of course more chocolate (this time mint dark chocolate).
Beverages - one mug tea with a tiny bit honey, one cup half decaf-regular coffee with half and half (unfinished), 1 cup water.
Weight - 128 lbs
Acne - yes.
Wheat - none.
Exercise - 2 hours of Hsing-I
Mindset -a little worried about whether I'm going to be able to do this (hence part of the reason for the choc cashews above :)).
Any differences noted? I feel excited for the possibility of making a change and improving my heath! Am I scared? yes, a little...