Day One Hundred Eleven

I woke up this morning with raging sinus pain, I thought the right side of my head was going to fall off. My knees and ankles ached all day and my tummy was bloated so I looked 6 months pregnant. I don't know if it was the noodles or the minute amount of nutritional yeast in the sauce, but either way, I threw the rest of it away. Thankfully it cleared up fairly quickly, though I had a slight headache and congestion off and on and my legs still feel a bit inflamed.

For breakfast I had a Vega One shake. This is the second day I've had it and I seem to do really well with them. It keeps my energy up all day with no reactions. Yesterday I had the vanilla one, today I had chocolate. I like the vanilla better. A couple hours later, I snacked on an apple with some sunbutter.

Then for lunch -- since I tossed the leftovers -- I had to order out. I got a roasted turkey lettuce wrap with cranberry chutney and a side of fresh fruit.

At dinner, I went back to basics with some chicken strips and sweet potato in the pressure cooker. I added sea salt, garlic, and fresh basil. After it cooked, I mashed the sweet potato with a bit of maple. While it was cooking, I took a bag of asian style salad, and tossed it in a homemade slaw dressing. It had green and red cabbage, carrots, broccoli, kale, and sugar peas, and the dressing had olive oil mayo, mustard, rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, celery salt, and black pepper. Mike joined me for dinner this evening, and even he thought everything was really good. (there's hope for him yet)

Day One Hundred Ten

I had a Vega One protein shake for breakfast, and I did really good with it. I felt great all day. My energy was up, I was in a good mood, and I didn't get sleepy in the afternoon like I usually do.

For lunch, I had a bit of left over rice from last night and I put it on the plantain wraps.

This afternoon I realized I hadn't drank very much water, so while I was at Trader Joe's I grabbed a green juice. It gave me heartburn.

For dinner, I had picked up some awesome meatballs at the co-op. I put them with some shiritaki noodles, fresh basil, and caulifredo sauce. The meatballs were great and paired with the sauce really well. Fresh basil goes with anything. I could have done without the noodles. I didn't care for the texture, they were kind of slimy. And now, sitting here, my eyes feel swollen, dry, and itchy, and I have a slight headache, plus my legs are itching. I hope it doesn't get worse.

The caulifredo recipe is here: (I didn't use cayenne, but I did use black pepper). I don't know if it's the noodles or the yeast in the sauce that did me in. 

Day One Hundred Nine

TMI alert: I woke up this morning with a seriously upset stomach -- nothing but green liquid. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to go to work, but it calmed down fairly quickly. I was afraid to eat though.

Finally about 11:00, I was really hungry, so I risked an apple. Once that went down well, I went ahead and ate lunch and did fine with it. I had left overs from dinner last night, but I went much lighter on the pumpkin seed spread just in case.

Before dinner, I went downtown and met my daughter at the Natural Foods Co-op and spent the evening playing with my grandson -- he is growing soooo fast, all wiggly and babbling away! While I was there, I picked up some Persian rice, with dates, walnuts, lemon, olive oil, parsley, green onion, dill, and sea salt. I also picked up some organic lamb chorizo, browned it, and put it over the rice. (a little risky with the touchy tummy this morning, but I didn't have very much of it and figured it would be balanced by the rice). It was really good.

Day One Hundred Eight

So I was a bit bloated this morning, but not as bad as I expected. I had some cramping, just enough to get my attention and let me know my body is really not happy with what I put in it yesterday. I took some extra magnesium last night just to move everything along a bit faster, and it definitely moved a bit faster than usual today. However, I had heartburn really bad this afternoon, for the first time since the surgery, and had a bit of a sour stomach early this evening. So I kind of went back to basics on the food today.

I had an apple for breakfast, and some chicken strips and a baked sweet potato for lunch. Then this evening I made some plantain wraps, spread with pumpkin seed spread (from The Cultured Kitchen). Then I sauteed some grass fed ground beef with some zucchini, sauteed in garlic chive spread (also from The Cultured Kitchen) and sprinkled it with granulated garlic and sea salt. I put it on top of the wrap and pumpkin seed spread. I don't have any idea what to call this recipe, but it was really good.

Day One Hundred Seven

I had bacon and an egg with a fruit smoothie for brunch. I snacked on some rice crackers with pumpkin seed spread and olive tapenade before we took off to the mountains for the afternoon. We went up to Sly Park and hung out by the lake for a couple of hours before going into Placerville to the HeyDay Cafe for dinner.

HeyDay has one of the best salads going, it's mixed baby greens with apples, Maytag bleu cheese, cinnamon pecans, and balsamic dressing. We shared a salad, and Mike ordered a pizza. This is where I have a confession to make. I had a piece -- a very small one -- and there was not a thing on it that I am allowed to eat. It was not gluten free, it had tomato sauce, house made sausage, peppers, and cheese. It was ok, but not great. Not worth it.

On the other hand, I didn't react to it nearly as badly as I expected to. I had a slight headache and some sinus stuffiness. Now I have a little bloating and a small amount of itching. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Day One Hundred Six

I never really sat down for a meal today. I went to work for a half hour this morning, then to the farmer's market. I wondered around and tasted a few samples, Then I came home and snacked on a few cherries, some rice crackers with a bit of pumpkin seed spread and some olive tapenade that I picked up from The Cultured Kitchen. My roommate made coffee so I had a half cup of coffee with almond milk and maple syrup.

After being at the farmer's market, I had an allergy attack -- sneezing and itchy eyes. So I took a half a meclizine.

 A bit later I chopped up a little bit of cabbage (from the farmer's market) and made some homemade cole slaw. Finally this evening, Mike and I had to run an errand, and he wanted to stop at Togo's for some pastrami, so I got what they call a sandwich in a bowl -- it was basically some lettuce with a bit of chicken, mustard, and pickles. It made me very cranky.

Day One Hundred Five

I had some mixed fruit for breakfast, melon, blueberries, grapes, and mango. Left over lamb with a mixed greens salad for lunch.

Then for dinner, I had to pick up Mike in El Dorado Hills, and we stopped at Relish Bar. I got a Painted Hills burger, lettuce wrapped, with a mixed greens salad topped with Mango Curry dressing from the Cultured Kitchen.

I felt really good all day, but just now I have some itching on my arms. Possibly the curry in the dressing? I was hoping that the tumeric and ginger in the dressing would counteract it, but maybe not. I'll test it again to see if that's what's doing it. Meanwhile, it was really tasty.