Figuring it all out...

The past few weeks have been a very interesting experiment in figuring things out.  In December, when I got the results of my delayed food sensitivity testing (iGg), I was starting to feel my worst.  I thought I would be able to enjoy my favorites one last time before I said goodbye.  However, over the holidays (when we were traveling in Seattle), I got extremely sick to the point where after a week I was unable to digest even water. I was so dehydrated and malnourished since I was petrified to eat or drink anything and contemplating an ER visit.  I decided enough was enough. Prescription medicine obtained, loaded myself with over the counters, and strict diet started New Year's Day.  While I am not entirely convinced what happened wasn't just a bug in my GI tract, since I changed my diet I have felt AMAZINGLY better.  Something is working.  And while I'm not sure yet what it is that is working (I still have 5 months to go), December scarred me enough that it is not even remotely worth slipping on my diet to have dairy or eggs or anything that might be hurting me.

When I was prepping for my new diet and went on my first grocery trip, I was a little depressed.  Everything I picked up that was remotely "convenient", had to be put back on the shelf.  If it was gluten free, it contained tapioca or eggs.  If it was gluten free and vegan, it had tapioca.  I left my final grocery store, got in the car, and cried.  After I was done with my pity-party, I realized then that I wasn't going to be able to rely on convenience foods.  I'm not sure why I was relying on this concept, because when was my diet ever centered around this concept? My only concession was that after about a week, I decided that avoiding tapioca was a losing battle.  It's almost impossible to find vegan, gluten-free, and tapioca-free foods in restaurants or grocery stores. Since I have eaten hardly any tapioca in my life, I decided to add it back in my diet and should new symptoms occur, it gets pulled out.

Aside from that, it's been a breeze, surprisingly. It requires that I am more prepared each day by prepping breakfast and lunch the night before.  I am making my own dressings and sauces and baking mixes.  It's all an experiment.  I thought omitting eggs would be the hardest part, but surprisingly, I've done well! What I really enjoy is a warm breakfast.  Potatoes, tofu/soyrizo scrambles, rice toast, etc. all seem to work just fine! I've thought about trying gluten free oats, although I've never been a huge oatmeal fan, honestly.

I got more information from the lab that did my testing and it made me feel very hopeful.  It was centered around the idea that if you have a delayed sensitivity to something, it's not a lifelong sentence to avoid that food.  If it is a minor enough reaction, it can be reintroduced to the diet once the body has calmed down and then integrated into a revolving diet (i.e. don't eat the same food each day, give it about 4 days before you have it again).  This made me feel like a lot of the things on my list may be able to come back. Obviously, when I try reintroducing these items, if I find that I get an immediate or severe reaction, that no longer is in the delayed category and may need to be omitted for life.  But only time will tell... :)

Another thing I'm figuring out is just being fit in general. I feel like things are finally clicking into place. It's no longer a struggle to get myself to the gym each week, or to log my food each day, or to even lose the weight and build the muscle I am trying to achieve.  In the past year I am looking at almost 20 pounds lost... and it wasn't even by starving myself.  While I may joke that right now "I can't eat anything," I really am getting plenty. And while I am having to shift my protein and my pre-workout meals, I'm figuring all of that out as well.  I'm still eating ALL THE TIME and my days still revolve around what am I going to eat? or did I eat enough?

We laughed today that 3 months ago, we kept saying how we "couldn't wait to be done training" so we could have our lives back.  Oh yeah? We are back to 5 days a week and wish we had time to fit in more days at the gym.

Feeling better than I have in a LONG time and I am thrilled about it.

(Except for my cold, but oh well...)

A new mission

I'm on a new mission... this one is to feel better.

Over the past year, my mission was to teach  myself to run and accomplish the half marathon.  I can see that in 2013, my new mission is to continue to improve in running and strength training, but while doing so on a very restricted diet.  It's been done before, I just may have some challenges. It's going to take a lot of research, a lot of cooking, and a lot of trial and error (and food logging).  I'm particularly sensitive about it because people often feel they need to tell me how I am doing it wrong.  That because I don't eat meat I am automatically not getting enough nutrients.  That I HAVE to eat fish.  I log my food every single day. I am constantly watching to make sure I am getting what I need.  Just because you eat meat doesn't mean you eat healthy by default. Just because I don't eat meat doesn't mean I don't get enough protein.  (exit soapbox).

Anyone who knows me knows that I just haven't been feeling well for the past 6 months. But why? I had this sinking suspicion that it was being caused by dietary issues, but even with my best Nancy Drew practices, it was purely speculation and I wasn't really getting anywhere.  Finally, I gave in and went to the doc.  The gastroenterologist wanted me to add gluten back into my diet, and then a month later go in for an endoscopy to check for celiac disease, gastritis  h pylori bacteria (the bacteria that causes ulcers, gastritis, etc), etc.  I went in for that on Monday and the doc said everything looked great. They took a few biopsies and I will get the results in a week or so.

I also went to a doctor who took my blood panel and sent it off to the Meridian Valley Lab for iGg and iGe testing.  The trick was finding this test - it's not covered by insurance, it's not offered by an allergist or a gastroenterologist.  I found it at the Metro Center Health Center, which specializes in chiropractic, headaches, allergies, and hormonal issues.  The test checks your blood for antibodies having either an immediate (iGe) or delayed (iGg) reaction and breaks it down into low, moderate, and severe classifications so you can determine which foods to avoid. This test helps determine particular foods that might be causing undesirable daily symptoms, migraines, IBS, celiac and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.  One theory my gastroenterologist had was that I may have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) that is not only flared up by certain foods, but by stress.  Well, fine. But if that's my diagnosis, it doesn't actually tell me what foods are doing it, and IBS isn't curable.  IBS is almost often caused by food intolerance and food sensitives   If I can narrow it down and avoid the foods, I can kill two birds with one stone.  The test cost me $700.00. Here is more information on the test and the differences in allergic reactions:
http://meridianvalleylab.com/igg-allergy-testing


$700.00 well spent.  Here's what it came back with:

"Low" sensitive foods are not a big deal unless I eat them every day.  In this fell things like corn, shrimp, almonds, avocado, soybeans, chocolate, a bunch of spices, pistachios, cashews, kale, pinto beans, zucchini and yams (there were a lot but these were the highest).  Since I don't eat any of these items on a daily basis, I'll just be careful. The only ones I'll have to watch are soy, kale, and zucchini. I love them all.

"Moderate" foods are to be watched as they may or may not be causing a problem. The reaction is high enough to keep an eye on, but I can test them sooner.  The test: Eliminate for 3-6 months and then try to re-introduce and test for reaction.  So, I will be avoiding the following items:

• Wheat
• Peanuts
• Sesame seeds
• Pineapple
• Green Beans
• Kidney beans
• Brewer's yeast (no big deal, I don't drink beer)
• Mushrooms (sad face) 
• Spelt 
• Paprika
• Poppy seeds
• Turmeric
• Alfalfa
• Water chestnuts
• Tapioca (I'm nervous about this one, since it's a common ingredient in gluten free goods)

"Severe" foods are to be eliminated completely, but tested for at least 6 months prior to reintroducing:

I had a major reaction to several foods.  So, I will not be eating the following:

• All dairy (cow and goat), especially cheese, casein, cottage cheese, and milk.
• Eggs (my reactions were so far off the chart it wasn't even funny). Major sad face.
• Gluten 
• Navy beans (random. I don't think I even eat them).

Seeing as how we are about to be on the road for a week and traveling over the holidays, I decided to start my full elimination diet starting on January 1st.  I will just try to choose my food wisely and try not to flare my stomach up too bad in the meantime.

:(

I'm tired of being sick, and I'm tired of complaining about it.  Cooking at home will be no problem, but the reality of the situation is that its almost impossible to go out to eat anywhere.  I'm glad I have scientific proof of what's going on, and hope this is the start of finding the root of the problem, and making this all stop.  I am confident that 2013 means I will finally feel better.

Still going!

Now that the dust has settled from the race, I am relatively caught up on sleep, my overzealous appetite has calmed down a bit, and my leg is feeling much better, I am officially ready to start running again.  

My leg feels great. It occasionally gets fatigued when I am on my feet a lot (especially in heels), but it's a tiny bit of soreness instead of a debilitating pain.  I had both an xray and an ultrasound, and there were no signs of fracture of muscle damage. There was only inflammation along the tibia bone, which I already knew, so I was told to continue resting, icing, etc.  It has been a month since the race and I feel like I have sufficiently taken enough time off from running and am ready to get back in the game.  I keep seeing runners everywhere and I am so jealous of them when I drive by.  It's such a great stress release and a wonderful way to clear my mind.  Plus, the weather is amazing right now - I want to take advantage of this!  The positive side of this is that if my leg is sore, I can afford to take the time off, as opposed to being stuck in the middle of a strict training schedule that did not allow for such things.  

I haven't been taking time off completely.   I took about a week off after the race, and then have been going to the gym to work on my cardio/endurance and overall strength.  I'm up to 4-5 days/week.  It feels amazing to see the changes in my body over the past 6 months, and I am inspired by it and excited to see how much change can occur in the next year prior to the next training cycle. By next year, I should have a lot more muscle and therefore be less likely to injure myself.

What I've learned:

• If I don't think about it, I don't succeed at it.  This means I need to plan my workouts for the week, and my food.  
• Motivation is key. I've "liked" a bunch of fitness groups on Facebook so that their motivational pictures and quotes are there in my news feeds.  This is a great thing to see over and over, especially right before I pass the cookie tray at work.
• Only you are responsible for yourself.  I was so lucky to have such an amazing and reliable training partner getting ready for the Half Marathon.  Since the race, we've both gone back to our normal lives since everything pretty much went on hold for 16 weeks.  With the holidays and cold/flu season, our schedules haven't been the same on a weekly basis.  Only I can be responsible for myself, my health, and the end result.  Just because my training partner takes a day off doesn't mean that I automatically get to.  This train of thought has really helped me, even when I'm tired and would rather lounge on the couch.  
• Recovery.  Massages, ice/heat packs, hot tubs, and epson salt baths are not just for pampering.  These are equally as important as hydrating and eating before/after the workout, and make a huge difference on my overall health during strict workout weeks.  I HAVE to cut to down on my dependency on ibuprofen - I fear that this was part of the reason my stomach was so flared up on the days leading up to the Half Marathon.  I also need to get back to taking a multi-vitamin, as these nutrients will also aid in recovery as well.  
• Races!  Getting dates on the calendar already are helping me keep motivated and helping me get geared up for 2013.

So! Going to start with 1-2 runs/week to get back into the swing of things, just to make sure my leg is ready.  We are going to schedule one longer run (maybe 5-6 miles) before Christmas so we are getting in at least one long run per month.  I think this is perfectly reasonable and will help keep us going.  We're also running the BJALCF Your Next Step is the Cure: Santa Hustle 5k on the 15th! Should be fun and we get Santa hats :)

http://www.getsetusa.com/arizona/event-detail.php?item=403482

We're also doing the Resolution Run 5k in January and I'm super excited! It's the race that began it all, and I am hoping to get some other people to join us:

http://www.active.com/running/phoenix-az/29th-annual-resolution-run-5k-run-walk-2013

*Picture courtesy of: 

http://media-cache0.pinterest.com/upload/176977460326788597_Ez6UVOec_c.jpg

Goal Accomplished!

My race bib and timing chip for Shun the Sun

This is a very bittersweet moment for me.  In some ways, I am SO happy that this race is done, but in other ways I am sort of mourning it.  This has been one of the most difficult, exhausting, amazing, inspiring, and painful experiences of my life! And it has consumed pretty much my entire year, especially the second half of it.  While I happy to say that I am officially done training, I am a little sad that all of it is over.

The past couple of weeks leading up to the race, things were going well.  My leg stopped hurting and finally felt like it was "healing." It didn't hurt to the touch and I was taking very good care of it, even though I was still running on it.  The week of the race, I got a lot of sleep.  I was calm, I was excited, I was nervous.  I had my running "outfit" washed and folded on top of my dresser all week, so I wasn't frantically washing anything the night before. I had my entire week's worth of food purchased, including the pre-race dinner (which of course I forgot to thaw, so we ate Chipotle instead).  The weather was cool and beautiful, so all our weeks of training in the heat were going to be rewarded.  I knew that everything I had done had led me up to this moment and there was nothing more I could do to prepare. I was ready.

A few things were bothering me, the main thing being my stomach. I don't know what I did to anger it so much, but I was starting to feel a little nervous that my body had gotten this far, my leg had gotten this far, and perhaps my vice would be my stomach.  Luckily, it behaved itself during the race. :)  My gastroenterologist put me back on gluten (the equivalent of 2 pieces of bread a day) for the next month, and then she wants to do an Endoscopy to test for celiac, ulcer, gastritis, and h pylori bacteria.  It makes sense to test for everything at once, and the only way to truly tell if gluten is upsetting me is to have it in my system.  She also said I could just have IBS that is set off my stress and some foods.  So we'll see.

But, back to the race...

I decided to carb load as much as possible.  As thrilling of the idea of stuffing my face for two days straight is, it is crazy hard! Especially since some of the yummy carb things I would love to go for weren't on the list of foods my body was handling well. Even nuts or nut butters.  According to the carb loading articles I have read, you are supposed to consume 4g of carbs per pound of body weight for 2-3 days prior to the race, and then the morning of, consume 1g of carb per lb.  To put this in perspective, my daily "recommended" amount of carbs (per MyFitnessPal anyway) on a 1200 calorie diet with no exercise that day is 165.  Carb loading would mean 548g of carbs. This is seriously impossible.  I tried a valiant effort and only got to about 200g of carbs each day, and 81g the morning of.  I was so full from the day before, and it was 4am the morning of. I could only eat so much.

In the end, my body needed the missing fuel from the morning. I got tired during the race, and actually got hungry at about mile 10.  Note to self for next time: Plan to run with a snack or force myself to eat more 3 hours prior.

Got to bed at 9pm the night before, and slept very well until 3.  Napped on an off until 3:45 and then got up to make breakfast. Forced 2 eggs, 2 corn tortillas, and half of a coconut milk/protein shake down my system and taped up my leg.  Christi picked me up about 6:00 and we headed over to Hohokam Stadium.  It was freezing from the storm the night before, but the air was so clean and crisp and it was a gorgeous morning.  We got into the herd of people at the starting line, gave each other a hug, put one of our headphones in, and started with the horn.

Our first reaction was how fast the people were in the race! They took OFF! We started quickly to keep up with them, but soon realized that if we were going to complete all 13 miles, we'd have to pull back a little bit. We kept a 10:50 pace for the first 6 miles, and then slowed down a little bit for the second half (not intentionally).  The track led us down the canal, which was actually really pretty and full of ducks. The only downsides were the occasional glare from the sun, and some of the dirt parts were flooded and muddy from the storm the night before.  One part was particularly rocky as well, which I wasn't a huge fan of, because you had to concentrate hard on not tripping or landing directly on one of the rocks that were loosely sitting there.

I got pretty tired at about mile 8, but got a new surge of energy at mile 11. Perhaps that was because I knew the end was near.  My leg did really awesome! It started to get sore at around 8 miles, but nothing I couldn't run through.  My shoulders were tight as we neared the end, so they were starting to bother me. The trickiest part of long distance is keeping your form as your body tires, and keeping your arms moving.  If your moves stay in place, your pace slows, and you neck and shoulders start to hurt.  My sports bra wasn't helping these muscles, either.

As we turned towards the stadium on the final mile, I got hit with a surge of emotion. I couldn't believe we had run this far.  The final 1.1 miles felt like the longest miles ever (the track sort of looped into the stadium which made it impossible to see the "FINISH" banner until we were right there, but I was ecstatic when we crossed the finish line).

Finish time: 2 hours, 33 min, 47 seconds.

The happiest moment? Finishing this race and achieving this accomplishment with one of my best friends, and then turning to receive a congratulatory hug from the love of my life.  It was a great moment.

Pictures to follow!

5 days!!!!

So I about flipped when I opened my email on Friday to be greeted by this email:

How did it get to be the week of the race already??

I swear that I have been preparing myself for this event for what feels like an eternity, and then BAM! Time to pick up my bib and t-shirt and prepare myself for the big day! Suddenly it came so fast!

I am as ready as I can possibly be.  My goal this week is to watch what I eat, drink lots of water, get SLEEP (I forget), and keep my leg healthy and happy.  

Speaking of my leg, it's been doing great.  The flares seem to come and go, so I'm trying to keep it moving this week without pushing it too hard.  We're tapering down so tonight we will run about 5 miles, Wed probably 2-3, maybe a little elliptical on Thursday and then eat, eat, eat! That's luckily my favorite activity right now, so I'm looking forward to it. :) 

My stomach has not been happy, so I am being overly cautious this week on calm foods, and nothing that I don't ordinarily eat, just to be safe.  Last thing I want is to deal with stomach issues the morning of the race. 

Now I just need to:

• Pick up my bib (Thursday after work)
• Figure out directions and my game plan for the morning of
• Plan my meals for Thursday - Saturday

I'm not sure why I am so nervous but the butterflies are active in my tummy!  13.1 miles, here we come! :)

2.5 weeks out!

The 13.1 mile course has been posted! This will be our Half Marathon in 2.5 weeks!

We are 2.5 weeks out from the race, and I have had more mood swings about this event than I can even count.  I have gone back and forth between excitement, motivation, frustration, sadness, pain, and determination.  

Each week in our training schedule, we have been adding another mile each week.  It's amazing, because 10 weeks ago I would NEVER have thought 3 miles or 5 miles was "easy." When compared to 8+, it is!  

• We ran 6 miles and I thought that 7 sounded so hard.
• We ran 7 miles and I thought 8 would be too hard.
• Then we ran 8 miles and I couldn't believe we were about to run 9!

The amazing part is that I think once you go over the hump (which we are thinking is about 6mi), adding another mile or so isn't hard.  Is it the runner's high they always talk about? I'm not sure. But what I do know is that I get tired at about the same end point of my run, whether it was 6 miles or 8.  I've convinced my mind and my lungs that I am capable, it's just convincing my sad, injured leg that it is invincible. I think that might be the hardest part about this: I can do this, but my leg just physically doesn't want to, and fights me every step of the way.

The muscle strain above my left ankle and along my inner calf has been sore since August. It seems to be going through waves.  It would have healed if I gave it more time off, but I was too stubborn and pushed through.  Then, last week, the tendon in the same foot all of a sudden started hurting.  Nothing happened, I didn't twist anything or step funny, it just got angry about 6 miles into the 8 mile journey! I feel that the two points of pain are related as they seem to run in a straight line.  If you are standing flat footed, and flex your right toe, the pain runs right along that tendon to the inner part of my foot.  

This Sunday we were slated to run 9 miles and I wasn't sure I could even put pressure on my right foot to run.  The part of your foot that takes the pressure and is used to "push off" the ground is kind of an essential part of running. So I loaded myself with ibuprofen, and taped it with my fancy Argyle Rock Tape.  My foot did surprisingly well! I felt it each step but had no problem running through it.  Everything I have read said that if you can run through the pain, it's ok to keep going.  Ok, great. But then my brilliant self was so focused on my foot that I completely forgot to tape my calf. I made it 7 miles before the throbbing in my calf was so strong I couldn't run another step.  We cut the run short at 7.35mi. I felt good about the run, but couldn't help but be pissed at myself for such a stupid mistake.

*I should also mention that Tempe Town Lake, our running location for the weekend, was hosting a Half Ironman.  This made us change our course to avoid being trampled by runners / bikers, so that was another reason for our lack of mileage. The change in course dropped a mile off of our route, which we were going to add to the end but I couldn't go on.

However, despite the fact that we ended short, I still felt invigorated that I ran through it.  The adrenaline in my veins told me that I could do this.  That the mind is an amazing thing and that adrenaline would have my back.  But it didn't take long for me to change my tune - within three hours later I was nearly crippled when everything had cooled down.  It didn't matter how much ice or biofreeze I applied, or how much ibuprofen I took - it has been throbbing since.  Hence the mood swings - I can't decide which I'm more excited for: entering the race in 2.5 weeks, or it all being over.  At this point, I'm tired of being unable to walk. I'm tired of hurting and being confined to flats. I'm tired of smelling like Biofreeze!  I'm tired of complaining. My only option is to stop, and it's not going to happen. I've come too far.  

So, I have come to terms with the fact that the race is going to hurt, and I am really going to hurt after. But then I can take some much needed time off of running.  I don't want to risk a chronic issue.  I only need to last 2.5 more weeks. Just 2.5 more weeks.

* * *

We've been talking a lot about "what happens after." I am about to complete 13.1 miles.. while it has been a grueling process, I am not the only one! I have read so many stories of runners who took several attempts to even get this far.  I am determined and not a quitter. But, this epic adventure cannot be my only story.  I know that the next race will be easier, and the one after that.  I will look back on this day and laugh about my silly beginner's story... right? ha!

2013 is going to be dedicated to smaller races.  Keep up the gym time and work on strength and muscle tone.  Small races throughout the year to work on improving pace.  And then another half. I am thinking that the PF Changs 1/2 Marathon in January 2014 might be a good goal. That's plenty of time to register early to avoid the expensive fees, avoids training throughout the summer, and gives me a year before I have to jump into another extensive training program. I think my body, mind, and family/friends will all appreciate the time off. :)

The gluten free / dairy experiment

One month ago, I started a new experiment with my diet.  I dropped all gluten/wheat from my diet, as well as all dairy. The only exception was eggs, but I kinda classify that as its own food group. It's actually been a lot easier than I thought, and an interesting learning experience.
A note about the eggs: Eggs are an AMAZING source of protein, and one I have become quite dependent on.  Additionally, they are so mellow on my stomach, I can literally eat and egg and then run 5 miles with no problems.  Not all foods are so forgiving. Since I have had no issues after eating them, I decided not to include them in this experiment.

I decided to give myself a couple more weeks on the gluten experiment, as I think I may have gotten a little wheat when we were in San Diego (I had vegan sausage and I didn't realize that most of them contain wheat). So, to be safe, I decided on 6 weeks just in case (since it can take a month to get it out of your system entirely). So, two more to go.

Over the past 5 years, I have dramatically changed my diet and gotten progressively pickier about where I shop, what I buy, and what I eat.  Just ask Jay, after I drag him to three grocery stores seeking "all natural" or "wild caught" products rather than buying what is on sale or available in the freezer section.  I feel empowered by knowing what is in my food, and I truly believe I feel better by fueling myself with better ingredients, even if they are more expensive.  I also believe that we vote every time we grocery shop, and I will vote to keep these items available and accessible to the public.

When I stopped eating meat, I stopped eating fish and dairy. Everything was removed from my diet initially because of cruelty issues, and then remained that way for health reasons.  I never craved meat, so I never felt the need to put it back in.  In fact, I felt better without it.  I did eventually start to crave the fish again, but that took 3 years to resurface (and is still on occasion).  The dairy was tough for me, so I brought it back in pretty quickly. I've had a love affair with dairy my entire life, and it always seemed to bring me back to the same result: my body doesn't like it.  My stomach especially doesn't like it, especially when I have a lot.  It gets bad, I drop it back, I feel better, I bring it back, I feel crappy. And repeat.  You see, I appear to be an "all or nothing" girl when it comes to dairy, cheese especially. I can't just eat it once a month. So apparently, it's time to say good bye, or I will just keep battling the stomach pain, occasional nausea, bloating, etc.

Over the past couple of years, I've slowly been working it out. Rice milk instead of half and half in my coffee. Almond milk instead of yogurt in my smoothies.  Sorbet or soy ice cream instead of ice cream.  Cheese was my downfall, as I was opposed to the idea of "soy cheese." And then I started this ingredient and gave it a shot: made enchiladas and it was delicious!

So why gluten/wheat?

I know I am not "allergic" to anything. I've had blood work done to confirm it.
I know I am not "lactose intolerant." I don't have the same symptom every single time.
What I believe is I have a food intolerance to dairy, and the wheat symptoms are incredibly similar.

Here are some of the gluten intolerance symptoms:

• weight gain
• gastrointestinal problems (bloating, gas, pain, constipation, etc)
• aching joints
• exhaustion
• head aches

Here are some of the wheat intolerance symptoms:

• gastrointestinal problems
• frequent headaches
• inflammation (joints and muscles), allergies
• chronic fatigue
• skin rash

Here are some of the dairy intolerance symptoms:

• gastrointestinal problems
• weight gain
• sinus pain and headache
• fatigue
• skin rash

Anyone who knows me knows I have always suffered headaches, I have really bad inflammation in my muscles (major knots from head to toe), I randomly get hives, I'm tired a lot. Gastrointestinal, check.  It all seems to add up.

Gluten intolerance is harder to pin point, unlike celiac disease. It can take days to feel the affects of it in your body.  That makes it really tough to diagnose.  It's also something that has consistently been in my diet since I was a child.  It may not be a huge problem, but I certainly eat too much of it. I started noticing all of the above symptoms, and it occurred to me that I hadn't had dairy in days. What I had eaten consistently was wheat.  The final straw was the week/weekend that we were moving and I felt nauseous after I ate any type of bread or dairy. My stomach was bloated, I felt very gassy, and I just felt terrible. And it was happening more often than not.

Since I started this experiment, I have been feeling so much better. I will be interested to see what happens when I start reintroducing food, but I am very undecided if I am going to reintroduce dairy at all. It might just be time to cut the cord. My family might kill me when it comes to the holidays this year, ha!

Not exactly sure how to classify myself now. I am a vegetarian that doesn't eat dairy or meat, but I eat eggs, and I have been craving fish a lot so I've been eating that pretty regularly (couple times a month) over the past year or two.

I guess I'm just Abby. :)