Friday, May 6, 2011

Day by Day

So I have to tell you that I am noticing a difference in my energy levels. I still have my mid day slump sometimes but not like I was on a daily basis and I am sleeping much better. Come 10:30 at night I am ready for bed and that's saying a lot for this night owl. I am waking up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the day and not groggy and struggling to get started as much.

One down side is that I have had a lot of pain and discomfort in my hands, wrists, shoulders, neck, back, tailbone and feet. My doctor said that is a sign of my immune system being triggered as a result of the detox and we will keep an eye on it. I have never had the discomfort and stiffness to this degree before in my hands and I have never had my wrists hurt this way. On Sunday I had stabbing pain in my right arm that radiated down and my chest started hurting and had it been in my left arm I would have thought I was having a heart attack that's how intense it got. It happened a few times on Sunday and again on Monday but hasn't happened since then. Hopefully it won't ever happen again. I'm back to my feet aching every morning when I first get out of bed which I dealt with last year when I was taking Spin classes at the gym daily but it subsided when I cut back.

My biggest concern with these symptoms is that my sister who has Fibromyalgia said that she experienced these exact same symptoms when she was first diagnosed. I can only hope that is not what I am dealing with but rather just my body getting acclimated to my diet change and adjusting while I purge myself of gluten, casein, and soy.

I have been drinking my shake and really look forward to it daily as it gives me my chocolate fix and is tasty. I am eating only veggies, beans, rice, lentils and quineoa right now and can't have meat for the next 7 days. It will be interesting to see if I notice a difference in how I feel from eliminating meat all together and then reintroducing it. I have been doing good with staying on track food wise and am getting better at detecting labels for gluten and learning which foods to buy. It is definitely hard to find gluten free products that are also soy free, egg free or dairy free. In my experience many of the products that are gluten free contain soy. As I find foods that I can eat that fall into the category of Gluten free, Soy free, Dairy free, Egg free I will post them on here to hopefully help others spend less time in the aisles reading labels.

I am seeing a pain management specialist on Monday and will follow up and let you all know how that goes. Hopefully they will have some answers for me and not just prescription medicine. Til then enjoy your weekend and Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there!!

The Tasteful Olive

So I have to tell you about this cool little specialty shop right around the corner from my doctors office. It is called the Tasteful Olive and they carry a vast array of extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars. They have traditional olive oil as well as many flavored ones as well as traditional aged balsamic vinegar and flavored ones. I stopped in there and they have all the oils and vinegars in steel barrels where they have little paper cups for you to taste each flavor before you buy. THEY WERE ALL AMAZING!

I tried the Tuscan Herb Olive Oil which I had to buy. It is naturally flavored with Oregano, Basil, Rosemary and Garlic and is YUMM-O. I also bought a bottle of the traditional EVOO and a bottle of Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar. I can't even describe how good they are, you have to try it for yourself. The neat thing about this store is they have gourmet items like Olive Tampenade, Artichoke and Piquillo Pepper spread, flavor infused Sea Salts, Spices, Pastas, Jams, Jelly and Sugars and recipe cards sprinkled throughout that you can help yourself too. They even have skin and hair products made from Olive Oil.

I can't say enough about this place. It is one of my new favorite places to go and is an amazing find for me since I will be using natural seasonings now. I used the Tuscan Herb Olive Oil the other day to make skillet potatoes and they were delicious. My kids and husband loved them as much as I did and I didn't even have to add much seasoning because the flavor of the Olive Oil was so good.

I went back last weekend with my mom and sisters and picked up a bottle of their new Toasted Almond Oil which literally tastes like toasted almonds. I made fresh green beans last night with toasted almond slivers and instead of using butter I used the Almond Oil and it was better than ever and a lot less calories. I also tried their White Peach Balsamic Vinegar and it tasted exactly like a peach Jolly Rancher. Just think how good that would be on a fresh bed of greens. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Be sure to check them out if you are local as they are in Historic Downtown Overland Park at 7945 Santa Fe Drive. If you are out of town and want to experience yumminess at its best you can visit their website at www.thetastefulolive.com to order. You can also find them on facebook by searching for The Tasteful Olive.

The Farmers Market is also in that area on Saturdays and the store opens at 8 am so you can always drop in after picking up fresh local produce.