Related to my last post, I have completed my food allergy/detox fast, and all went better than I had expected. In the last month +, I did a thorough water-fruit-veg-cooked veg-nuts-yogurt-fish (4 days for each stage of addition) detox fast, and just recently added back in 2 foods that had a minor allergic re-action.
As to the food allergies, I did go to an allergist. They pricked my back 80 times, and I ended up with 46 welts. 33 food type items came up totally clear, along with the saline. 4 histamine checks proved positive, like they should, and 42, yes 42, food like items showed some signs of allergic reaction.
Biggest surprise? Peanut allergy. So, of course, I had planned to make pb filled chocolates for a friend, which I did anyway, though I couldn't quality control them. Immediately (like, within 15 seconds), of kneading the pb filling with my hands, I developed a breakout acne spot, and hives/itchy back.
I should explain that I have always found rational(ized?) explanations for any discomfort, and shrugged it off, re: carrots. So, when I broke out in acne and ithcy skin every christmas, after making pb cookies with my family, I just assumed the acne was from touching my face to brush the hair out of my eyes with doughy/greasy hands, and the itchy skin was because of the lack of winter humidity. Nope, peanuts. So, I can confirm that allergic result.
Some of the allergy results were more suspect, so with caution, and abandon, I added back in eggs and garlic after my detox program. The caution was adding them back in one at a time. The abandon was the massive quantity to try and cause an allergic reaction, if there was one. Massive quantity = 12 eggs/day, for 3 days, and 3 tablespoons raw garlic/day, for the next 3 days.
The biggest benefit to the allergy test is that it makes eating clean/healthy MUCH MUCH easier. It is too easy to rationalize a brownie when you're counting calories. I just think "Oh, I can have this brownie, I'll do some extra sit-ups tomorrow." If I actually do the sit-ups, they are likely insufficient to make up for the brownie anyway, but worse than that, they become a justification to have another brownie for dinner that day! This is all assuming best case scenario- 2 brownies total, 50 sit-ups. The reality tends to be 10 brownies, maybe 50 sit-ups. However, there is no rationalizing acne, hives, discomfort. I can't "work that off" tomorrow.
The second biggest benefit, though I acknowledge this may be limited to me, per some personality quirks, is that re-introduction needs to be methodical. I can't have baked goods again until I test eggs (check), milk, wheat etc. independently. This makes me eating a single cupcake at least a month away.
I cannot stress enough how much allergy suspicion and the food challenge approach has aided in my well being. I feel soooooooooooo much better now that I'm not eating any of the suspected foods (though garlic/eggs taken off the suspect list, based on valid food challenge).
In addition, I am down 18 lbs since weighing in Christmas Eve. Now, 10 of those came off during the 4 days of water only, and a large part can be attributed to my 35 food items limit for diet. *note: 'food items' include ground pepper, basil, dill, and thyme-not exactly a big meal there, more like herbs to add to a dish. Also, having had a strong reaction to onions means nearly no processed food, and I'm pretty much just limited to salads at restaurants. Onions are in everything!
Next up: Lenten fast, kitchen renovations, and mega possession purge. These 3 things happen to go together, but it'll take a bit of explaining to understand why.
First, the Lenten fast. Now, why fast again after just getting to re-incorporate foods? I mean, I just added chicken/turkey/eggs/garlic the last week and a half or so. It's difficult to say which impetus came first, but it's mostly related to my roommate. My roommate is a deeply spiritual and faith-filled person. I envy her convictions. I happened to be contemplating doing a longer than 4 day water only fast, like 21 days minimum. The ideal time for this would be, maybe say, late spring, which would make fresh fruits/vegetables widely available at the end of the fast, and as the temperature would be mild, the discomfort would be reduced. However, with a roommate, it is difficult to not be tempted by the smells of mmmmmmm cooking. Fortunately, she was also interested in undertaking a looooong fast, like 40 days, you know, like Jesus did. So, I did some more research into spiritual fasting and confirmed her word of mouth story that in several cultures the soon to be baptised adults undergo a 40-day water only fast, to prepare themselves spiritually. And no, they don't die. All of these baptisms occur on Easter Sunday. So, now we had our plan, a looooong fast, starting Ash Wednesday. I should mention here that neither one of us is Catholic (well, I was, but...). Personally, Fat Tuesday sounds like a ridiculous idea, and not a good way to ease into a fast. I did some more research and found that in eastern cultures, some monks observe 'Clean Monday'. They fast on water only for the first week of lent, starting clean monday, and then again for Holy Week, the week before Easter, starting Palm Sunday. In between, then stick to mostly juice and raw fruit and veg, thought they probably eat a vegan diet the whole year. I think the only thing they cut out for Lent is their normal alcohol consumption... So, now she and I had a plan of Clean Monday-Easter Sunday water/juice fast, because that's actually 46 days, and there's no way we're doing 46 days on just water, we do both still have to work, and I have 2 jobs! But, if we started Sunday, the 14th of February, it'd be a beautiful 49 day symmetry! 49=7, 7 day weeks. My roommate was excited about that, because 7 is a biblical number. Only now, I decided to make one more adjustment. I decided to start on Friday, Feb 12th, so that I could get the most rest over the weekend, during the first couple days on just water, so as not to subject my co-workers to an over-fatigued Jes. So, the 'Lenten' fast will be Friday, Feb 12th - Friday, April 2nd (Good Friday). Now, it won't be just water for 49 days. That's absurd. No, just water only for the first 30 days for me, at the most. If at any point I feel I am dipping from 'fasting' into 'starving', I will happily break my fast. Then, will resume water only again, for Holy Week, to respect my roommate's fast. I will be starting my taper down in 2 days, on Friday, Feb 5th, which means only raw fruits and veg, in decreasing quantities, up to the start of the water fast. I will also taper up after Easter Sunday, with raw fruits, veg, etc-similar to my beginning of the year de-tox fast.
Next, the kitchen renovation. This is something I've been thinking about since I moved in 5 years, 6 months ago. And, what better time to do it than now--when I won't be using my kitchen for 30 days! Even if we're juicing, we don't need a heat source. So, we'll move the fridge into the living room, along with a juicer. But, where will we put all the stuff? The kitchen stuff, the living room stuff, the closet stuff?
Which brings me to the megga possession purge. Even if I purged the kitchen, closet, living room, down to the barest of essentials, there is not room for all those essentials in the living room. So, I will have to put some of it (like the bike, and the crystal in the closet) in my bedroom. There is not room in the bedroom. Probably due to too much stuff. So, today, am donating/give away couches, and hopefully table (both will have to be replaced, but with hopefully more functional iterations). Tonight, I clean out the closet, box up all the kitchen stuff, and move it into where the couches were. Tomorrow the demo starts. This weekend I clean, purge the bedroom, move items up there that are absoulte keepers. Which makes next week - free week. I will then open my condo up and allow everyone to come and take stuff they want. Stove, fridge, dishwasher, sink, clothes, books, games, etc. Literally, everything they want that's not in the bedrooms upstairs. Of course, it will be organized. For instance, I intend to have the girls over again on Tuesday, They can have first pick of my closet. I'll serve raw fruits and veg for dinner (or whatever I still need to get rid of), and they can have first crack at everything. Saturday will be for strangers to do the same, but gotta give my friends a chance to snag some steals first :)
Well, long blog post, but there was a lot to say. Hope to be back soon with updates on how all those plans go.
Until then, paix,
Jes
