We went to Kingston yesterday to order the cake for Dustin’s party on Saturday, so of course I just had to do a wee bit of shopping at one of my favorite stores in existence: Mother Earth’s Storehouse! I came home with goodies from all over the world, as well as some local goodness.
After Dustin’s birthday, he and I decided that we’re going to try cutting down on certain foods to see if we notice any improvements. Dustin doesn’t have any digestive issues like I do, but he does suffer from adult ADHD and chronic cloudy head and sinus and nasal congestion, which is any programmer’s worst nightmare as concentration is critical to do this particular kind of work. He’s also very prone to carb crashing after he eats, so in an effort to relieve some of his and my symptoms, we’re going to start with diet modification. The two things that we’re going to drastically reduce right now: Gluten-containing foods and cow milk products. This won’t be an official elimination diet, as I’m still in the process of medical testing (that I’ve been dragging my feet with), but more or less a trial run in hopes of seeing any signs of improvement and monitoring our reaction to foods after we have them.
As of right now, neither Dustin or I have any known medical need to eliminate any particular foods, we’ve never been diagnosed with anything that is food-related, but we feel that it certainly can’t hurt to do some self-investigating. Food sensitivities are linked to dozens of symptoms and conditions and are not exclusive to the stomach and digestion, ADD being one of the common conditions. I have been on this crazy road for many years now, I have done much research, and I have seen quite a few doctors. I know how to read labels; how to watch for tricky ingredients, like modified food starch and natural flavors and casein and whey and so on. I’m a seasoned nutritional facts veteran. A useful obsession habit I picked up when I began counting calories.
We’ll still have have cow milk products and gluten products now and then, but not nearly as often—for the time being. The objective will be to avoid them most of the time and see how we feel, then how we feel after consuming them. Initially, we’ll go 3-4 weeks before we consume either of those foods again, maybe longer. We’ll see how it goes. Like I said, this is not an official elimination diet, we’re just casually giving up and reintroducing foods as we see fit, so please don’t confuse this with someone that absolutely must avoid certain foods. Should that day come, we’ll be a extremely diligent with our foods choices. For now, we’re doing things this way.
I am pretty sure that my stomach reacts pretty badly to large amounts of dairy products. Lately, yogurt and cottage cheese and milk almost always result in bellyaches. I’ve read that goat’s and sheep’s milk is much easier for humans to digest, so we’re going to significantly reduce the cow dairy in our lives and try sheep and goat milk products to see if they are easier on our tummies. Dustin also gets an upset stomach when he has too much dairy all at once, e.g., a milkshake or whey protein powder.
Thankfully sheep’s and goat’s milk products are in abundance at Mother Earth’s and Nature’s Pantry. Even our local grocery stores, Shop Rite and Hannaford, carry a small selection of goat/sheep milk products. Yesterday, I picked up a bunch of products from all over the world to enjoy on our reduction diet.
More black bean spaghetti, tapioca flour, and kaia foods kale chips. That tiny little bag of kale chips was $5.99! I know I could totally make them in my new dehydrator, but I am kind of a sucker for novelty items that have 5 wholesome ingredients.
Ghee (clarified butter – casein- and lactose-free); dairy- and soy-free chocolate chips!! and extra virgin olive oil from Crete. Organic tofu from the US, I think, lol.
I’m excited about these chips! I love mini chips, much more than regular size. Also excited about this EVOO. I’ve been in an EVOO rut lately, it just hasn’t tasted good to me. Hopefully this will change that.
!!! Butter. Clarified. Lobster… where art thou?
Goat milk mozzarella from Canada and goat milk cheddar!
Sheep’s milk cheese from Israel.
Local sheep’s milk yogurt.
And local goat’s milk yogurt. Both made in the Hudson Valley! Yay, Hudson Valley! 
Sheep’s milk feta and goat cheese from France. Oooh la la.
It was 91F degrees out yesterday and I forgot to bring my coolers and ice packs with me and we had more shopping to do. Oops! So, we had to buy a Styrofoam cooler and a bag of ice at the gas station. Didn’t want to risk the dairy products spoiling. I also bought a bunch of Udi’s gluten-free breads, including hamburger and hot dog rolls! I’ve had Udi’s before and like it a lot, so I have my bread needs covered. 
Other than groceries, I did a bit of clothes shopping. I bought 2 maxi dresses and 2 shrugs; Everything was on sale! Plus, we did a lot of walking, so it was great exercise. Win-win, if you ask me! 
For lunch, I had half of a steak and cheddar cheese panini from Panera bread and a lemonade. SO GLAD I didn’t eat the whole thing. Lately, I have come to realize that I really dislike the feeling of being too full. This revelation has had many positive side effects. I’m losing weight without trying too hard and I feel more energetic. I still do intermittent fasting now and then, usually accidentally, but I’ve been enjoying eating a small meal in the morning and then a larger meal later on. I mix it up a lot, it works for me. No pressure, no rules to be broken.
Men close your eyes for a minute: I don’t know if it’s related or not, but since I started taking Natural Calm every day before bed, I’ve had the most tame visit from Aunt Flo in YEARS this month! I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or not, but either way, I dig it!!! She came and went uneventfully, hardly any cramps!
Ok, fellas, safe to look now. 
A cold front came in last night – thank you, Mother Nature!!!! It’s actually a little chilly today. We should enjoy it while it lasts. Our landlord informed us that she’s not paying to have the central air fixed, that it’s our responsibility. 
Wonderful. We’re not paying for it! We’re not going to be living here that much longer and it would only benefit her and the future residents. Screw it. We made it so far, we’ll stick it out, or hopefully figure out where our next pad will be even sooner.
My cousin just walked in, gotta go! I have more shopping to do for Dustin’s birthday party. Be back later.
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