Fri 7/8

Was a really good day. Great food choices and found that I had lost 2 pounds.

Sat 7/9

1. After calculating my protein requirements again, I decided to try to drop one ounce of protein from breakfast. It's so very hard to eat 20g (3oz) at breakfast. Breakfast is the hardest meal anyway. I like to eat leftovers, but we just haven't had many lately. So I've been doing the turkey bacon or sausage and egg thing, with buttered toast and coffee with cream. The problem with this breakfast is that it gets very high in saturated fat very fast! Is anyone else having trouble keeping the saturated fat to 3g per meal. I sure am.

Anyway...(rambling again!) I only ate 15g protein with my breakfast. I felt OK. I'm beginning to develop some MAJOR 'fog' after breakfast. It's so bad that I have to go lie down. I'm really not sure what it is. Possibly the toast...I did switch from a lite toast at 9g per slice to a whole wheat that has 15g per slice. It could be a wheat-thing. It could be the eggs...I've read lately that some people have that feeling after more than one egg a day or too many days in a row.

The rest of the day went fine, until dinnertime. I had a snack of cottage cheeese and fruit at 430, and by 5 I was light-headed. I didn't even think to go check my blood sugar. Dinner was later than usual. I was so hungry. I was nibbling on cheese and peanuts just to try to keep upright. Well, suffice it to say that I just didn't stop eating at dinner. Too much rice, too much meat, too many chocolate chips. I ate a lot of non-starchy veggies, too. I have no idea what went wrong. Possibly the loss of protein at breakfast, waiting too long for dinner.

I managed to get in 4 C of water and all my supps. I solved the stomach upset with dinner supps by taking my multi at lunch instead of dinner, when I take my Ca/Mg supp.

2. Sleeping is going OK. I use my earplugs and that really helps me sleep well. The problem is, after a few days of wearing them, my left ear gets absolutely raw inside, and I have to leave them out for several days while it heals. Then I have several days of poor sleep. I have no idea what the answer to this dilemna is.

3. I'm down to 1 packet of sweetner, plus Stevia in my coffee. I'm also down to a sip or 2 of caffeine-free diet soda a day. I'm proud of that. I don't need all those artificial sweetners anyway. I'm not ready to give up my LC ice cream yet, however. Don't know if I ever will be. It agrees with me so well, and causes no problems on the day I eat it.

4. Still doing the stretching before I get up in the AM. Feels good. Yesterday, I had so much energy that I cleaned several rooms. The 2nd book, the Transition, warns about the increased energy and not to overdo it too soon. Maybe that's why my appetite was so much bigger in the afternoon?

Sun 7/10

1. Decided to add back in my ounce of protein after last night's fiasco. So I had 4 slices of turkey bacon, 2 fried eggs, 1 slice of 15g carb toast with a little butter, 1/2 decaf-1/2 regular coffee (6oz) with 1 T cream and Stevia. I really wish I could eat less protein at breafast, 4 pieces of bacon and 2 eggs is really alot of food, but it takes all that to make my 20g I need at breakfast.

THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE AFTER BREAKFAST. I couldn't even make it up the stairs to shower for church. I had to lie down on the couch. About 2 hours later it occured to me to check my blood sugar, and it was 96. That is higher than mine usually is, although still normal response to a meal. Wish I had thought to check it when I couldn't move. Oh, well.

I am so totally at a loss now. Is it the eggs, the wheat, the turkey bacon, the total carbs? I guess tomorrow, I'll not eat any of it (what in the world will I eat?) and see how I feel. I have to do something. If Mark hadn't been here today, I don't know how I would have made it thru.

I felt so bad this morning. I'm sure last night's fiasco didn't help. YUK. Lunch (leftover chicken florentine, broccoli, green peas) helped a little, but I still had to lie down afterwards. This afternoon I finally got off the couch by eating a large handful of M&M's. But what's amazing is just how much better I felt, and how fast, once I ate the M&m's. It's a little scary! Sugar is a powerful drug!

We went to a neighbor's for dinner tonight. The food was so good. I did really well overall. I ate too much protein, but that's OK, and had some hummus and some Breyer's Ice Cream with raspberries as my carbs. Plus wine and non-starchy veggies. I tried to just taste everything and not stuff myself. It was fun!

2. I slept well last night, but my ear is so sore, I won't be able to wear the earplugs for awhile again. Rats. I really need to get to bed a little earlier, too. 8 hours really isn't enough sleep for me. I really feel better on 9 or even 10 hours.

3. Today, I drank my coffee at breakfast with only cream and Stevia. It actually tastes good! But it took about 30 drops (serving size is 5 drops) to get only 6 oz of coffee sweet enough for me to drink--and it wasn't as sweet as I like it to be!! Can you use 'too much' Stevia?

4. Stretches this AM.

1. Today is the first day of my self-made 'rotation/elimination diet.' I'm not having any wheat or eggs until I go through everything I want to try out to see how I feel.

Today I've had beef, LC ketchup, yellow mustard, worchestershire, corn, butter, cabbage, mayo, coffee, cream, Stevia, shrimp, homemade blackening seasoning (paprika, cayenne, Tobasco, garlic & onion powder, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper), olive oil, romaine lettuce, Newman's Own Ceasar (WONDERFUL, BTW!!! ), Ry-crisp crackers, M&M's (just a few, for self-medicating ), cottage cheese, canned peach and pineapple in pear juice (drained), asparagus, homemade Hollandaise (egg yolk, lemon juice, butter, salt), potato, sour cream, chives, Montreal Steak Seasoning. Whew! It's really hard to keep track of every single thing that crosses your lips! I feel really good today!! Need more water, though. Still working on my 1st 32oz cup for the day.

I did decide to go ahead and have the egg yolk, b/c I don't like asparagus w/out hollandaise sauce! No effect.

2. Slept great. Was able to wear the earplugs loosely last night. The combination of the Ca/Mg, the earplugs, & not going to bed too early really seems to be helping me get a good night's sleep. I used to try to go bed really early, thinking that I'd get more sleep that way. But I found that I sleep more lightly, wake more often and feel exhausted when I wake up in the AM than when I go to bed just to give myself 9 hours of sleep.

3. Nothing new here. No artificial sweetners in a couple of days now, except Stevia.

4. Stretches this AM. My back is feeling SO much better since I now make myself do about 10 minutes of gentle stretches right when wake up in the AM.

One thing I'm quite disappointed about....I called the Dr near me on SP website that does her program, and it costs $1000 to see him for SP!! And that's just for the first visit. It's $150 per visit after that! Oh well, guess I just have to continue self-diagnosis as Insulin-Resistant, Burned-out Adrenals!

Wow that's expensive. I'm sure you could find some other practitioner at a more reasonable rate. $1000 for the first visit, what do I have to do to get a job like that? Why do you think you are insulin resistant? You just don't seem that heavy to be insulin resistant, I'd expect to see more fat weight. Then again, what do I know? Self-medicating with chocolate and difficulty with sleep do sound like adrenal problems though. One thing we do for sleep at night is to have a fan going to block out noise. We aren't snorers, but even breathing wakes me up because I'm such a light sleeper.

I have lots of times when I feel the way you did after breakfast on Sunday. I did an elimination diet and took out ALL of the common allergens and didn't feel any better. Also have no idea of what I'm allergic to, because I can't make sense of my symptoms. I have been feeling a little better since starting a cleanse for candida. Good luck finding the answers to your issues.

Well, for starters you have to be an MD .... I'm just going to find a GP and get a physical and ask for some bloodwork. Boy, I'm right with you on the breathing waking me up. I really hate it. We won't use a fan b/c our kids are still so young we want to be able to easily hear them.

I guess I chose the IRBOA program over the ISBOA adrenal plan for a couple of reasons. First, I'm coming from a LC background, so a dramatic increse in carbs from 7-10 per meal (and that includes counting non-starchy veggies) to 20-25 per meal/20 per snack (ISBOA) of countable carbs is too frightening for me. The IRBOA plan is the lowest in carbs that she offers, 15 per meal, 7.5-15 per 2 snack, and thus, less scary and more do-able for me.

Secondly, I just had a photo taken in June, and I was appalled at how thick my mid-section is, while the rest of me is still pretty much OK. Not blubbery yet, but very "thick" in comparison to my arms and legs. And while you might expect more fat weight, I'm still very heavy for me at 30 pounds overweight, and it's concentrated in my mid-section. And that, coupled with the fact that I do have some of the symptoms of IR led me to go with that plan. Perhaps my IR, if I have it, is in the early stages. In any event, I believe I was past the IS stage and well on my IR.

Hope you get some answers, too!

Tue 7/12

1...Day 2 of the 'find out what's making me crash' plan. I'm trying really hard not to eat the same carbs 2 days in a row, and this is turning out to be harder than I thought it would be! I really just don't like alot of the starchy veggies on the list, and I'm trying to limit grains to once, maximum twice, a day.

But, it's going OK. Today I had turkey sausage, homemade rice pilaf (rice, spinach, mushrooms, onion), coffee, cream, stevia, albacore tuna, chickpeas, tomato, mayo, lemon, dijon, onion, parsley, baked corn chips, chicken, salsa, Aloutte Spinach/Artichoke spread, cauliflower, M&M's, SF ice cream, chocolate chips.

OK...so it wasn't the greatest day for self-medicating! Tomorrow is another day!

I am beginning to notice something....I feel pretty lousy in the mornings, no matter what I eat. And the caffeine in my coffee doesn't help. I feel physically better and better as the day progresses. I'm wondering if I wait too long after waking to eat breakfast. It can be up to 2, even 2.5 hours after I initially wake before I eat. This really can't be good for me. I have a bad habit of lying in bed until the first child wakes, which can be up to an hour after I wake up. I really should just get up and eat breakfast, I think. B/c by the time I lie there until they wake, get them downstairs, give Ben his bottle, and prepare breakfast, I'm beginning to feel that 'slump' coming on. Today, the food and the coffee didn't help. It didn't pass until after lunch, after which I time I perked right up. Now it's nighttime, and I feel absolutely fine.

This is something that I really need to think about, just getting up and eating something, even if it's a quick snack to hold me over until I make my real breakfast.

I checked my blood sugars today...90 this am upon waking and 85 right before lunch. Forgot to do it the rest of the day. My goal was to test before each time I ate. Tomorrow to test after each time I eat. Anyway, those are pretty good numbers. I totally forgot to check it again right before breakfast, when the slump was coming on. All I was thinking about was food at that point. Maybe I should keep the monitor in the kitchen!

I made an appt with a GP for a physical/bloodwork for August 10. That's the soonest they could get me in.

2...Another great night's sleep. Very short nap this afternoon. One "mini" this afternoon. Another stress reduction: we've decided to hold off on our daughter going to preschool this fall, which means financially, that we don't have 2 in preschool at the same time, and also that I don't have to potty train her right now. Whew, what a relief!

3...Nothing new. Seriously contemplating switching from coffee to tea to see if that will help me feel better in the mornings. I have one green tea bag, and I may try it tomorrow morning, if I think of it.

4...Added a few more stretches this AM, making about 10 minutes worth. Also added in a few minutes worth at bedtime.

I just read James Wilson's book on adrenal fatigue and he said people with adrenal fatigue often feel really bad in the mornings, feel better after their noon meal, and feel really good and energetic after 6 pm. I don't fit this pattern though. He said the timing of meals is very important: breakfast no later than 10, lunch between 11 to 11:30, and supper between 5 and 5:30. Snacks throughout the day and bedtime snack are important too.

Wow, now THAT is really helpful! Thank you SO much! That describes me to a "T."

What book is that, anyway?

Wed 7/13

1...Tried my idea of eating when I first wake up, had 1/4 C cottage cheese. Then I had breakfast, bacon and lima beans, about an hour later. I also had green tea today instead of coffee. I have to say that while it was the nastiest breakfast I think I've ever eaten, I have to say that I felt better physically afterward than I have in a long time! No brain fog at all. Lunch and snack were fine.

Wish I could say the same about dinner. I felt increasingly depressed and overwhelmed as the day progressed. After dinner, I just kept eating and eating major amounts of chocolate chips. I'm quite upset by this setback. Prior to today, it had been weeks since I'd had a binge event and I was SO encouraged that I had FOUND the answer. On SP, I had been using the chocolate chips to self-medicate, just a few a time, but nothing like what I used to eat, and nothing like tonight, which was like I used to do every single day, sometimes more than once a day.

I took 2 tsp of fish oil today, 1 at breakfast and 1 at lunch, b/c I felt the sinking feeling and the anxiety coming on. I meant to take one at dinner, but I forgot. I guess I was too preoccupied with the chocolate chips!

Now, if I could just figure out if I need more or less carbs. I know I need to be on the BOA plan. The 2nd book is actually a little contradictory as to increasing depressive feelings indicate more or less carbs are needed. Says it both ways in the IRBOA & ISBOA plans. Sure wish it didn't cost a frickin' $1000++ to get a doctor to monitor me on this. Sheesh.

I tested my blood sugars today, right before and about an hour after I ate.

Results:
AM fasting 0800: 80
post-snack, pre-breakfast 0900: 89
post-breakfast 1015: 87
pre-lunch 1215: 83
post-lunch 1330: 98
pre-snack 1530: 88
post-snack 1645: 98
pre-dinner 1730: 90
post-dinner/binge 1915: 88
2030: 84
2130: 92
2300: 87

I guess I can't tell whether or not I have hyperinsulinemia from this, but in any event, it appears my blood sugars are responding appropriately, to the insulin I do make, based on my assumption that blood sugars wouldn't be normal if I was IR. However, knowing my insulin levels would be extrmemely helpful, as it would tell me if I need more or less carbs.

2...slept OK. It's always harder when Mark and I go to bed at the same time.

3...the before mentioned change to green tea from coffee. Think I'll stick with it, even though I like coffee more.

4...stretches this AM and before bed.

I just returned the book to the library. I think the title was something like: Adrenal Fatigue: Stress for the 21st Century. The author is James Wilson. If you go to the sticky at the beginning of this board that explains her program, there are a couple of links that relate to the adrenals. I found the metabolic score card interesting, it seems I have a mix of low adrenals as well as low thyroid as opposed to being straight adrenal. There aren't many books that I know of out there on adrenal fatigue. Dr. Wilson's program is much like Dr.S's except he is not as liberal about eating fats and he is big into adrenal extracts amoung other supplements. I did find reading it helpful though. What I took from it personally is that stress reduction has to be a major priority for me, and I must deal with my digestive difficulties and figure out food sensitivities.

I am very encouraged about my results of eliminating wheat and the resolution of my brain fog. It has been much better over the last 3 days.

Thur 7/14

1...Another bad ending to a good beginning. It's back. The anxiety, the depression, the out-of-control carb cravings. Just like PMS, only it's not the week before my period. It's the week before my ovulation.

Last month I drew a face on each day of my calendar to show how I felt that day. I had PMS the week before my period, then subsided. Then I had a string of several days of PMS-like symptoms leading up to my ovulation (which is where I am now), then it subsided & came again the week before my period. So I basically have 2 good weeks a month. That really sucks. Well, at least I can see a pattern. I guess that's something. And it shows that at least some of my issues are related to monthly hormonal fluctuations, whatever that means. I don't have any of the other symptoms in the book of hormonal imbalances.

Well, I'm just going to try to get through it and do the best I can, eating balanced meals no matter what.

I am so very upset, however. I was so hoping that a better diet would help with my symptoms. It does help on the days I feel good. But it doesn't touch my 'bad' days in either number or severity.

As for all that adrenal fatigue stuff, I scored very high (54) on the one test that just addresses you feel on a day to day basis. But when I did the pupil test and the line-on-the-abdomen test, they were both just fine. So, I guess I better stop trying to self-diagnose and justt tell the doctor what I'm doing and how I'm feeling and the pattern I've noticed and see what he has to say, and see what my bloodwork shows.

My poor husband and children. They're the ones who have to deal with this Jeckyl-and-Hyde crap. Mark is telling me to go back on LowCarb. He says I seem to feel better on that. Well, after I've read SP, I know that that is not a good indicator of a good diet, since LC causes you to 'use up' and that's why it feels so good. But try explaing this one to your hubby. "This SP diet is better for me. Yes, I know feel like crap and I'm hateful to you and the kids. It's supposed to make you feel that way while you're 'building yourself back up. The doctor in the book says that 'someday,' I'll feel better." It sounds like a load of hogwash to him. Can't really blame him for thinking that. Well, at least I get to eat some carbs while I feel like crap and and hateful to my husband and kids.

Ah, well, plodding on.

2...did not sleep well, or enough last night.

3...nothing new

4...stretches in the AM