My allergies

During the fall of 2011, I started experiencing the worst sinus congestion, sneezing fits, post nasal drip, runny nose, and watery eyes. This went on for a couple months. At first I thought it was an annoying cold. Then after a few weeks, I thought maybe it was just seasonal allergies, too much pollen in the air. I was popping Claritin tablets all the time. On days I would forget to take them, I would sit at work just constantly sniffling my nose, hoping that snot wouldn’t come out during meetings. It was no fun and it was starting the drive me crazy! I think what was more bizarre is that everyone I talked to would just say things like, “Yeah, allergies usually kick in around your thirties.” Or “Yeah, I have allergies too.” Everyone just seemed to be okay with the fact that allergies were now a way of life for them. I couldn’t stand it!

It wasn’t until after a series of trips to cities around the country (Seattle, Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston) that I realized there is no way these symptoms are from seasonal pollen in Orlando. I had the same symptoms happening no matter what kind of air or climate I was in. So it was at that point that I decided to go see the fine folks at the Florida Otolaryngology Group. I spoke with my doctor and told him all my problems. He examined the inside of my sinus area just to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong in there. And then suggested that I come in for a full up allergy test to figure out exactly what was causing me to sneeze all the time.

An allergy test has two phases. Phase 1 is the skin test. They use this thing called a “stamp” which is basically a square piece of plastic with 8 prongs on it. At the tip of each prong is a specific allergen. They stamp your skin with the allergen by rocking back and forth gently until all the allergens are evenly distributed on the skin. It doesn’t hurt but can be uncomfortable. You get five stamps along both your forearms. The allergens are left on your skin 15-20 minutes and then the size of the reaction is recorded. The size of your reaction determines the amount of hell you endure during phase 2…

Phase 2 is an intradermal test. As in, they stick you with needles that contain a different allergen. If you had a sizable reaction to an allergen in phase 1, they will stick you with that allergen in phase 2. Lucky for me, I had probably about 30 shots up and down my biceps. It was HORRIBLE. Once they’re done sticking you, they wait 10 minutes to measure the size of your reaction. This is the point when then the allergist pulled up a chair next to me and said, “Oh dear, you poor thing.”

Turns out, I’m allergic to the world. They use a scale of 1 through 6 to measure the degree of your allergic reaction to an allergen. 6 and 5 are severely allergic. 4 is moderately allergic. And 3 and below is mildly allergic. These were my scores:

Trees
3 Oak
5 Pine
6 Maple
3 Sycamore
4 Cedar
0 Cypress
0 Birch
4 Bayberry

Weeds
6 Ragweed
4 English Plantain
4 Marsh Elder
0 Cocklebur
0 Lambs Quarter
3 Mugwort
3 Pigweed

Grasses
6 Timothy
4 Bermuda
0 Bahia

Molds
0 Alternaria
6 Aspergillus
5 Hormodendrum
3 Candida
0 Pullularia
0 Fusarium
3 Helminthosporium
3 Mucor
4 Penicillium (not the antibiotic)

Indoor
6 House dust
4 Cockroach
6 Mite F
0 Mite P
6 Cat
6 Dog
3 Horses
3 Feathers

17 different allergens were in the moderate to severe range! Including cats and dogs of which I have one of each. How did this happen? And what can I do about it? Turns out from the doctor’s perspective, there is no cure. Just several different things I could do to help alleviate my symptoms. First, I started to take a 24 hour allergy pill daily, along with the use of a steroid nasal spray. I also started immunotherapy drops which I had to take in the morning and before bed. I purchased a fancy air filter for my bed room. I replaced all my pillow covers and bed with special allergy/dust covers. I stopped letting my pets into my bedroom. I went on full attack to try and get a hold of these stupid allergies. And for the most part, it worked. I saw improvement and my sinuses were no longer driving me nuts. But the amount of money it took to get to that end point was a lot. And not to mention, it’s not a cure, it's an expensive bandaid. I have to purchase the allergy pills every month and the immunotherapy drops every three months.

So, yes, I finally got my allergies under control. It’s been about a year now since I went through all of that. But what has bugged me the most is the why? Why all of a sudden did my immune system decided to fight the world I live in? Why is it so confused? I’ve had dogs and cats my entire life but now I’m allergic to them. It just didn't make any sense. And no one seemed to have an answer to that question until I started reading the book Clean by Alejandro Junger, M.D. He describes allergies in his book:

“Wheat is a classic trigger of allergic responses. So are dairy products and refined sugars. They irritate and erode the intestinal walls, resulting in a “leaky gut,” the origin of inadequate allergic responses.”

Leaky gut? It just sounds so gross. You can picture your gut leaking… But he goes one with more good stuff.

“Allergies are one of the most common symptoms of toxicity. But detecting the cause isn’t as easy as staying away from the things that make you sneeze. Allergic responses to food don’t necessarily play out in an obvious cause and effect way, like drinking milk and immediately getting hives or a stomach cramp.”

Okay, so if I eat bad stuff, it can cause a leaky gut situation but doesn't mean I'll feel it in my gut…

“The true cause of his problem was the irritating foods and toxic chemicals that caused a leaky gut and kept his immune system on heightened alert mode throughout the year, not simply the pollen he breathed in the change of season which tipped his system into crisis.”

“The body picks up the message that invaders have arrived and initiates a defense response, forming mucus and calling your attention through itchiness.” 

Wow! Who would have thought?

I wrote this blog because I know lots of people suffer from allergies. But I point out the writings of Dr. Junger because I have not taken an allergy pill since I started the action plan and I have been symptom free the last 6 days. I’ve had interactions with my dog and cat and no sneezing or runny nose! This action plan has removed all wheat, gluten, sugar, and processed foods. So I can’t help but be convinced that there’s a connection to the foods I eat and my allergy symptoms. I think Dr. Junger is on to something.

The Action Plan: Day 5 and 6

Happy Friday beautiful people (a throw back to my Song peeps)!

So I missed blogging yesterday but I did not fall off the cleanse! I'm proud to say, I have made it all the way to day 6 of this action plan cleanse! I'm really glad I decided to do it. The best analogy I can come up with is that it’s like spring cleaning your house. When you first start cleaning, everything is kicked up while dusting and sweeping, you're moving things around, trying to organize your messes, getting rid of clutter; it seems to almost get dirtier and messier in the process. But then you hit a turning point where you see progress! Your house looks cleaner, you've cleared out the clutter, things are organized and in their place, and it just feels good to sit in your clean house. That's how I would describe the last 6 days on this cleanse.

To be complete, I’ll back track on what my meal plan was the last couple days.

Day 4:

• Cucumber pear juice
• Cashew trail mix
• Leftover creamy broccoli soup
• Leftover French lentil salad
• Orange
• Mango pops
• These obviously fall under the snack category. The recipe says to use slightly thawed frozen mango. I would suggest going with completely thawed because I almost broke my blender trying to blend everything. But this is a great snack! I didn't make pops though. I just ended up filling up a plastic container and used an ice cream scooper to make a smaller serving size.

Day 5

• Pineapple spinach juice
• Not my favorite juice out of the bunch so far...
• Leftover cauliflower rice stir fry
• Cashew trail mix
• Mango pops
• Vanilla Rooibos Tea
• Herbal Tea
• Red lentil and sweet potato stew
• This stew is the boom dot com and will fill your house with the most fragrant aromas. Remember to ferment your lentils the night before!

I've read ahead to see what week 2 entails in Whole Livings Action Plan and I may have to deviate from some of their suggestions. I will definitely be adding fish back into the mix. I need to up my protein in take. I was doing a workout yesterday and had to dig pretty deep for energy during some strength training exercises. But Week 2 also introduces some foods that are not really paleo approved. So I might have to think through my own meal plan for the week... more to come!

The Action Plan: Day 4

This was what I ended up eating the rest of day 3:

• Blueberry mint smoothie
• This was a great smoothie. First I used my juicer and juiced two peeled cara cara oranges and ½ organic lemon (with peel). There was so much juice that I didn't need to add water to the smoothie. I blended the juice with the rest of the ingredients. YUMMY!
• Macadamia nuts
• I didn’t have any trail mix left but I had a small bag of macadamia nuts. It was an easy grab when I was packing my lunch for the day.
• Leftover cauliflower rice stir fry
• Was just as good as the night before!
• Vanilla Rooibos Tea
• This is one of my favorite tea flavors by Starbucks. It's caffeine free and tastes great without adding any creamers or sugars.
• Sweet potato chips
• I made these last night using my new spiral vegetable slicer. They were a great snack.
• Leftover French lentil salad
• Lots of water

I have made it to day 4 and honestly, it has been touch and go, especially last night. I have definitely been feeling some of the common side effects of a detox: foggy head and achy joints and muscles. But they come in short waves; sometimes for just a few minutes and other times for half an hour or more. It's the strangest thing because when the wave passes, I feel great! Everything else seems to be functioning just fine. And my skin! OMG my skin. I need to write an entire blog on skin and the things I’ve gone through. But if vanity is strictly what you’re going for then do this Action Plan because I cannot remember the last time my skin has been this clear. True story on that one.

But I digress… I want to talk about the detox symptoms so that people know what to expect. I wish I could better articulate what my head feels like because it's not a headache and it’s not painful. I don't have any trouble concentrating or thinking clearly. I just feel blah. Last night was probably the worst of it. I was sitting on my couch and I just felt yucky. I have read that massaging the lymph nodes helps to get the toxins out so I decided to try out this thing called dry brushing. I first read about in a book called Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr. In her words:

"Dry brushing loosens dead cells, stimulates acupressure points, tickles your chi, massages your meridians, moves the lymph, helps reduce CELLULITE, stimulates your immune system, wakes up circulation and makes your skin soooo soft and velvety!"

That all sounds like good stuff, right? It’s basically exfoliating your skin and at the same time massaging your body to improve the flow… Afterwards, I took a nice hot shower and it seemed to the do trick. The foggy blah feeling was gone and I felt like a million bucks going to bed.

I know everyone will have a different reactions to this cleanse. It all depends on where you’re starting from. For me, I managed to cut out my caffeine addiction a couple years age. So I knew caffeine headaches were not going to be an issue for me. But the foggy brain feeling really peaked my curiosity. What was causing me to have these small waves of “blah?” What’s going on up in my head?? I did tons of online research to try and figure out exactly what causes the foggy brain feeling (it's the nerd in me to always ask the how and why). I found an online article that went into great detail on the different causes for a foggy brain, everything from psychological causes to cancer to bowel toxicity to misalignment of the spine. I thought it was an interesting read to share.

So far on day 4, the foggy brain situation has lifted and overall I feel pretty good. I should mention that I have not felt hungry, deprived or starving at all. And I’ve only eaten the recommended meals and snacks. Thoughts of sugary snacks still enter my mind but they're not maddening like on day 2. I think I had about 4 different opportunities to eat sugary snacks at work yesterday:
1. Birthday cake for the secretary
2. Brownies in the break room
3. Bacon caramel cupcakes in my managers office
4. Publix soft cookies in one of my meetings
And I didn’t have any of it. So that’s a mini victory for me! I wanted a bacon caramel cupcake like no other because they were made by a girl in my office who does some professional baking on the side. But I stood strong. If I make it to day 21, maybe I’ll experiment with making a cleaner version J

The Action Plan: Day 3

So, what was the rest of day 2 like? Well, I started with a big glass of cucumber-pear juice. I used an Asian pear because I like them better. The juice was very tasty and easy to drink. And just note, you’ll need a juicer for this recipe. I will definitely be making this juice on the reg.

Then for lunch I had leftover creamy broccoli soup. And it was just as awesome as it was the night before!

After lunch, I decided to take on the monstrous task of cleaning my garage. It was a lot of hard gross manual work like cleaning, sweeping, scrubbing floors, moving boxes, etc. I was a hot sweaty mess afterwards. But I figured it was a good way to get some movement into my day but not do a full blown workout during the first few days of this cleanse. A few hours after I was done, I had the craziest craving for something with sugar! Ice cream, chocolate, a cookies, anything! Fortunately, I did not cave because I have no such items available in my apartment. But the cravings didn’t really subside or go away, so I decided to make the strawberry coconut smoothie. The smoothie seemed to do the trick! Sugar withdrawal is such a strange phenomenon.

I made the cauliflower rice stir fry for dinner. This recipe is packed with all sorts of vegetables. The entire dish probably took me about 1 hour to make from start to finish. There’s just a lot of prep work involved when you’re using a large variety of vegetables. I got to use my new spiral vegetable slicer which is a fun new kitchen tool. Overall, the dish was very good and filling. The addition of cilantro is a must to give your taste buds something to smile about. I also had enough leftovers for at least two more servings. And yes, I used the chopsticks!

It’s now day 3 of the detox and I've already managed to purge four pounds of God only knows what! A quick unexpected side effect (but always welcomed)! I could tell when I woke up this morning that I was a little smaller around my mid section. My first thought, "Wow, this detox thing might actually be working!" So far today, I’d say I feel pretty foggy in the head. It’s not a headache and it’s not painful but I just feel “blah.” I’m pretty sure it’s a sign of my body cleaning house. I’ve heard that the level of your discomfort during the first few days of a cleanse depends on how toxic you were when starting out. I went into this assuming I was high on the toxic scale, so I'm expecting some discomfort. I'm hoping by day 4 or 5, it starts to clear up!

I had mentioned yesterday, the difficulty of doing a detox is doing it while you tackle your real life responsibilities. And low and behold, I came into work and at 8:30 am we had a birthday celebration for my secretary. There was a beautiful Pulix cake, brownies, and cookies. Of course, I wanted a piece of cake but I refrained. I sang happy birthday, gave her a hug, and went on my way. She got my love on her birthday and I get to say I'm still on track. Birthday cake temptation averted, for today at least!

The Action Plan: Day 2

I've made it to day 2 and I swear, I feel lighter already! It always amazes me how much crap you can carry in your mid section when you're bloated...

Day 1's lunch menu called for French lentil salad. I served myself a huge plate because I had waited too long between breakfast and lunch and was SUPER hungry. The salad was very filling and didn't taste bad. I went into eating lentils with an open mind, so that always helps. I don't think this will be a repeat recipe in my life but it was fun to try.

For dinner, I made the the creamy broccoli soup which doesn't look like much but it is AWESOME. I really liked it! It's super easy, quick to make, filled with good for you green stuff, and tastes good. I followed the suggestion by one of the readers on the website and added the juice from one lemon. It was a fantastic addition. I also probably used a bit more crushed red pepper than it calls for but I like spicy, so it worked for me.

I strictly followed the meal suggestions for all of Day 1. I did snack on some trail mix between lunch and dinner but that's allowed. I just need some crunch in my life. Otherwise, I drank TONS of of water. Overall, I'd say Day 1 was a success.

Today is Monday and it's MLK Day (may he rest in peace). I get the day off from work which means I get another "easy" day at home doing this Action Plan. Easy in the sense that I don't have to worry about anything but this Action Plan! This morning, I already got to sleep in, walked the dog, took things slow, made some cucumber pear juice, and wrote this blog. There was no need to pack or pre-plan my meals for the day. It's all just right here at my place. Tomorrow will be a different story. I think everyone could be successful with any detox or change in eating habits if we didn't have to work (i.e. responsibilities)! My real life is filled with bad habits! It's trying to merge the development of good habits while at the same time breaking the old that's the hard part.

I also might start tracking my calories during each day, just out of curiosity. The Action Plan says that calorie counting it's a big deal since it's basically good for you stuff (i.e. no processed foods, dairy, or sugar). But calculating the calories can turn into a lot of work since these recipes don't have the information readily available. By the way, what is up with that Whole Living?

Have a great day!

The Action Plan: Day 1

I picked up a Whole Living magazine at the HOU airport last week. The cover said, "Fresh Start!" Later I found out it's a Martha Stewart magazine, so of course I was drawn to it. Inside the magazine was a 21 day action plan, a detox basically. Looked easy enough. I could do 21 days, right?

Well, today is Day 1. So far, I've had a Magno-Tahini Smoothie for breakfast. It wasn't bad. What is tahini you may ask? Cause I asked the same thing. It's basically sesame seed in a liquid butter form. I found some at Whole Foods in the produce section.

But getting to the point of actually having this first smoothie took some work! First, I had to read the entire plan to get a feel for what it was about. You can read view the plan here. Basically it eliminates processed foods, added sugars, dairy, gluten, alcohol, and coffee. I already know my biggest issues are going to be sugar and alcohol. They are my nemeses! But it's still January, the time for resolutions, and I'm still feeling the need to clean up my act, so I'm all in.

First step was to make a shopping list for the week 1. This is what my shopping list looked like. It might vary for you depending on what you already have in the house.

Produce:

• 4 limes
• 4 Asian pears
• 4 cucumbers
• 2 bunches of celery
• 2 avocados
• 2 oranges
• 6 lemons
• 6 green apples
• 3 red onion
• 3 yellow onion
• 2 bags of carrots
• 2 bunches of beets
• 4 sweet potatoes
• 2 bananas
• 2 red bell pepper
• 1 red chili
• 1 cauliflower head
• 1 broccoli bunch
• 1 large tub of baby spinach
• 1 bag of romaine
• 1 bag of shredded red cabbage
• 2 bunches of parsley
• 2 bags mint leaves
• tarragon
• basil
• cilantro
• fresh sliced pineapple
• jar of garlic

Frozen:

• 1 bag of frozen blueberries
• 2 bags of frozen mango
• 1 bag of frozen strawberries

Other:

• tahini
• slivered almonds
• French green lentils
• red lentils
• coconut oil
• honey
• fennel seeds
• caraway seeds
• cumin
• turmeric
• curry power
• coconut milk

Seems like a lot, I know. But there is a cleansing broth that you're supposed to make before starting which uses up a lot of the vegetables. I also bought ingredients to make some of the suggested snacks because I know me, I like snacks.

The coolest part of starting this Action Plan was that I discovered a great place to start buying my produce. It’s called the Homegrown Local Food Cooperative. Their produce supply comes from local farmers so it’s all super fresh. And if you become a member of the cooperative, you can participate in their online ordering deal. Twice a week they accept online orders for produce. You click submit, they gather it all up for you and a couple days later, you pick it up. I just thought it was so brilliant, I signed up for a lifetime membership (it was more cost effective). I’m pretty excited to make that a part of my weekly food shopping.

Once you have all the required food for your first week, you need to make sure you do some of the prep work. First thing is to make the cleansing broth. It takes about an hour and you’ll need a jug or container large enough to hold about 12 cups of water. Second is to prep the use of lentils. There are two recipes in week 1 that use lentils. I’ve never really eaten lentils but I have read in all my Paleo books that they are on the no no list. But then I’ve read several online bloggers and other sources saying can be very good for you, if prepared properly. These two bloggers had very great write ups on lentils:

To Bean Or Not To Bean, That Is The Question (Legumes, Lectins, and Human Health)

Fermenting Lentils

I ended up doing the acidity fermentation on the French lentils that I plan to use in the French lentil salad for lunch today… I’ll let you know how it turns out.