Trying the Gluten-free Lifestyle

Last week I watched Dr. Oz and he had a special about Celiac disease. It was really interesting to learn about all of the ways that wheat/gluten find its way into our bodies--through food, but also through shampoo, lotions, soy sauce, salad dressings, and other products. During the show I looked at my shampoo and I discovered that my very own shampoo had wheat in it!

I'm still a little confused about the symptoms of celiac disease because it appears that it changes from person to person. Some of the symptoms are: gastrointestinal problems (check, I've got that), rashes (check, I've got that), fatigue (check, I've got that), anemia (don't know if I've got it), migraines (check, I've got that) and a myriad of other symptoms. What I gather from reading about it is that it is an autoimmune disease and that your body is allergic to gluten.

I started thinking back to when i was in high school and I used to work at the local pizza shop. I walked around with large rashes all over my arms and hands after making pizza dough and my mother used to wonder if I was allergic to the dough. A couple of years ago she mentioned that as a child I was tested positive for being allergic to wheat, but I haven't listened to her much because her memory often changes over the years.

Last year I was having really strange symptoms. My acupuncturist told me that I had a lot of inflammation in my body, and after tests from the doctor it was confirmed that I had a lot of inflammation. He ran a number of tests on me to see if I had lupus, and I tested positive on many of the tests but negative on a few. So it's clear that I have some sort of inflammation or possibly autoimmune problem, but I don't know what it is. So when I watched Dr. Oz last week I figured I'd try to cut out wheat to see if after a week I felt any better.

Well, let me tell you, being gluten free isn't easy. I haven't been able to do it-contrary to really trying all week and precooking soups and other food that don't have wheat. Wheat is in everything. And it's really hard when you are addicted to certain things-like I have suddenly realized that I am seriously addicted to bread and pasta. And I really like pasta.

I'm not really sure that I want to go gluten free, or I really even need to. But I am trying to go through the process of elimination to see if after cutting it out I feel better. I do admit that after eating gluten free for one day, I ate bread and crackers the next day and I had a stomach ache and felt bloated all day. But then again I also ate cheese. So that's another thing that I later have to eliminate to see if dairy is causing stomach issues for me as well.

This week I am going to continue on, trying to do the gluten free lifestyle as a way to try to identify if I am having problems with wheat. I know that it's going to be hard, but for the past couple of days I have also noticed that although I am eating enough that my metabolism is raging and that I constantly feel hungry-so this might also be the needed weight loss jump start that I needed. Perhaps too much bread, etc has been bogging me down. Only time will tell!!

Staying on Track

Last week (and even still this week) I have been feeling a bit blue over my weight. I have been on the wagon since the end of October when I traveled to visit a friend. I've been eating better (but I'm still not nearly where I should be), and I've been increasing my exercise. I've had a depressed attitude over it as I've struggled to get to that milestone of losing the first ten pounds.

Today I noticed that I am only half a pound away from meeting my goal. I feel inspired. I feel like getting to my desired weight is actually an achievable goal. If only I can capture and hold on to this moment, because I know that it will be fleeting and will only come again after much struggle.

Please wish my luck as I am gearing up to try to arrive at my 15 pound milestone.

Getting Back on the Wagon Yet Again!!!

I still haven't gotten around to setting up my new blog, but instead of not writing anything I figure that I should just keep writing here until I am sure that I am ready to start the new blog.

I've been really trying to get back on track lately. Since I went on vacation about six weeks ago, I started exercising and have been trying to continue. I also have been trying to improve eat well also, but that is also a tough task. I still haven't been able to get over that ten pound mark, but I'm convinced that any day I will be able to move past ten pounds of weight loss.

I've been walking, but I also have been going to the gym and using the elliptical and the bike. I occasionally get on the treadmill. I hate every minute of it, but I am more sick of being overweight, unhealthy and tired. I just want to feel better again.

Health Update!

I've had a rough couple of months, health wise. Luckily it appears that it has been nothing really serious.

Starting in July I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that I was choking and dying. My thoughts spiraled out of control and I couldn't get back to sleep because I was convinced that I was dying. At first I thought that I couldn't breath possibly because I am overweight, but then I began to wonder if I was having panic attacks. Over the months I think it's safe to say that I have been having periodic panic attacks, and I have no idea why the panic attacks just suddenly started.

A couple of months ago, I went to the get a massage and afterward I felt dizzy. I was dizzy for almost a month, primarily when I laid down. It wasn't just the dizziness that was worrisome though. Every time that I laid down my heart would beat hard and flutter periodically. During the day and night, my arms would tremble and I was convinced that something might have been seriously wrong.

I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I had vertigo, and claimed that the shakiness and heavy heartbeat was due to anxiety. He gave me some temporary anti-anxiety medicine and after about a week of using it, I stopped shaking, my heart wasn't beating so hard, and my vertigo eventually disappeared. I can't figure out if I felt better due to the anti-anxiety meds or if it is due to exercise and eating better.

After about four days of taking the medicine, I suddenly felt that my body felt absolutely great. It was then that I realized that stress is going to kill me if I don't get it under control.

Starting in January, I feel off the wagon for about a month and started eating crappy food. And then I suddenly started feeling dizzy and had the shakiness again. I went back to the doctor and he eventually checked my heart by giving me an ekg, and gave me the anti-anxiety meds again. They also cleaned out my ears, and I apparently had a blockage in my right ear, which I am hoping caused the vertigo. The meds didn't work so quickly this time but the vertigo is gone and I am feeling a little better. I am trying to cut back to taking the meds every other day, and I'm doing pretty well with walking and doing yoga.

Wish me luck that when I go off the meds again in about a week that I can try to manage the stress with my exercise, sleep and healthy eating!

I can't wait to tell you about some health books that I have been reading. I'm just about to go on a "21 day plan" for getting more energy. I will blog about that soon!

How Many Times Can You Get Back on the Wagon??

I've been neglecting this blog and I haven't been on in a while. I would think that it is safe to say that I have also been neglecting myself for a while now.

I just signed on and I saw many of the lovely comments that people have been leaving, and I really am going to commit this year to trying to be more consistent with my blogging. And my healthy habits.

I've been meaning to move this blog over to my own hosted domain but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I will soon though! I'm just trying to figure out if I want the blog name to remain the same or if I want to have a general title about my goals for just being healthy in general, and not necessarily about walking. I am working on a couple of other web projects, so meanwhile I will just keep writing here until I can get the other blog up and ready to go. My goal is to have the blog up ready to go by the end of February.

I've been doing a little better lately, trying to be more consistent with walking. I started yoga and I've been trying to eat better. I have been having a few health issues, but that is something that I will update you on in another post!

In my next post I am going to tell you what was happening with me health wise, and then I want to tell you about some of the feelings that I started to recently have when started taking yoga classes again this month. See you soon!

Oh, by the way, I will be also be spending some time over on facebook and also linking there when I update her! Join the Walking Queen Facebook page!!

Getting Stuff in Order: Part Two

Initially I wanted to start walking again and training for some sort of marathon, and I hoped to write about it on my blog. But lately I have realized that my issues are much more complex than just writing about walking and losing weight. My whole life is sort of out of control, and has been out of control for quite a bit of time now. And there is just no way that I can lose weight and be healthy if I don't start trying to address some of these issues first.

As I mentioned in my last post, my house is out of control. It's surprising that my finances are not out of control, but only because of the easiness that online banking affords. I've been known to pay many bills late and my finances would also be out of control if I weren't able to log into online banking and pay all my bills in less than two minutes.

I have been neglecting everything about myself for quite a bit of time now.

To illustrate this point, I bought a car over a year ago and I still have failed to put the license plates on the car. A couple of months ago, I moved the license plates inside of my car and they are probably under the back seat somewhere. And I have just realized that I have never paid my car registration for this year, which expired at the beginning of May, and now I probably have to pay a fine for being late. Well, so goes my life story.

Another example is that I have lived in my house for over ten years and I have hardly done any upkeep on the maintenance of it. About two years ago, the dish soap rack fell off the shower wall and I have never even replaced it. Around that same time, I also took some of the grout off of the shower and vowed to replace it. Which I haven't. Every single time that I take a shower, I imagine that the water is probably seeping down under the bathtub and probably rotting the floor.

I have lived in this house for over a decade now, and I have not bought one major thing for the house other than a coffee table and a side table. Everything else was bought for me by my mother or given to me from my father. I want to pull my hair out because I think that it's about damn time that I take time out to make this house my own! Can I please just have my own couch and paintings on the walls??

Clearly I must be depressed, because that's the only explanation I can think of.

I rarely clean the house (except yesterday--I cleaned for five hours, trying to get my life back in order!). I rarely buy any new clothes or shoes for myself, and I literally wear something until it is no longer wearable anymore. I haven't gone on vacation in years-and I used to love to travel. Instead of vacation, I work, work and work. In fact, I work so much that my life has become out of balance because I would rather work a fourteen hour day than take time out for myself in order to have a vacation or relax.

So I am taking a break from trying to lose weight and I am going to just focus on cleaning up and fixing my environment. In the meantime I am going to try to eat better, sleep better, and exercise. But at this point I am so overwhelmed that I just can't do all of it, and I've got to focus first on my immediate environment because I just can't live like this anymore.

Getting Stuff in Order

My house is a complete disaster! Trust me!! I am absolutely embarrassed about how disgustingly messy and ridiculous that I have let it get. That just goes to show that I must really be depressed or something, because I can't think of a non-depressed person who would actually tolerate the way that I have been living.

They always say that our environment affects our mood, and that if the house is completely messy then it will affect the way that we feel. Well, the house certainly only makes me feel worse. And for six months now I have been promising to clean it up and I just haven't.

Back in December I bought verizon fios television and they were supposed to install it, but I keep calling and canceling because the house is such a mess. Finally they are coming today. And here I am, scrambling to try to clean up, waking up very early so that I can have about four hours to clean before they get here.

Yesterday they told me that I need to let them get into the garage to install a battery and I almost canceled because well, quite frankly my garage is an embarrassment. I somehow suspect that these people might have just seen it all and probably could care less about what my house looks like though.

I took pics that I want to post, but I am really embarrassed to put them on the blog. Once I get enough courage, I will do so.

I know that I need to clean, because I know that feeling horrible about my living environment certainly doesn't help me feel better about myself in order to get better with my health.

Wish me luck at cleaning today!!