you are eliminated

typical breakfast

a few days ago i mentioned that i'm doing an elimination diet (/experiment) and many of you expressed an interest in hearing more about it.

so what is an elimination diet? basically you limit your diet to "safe" foods (ones you know you're not allergic or intolerant to) for a minimum of two weeks, or as long as it takes for your symptoms to subside. then you test one food - eating a little of it for breakfast, lunch and dinner on one day only. the next two days you go back to your limited diet before repeating the cycle with another test food. even if you did not have any problems or symptoms with a test food, you still have to keep it out of your diet throughout the challenge phase. it is important to keep a detailed journal each day regarding what you ate, how you felt, any symptoms you noticed, etc.

"they" say elimination diets can be helpful for autoimmune conditions, ibs, arthritis, skin rashes, and migraines, among other conditions.

disclaimer: i should mention that i did not consult a medical professional before beginning the "diet" (i don't really want to refer to it as a diet because i am not doing it with the intent of losing weight). i am also not certified at, well, anything. i googled it and sort of came up with my own procedure for doing it as there aren't any direct instructions on how to do an elimination diet. i'm sure i could have researched a few books and read up on it more, but i figured it's not rocket science.

with that said... here's how my elimination diet has been going:

my safe foods: rice (mostly brown), vegetables (no beans, tomatoes, potatoes), fruits (no citrus)

i've been eating these foods for over three weeks (with the exception of challenge days). rice or coconut milk is also allowed. so far, i've tested tomatoes, dairy and wheat/gluten. tomatoes tested ok, dairy failed (i'm heartbroken), and wheat/gluten i just tested yesterday so i still have to wait it out. i love dairy (cheese!) so i might re-test it again later, just to be sure of course.

lunch or dinner - rice, squash, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower

snack - salted plantains

another lunch - asparagus stir fry, kiwi, rice

i've felt pretty good on the limited diet. though i imagine eating so many wholesome foods and drinking more water (can't have juice unless you jiy) will do that regardless. i realized how few greens/veggies i was eating prior to the diet; i had been in denial. i do want to add in quinoa in place of rice everyday, but i keep forgetting to buy some. obviously the cyclosporine is covering up my symptoms a good bit, but i was itchy on the day i ate dairy which leads me to think dairy failed.

the amazing mac and cheese i got to eat on dairy test day (rice noodles)

breakfast - banana/strawberry smoothie with rice milk

lunch or dinner - veggie soup
(organic veg broth, carrots, rice, collards, broccoli, etc)

the 'diet' and food challenges are far from over; i'll be doing this for a few more weeks as i continue to test and try to find foods my body doesn't agree with. it's a lot more inconvenient to eat such a restricted and clean diet, but i feel good in general from eating so clean.

elimination diets aren't for everyone, but i do think they could help some people and some symptoms because i believe that a number of health issues stem from all the crap that is in our food today. i hope i will find some results from this experiment without too much interference from the cyclosporine.

if you have any questions, leave them below and i will be happy to answer them!

just an fyi, some of the links i read about elimination diets:
the elimination and detoxification diet
whole life nutrition: elimination diet
elimination diet to detect and relieve hidden food allergies and to reduce stress on the immune system
allergy avoidance diet

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the cow whisperer

i stopped for a minute on this morning's run to get a picture of the cows - a handful of them were standing near the fence. it was kind of weird because then all the other cows in the field lumbered over to the fence to stare at me. i don't know if they wanted their picture taken or if they thought i had breakfast for them. sorry cows, no corn for you. maybe they knew i was their friend - after watching food, inc i will be a very limited carnivore. (i don't feel comfortable cutting out all meat since i can't eat beans or those "amazing" soy products for protein. yes that is sarcasm, i dislike the miracle-food attitude towards soybeans.)

food, inc. was good though. there weren't many "queasy" moments but watching it right after lunch probably wasn't the best idea. i don't think everyone needs to give up meat, it's certainly a personal choice, and i won't be 100% vegetarian myself. i am interested in finding out more about how the food industry is regulated and making it safe(r). as someone with extensive food allergies, it is very frustrating to scour product labels for hidden ingredients. the fda claims certain foods/ingredients are supposed to be noted with an asterik, bolded, or listed separately in the "warning: contains" section, but in many cases this is still somehow overlooked.

anyway, stepping off my little soapbox now... (food inc. didn't even touch on allergies). feel free to check out food, inc's website, and if you are further interested - watch the movie of course. it's available on dvd or you can also "watch instantly" on netflix.

saturday (12/5) am run: 9.1 miles, 1:19:39 (avg pace 8:45), 25* and flurries

good luck to those running cim and las vegas tomorrow, especially my girl aron!

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my dirty little secret

ok, so they're not dirty.

i was tagged by carlee of chasing forrest gump forever ago with the recently popular list o' 25 things. its taken me the past few days to come up with 25 things about myself, so i'm sorry for the delay.

the rules here are to write 25 random things (facts, habits, goals, etc) about yourself and tag 20-something people (or however many) including the person who tagged you.

1. i've demolished three-and-a-half 12oz bags of m&m's in the past 4 days
2. yet i still wonder why the scale has crept up a tad
3. i watch tv over an antenna (and now also a converter box); although i don't really watch much tv anyway, hence the lack of caring about channels
   
4. it takes me ~10 minutes or less to get ready for work in the morning
5. it would take a lot less if i didn't have to put on real clothes
6. i bought a house when i was 21, four months out of school, and had no idea what i was doing at closing
7. luckily i haven't had any huge emergency-repairs
8. although painting walls got really old, really fast
   
9. i don't want to get married until after april 19, 2010 so i can run boston under my name (not that i have worry about that coming up anytime soon anyway)
10. i've never seen any of the austin power movies
11. now that i'm an adult, i feel like the growing-up part of life passed so fast, and i'm trying to not wish any days by (you know, "i can't wait until the weekend")
    
12. i once toured a jail facility and got holla'd at by the inmates
    
13. i grew up with a kid who now plays in the mlb, and i sort of dated a guy who is now a starter in the nfl (and no, i don't feel i am missing out on the paychecks)
    
14. i went to a pat mcgee concert in atlanta while sporting a du-rag. luckily mine was white, and not red or blue.
    
15. i grew up thinking i was allergic to chocolate, milk, sugar and ketchup
16. then i was told i was allergic to wheat (that diet really sucked!)
17. i had testing done last year to discover i now have new food allergies, but at least i can have chocolate, and ketchup (and that wheat was safe)
    
18. some days i wear a pair of $0.50 shoes to work, found them at the goodwill
19. i ate ramen noodles almost every day from 7th grade up until last year
    
20. if i could, i'd still eat them every day
    
21. i ultimately want to run a sub-3:00 marathon
22. that'd be just over an hour faster than my first (a 4:03)
23. after my first 4 marathons, i never thought i'd bq
24. i own high school musical and hsm2, but i haven't seen the 3rd yet so that has to count for something
    
25. i'm really bad at keeping in touch with old friends
    

tag you're it! middle of the pack girl, joyrun, 5ks and cabernets, ramblings of a running addict, run girl run, run b*$%@ run (hey just keeping it pg here), kimpossible and tag-back to you carlee! i tried to not re-tag people i just tagged in my last tagging-activity so that you don't start hating me, but otherwise i would have! (i promise my feelings won't be hurt should you shamefully choose to not participate) ;-)

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moving on...

now that you know the intimate details of my enthralling life, i thought i should answer a question for brian, terri, and glenn, and i'm pretty sure others of you won't mind this either.

reebok is looking to expand their product-testing roster! it's a tough job, but someone has to do it. periodically, a reebok representative will email you in regards to testing a pair of shorts, a running top, a sports bra, shoes, etc. you reply back (quickly) to get dibs on a sample, and they mail it to you with the test instructions. you then wear the gear for however long the test period is for (sometimes a few days, usually a couple of weeks), fill out the forms as necessary, and mail it back to them. you do have to pay for the return shipping, but what's ~$5 for a running top or shorts? after they collect their data, they will mail the garment back to you for keeps. shoe testing works a little differently, but you still get a free treat in the end.

of course, there are a few requirements you must meet:
men - clothing size medium (and/or) shoe size 9 or 12
women - clothing size medium (and/or) shoe size 7 (although sometimes they do 9's)
runners - must run a minimum of three (3) times per week
yoga-ers (women only) - must yoga at least two (2) times per week

so, if you're interested. shoot me an email and i'll send you the forms and reebok contact, and hopefully you can score some free running gear!

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tackling 2009

if you set your aim too high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it.

-emil zatopek

goals for 2009:

running

1. run 3 marathons. (i need to cross some states off!) florida is a given (disney, january) and i'm considering the tourist destination of north dakota (fargo, may) and something in the northeast (connecticut, rhode island, jersey) in october. since i won't have proper time to recover and train for boston '09 after disney, i'm holding off until 2010 since my november bq qualified me for '10 too.
2. sub-1:30 half (or better, of course). i'm hoping for a 1:35-1:38 at disney in january, and thinking about returning to south bend for the half this time (sunburst, june). hopefully i'll also pick up 2-3 other halves closer to home throughout the year as necessary to put a beating on my current pr.
3. sub-3:35 full. i shaved 17 minutes in '08, surely i can shave another 4-5 in '09.
4. pr in at least 3 distances.
   

health/fitness related

1. abs 2-3 times per week. *no exceptions!*
2. lose at least another 5 lbs (for 20lb total loss from my mar'08 fat weight).
3. truly avoid eating foods with soy. my ige levels were "3000+", apparently those test results max out at 3000 and doc said i could be at 9000 for all we know. i still cheat sometimes when tempted by delicious foods (or when eating out and i get frustrated by my limitations). the nuts and beans that i also can't eat aren't as hard to avoid since they aren't hidden in things.
4. yoga once per week. i should do something semi-active on my rest day anyway. i know i should probably do it often, but i need to be realistic. then, i can feel good about "overachieving".
   

non-running

1. pay off my car loan. provided i have no financial emergencies, this should be done by april-ish.
   
2. re-side my house and landscape the front yard so i don't look like the redneck neighbor anymore. i bought the house as a foreclosure and it has great potential, but currently no curb appeal because it's in serious need of a face lift.
3. spend more quality time with family and friends. after the events of Christmas '08, i'm appreciating time with the most important people in my life even more.
   

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