paging dr. house

i haven't logged a medical update since mid-april when i attempted an elimination diet (and failed when i fell off the wagon). i thought i ought to on the off-chance a fellow runner/eczema sufferer out there is looking for answers. unfortunately i don't have any, so hopefully you're just looking for someone to commiserate with. not a lot has changed, i'm still on the cyclosporine, and i got slack at chasing down doctors to figure out what's wrong these past few months. [note: a month of cyclo at walmart was $255 with my insurance "benefit". after a few emails with gracie, i found a local pharmacy that has it for $55/month. sold.]

on friday i had a follow-up at the dermatologist. re-raised the question of "why don't i sweat like i used to". originally he thought the sweat canals (i'm sure that's the legit term) were clogged or inflamed from the eczema and that maybe the cyclo would help bring those back to normal. unfortunately i still haven't sweat normally while on the cyclo, and i think it's safe to say it's hot enough to where i should be sweating! he said he'd do some researching.

i'm starting to wean off the cyclo. i'm coming up on six-months and "they" say you shouldn't be on it too long because you could cause long-term damage to your kidneys. the doc is leaning towards going on a different immunosuppressant (one that causes long-term damage to your liver, you know, to give the kidneys a break) and i asked him why can't we do some exploring to find out what is causing the problem. i don't want to continue to treat the symptom; i need to figure out the root of the problem.

now if i could just find a doctor someone willing to go all dr. house on me...

ps: if you make the egg cupcakes, be sure to use cupcake liners. or an entire can of crisco. i soaked the pan for 5 days and still had to scrub and scrape to get the egg remnants off.

pps: though i haven't been doing my normal level of running for a year, i'm still just as hard-headed as ever. i strained my back on the 4th and have been easing back into running/bootcamp since. monday's workout involved deadlifts, 65lbs, and i forgot i shouldn't be doing that just yet. setback another week, boo.

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then and now

after reading your comments, thinking about my meals and talking with my friend, i figured i should correct myself on my previous post. we are not eating all-out paleo; we're doing primal. the difference between the two (to me) is that i'm not buying 100% organic (though i'm trying to as much as possible) and we are allowing a splash of cream in coffee or the option to have rice, quinoa or even a hamburger bun (of course we're trying to go without 'cheating' with a bun!).

our trainer admitted he sometimes allows himself to have pizza on the weekend or a hamburger on a big, buttery bun (his words) because he knows it's more realistic for him to have those "splurges" than to cut them out all together (hence the "80/20" split of primal -- 80% stick to it, 20% occasional "cheats"). i've learned you get less criticism if you just tell people you're eating whole foods, ha.

my friends considers this a "low carb" diet (as it turns out some of you do too), but i personally do not. half of my calories come from carbs which falls right into the recommended range from the usda.

regardless, i'm still eating clean-er than before. i decided to do a comparison of a typical day's food for me then (before this primal-ish challenge) and now (while eating "primal"/whole foods):

typical day's food "before" (from 22jun12):

breakfast
- coffee with cream and agave or honey
- cereal - almost always rice chex or honey bunches of oats, sometimes kashi heart to heart. at least two "servings" (because who eats just 3/4 cups of cereal??)

lunch
- salad (mixed greens) - maybe some carrots or cucumbers on top; shredded cheese; balsamic dressing
- pretzel crisps - 1 serving (i was always good about counting out the # of pretzels; counting out potato chips on the other hand...)
- animal crackers - addictive

snacks
- banana
- more animal crackers or potato chips (must be honest and admit it wasn't usually 1 serving)

dinner
- potato wedges
- zucchini pizza - zucc slices with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese

(ignore the date, i logged the food into mfp for easy comparison)

as you can see, my former carby self was not eating balanced,

and i can guarantee those fats weren't good fats.

a day of primal/paleo-ish eating (19jul12):

breakfast
- boiled egg
- green smoothie
- 1 scoop whey protein powder

lunch
- spinach salad - bell pepper, carrots, 1 boiled egg white

snacks
- banana
- watermelon - about 3 cups
- pickles
- boiled egg

dinner
- flounder - cooked in oven with evoo, lemon juice, garlic, onion
- french green beans - boiled; then add a little evoo, garlic, salt/pepper

i was short on calories this day but i ate whenever i was hungry. 3 cups of watermelon fills you up! my carbs were low too, but i'm still adjusting and tweaking my foods as i realize what i'm too high/too low on.

anyway, all this to say:

1. if you don't think you should/don't want to eat primal/paleo -- that's totally fine. i'm not judging you because you choose to eat grains or dairy. i love bread and cheese myself. this was just a friendly challenge we conjured up to see if we could do it, and we both knew we needed to/wanted to eat better.
2. i am still getting plenty of nutrients. in fact i believe i'm eating more balanced and getting more nutrients than before.
3. the hardest part of eating clean (to me) is getting un-lazy. you have to prepare snacks and meals instead of grabbing a convenient bag of chips or picking up a pizza on the way home from work. i try to prep a few things on sunday (such as hard boiled eggs and the egg cupcakes) and pre-chopping salad toppings like cucumbers or peppers.

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i want a pizza

my friend and i started 30-day paleo eating challenge*. our cross fit trainer planted the seed and this blog post was humorous enough to motivate us to give it a try. we eat fruits, veggies, meat (well, i only do fish and eggs) and the occasional sweet potato.

proof i am getting balanced nutrients

we're using the "myfitnesspal" app to track eating and exercise. it has a social aspect to it where you can link up with your friends and track their progress too (accountability!). don't worry, it doesn't broadcast your weight or anything. [this app is free to download - i am not being compensated in any manner to mention it]

so far we're 5 days in and going strong. it's been easier than expected to stick with it knowing i have someone holding me accountable. if either of us cheats we both have to do 100 burpees. we also threw in a clause for water - 100 situps if you don't drink the recommended amount (~9 cups per the mayo clinic). we had to do burpees (4x14) in friday's workout which was quick reminder to not cheat because burpees are hard.

workouts last week have been tough and i've felt weak at times, but i'm chalking that up to my body adjusting from burning the crap-food i used to eat to burning actual fat instead. admittedly i was surprised to see i could eat so much food (never feeling hungry) and yet only net 1200-ish calories for the day. certainly can't do that on potato chips and m&m's!

breakfast this week: egg cupcakes
(from everday paleo)
- 10-12 eggs whisked well
- onion (1/2 cup)
- zucchini (2 cups)
- spinach (2 cups)
- pepper (i used red; 1/4 cup)

you're supposed to finely chop it all up in a food processor or blender. i was too lazy for this. i just chopped it up and dumped it in the eggs. worked well enough for me. made 16 cupcakes which i calculate at 70 cals each. this was also the first time i teared up while cutting an onion. eyes burning.

*though it may turn into primal, who knows. from what our trainer tells us - primal is 80/20 where as paleo is 100% strict.

edited to add:
i included the screen shot of my food log in an attempt to ward off low carb comments but it seems many of you think that paleo = low carb. the usda recommends 45-65% of your calories comes from carbs and as you can see i fall into that range on my pie chart. i think a lot of people forget that carbs are in foods other than breads/grains. technically this clean eating is lower-carb than i typically eat (and i'm sure most of the us population), but ultimately better (in my opinion) because i'm eating better carbs instead of cereals and breads.

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