Boycott

After scanning the headlines and, I admit, reading an article or two, regarding the soldier accused of killing civilians in Afghanistan, I am compelled to start a boycott. I feel such sadness for this man, who has fought as he was told, FOUR TIMES, no less. Four tours of duty in about ten years is more than we should expect from anyone. And now, his family is in the news, their entire lives open for scrutiny, because of this god-awful war. It makes me sick. So, back to my boycott. I refuse to read any more news stories about his financial woes, his family troubles, his mental state, comments from his neighbors, etc, etc, etc. I am going to give him the little bit of privacy I have control over, and I invite you to do the same. Protect this man and his family from the media frenzy. After all, they are convicting him, even while supposedly telling his side. He is accused, not guilty yet. However, these news stories are setting his guilt in stone before he has a chance to be innocent. I'm out.

Day 7 and cell phone complaints

I had to count. It's Day 7 of GAPS, and things have been pretty easy so far. The biggest pain in the ass is packing food if I know I'm going to be out. Can you see me going to a restaurant and ordering homemade broth with boiled meat and veggies? Oh, and a raw egg yolk thrown in, too. Yeah, right!

But, I feel good and have noticed that the yeasty places on my body are clearing up. I honestly didn't even know they were yeasty places until now.

The problem for me is that none of these things was a troublesome issue. Yes, that toenail fungus is unsightly, but to whom? I'm the only one who sees it. I struggle with the motivation to keep going with this. I haven't had this much trouble with any of my other dietary changes, and those were all for my son! I'm sticking with it for now, though. We'll see what happens. Can't wait for that roasted meat. I've got a Tails and Trotters roast in my freezer that makes my mouth water.

Now, on to my new bitch. Pre-paid cell phones and the scams surrounding purchasing a new one. I stepped on my phone a few weeks ago and totally ruined the display. The phone still works for calls, but I can't see the time, who is calling or who I want to call. Frustrating. So I went to t-mobile today, but they only have $50 replacement phones for pre-paid customers. So I went to Radio Shack. First off, you can buy the cheapie phone, but you have to buy at least $10 worth of minutes to go with it, which I didn't need, but was willing to take, because at least I was getting something useful with that extra $10. So, on to the register, where they want my name and address. When I said I didn't want to be in Radio Shack's database, they said it is the law, that I must register, because some people use cell phones for illegal purposes. Whatever! I'd rather use my broken phone and buy a cheap watch. Which is what I'm going to do. I don't know why I even need a phone, except for the rare occassions that my son is with his dad, and I need to be reachable.

So I'm stuck with a broken phone. I'm pissed.

Symptoms?

I thought I'd talk about things I notice now that I've been through 4 days of GAPS intro. I'm not sure how any of these relates to GAPS or my former diet, but I want to keep track of things. So--

I was really sniffly the few days before beginning the intro. My nose is completely clear today.

I still have a little fungus on the side of each big toenail, but it might be going away. I had this fungus, along with crazy itchy, peeling feet, for a couple of years straight, from about 2006-2008. I noticed it would subside when I went to visit my family in Georgia each year, but didn't know why. Now, I'm thinking that I probably laid off a lot of refined and processed foods during those visits because I didn't and don't really trust American food. Could this be a candida overgrowth issue? Not sure, but when I moved to PDX and started being very careful about processed foods, the fungus went away. Now, it's been back for a few months, maybe. Did I unmask something or is it not food related? Not sure about that one either.

I had been having a little rumble in my gut pretty frequently, in the same spot, lower right, must be large intestine. Anyway, just realized today that I haven't felt that the past few days.

Thick vaginal discharge. OK, no one likes to talk about that, but I recently read that that's one more possible sign of candida overgrowth, so I began noticing it. Haven't noticed that the past couple of days either. Could just be coincidental with my cycle. Never tracked it before, so it's difficult to tell on that one, but we'll see.

My rash is still here, but getting a little better each day. Today I took a few Apis homeopathic pellets to try and get some relief from itching. That might have made a difference, too. Don't know. I just got out of another oatmeal bath, which felt sooooo good! Now I'm in a nightie with no undies. TMI, I know, but the waistband was bothering the rash.

So, that's about it. Tomorrow, I'm going to add raw egg yolk. Getting a little tired of soup, but all in all, I feel good.

GAPS Day 4--still going

I missed posting yesterday because I worked all day. I'm still going on the intro diet, and I really haven't suffered any die-off. I think because I had already given up grains and starchy veggies (Oh my potatoes!).

The rash is still with me, but it's getting a little better. This morning, I woke up in a frenzy, stripping the bed and the futon cover to throw into the washing machine. You know if I'm doing all that laundry, I'm serious. I just thought if there is a possibility that the rash is coming from something in the house that I should wash it all out.

Here's hoping...

GAPS Day 2...still scratching

Well, I was too cocky yesterday, obviously, because the uncontrollable itching came back early this morning. Yes, I said early! There I was at 1:00 am, scratching and thrashing. I finally resorted to the hot shower again, which gave me some relief, but oh! the wasted water! It's driving me crazy.

I finally fell asleep around 4 am, then woke to "I'm hungry" as usual from my dear son. So, I straggled out of bed, heated up my vegetable beef soup, and began the rounds.

Feed the dog

Raise the blinds

Peel the Legos off the bottom of my foot

Start breakfast

Check e-mail

and so on.

I'm ready for something new today. Let's see what the Intro will bring.

GAPS End of Day 1

It's the end of the first day, and by 5:00 pm, I was ravenous! I actually had to go to New Seasons and buy some meat, I was that hungry! I'm afraid to eat the duck now, because I think it might be the source of all my itching, so I had to have something, and fast! I bought a pound of beef stew meat, >blech< and boiled it up with some veggies. It was delicious! I have had a beef aversion for about 15 years, but boiled beef, I like. It doesn't smell so bad. Or could it have been that I'm super hungry? Oh well, at least I'm full now.

Also tried the ginger tea. Yummy! I loves my tea.

At around 7:00 pm, I felt a headache coming on all of a sudden. I rarely get headaches. Can the die-off be happening this quickly? I think it's just coincidence. We'll see how I make it through the night.

GAPS Intro, here I come!

For the past 2-3 days, I've been suffering from an allergic reaction to...what? Could it be duck, which I roasted and ate for the first time? Could it be the delicious cream I poured over some berries on Wednesday morning? Could it be the fabric I picked up months ago at a thrift store and finally began sewing into curtains? I may never know, but my body knows. My eyes are swollen and itchy, my skin is red, throbbing and flaming. And since I had been preparing to start the intro to the GAPS diet in a few weeks anyway, why not be miserably itchy and cleanse my gut at the same time? What a party this is going to be!

So, here I go.

Day 1: Had my glass of water when I got up, though room temperature in my house is pretty darn chilly. Drank a cup of warm chicken broth for breakfast. It was surprisingly good. Put the duck in the pot with some carrot and onion, then it occurred to me that it could be the source of the itching, so I'll freeze that for Will. At around 11:30 am, felt like having something else, so warmed up the chicken broth again. So far, everything feels fine, but I always knew Day 1 would be pretty easy. I'm cranky, but then that's pretty normal for me when the wind is whipping around the house and down the chimney and I can't get warm. Oh well, back to the couch, the blanket, and The Outlander.