Thursday, May 22, 2008

Restricted Substances Update

Ron called it.

Not even two months ago I was celebrating the reintroduction of certain food items into my life, which had once given me trouble, namely caffeine and dairy products. I thought that my initial successes consuming coffee, milk, and cheese meant that I was home free. Ron said: they might take a few weeks to build up in your system again. Ron was right.

I've re-developed the symptoms I had before I gave up dairy: a perpetually drippy nose, and, more horribly, breakouts. I would not like a side of zits with these impending crow's feet, thanks very much. Not if I can help it. This morning when I woke up with a brand new whitehead on my chin, when the one under my nose hasn't even fully receded yet, I went straight to the fridge and threw every last scrap of dairy into the garbage. I didn't even rinse out the yogurt tub to recycle it. It all went straight down the trash chute. Goodbye!

I didn't notice what coffee was doing to me at first. It was sneaky. I could fall asleep just fine after having a coffee in the afternoon. However, I couldn't stay asleep. I started to notice a pattern of waking up between 3 and 4am and being unable to get back to sleep for an hour or two, after any day that I'd drunk coffee. I also noticed that my moods were starting to spin more out of control. I could get a caffeine high, but the higher I flew the worse I'd crash. One whole day or even two would follow where I was dragging my ass and feeling like I might be coming down with the flu.

Yeah, I had some pretty good reasons to give these things up. Now I remember why I did it, and I'm motivated to go back to the more restricted diet that was working so well for me before. Heck, there's always decaf.

16 comments:

Warped Mind of Ron said...

That totally sucks!! Well the good news is once you get back to feeling better you can sneak some good stuff in every once in a while as a treat since it took a while to build back up in your system. Personally I find it easier to give things up cold turkey then to try to ration things out, but it might work for you :)

Karen said...

Sorry to hear this. I knew that you were loving that ice cream. Maybe all things in moderation??

ConverseMomma said...

Oh that stinks. My hubs has all sort of food allergy problems. He is practically vegan because of it. I'm just hoping my daughter takes more after me than him when it comes to food.

Jameil said...

oh dear. that's awful. :( shall i get into the aforementioned foods on your behalf? i think its only right don't you?

Jameil said...

if you have trader joes, tho, soy orange creamsicles are OUT OF THIS WORLD!! unnecessarily yummy and dairy-free.

Anonymous said...

Owned!

Anonymous said...

Crap :(
But at least this time you know what's happening and can turn the tide quick enough!

Anonymous said...

The good news is now you don't have to memorize those difficult coffee orders at Starbucks. Who needs a Venti anything anyway?

Sparkling Red said...

Ron: I can probably get away with cheese or ice cream once or maybe twice a month. It's definitely harder to ration than it is to be totally non-dairy, but I really hate breaking out. All I have to do is picture a really ugly zit to spoil my appetite for the forbidden foods.

Karen: Yes, sadly, most of my tub of delicious, all natural, chocolate ice cream went down the trash chute. *tear* I might have to indulge in a kiddie-sized cone once in a while.

Conversemomma: There are a lot of people who seem hardly able to eat anything. I'm grateful that I can eat wheat, for example, without any problems. I hope that your daughter will be able to enjoy a varied diet.

Jameil: Yes! You'd better have a milkshake on my behalf. Chocolate malted would be good. Get right on that! ;-)
I've never heard of Trader Joe's, but all good things eventually come to Canada. It just takes a while.

Unsigned: Yup. :-p

Nicole: Yeah, it sure is a lot better than before, when I couldn't figure out where all my maladies originated. At least I can make a healthy choice now.

GirlInterrupted: Not me! I actually like being independant of Starbuck's and the whole caffeine craze. I can trade coffee sophistication for a sense of nutritional moral superiority. Not bad! ;-)

Keera Ann Fox said...

Funny thing. That's where I'm headed: Coffee and dairy-free. I can probably (still) tolerate hard cheeses just fine, but things like ice cream and regular milk are currently off my diet, by doctor's orders, along with coffee and even gluten. I'm no longer missing the coffee.

The good news for you is that if you detox again, you know you can have the occassional coffee or ice cream.

Leighann said...

Yikes! I'm sorry to hear that this is happening. I certainly hope you get back on track soon!

Tink said...

Hm. Maybe that's where my skin problems stem from. I eat A LOT of dairy. *Sniff* No more key lime yogurt?

Sparkling Red said...

Keera: I'll tell you what everyone tells me - you'll be healthier following the restricted diet than "regular" people who can eat whatever. I think it's true. There's a lot of fat in dairy products. Saturated fat. Mmmm... delicious fat...

Leighann: If I can just get my skin cleared up I'll be one happy camper. It's getting there, but really sllooooooow-like.

Tink: Could be. The only way to know is to give up dairy for at least 2 months and see what happens. That's how I was converted.

Jenski said...

That is soooo sad. :-( Maybe you can save dairy and coffee for a day far in the future when you NEED a ginormous treat.

Emma Gorst said...

Wow! that's so amazing to me. Sorry you had to feel so crappy to find all that out.

Sparkling Red said...

Jenski: Yeah, I think I'll have to indulge in a latte, once in a blue moon. :-)

Aurora: I felt like I was the subject of my own experiment-gone-bad. I put a sign up in my kitchen: DO NOT FEED THE SPARK: dairy or caffeine. Thank you, The Mgt.