I've been meaning to get into the eye doctor for a couple months because my glasses weren't working quite right. I felt like they were too strong, but couldn't tell for sure.

Today I finally made it in, and my prescription has changed, and I am slightly less near sighted. My stigmatism changed too, not better or worse, just different.

My eyesight had been steadily, slowly getting worse, so it's nice to see some change in the other direction. Now I just need to pick out and order my new glasses.

As far as my pneumonia recovery goes, I did overdo it a bit over the weekend. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done the belt testing, I didn't get to nap afterward, and I probably should have gotten a substitute for my primary class. I did get a nap on Sunday, however, that was very helpful. After that nap and sleeping in a bit today, I'm feeling better again, but by body did remind me to continue taking it easy. I took my last antibiotic today, and am now doing just the natural remedies. Hot lemonade is one of my favorites, as well as the immunity pack from NAP, astragalus, and just recently Olive Leaf extract (which I recommend getting a doctor's advice on before taking, and starting with a very small dose). Hopefully, with these tools, my immune system will take care of anything the antibiotics left behind. I'm also taking my multivitamins (Exakta) more religiously. I started getting sick the second I weaned my youngest, a few months ago, and I suspect it could be because I started forgetting to take my multi.

I'm considering trying acupuncture, as my immune system seems out of balance. I've had a pretty high bit of stress the last few months, as I've been trying to change so many things about myself and how I do things. It's a stressful time for many people right now, and some extended family are getting particularly hard hit by the economy and health challenges combined. I can't complain too much about my personal challenges, but haven't been letting myself rest like I used to. That can hit the immune system pretty hard, and I think acupuncture would be helpful in bringing things back into balance. If anybody has recommendations for acupuncturists in Utah, please comment!

In a miraculous turn of events, well actually with a lot of persistence and indomitable spirit, I actually did make it to Taekwondo belt testing yesterday morning.

It was a lot of fun! I didn't make it to see my son do his first testing, so it was really worthwhile to see him this time. The little ones went first, so I got to take pictures of him, and he got to get kind of bored while the white and yellow belts did our routines. It got him a little more excited to advance to the next class, to see what they do. I didn't get any pictures of myself, but maybe next time it will work out to get some. (My husband had strep throat, so he and my youngest son slept in all morning).

I barely squeaked through all the preparation work with one review class on Friday night (after missing two weeks of classes). Even so, I felt prepared and confident. I enjoy performing, even though I'm more timid in most situations. I even like tests, it takes the boredom out of a routine.

It was not as strenuous a workout as the regular class, so I don't think I overdid it. A little more sleep would have been nice, but I'm about to catch some of that soon.

Ah, it's been a good day. I now have the upper hand on my recovery from pneumonia. I feel much more alive, and can breath in for what feels like five minutes, before I reach my full lung capacity. I find it odd now that I didn't realize I was missing any of that. My lips are pink again, and my mind is no longer too befuddled.

I'm sure it will be another week or two before I'm totally over this, and I'll need to continue resting whenever possible, but I'm glad to see some real progress.

This bad cold was more than just a cold, it was pneumonia, and I'm currently still recovering from it. I didn't feel that bad, but it was just weird enough that I went into the doctor. I wouldn't take the first antibiotic of choice (levaquin), due to it's side effects that it seemed were beginning to affect me with some tendon pain. So I'm taking something weaker, and getting better a bit more slowly because of it. What good is it to get better faster if my tendons won't let me be active? My lungs have cleared quite a bit, and I'm getting a bit stir crazy.

It's been odd to find time to read, as I don't usually read much with 2 small children, but I've been able to do some reading lately, by finally reading Guns, Germs, and Steel.

I've only made it through the first couple chapters, but was interested to see how the switch to agriculture was made. It's looking to me like it wasn't a conscious choice for the betterment of society so much as it was a compromise to avoid starvation. With fairly rapid population growth and spread, most the large animals that were easy to catch and good eating were actually wiped out in extinction. In many areas that meant that changes had to be made. Those changes didn't bring about better health, but did make population growth, civilization (with all its good and bad), and avoiding starvation all possible. The few catchable animals that weren't pushed to extinction were those that were domesticated...which was a better fate for them than extinction, in addition to providing humans with needed nutrition. Odd to think that much of the meat we eat owes its continued existance to being spared by our ancestors for the purpose of growing food.

The switch from running for our food to sitting on it waiting for it to grow, has resulted in technological advances and longer lifespans, but not all humans have adapted to the health challenges that come along with it. I'm one of those humans, and benefit from adding alternative foods into my diet (the closest thing to the wild foods that the hunter/gatherers ate), while eliminating many foods that are cultivated to feed the masses of population growth. Most even in the gatherer genotype have adapted a bit better than I, as they can have some gluten and dairy.

The book also brings to mind many other questions. Beginning to learn how the environment and food sources changed the course of history, I wonder what changes our current environment is leading to. Will our technological advancements make up for our environmental challenges (or lack thereof). Will modern medicine save us from the sedentary zoo-like lives we've chosen to live? It would be better from a health perspective, as well as a financial one, to cut back and opt out of some of the perks of civilization, and get back to the basics. Not by being hunter-gatherers, that boat has passed, but by consuming less of our civilization's "cargo". We've gone beyond being agrarian, to living in a zoo of our own creation, and I fear that is not sustainable...as I type on my computer and my son plays x-box. We've got to get out more, once I'm well.

I now have a very bad cold, bordering on larengitis and ear infections. Rats. I think the antibiotics for strep and UTI did nothing for my overall immunity. Now I need to rebuild. I'm going somewhat back on the O-nonsecretor diet for now. I may have to cut out dairy almost entirely. If I followed the serving suggestions and avoided the toxins, it would probably work out fine. However, just a little casein triggers some major cravings for more. I may just have to be a gluten-free, casein-free and oat-free gatherer. I still haven't run swami on myself (or gotten genotype swami), but for a lectin-sensitive gatherer, some changes would probably show up there. Giving up the oats and dairy may make me return more to O-non permanently. I found some superfoods for gatherers that I absolutely love, so if they're neutral or beter (and GFCF) then I'll continue enjoying those regularly, and I'll keep cutting back on the high glycemic gatherer toxins or black dots, even if they're neutral or better for O-nons. That may be restrictive, but lately I haven't had much appetite and have to force myself to eat anything, so no biggie right now.

I did test positive (through enterolabs) for casein intolerance, but figured it was worth trying for a while, now I may have to finally accept my casein intolerance. No more denial. Certainly eating it every day may not have served me well. There's no denying that we're all individuals, and tweaks are necessary even to the most individualized diets.

Aside from cutting out dairy for at least the month to see the results, I'm also taking NAPs immunity pack. The redoxa seems to work better than Mucinex for breaking up the mucus, and the proberry seems to be helping this time around.