I'm not eating much more than Jim anyway. Strange. I used to overeat when stressed, now, like Erika, I undereat. I'm lucky to get in one square meal a day, though I do snack on protein or fruit to keep my brain working. This last two months has just been piling up on me. My grandma died, my car broke down, my back went out, my son is sick, it takes as long to find babysitters as they end up actually helping, I'm behind on all my work, I had to give up jogging for hiking, although my stamina is pretty low (no mystery there)...I could go on, but I'll stop myself.

My back is better now, and it recovered much more quickly than it used to previous to BTD. And my son loves our hikes, they are the highlight of his day.

I'm now off my thyroid medicine. It's been an adjustment between overmedicated and coming off the medicines too fast...it's been hard. From all indications though, my thyroid is now capable of full-scale automated production.

Maybe I'll juice some lemons for lunch... nah, I think I'll aim a little higher than that. I have some lovely canned tuna in olive oil. I did have green beans with my 2 breakfast eggs (around noon, now it's 4:00 pm, so the schedule still needs some work.)

Enough talk, time to eat.

Can I just say again how thankful I am for the work of Dr. D'Adamo... I tried lots of other diets and none of them worked for me. I tried low-calorie, low-fat, vegetarian (yikes!), I ate what I heard from everyone was supposed to be good for me. Atkin's may have helped me lose weight, I found this before Atkin's, but it wouldn't have helped my health like BTD has in so many ways. With the cheese though, I'm not sure it would have even helped me that much with weight, as dairy seems to make it harder for me to lose weight. And I couldn't have gone off wheat just to lose weight, it was the promise of other benefits that I'd read about in Dr. D'Adamo's book, and Dr. Bland's Genetic Nutritioneering...those two books were what convinced me to eliminate wheat. I had a lot of back pain and joint pain back then, without any real explanation for it, along with a bunch of other weird symptoms and syndromes, and that is what motivated me. I was taking at least five prescriptions in my early twenties, and felt lousy. I felt immediate improvment once I finally cut wheat completely out of my diet.

The promise of less pain got me on the program. The emotional benefits kept me with the program. The digestive consequences scared me away from cheating on the program. The weight loss was a happy side-effect.

But wheat-free is not quite enough for me to lose weight, corn-free and dairy free are the other two important factors. The whole diet which on the surface looks like a complicated list of do's and don'ts ultimately combines into one big picture...it all just resonates with my cells and turns what was once an unfortunate combination of genetics and environment into who I should be. "I believe fate smiled on destiny" - Natalie Merchant

Who needs new genes when you can buy new jeans?

I'm happy to be shopping for clothes a little more lately. I still have some high school clothes, and I've been able to start wearing some of them, but it was time to update things a bit. I've always liked more classic styles, so my clothes never really go out of style, but seriously it was time for an update.

I love wearing my new jeans, and just got another outfit and a dress that I ordered online. I ordered them small, but they fit well already and will continue to fit as I lose more weight (heaven knows I have plenty of big clothes, though they are all getting worn out). It does a lot for a girl to get some new clothes, even a girl like me who has never enjoyed shopping. I now do most of my shopping online, as shopping with a toddler is nearly impossible for me. It takes a few tries to figure out the sizing and what brands work for my shape, but it's worth it for all the sales and clearance items I can find without having to scour a mall.

I had a terrible dream about a dear friend who's sick, I don't want to go into the details, it was very Orwellian. Needless to say, at the end of the dream, I was pleading with everyone and the powers that were in control of the fictional society, to let me try to make this person better.

I've been building on that theme, with a gathering storm inside me. I'm formulating ideas for a BTD Boot Camp. I'm thinking of starting small, taking one person in at a time and teaching them, preparing food, shopping together, cooking together, exercise and meditation, the whole plan. Just to get someone started on it when they don't have the energy to tackle it alone. How long it will take to actually implement is a total unknown at this point. I'm overwhelmed right now just keeping myself and my family on track. I just hate to see loved ones who are miserable, when I know the BTD would help.

More on the storm though, I'm getting angry with the powers that are in control of THIS society. How long before they realize that the foods they promote and that most people eat daily are making us sick. Who will lead the coming revolution, should we call it the Spelt Revolution? Or something more broad, the Nutrigenomics Revolution? I'm waiting for that wave to break, I'm waiting to walk through Costco and see Spelt Thins replacing Wheat Thins, Rice Bran Oil replacing Corn oil... my futuristic wish list will go on and on. Is it just that wheat and corn are cheap, or is it because they're what most consumers want? What's driving this train?

I do see rice crackers at Costco, they have cheese so may be ok only for Bs, but they are wheat free. I see organic blueberries, soymilk, many good things. I see many spelt products at the health food store and spelt flour at the grocery store. I have seen progress, but when I think of those who are sick, the progress isn't fast enough.

I was in line there today, waiting to return some jeans that were too big... I love Costco, they've got some good stuff, but the lack of bags makes it easy to tell what everyone walking out just bought. I waited in line a good long time, watching lots of bread, cakes, twinkies, potato chips, sodas, and bacon leave the store. It was mostly foods that are avoids for most or all of us.

Once I returned my pants and went in to find a smaller size, I saw lots of larger sizes, only a couple smaller. I did find a smaller pair that fits me really well. My husband about did a jig when he saw me in fitted blue jeans...I guess I haven't worn them for a while. Most of my clothes are too baggy, I'm realizing. Not complaining about that though! I now weigh 8 pounds less than I did right before my pregnancy, yipee!! Another 10 or 20 pounds to go, I'll see where I level off. Then I'll still have plenty of other goals to work on!

I was just welcoming some newbies to the diet on the yahoo group as well as a family member who is trying out the BTD way of life...the question of hunger upon giving up wheat has come up.

Yes, the hunger does go away, it takes a week or two from what I remember. Fill in with vegetables, cooked greens are surprisingly satisfying with meat. Be sure to add beneficial fats as well. Fruit hits the sweet tooth well if you miss desserts...berries, bananas and figs are great. You'll find that beneficial foods all end up being very satisfying once your body learns to recognize it's friends. At that point, you may find it takes a little effort to eat enough, as you won't be as hungry overall.

I've heard somewhere that since grains don't digest properly, they cause an expansion in your stomach that gives you a false sense of fullness, or over-fullness. I haven't felt that old and somewhat uncomfortable "too full to stuff another bite in my mouth" feeling for a long time, no matter how much I eat. I think this is what's called a "pasta punch" and I don't miss it, as I've traded it for a comfortable, yet still mentally alert and physically mobile sense of satisfaction.

Putting myself in the shoes of the hunter-gatherers who have gone before, I can see a definite advantage to the sense of satisfaction I get when eating right. I would think that old "pasta punch" could be deadly if suddenly attacked by any number of dangerous beasts who used to roam freely among us. Eating Right 4 Your Type can be a tool for short term survival, not just longevity and health... (Is that a new meme, or did I absorb it from someone else?)

Shortly after getting my diagnosis of Celiac disease last month, my son started getting diarrhea every other day or so. I was afraid he had inherited my celiac disease, but tweaking the gluten in his diet didn't seem to affect it. So I used the BTD to zero in on other avoids that may be causing the problem. He had started drinking a lot more soymilk, so I became suspicious of the carageenan in the brand I was buying. Sure enough, once I switched to a brand without the carageenan, his diapers have gone back to normal. I'm sure glad for him that it's not gluten, although I did learn there are a lot of new foods he likes, when I cut out the gluten. He likes lemon soy yogurt, for one.

Also, found an answer to a question I'd often bounced around in my head. The nitrates and preservatives in most smoked meats are bad guys, but what if it's naturally smoked, as with mesquite. My answer came in the Food Reference eZine I subscribe to:

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DID YOU KNOW?

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Mesquite is the common name for several small spine hardwood trees or shrubs of the genus Prosopis in the pea family. They are native to the southwestern U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Islands. The seed pods are edible, and the wood is used for fence posts, railroad ties, and furniture. The wood is also used in barbecuing and smoking foods. Mesquite gives an slightly sweet smoky flavor to foods. CAUTION: Smoked foods contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are known carcinogens. Smoked foods are known to be carcinogenic when eaten as a regular part of a person's diet. Most people do not eat enough smoked foods for this to be a major concern. HOWEVER, the hotter the wood or charcoal burns, the more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are produced. And mesquite burns hotter than hardwood charcoal, and produces much more of these dangerous hydrocarbons. One study found 8 times the cancer causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in meat cooked with mesquite than hardwood charcoal, and 40 times the benzopyrene, the most dangerous hydrocarbon. I like the flavor of mesquite, but this information gives some serious food for thought.

-Food Reference ezine, foodreference.com, June 28, 2004

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Looks like mesquite is worse than some other hardwoods, but they're all bad news, it seems. Ah well.