Music: Does the "Jackie Brown" movie playing on the X-box count?

Mood: Super-Fly

***

Ahh....so here I am relaxing after a hard day at work and enjoying a cup 'o joe. We AB's have to be careful with coffee as it is a 2-edged sword for us. It has several excellent enzymes that help the A side of our immune system (like soy, hence the Highly Beneficial listing in Eat Right F.Y.T.) But, our already super high adrenaline levels don't need any more caffeine (and it lowers our already low NK cell levels). Plus, coffee itself (even decaf) creates abnormal reactions with our blood (you know that "crazy" feeling you get - I especially get it after I eat a lot of corn......so coffee has an Avoid listing in Live Right F.Y.T.) So, be careful with your coffee. I love the taste and have it only when I really crave it, usually after a big meal instead of dessert. I don't feel the caffeine as much (yes, even your decaf has SOME caffeine in it, my sensitive system can feel it) if there's lots of food in the tummy :-)

So, what have I been up too........eating too much cake, that's for sure!!! You see, one piece isn't so bad but we keep having birthday parties in the classroom and everyone wants a picture with the teacher and everyone wants you to have a piece of cake. I've attended lots of baby showers in the past 2 weeks as well. I can be pretty good about most things but cake and sweets, in general, are a weakness. And I work in the Carribean section of Queens - nothing is as good as Haitian cake, you've got to try it if you can find it. I'm still miffed that I don't know my secretor status so I'm not sure if I'm really allowed wheat.

Regardless, even if wheat is a neutral, neutrals don't help you lose weight for the summer.

Remember, "Highly Beneficials" act like medicine on your body, "Neutrals" act like food in your body and "Avoids" act like poison on your body. You eat too much of any "food" and it will definitely cause you to gain weight; not to mention all the agglutinating going on with the avoids. So commercial cake with WAY too much sugar, wheat, egg yolks, not to mention the avoids (milk, all those gums, bad oils, artificial flavorings and corn starch)

And I can feel those neutrals/avoids having an effect on me! Even though breakfast and dinner has been healthy of late, (tuna, salmon, tofu, eggs and such) I was sooooo tired this early afternoon after 2 pieces of cake for lunch. {where the mom substituted MILK(avoid) for the eggs (HBene. and Neutrals) - "doh!"} I REALLY wanted to curl up and take a nap after that but twenty-five 4 year-olds thought other wise.... :-)

The O is currently eating Chicken Curry (made with coconut milk) and I'm a bit jealous - I'm married to a fabulous cook. The house smells delicious but fortunately, I'm very full, so no temptation. Had the "Great Meatloaf" from the Live Right cookbook earlier. My O thinks it's great, I'm only so-so about it. But then again it's only "neutral" for me and "highly beneficial for the O. I've noticed that since starting this in April, things listed as "Highly Beneficial" have never tasted so good. I DO still miss certain AB avoids like:

my grandpa's home grown white corn,

avocados and guacamole,

humus,

artichokes,

brie,

filberts - aka:hazelnuts (LOVED Hazelnuts),

guava,

mango,

lobster,

crab (I did live in Maryland...),

shrimp, (I used to be known as the "shrimp queen" amongst my family),

high quality ice cream,

Thai food made with coconut oil,

allspice in my cider during the autumn,

kettle corn popcorn,

toasted coconut Dunkin' Donuts,

FRESH tortilla chips at the Mexican restaurants in California,

rhubarb & strawberry pies from the Quaker Market,

and pulled bbq pork.

But you know, the funny thing is, when I do try these avoids again, (the "Oh, I'll just have a bite" syndrome as I call it) they don't taste as good anymore!!!! Strange but true. Apparently, now that my body knows what's good for it, it really doesn't want me to have avoids and will let me know by way of stomach aches, brain fogs and just general ambivalence to something I used to think was ambrosia. 2 weeks ago, I thought I'd want to eat a whole tub of guacamole my husband bought. But after a couple of bites, I wasn't even missing it. Guess the memories are better than the real thing sometimes. And avoids, when I eat them 1) never fill me up for long and 2) always make me crave more avoids. It's just not a good thing.

So, go ahead, try that avoid again! It's ok! If you've been following the diet with any sort of reasonable strictness, you'll find that reminiscing is sweeter than the actual food. Damn....I'm starting to feel a bit light-headed/funny now from the coffee - damn avoids....