6/24/2004 8:20 PM

OK. I’m back. Thanks for all of the support to all of you who wrote such nice words of encouragement. I’ve needed a little time to regroup and figure out what is going one within me these days. Part of it is being really busy. Part of it is the workouts – the T-Tapping makes me HUNGRY. Part of it is an internal rebellion to limitations of any kind. And part of it is the complications of my childhood and my past where food is concerned.

Whatever has been going on, I have decided to just go with the flow. It looks like I am able to be completely compliant for chunks of time, and then I need a break to eat less stringently.

As one of you said, once you are on the BTD, you really can never go back again, and that is a real truth. My body just won’t allow it. Many foods make me feel bad, and have immediate ramifications to my health. The two biggies for me are wheat and corn syrup. My body has very strong reactions to these two items and, although I might indulge in the occasional bite of Krispy Kreme or 3 Musketeers, I have such a disagreeable reaction to these types of foods that it isn’t worth it to me. My body knows what works for it, even if the segmented parts of my brain aren’t thinking straight.

I am amazed at how much wheat, oats and corn I used to eat. It has been a lifelong habit to eat a bowl or two of cereal before bed. Lifelong. Though I can eat an ounce or two of something wheat, oat or corn based now, eating an entire bowl of such cereal is as foreign to me as anything that I can imagine. I just couldn’t do it.

I forget that I have only been eating this way for 8 months or so. The changes are so large that I forget the perspective. Thanks for those who reminded me that, even when I am not eating “compliant” for ME, I am eating better than most of the people on the planet. I tend towards a certain level of person perfection, and I know that it can cause havoc on a day-in-day-out basis.

OK – I want move on from that. First, I have been craving nutritional yeast ever since the spider bite. I still have a very strange scar from the whole thing, and maybe the antibiotics are still taking their toll on my system. I really love nutritional (not a by-product of the brewing industry like brewer’s yeast, and not the yeast that you use to rise baking products) yeast. My favorite brand is KAL. I cook up some rice or quinoa, put in some ghee and some free-range chicken stock to give the grain some juiciness, and then I add in about ½ a scoop of the nutritional yeast and mix it up. Add a little sea salt and I am ready to go. I love it and have been craving it. It is SUCH a great source of nutrients and tastes great.

Another thing that I have been meaning to post is an appliance recommendation. Just as Jim must have his juicer, I MUST have my Showtime Rotisserie Grill. I believe that this is the single most important piece of equipment that any ER4Yting O could have. I use mine all of the time, and it works perfectly. I have had mine for 2 years now and I can tell you that it is one kitchen appliance that works BETTER than advertised. Ron Popiell has done a great job with this item. This is the model that I have:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4309105698

Although I know that he now has a less expensive, more compact model. Once you use one of these, you’ll never think about cooking meat any other way. It’s just that good.

OK – now I’ve made myself hungry, but my own personal “starch-Nazi” is saying to me, “NO CEREAL FOR YOU!”