Well, it's definately been too long but I did it! I passed all 6 excruciatingly difficult LIRR tests & I finaly have my conditional letter of employment to be an Assistant Conductor. I'm so physched!!!

My husband is now on week 4 of the diet and between week 2-3, he lost 4 pounds! We're not sure what the total is as we never weighed him at the begining. I was just so happy when one day, he decided to do it! So far the allergies have not improved though.....it could be from a number of things, like the changing of the weather & the fact that we're not positive of his secretor status. I have him on the nonnie O but we can't tell as a stupid NY law won't let us send that much saliva through the mail......we'll find out one day though.

Last night I broiled some lamb for him, fixed a big pot of white rice & packed up some frozen green beans w/ a small pad of canola oil margarine to take to work. He finds he needs a big breakfast, which makes sense to me as it really should be your biggest meal of the day, not dinner. I also packed half a loaf of manna bread. (which he loves to snack on now w/ some Polaner All Fruit black cherry or mild molasses) In the mornings now, instead of coffee, he drinks green tea and sweetens it w/ either the molasses, pineapple juice or will just throw in a bag of camomile to cut the taste....he still hasn't accquired one for it yet. I keep telling him with all the ninja/samurai movies & anime we watch, you should!!! :-D

He did cheat quite a bit this weekend. On St. Patrick's day, he had a piece of HOMEMADE Irish Soda Bread (avoids contains - wheat & sugar) and that is very hard to resist. But yesterday, we we're upstate in the quaint Warwick/Sugar Loaf area of NY & he had a cup of coffee while I was shopping w/ his aunt. Bad Carlos!!! I can't get mad at him though. Other than the minor pepper and vinegar incedents the previous week, he's been so good. But I would love to get a reading on him of his body completely w/out avoids to see if maybe they're the culprit of the allergens. Since he still has them, he's said to me "Come'on, is a little bit of coffee really going to hurt me?" To which I said, "I don't know, but it only takes one little cat hair on your nose for you to break out in a huge rash, right? Why would it be different on the inside w/ an avoid." He couldn't argue with me there and promised to be better for the next 3 weeks of our little experiement. But he really has been quite good so far, I admire his strength in the sea of junk food and wheat that surrounds him at work. He also has carrots, celery, dried plums, dried peaches, dried figs and a nut mix of pecans, almonds, walnuts and raisins to snack on at work. Not to mention his beloved seltzer water. He can't get enough of that, plain or mixed w/ 100% juice......

He is very happy about the weight loss and he hasn't even started to exercise!!!! So I'm sure he'll lose more this next week as the weather's nicer & we don't have any more tests of mine to worry about. But, what we really want this to work for is his allergies; he has severe excema. Of course, I don't have Dr. D's book on allergies. I should get it but until I start earning a paycheck (not until April 26) we really can't afford it and no, our library does not have it, only the outdated "Eat Right For Your Type." Oh well, we just gotta keep on trying, right? So far, so good!!! :-D