Primal Challenge Journal (hilary.oitzinger) page

[hilary.oitzinger]

Stats:

F, 27 yrs old, 5'7," 184 lbs


Allergies: wheat, dairy, soy?, and apparently eggs and almonds according to a blood antibody test


Allergy Symptoms: Migraines, hives, angioedema, mucosal swelling, joint pain, sinus symptoms, brain fog, fatigue, low mood


Conditions: Reactive Hypoglycemia


My goals:

-Continue with no sugars, grains, dairy, legumes, and as little processed food as possible.

-No more spikes and crashes please, i.e. easy on the

fruit turbo

-Nothing poisonous (read: food allergies)

-Only two handfulls of nuts a day

-No binging

-Lift heavy 1x/wk, sprints 2x/wk, Low and slow cardio pref outside 2x/wk (hiking, walking, kayaking, etc.), trying to avoid causing a stalling stress response by over-training and get body fat down before lifting more often.

-Doubt I'll lose any weight b/c I seem particularly resistant as of late, but that would be lovely as I've got 25 lbs. to lose. The real goal is just to feel better and manage my blood sugar.


WARNING: Yesterday was a BAD day for food and atypical. I will make an honest effort to do better here on out.


Aug 3. Last day of school after 9 full years

Started out without protein at breakfast. Bad scene.

-BF: Large handful walnuts

-a.m. Snack due to crash: 1/2 apple, smaller handful walnuts and cashews

-Lunch: chicken salad from natural market (mayo = eggs = reacted), 2/5 88% dark chocolate bar, 22g carbs in whole bar

-p.m. snack 2/5 chocolate bar

dinner?: 1/2 apple, another small handful of walnuts and 1 tbsp coconut oil

-p.m. snack while crushing out final paper I will have to write for a college class for a very long time until 12 a.m.:

1 can coconut milk, diet coke, turkey sausage (read: missed protein at breakfast and dinner)

[primalmom]

ahhh .. last day of school !! That is awesome !!!! Well, now that stress is behind you and you can focus on YOU ... I hear ya on all that allergy crap and symptoms - what is "angioedema & mucosal swelling" ? Guess I could just go google it LOL !!

Hang in there and REST some too

[hilary.oitzinger]

Thank you for the congratulations, primalmom. I am definitely looking forward to taking time to focus on my health. Angioedema is deep tissue swelling that is like hives but more internal. I get it in the hands, feet, head and face. There are several types of antibodies that can result from immune reactions. Traditional histamine based allergies are IgE reactions. There are also IgG and IgA reactions. I believe the mucosal reactions are mediated by IgA antibodies. Basically any mucous membranes in the body can swell up a little bit, sinuses, gut lining, intestines, esophagus, etc. Many doctors don't believe in IgG and IgA reactions from food. I had a blood antibody test done showing both for many foods but I don't know for sure how accurate these tests are. What I do know is that two years ago I tracked symptoms to foods, cut out the foods (wheat dairy soy) and was symptom free for a while. Then things crept back in to my diet. Then I apparently made myself sensitive to eggs and almonds by eating those too frequently. I find that by staying low carb and thus managing my blood sugar, I don't have cravings and have a much easier time staying away from foods that make me sick, plus considering the wheat and dairy allergies, primal makes the most sense for me. Do you have food allergies/intolerances?

[hilary.oitzinger]

Aug 4


BF

Turkey sausage, 4 patties = 24 g protein, 240 cal


Lunch

Inside of a cajun chicken/veg pita, chicken, zuchini, tomatoes, onions

small handful walnuts


Snack

Finished lunch

1/5 bar 88% dark chocolate, 4 g carbs


Dinner

Chicken leg, thigh, big salad (dark greens, shredded carrots, zuch, beets) with oil/vin dressing

1/2 apple

1 tbsp coconut oil


Snack

Strawberries, alot

Coconut milk

1/2 apple

1 chunk 86% dark chocolate (2.5 g. carb)


I was starving yesterday. Very odd. Might have been the sweetish glaze on the chicken for dinner. Maybe hormonal. Nonetheless, I ate way too much. BUT, I didn't eat any gluten-free cookies, and GOD I wanted cookies for the first time since cutting grains July 15.


No exercise but went to see Shakespeare in the Park, good relaxation, sunshine, and brain stimulation anyway.


Goal for Aug. 5 - Lift weights, more veggies, no crazy nighttime snacking

[hilary.oitzinger]

Aug. 5

BF

Turkey sausage, 1/2 apple


Lunch

Steak burger with carmelized onions

Salad

Chocolate, 0ne square (2 g carb/sq)


Snack

Walnuts (these are making me feel weird I think)

Chocolate (two squares, 2g carb/sq)


Dinner

1/2 apple

Inside of pepper steak sub (a lot of meat, this is more red meat in one day than I've eaten in years, haha, chicken tomorrow)


Snack

1/2 apple

Cashews (three handfuls)


Exercise

Heavy lifting, full body (squats, shoulder press, lat pull, bench, row, split squats, plank,) supersets 1/2 hour


Gained two more lbs, 186 to 188. Guessing this is water rentention from lifting and upcoming cycle, but 188 is difficult to look at when you started weighing 184.5 and have 25 lbs. to lose. Weight gain since cutting out grains and switching to heavier weights (3 sets 8 to 10 rather than 3 sets 12 to 15), 3.5 lbs. Hope this is muscle. Don't know what to do. Can't help but think that the heavy lifting may be creating a stress response and haulting weight loss from diet (which definitely should be working, has in the past with more carbs). Probably eating too many nuts and too much chocolate still (but does it make logical sense to replace two squares of chocolate (5g carbs) with more fruit (potentially more carbs?)

[hilary.oitzinger]

Aug 6

Turkey sausage

Handful walnuts

one square chocolate

black coffee, less than half cup


Might be allergic to walnuts now, argh.

[hilary.oitzinger]

oh, no cheese on the peppersteak, just meat and a few little peppers and onions. I got this at an outside music event.

[hilary.oitzinger]

Oh, I guess I should comment on my workout yesterday. I had a new milestone with lifting. I standing shoulder pressed with 20 lbs. in each hand, 3 sets 9 reps. I was pretty proud of this. However, I'm still really conflicted about whether I should keep lifting heavy. I'm thinking about switching back to lower weight, body weight, exercises and really high reps. I dunno.


Lunch

Out. Chicken breast, canadian bacon, 1/2 slice canned pineapple, salad, tsp bbq sauce and tsp dressing, pretty sure the sugar did me in b/c I had serious cravings, but also had a lot of anxiety in the early afternoon. I'm ashamed to say, I decided to try to put endangered species 88% dark chocolate out of business.

1/2 med. apple

6 squares of said chocolate, 15 g carbs

At least 4 handfulls each, walnuts, cashews


Don't think I'll be eating any carbs this evening but this is still better than a whole box of gluten free cookies. I almost left work to go get them. Sure would like to get dropped back down so my cravings go away again.


Tonight: 1/2 min sprint, 1 min recovery on eliptical for 17.5 min.

[hilary.oitzinger]

Aug. 6

Did not work out


Dinner

1/2 apple

1/2 avocado

chicken leg


Snack

1/2 can coconut milk


Officially allergic to coconut milk, 90% sure. Argh. Seem to become allergic to everything I eat these days.


Aug 7

BF

Woke up quite ill from coconut milk

1/2 apple and turkey sausage for breakfast

1 cup black coffee


Walk one mile at work

Quite sore from lifting

[primalmom]

Hey Hilary ! Congrats on your lifting - that is awesome with the 20s ... as far as the heavy lifting goes, you could cycle it in and out with lighter stuff - bodyweight circuits and some sprints and your walking - maybe heavy for two days and lighter for two days - I guess it depends on how many days you work out ... I got the best results with that sort of schedule


Wow, the angiodema sounds crazy - what a pain for you and esp since lots of things seem to aggravate it !!! I don't have actual allergies, but I do have a lot of sensitivties - gluten, eggwhites alone, chemicals in everything (food, air etc), all artificial sweetners etc etc ... mainly I get migraines from it all ... some other symptoms with gluten (fluid retention, hair issues, etc) - I have Hashimoto's - autoimmune hypothyroid - as well ....


For me, I think it all goes back to this one thing - in 1994 I started a lowfat vegan diet which I followed for 5 years - I really put it all to that, including but not limited to (yes, I am a lawyer !) soymilk and other soy products, and general lack of fat and protein in my diet - DOH ! ....


Anyhoo, on the adrenals .... It is pretty common to have adrenal fatigue in conjunction with the thyroid issues I have - as well, gluten intolerance and other allergic problems can cause or worsen adrenal fatigue (your body pumps out adrenaline in response to the perceived allergen, or something like that !) ... I also have to blame myself for the adrenal issues - continued high-intensity exercise and strict dieting (yes, including lowfat - pause for a moment of self flagellation .. ok, done) ... over the past three years - off and on ...


Symptoms are varied but include - fatigue - unable to lose weight - can't get a good night's sleep - salt and sugar cravings - hair loss - muscle tissue loss - and there are some more that are associated with Addison's Disease - nausea, weightLOSS, ... here is a good link to look at http://www.drkaslow.com/html/adrenal_insufficiency.

html


My latest lightbulb moment was yesterday after watching that link someone posted to the Sugar talk the endo guy gave at UCSF .. omg ... fructose is poison !!! ...And I have been using a protein powder with it for several years ---


Ok, so I hope I answered your questions about adrenal stuff - let me know how it goes !!!