My Journey of Food

I told you already that I eliminated gluten from my diet, and at first it was a success.  I went about 2 weeks feeling better then I remember ever feeling.  Then one day, my gluten free self was taking the trash out and as I went to the trash can, my boot got caught on the door and down I went.  I ended up hitting the back of my head hard against the big metal trash can.  After that I started getting the headaches again.  I saw my doctor, he said I was fine, but he thinks the headaches are because of the trash can and the symptoms can last up to three months!  A month later, still getting headaches.

Let's go back a bit, or a lot.  I've always had problems.  I always felt that instead of getting anything serious, like an illness or something, I've always had lots of minor health issues instead.  The earliest I can remember are terrible ear aches, but I always loved the feeling of the warm oil and garlic mix my mom would put in my ear, and I would lie down on the same side, feeling the oil go down my ear, I was in pain, but it was satisfying.  After that, through my teens years, it was allergies.  Crazy allergies, using a box of kleenex a day.  I don't remember when the headaches began, I remember getting my first bad one at my cousin's house, when I was, I don't know 10?  It was so bad that I threw up.  I didn't have one of them that bad again until I moved to Seattle a year ago.  I also seemed to always be tired, I don't know if it was normal for a teenager or not, but I never had energy.  I never thought that food had anything to do with these problems, and I guess they were never bad enough that I felt I needed to do anything about that.  Doctors NEVER know what to tell you for headaches, they never have an answer.  So this whole thing started a year ago, we went over to our friend's house in Tacoma for a party.  We had just moved to Seattle so we were happy to go see some of our college friends.  Earlier that day we had taken our car in to get looked at so we had to take the bus, it was a bright sunny day and the bus was jerky, a lot of stops.  By the time we drove into Tacoma I had gotten a little head ache.  It got progressively worse throughout the night, but I ignored it.  I've done this before, I knew it would go away by the time I woke up anyway.

We left the party and as soon as I started walking out to the car I was feeling really bad.  We got in the car and started driving and within seconds I was in a world of pain.  My head had never hurt that bad, I told Seth to pull over to a gas station and I started throwing up, I was crying and couldn't think, the pain was so bad, I couldn't talk.  My head was just pounding so hard.  Driving was making it worse, I knew I wouldn't be able to make the 45 minute drive home.  So we had no choice but to stay in a hotel, which I don't know about you, but that's pretty crazy.  Who gets a hotel 45 minutes from home?  Well, that's how bad it was, and I hate spending money on hotels.  I threw up again as soon as I get to the hotel, Seth called my Dad who has horrific migraines (so I can thank him for these) and asked him what we should do.  He gave some tips, and I got into my twin bed.  Thankfully, they had two beds so Seth slept in the other one.  I was in so much pain that any movement, ANY, made my whole head spin and the pain much worse.  He covered up the little light that came from the ac unit, and I was able to relax enough to go to sleep.  When I woke up, I felt like I had a hangover or something, but I was fine, the pain was gone.

I have a scale for my headaches, that one was a 10.  I thought it was a migraine, but I'm not sure if it's that or just really bad tension headaches.  Of course none of the doctors I've talked to know.  I did end up seeing a doctor in Seattle and she gave me some pills, but they don't really help, she didn't help me with anything.  I got a few more pretty serious ones, one while we were camping, that was at a 9.5 or so, throwing up, the whole deal.  When I'm in that much pain, I go into a different state of mind, I don't move an inch, and I don't think straight, definitely can't talk straight either.  A few months ago I got another bad one, it slowly builds up so I just sat on the couch with my eyes covered and had Seth put on An Affair to Remember, so I could just listen to it.  I thought I was in the clear by the time I went to bed, it was only at a 8 or so, so I went to bed, and woke up a few hours later, and it was at a 10.  Nothing was helping, nothing does except sleep!  But this time the sleep had caused it.  I was in a panic, I didn't know what to do and I couldn't throw up, which seems to help.  So Seth took me to the ER.  We don't have health insurance.  Yeah...bad.  They shot me up with a bunch of pain killers and it took the pain away.  Then we got a bill for over $2000, which I'm praying we'll be able to bring down, working on that.  Advice: don't go to the ER without health insurance!  I had no idea it would be that much, these are the things you learn as an adult I guess.  

After I got that bill for the ER, I decided I had enough.  I saw the bill and just started crying, feeling like it was so unfair to Seth, that we have to pay this much for my stupid, stupid headaches.  I got so sick of it.  I made an appointment with Dr. Park, who I hadn't seen in about 4 years.  He's awesome, he's Chinese so he uses a lot of Chinese medicine, which I like.  I never thought the headaches had anything to do with my diet, since they were directly caused by harsh sunlight, windy roads, or traffic (lots of stopping).  But I kept hearing about more and more people going off gluten, some for migraines.  Then when I talked to Dr. Park he suggested I go off gluten, so I thought that was a good sign, and it worked!  Well, at first it worked really well, like I mentioned, then I hit my head and I've been getting the headaches frequently.  In fact, I don't know if I really go a day without one.  However, they never get worse than a 6 without the gluten.  Most of the time they are under a 3.  But I don't want them, none at all.  Not even a .5.  I'm trying to figure out why when I first went off gluten I felt so good, was it the head injury?  Was it the acupuncture my doctor gave me?  So I started experimenting.

The first thing I did was experiment with gluten, how sensitive was I?  One day we went out to a nice little restaurant in downtown zionsville, we ordered a cheese plate.  I decided I would have some bread with mine, which was crazy, I hadn't had actual bread in a couple months.  Seth was really against it, he didn't want me to get sick, but I did it anyway.  It felt very rebellious.  I had a bit, and I was okay.  I kept experimenting, and I figured out that I can have small amounts, sauces with gluten are fine, little bites here and there.  One day I had 3/4 of a cupcake and that was too much, though it didn't give me a bad headache, but I felt one right away.  Well then, I found something called Gluten Ease, which is a little pill for those with gluten intolerances (not celiacs, sadly) that you can take before a meal and eat gluten, without effects.  THANKFULLY, and I mean very thankfully, it worked!  The other day I had a full piece of pizza with my pill and it was glorious.  I felt it a little around my eyes but that's it!

Still though, not feeling 100%.  Adrea suggested we go on a juice fast, which is just fruit and veggie smoothies for 3 days.  So I did it, but only for 2 days.  It was tough, I felt pretty weak and sometimes pretty sick, but after I felt great!  So I started doing research on raw foods, and found that that can also help quite a bit with headaches, plus it's super healthy and awesome.  So I want to try it for a week, see how I feel. I found the gluten ease pills at a place in Zionsville, a locally owned place, that is pretty neat.  It offers acupuncture, message therapy, pre natal classes, cooking classes, and all kinds of healthy things.  I signed up for a raw cooking class this weekend and I'm pretty excited about it!  I really don't know much about raw cooking.  I'm also feeling better these last few days because I got some more acupuncture done, so I'm not sure if it was the juice fast or the acupuncture that's making me feel better, but it's just a matter of experimenting and figuring out what works and what doesn't.

I don't feel like it's too much to ask to feel 100% good, okay, how about 90%?  I'm just so sick of feeling like crap all the time, and I want to get it under control.  I think it's important to realize what your putting into your body, and the effects it has on you.  I'm convinced that diet has everything to do with the way I feel, which used to be a ludicrous idea to me.  I've stopped my intake of caffeine, and I'm pretty sure if I stopped having sugar and carbonation that would help too.  I've also kept up the exercising and the fitness pal, so with the juice fast I've lost 14 pounds!  Woohoo!  Also, if I get pregnant soon ish, I want to be healthy and have this all figured out.  I hope I will.  This was a long post, but I've been reading other people's experiences with food and health, and I found them to be interesting, sometimes inspiring.  So I am sorry if I bored you, but I congratulate you for reading this whole thing!  

For your health.

Chicago style 4-year Anniversary

Yes, it's been 4 years!  We went from younglins in college to adventurers in Europe and now responsible mature adults with life completely figured out (right??).  To celebrate, we decided to take a trip to Chicago, just a 3.5 hour drive away.  We spent two nights in a hotel that was right downtown, so we didn't have to drive anywhere (driving and parking in Chicago is a nightmere).  And we didn't have to figure out the bus system either.  We had a great breakfast at Yolk, italian food, hamburgers, and this little boa resteraunt right next to the American Girl store.  I could only have a couple of bites lest I get sick from the flour, but I had my couple of bites and I was fine, they were so good it was hard not to eat the whole thing.

We walked to the Contemporary art museum, which was okay.  I wish we had gone to the Art institute instead, I'd rather see a Picasso then a minimilast sculpture that isn't really art (and that's the point, but still...).  One gallery I did enjoy quite a lot is Ian Baxter&.  He seemed like a pretty cool dude.

And we did some shopping.  The thing about Chicago is I've been several times and have never really had a good time.  As far as cities go Chicago is not my favorite.  But I tried to get this trip planned out so it would go better.  We drove in and first went to the wrong hotel, same name, wrong location.  Once we got our car back and found the right hotel, they still can't find my reservation, so I bring it up on my iphone and show it to the lady checking us in (who was VERY friendly and not a B at all!) and she informed me that I reserved the rooms for January 29-31st, wrong month.  Luckily, they had the same type of rooms available for both nights so it wasn't a huge deal.  I just felt like an idiot that's all.  And while we were shopping, Seth forgot to grab his camera bag.  As soon as we realized it, about 15 minutes later, we ran back to the spot and the camera bag was there but no camera.  Bummer, to say the least.  I guess it's good that it was seth's camera that got stolen, and not mine which is more expensive.  I'm not sure if/when we'll replace it.  But it won't be for a while.

Anyway, here are some iphone pictures, since I didn't bring my camera out with me.

Foggy Chicago:

Us

4 years

Art Museum:

This was one of the Ian Baxter& exhibits, he painted over tv sets, and had static playing behind the paint, it looked pretty cool.

Treats

 Rosebud, where we had Italian, and I had terrible tasting gf pasta (everything else was amazing tho...)

Chicago at night:

Chicago at sunrise:

CHRISTMAS

We had a full apartment this Christmas, my sister Annie stayed with us and Michelle did as well for some of the time.  My brother mic stayed with Adrea so it was all of us siblings together (Michelle is practically a sibling).  Me and Michelle decided to make Christmas Terrariums (I didn't think of this myself) and instead of buying little fake christmas trees at Michael's, Michelle had the idea to gather pinecones and little naturey things outside,  and cover them in glitter and such.  I like how they turned out, but I don't think we'll be able to keep them for next year since they won't package very well (no lids).

 Here's how they turned out:

For Christmas eve, we did our young tradition of making sushi, and it was yummies.  I added in Miso soup and cream cheese wontons to the menu this year, and after we were done I had bananas to get rid of and a bunch of left over wonton wrappers so I improvised and made little fried banana bites.  I thought they were just as good as the fried bananas you get at PF Changs, and really easy to make.  We had them with honey and ice cream obvi.

Since we don't have kids yet, we live vicariously through my sister and her two boys (you may have already noticed this by now...).  After Seth and I had our own little gift exchange at home (which included globes & old fashioned shaving kit for Seth, and two adorable sweaters I've been coveting for me, and lots of awesome gifts from the most amazing in laws evah) we went over to Adrea and did our gift exchange and watched the boys open their presents.  I made Henry a book of all of his little adventures over the year, including all the pictures I took of him and some he took himself.

Dinner was also a full success.  Adrea made pork which is usually not my favorite, but it was delicious, accompanied with some mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, roasted carrots with goat cheese, and salad.  Kaila and her family came up to spend it with us and she brought gluten free rolls which are very yummy.  After dinner we made a Buche De Noel, or a Yule Log.  Even though it is gluten free, it's a bit too much frosting for my taste.

I hope everyone had a merry christmas and now we are going to Chicago to celebrate our anniversary.

Our Move from the Northwest to the Midwest

(This post is long overdue...by about 4 months)


We recently made the move from Seattle to Indiana, and we took about a month and a half to do it. We took our time visiting friends and family and didn't hesitate to make stops at interesting looking places on the side of the highway.

Saying goodbye to Seattle

The first place we stopped was off of 90 in Washington.  We saw a sign for something called "Wild Horses Monument" and it sounded awesome so we had to stop..  I'm glad we dod, because the monument was awesome.  We drove to the bottom of a large hill and saw a pack of metal horses on the top of the hill.  We did a little hike up the mountain/hill (it was quite a climb, especially in flats) and took some photos.

Our first stop was in Rexburg, for our family reunion.  We arrived a few days earlier to stay with Seth's parents, and we made a trip out to Jackson Hole to go to The Bar-J, which is becoming somewhat of a tradition, as we did the same thing last year.  If you don't know what the Bar-J is, it's a bunch of goofy cowboys with amazing voices that put on a show with music and jokes.  Before the show you have a chuck-wagon meal, it is soooooooo good.  You choose your meat and you get a baked potato, baked beans, cornbread, and lemonade.  So good. 

Indiana & Utah, represent.

We spent the family reunion in Rexburg, unfortunately I got sick on Saturday when everyone spent the day at the waterpark, my tonsils swelled up so big it hurt to talk or even turn my head.  Yuck.  Luckily the doctor gave me some good stuff to make the swelling go down and I only really felt it for one day.

After the reunion, we spent a couple weeks in Utah.  It was a laid back trip, but we spent one day with our friend Brent strolling around Antelope Island.  It was really hot and extremely buggy, but that didn't mean it wasn't gorgeous.  At one point we walked out on this pier, and there was just a constant stream of bugs, you could feel them hitting your ankles.  They're tiny, and if you look closely enough at the pictures you can see them all on the water.  

We then spent a few days in Ogden, and then it was on our way to Denver, to see our friends.  We stayed with Nic & Kirsten, and saw some other friends while we were there.  I think most of our friends from college ended up being in Denver, it was so great seeing everyone.  Seth's brother also lives there and we had dinner with him.  It's kind of strange really how many people we know in Denver.  Besides strolling Denver, we went to Garden of the Gods with Nic & Kirsten, and it was really cool, I only wish we had been able to go up to Pike's Peak, but it didn't work out.  The train tickets to the peak were sold out, bummer.  Still, Garden of the Gods was awesome.

After that, we were on the road.  We drove through Kansas, Missouri, Illinios and made little stops along the way.  In Kansas, we saw signs for a place called Prarie Dog Town and we knew we had to stop.  And can I tell you?  Prarie dogs are soooo precious, they might even be cuter then Sea Otters (maybe).  So you pay, then you get a little baggie of food, once you walk out the door there are tons of Prarie dogs running around, it's awesome.  Unfortunately, there were also lots of animals in cages that looked miserable.  I'm not a fan of zoos, I hate to think of animals being caged up, there were some fox breeds that looked particularly miserable.  The gift shop was full of amazing crap, we ended up buying a dream catcher that now hangs proudly from our rear view mirror.

We also saw signs for a Wizard of Oz museum and I wish we could have stopped but by the time we passed it it had already closed.  The one other place we stopped was a place called Nostalgiaville, USA. According the the multiple signs before you get to the exit, it has all sorts of goodies of 60's pop culture.  Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be a gem like the Parie Dog Town, most of it was stuff you could find at Target, but it was still an interesting little place.

And that's about it for our road trip.  Sorry for waiting so long to post this, we also have lots of video, but haven't gotten around to editing those.