Well, here goes...

I've been having a lot of food issues lately. This will seem a little strange for those unaffected, but for me, it's been hell.

I got sick about 5-6 weeks ago. It was a single cramp in my intestines in the middle of the night that started it. I had diarrhea, fever and sensitivity to almost everything for about a week. I thought I had food poisoning, but no; it was something going around in the community.

That passed, and I suddenly had no food in the house to eat! Everything made me sick again. It seems that this "illness" triggered a larger issue in my body.

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I am seriously overweight and have high blood pressure. Pasta and med-high carb meals put me to sleep while my blood sugar spikes.

I've had some of these problems for a while, and I've tried unsuccessfully to deal with them. I can't walk very far, of course. My poor legs are stressed if I do too much. I don't smoke - haven't for over 2 years.

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I've been doing a lot of food testing, and it seems that my sensitivity to milk blossomed into a complete intolerance for any cow-milk products, including cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, and ice cream. I can still use butter, but not much of it.

Mayonnaise is no longer OK. Try going to the local burger joint or sub-sandwich place! Restaurants are a joke! No Eggs. Eggs! Who would have thought they could be a problem.

I also can no longer tolerate strongly-spiced foods.

I use stevia-based or saccharine-based sweeteners, no sugar or high-fructose-corn-syrup. I can't tolerate sodas (Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up, and so on).

Spagetti and Pesto preparations are a dream of past delights. No white bread can pass my lips. I can't even have Hummus any more....

(sigh)

Well, I'll be blogging about things here...

The BRAT diet is my first-line defense when my tummy starts up...

Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Tea

I add consume', chicken broth, oatmeal (always good for heartburn), and some light soy sauce to flavor the rice.

I've been living on applesauce, oatmeal, rice, meat, fruit (grapes, cantaloupe, bananas), ramen soup - surprizing!, and green vegetables.

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I'm starting a new diet/lifestyle program tomorrow. I purchased the 6-week-body makeover plan. It has a food plan and a fitness component. They say to start on a Monday, and tomorrow is Monday.

My target is over 100 pounds. At 2 pounds a week, that can take over a year. OK, fine. It needs to be done. I have emotional components to why I got this heavy as well as lifestyle components.

I have friends to see me through, and yes, I have photos of "before" to remind me of where I started. I will NOT be posting them - I'm not dressed. Thank God for digital cameras. I can take pix of me in the all-together and no one ever sees them but my computer.

So, this little part of my Blog will be for me to write my feelings and emotional issues, to be accountable to the world, and just to keep track. I don't write in a journal much anymore. When I do, it's been 6 months since the last time. But, I'm on the internet every day. I hope this will be a little bit of tracking for me. I hope that I will be able to write the feelings out and not eat over them.