Good morning, ladies! We're headed for 80 degrees this day.
Casper was so glad to see me. Glory said he did okay with her but kept looking for me. She even took him for walks.
I surely learned a ton about my body and nutrition last week. The rd was amazed at my food diary. I just took my 3-month journal so it wasn't anything special. We were told to keep track for the month of March. She really went over everyone's with a fine tooth comb and had individual meetings to show us where we could improve. We had some group lectures on what to eat and what to avoid. We all know that excess sodium causes swelling, but processed foods and simple carbs do too - 4 grams of water for every gram of carb. Meals for the first 2 days were pretty spartan - chicken, brown rice, kale, broccoli, spinach, peppers, apples, peaches, banana. Those are the foods that don't cause inflammation in 98% of us. Then we started adding back other foods and seeing how we did. Some did okay with wheat - me, I gained 2 pounds that day. We had a battery of tests for food allergies, daily weigh ins, blood work, urine analysis, bp. In addition to wheat, I reacted badly to white potatoes, artifical sweeteners, soy, and had a mild reaction to sweet potatoes and corn. I lost 2-1/2 pounds while there - all water weight. My pants kept sliding down to my hips because I lost the bloat in my waist area.
The diet I came home with is easy and she tailored it so I won't gain any weight. I have a minimum of 5 servings of vegetables and 3-4 of fruit, 4 teaspoons of olive oil, beef no more than once a week, salmon or other fatty fish at least 3 times a week, chicken, turkey, buffalo or venison, 3 servings of whole grains (but no wheat or corn products), poultry, 3 milk servings a day, and 1/2 ounce of dark chocolate a day. No sugar or artifical sweeteners but I can use Agava. I can have 1-2 servings of a processed food a day (bread or cereal, pasta, noodles, dessert (2-3 times a week). No more than 1500 mcg sodium per day.
We were given pre-paid Visa cards with $75 on them to do our first week's shopping and they will be update with $75 every week on Sunday for our groceries only. The cards are somehow tied to them and they can see what we purchased with them. Our food diary is on line and we are also to log our exercise but they gave no minimum for that.
Going up to Baltimore, it was raining. Coming home, a tractor-trailor went over the barrier on 664 and was hanging over the water. It added 4 hours to my trip home. Fortunately, my Kindle was all charged up so I read.
Faye, we aren't allowed to have instant or quick oatmeal. Because of the processing involved, they are no longer considered to be a whole grain. I use steel cut oats and cook it in the crockpot or old-fashioned oats and cook it with milk in the microwave. I think it's time to get a second opinion from a different group of doctors. Those female problems have gone on way too long and the repeat d and cs can't be good for you, either. I've had 4 surgeries for intestinal blockage, kidney surgery, gallbladder (when it was still an open surgery), hernia and appendix. My belly has a big cross on it. Thomas with a girl friend - WOW! Congratulations on your 30 pounds down. Keep on with your program. Tailor it to what works for you.
Jean, poor Sonny! He has been though a lot. I'm sure he'll be so glad to get home he'll be tagging around after you.
Maggie, the good thing about water weight is it does come off so our effort is rewarded next week, if not this one. WW has a new cookbook with recipes for cooking for one. I was excited to get it.
Have a wonderful day!