Goodbye, Caffeine

Knowing what's coming, I'm trying to make it a little easier on myself by cutting out caffeine in advance of everything else that's leaving the daily diet.
I drink a cup of black coffee every morning before getting ready for work. Except Starbucks Fridays, as mentioned previously. If I have an afternoon carb crash, I usually just have some tea.  And sometimes (okay, usually) there's caffeine at lunch.
Last semester when I overworked/ schooled, there was a lot more caffeine involved.
So this past weekend, I had 1/4 cup black coffee Sat and Sun. Monday I had a Starbucks decaf bc I had a free grande that was going to expire in two weeks.  I had an ugly carb crash yesterday afternoon that lead to a lingering headache that was still there this morning (Tues). So I had a couple sips of K's decaf and was out the door feeling better.
We'll see how tomorrow goes without coffee again, as I'm feeling much better this afternoon.
t-minus a day and a half.

Typical Week of Food

I have no idea what the average American eats. Fast food every night? Frequent pizza delivery? Soda? Square meals three times a day with milk at the dinner table?  Beats me. I have no idea how to compare myself to "average" so here's a week in my current food routine:

During the work week I eat a piece of fruit or two in the car on the way to work. If K makes eggs and toast, I'll eat that before I leave. Then I eat anything I can find bc I'm starving and hour after I get to work- sometimes I have mixed nuts at my desk.  This is all a recent evolution from eating oatmeal every morning at my desk for a year that I stopped in December.  

I bring a frozen lunch a few days a week (preservatives give me a headache, so it's always Kashi or Amys).  and then one day I'll go to Whole Foods- this can mean pizza or salad bar- it's a toss up.  The other few days I go out to eat randomly- usually a burger from PTerrys (wheat bun) or Home Slice Pizza or soup and salad. Basically, slightly healthy leaning, but not legitimately healthy.  I either frink water, or have a Diet Coke, depending on what I'm eating. See? There's no way of knowing if it'll be awesome or the worst lunch ever.

In the afternoon sometimes I try to control my carb crash with a hot tea at my desk. Other days are ugly and involve Diet Coke or Snickers.  There's a lot of sugar in the afternoons- frequent chocolate bars float around the office.

Dinner is usually an awesome home cooked meal by the hubby that involves good, real food. Think: chicken chili or Quorn burgers on those sandwich flats that are whole grain/ low carb.  Sometimes we eat out, but it's typically decent chain restaurants like Cheddars.

On the weekends it's more home-cooked good food with awesome breakfasts- lots of eggs and whole grains- tuna fish sandwich lunches and good dinner. When K's not home- not so much. That looks more like snacking all day- peanut butter toast, yogurt with granola, Starbucks and a pastry at Target.

Oh- Starbucks! I stop there every Friday morning for a grande mocha w/ one pump mocha, one pump caramel brulee, no whip. And a warmed pastry- usually a muffin- apple bran or zucchini walnut. I feel better about myself saying that, even though they probably have the same volume of lard as the apple fritter.

Sooo, I think I'm semi-healthy, but definitely not legitimately so. It's more half-assed and not working.  The only thing I have going for me is my food allergies (crap only) and awesome husband. Big girl pants- here I come.

Launching Point

In the last year I've had a little time between school and work to start learning about the effects of food on health. Not just the big picture (of course vegetables are good for you, duh), but I've been focusing on the impact of gut balance to overall health. I can't link, but watching Natasha Campbell-McBride on the Mercola channel on YouTube was my launching point.
I have semi-frequent migraines. Probably a few a month. Fortunately they're pretty controllable with medication, but I can't seem to make them stop. I can't tolerate preservatives, sulfites/ates, food coloring, or beer on certain days.
As much as I want to consume every single book on gut health out there, I don't have that kind of time to take away from my school work, and I'd like to start making changes sooner rather than later.
So I went and saw a nutritionist. She isn't as intense as McBride, but she was recommended by my friend who has read all of the books and has taken her family to the far reaches of healthy lifestyle. I don't see myself going there any time soon, but I think it's pretty awesome what she has taught herself and accomplished for her family.
So anyways, the nutritionist. K and I went in to do our evaluations and then meridians. (Hello, awesome!) She tested our meridians and gave us the diagnosis. It's hard to 100% be on board with the whole meridian thing, but the diagnosis is candida overgrowth. Thanks to Dr Google, I am on board with the assessment. It's where I have been going with the research as well.  The 35-day diet is essentially brown rice or quinoa, greens and chicken or fish protein, with veggies representing 2/3 of the diet.  I kind of don't care whether the meridians are accurate or not- I really feel like this is something I need to do for my body. I've been way too stressed the last year, and I need to give it a break and force myself to stop eating crap all the time. Going through this with a nutritionist who is telling me exactly which organic supplements to take just makes it that much easier. It's pricey, but that seems to be the theme for not having time to do it myself and still making sure it gets done right.

So here we go. I cut caffeine first, and the diet starts in three days.