The elimination diet is officially over! Yippie! While this brings the end of the g'nasty shakes and drinks, it marks the beginning of the Food Challenge Period (tm). Over the the course of the month I get to slowly add foods back to my "okay to eat list" and see if I can tolerate it or not.
This past Sunday we started with dairy. I had about 2.5 glasses of cow's milk and some cheese. It was so wonderful to have cheese again. Yum. Sadly though, my intestinal track didn't think it was so wonderful, if you know what I mean. So, officially, I'm lactose intolerant.
I'm suppose to wait 3 days between challenging foods to make sure I'm not having any carryover symptoms. But I felt fine on Monday and E had brought home a loaf of Italian bread, so we added wheat on Monday night. With some farmer's cheese. Cause dammit, I'm not sure a life without cheese is something I want to live. I've had some more wheat yesterday too.
I can't tell if I'm having a reaction to the wheat or not though. Tiredness is suppose to be the big symptom. Yes, I'm tired. But I also stayed up until close to 2 on Sunday night and have been up to at least 11 or later each night this week. So am I tired because of the wheat or because of the not getting enough sleep?
E made an interesting observation. When I was drinking the g'nasty protein shake and we were really good about having beans and rice or some such protein at each meal at the beginning of this adventure, I was feeling better. A lot better. Maybe I'm protein deficient. Could it be as simple as that?
So, now I'm wondering if it makes sense to add back some meat to my diet. Eat local, happy, free-range chicken from Whole Paycheck once a week type of thing. I've thought about doing this before, but never got up the nerve to do it. I'm not sure what to DO with chicken. It's been so long since I've cooked it. And the idea of eating it still makes my tummy do back flips a bit. But if that's what it takes to make be feel better, maybe it's worth it.
