Dingos are tricked into the treat of running in October! - Page 12

[Realrellim]

kerc--I would do it for a month and probably go whole hog. My guess is that if you can calm down her immune system, then she will be able to tolerate gluten and maybe also egg and/or dairy, at least in limited amounts after that. I bet she'll be able to have gluten without too many problems. When DH was having all sorts of random health troubles when he turned 30, he tested as having some indication of celiac disease but never got the colonoscopy (sp?) to rule it out. We saw a holistic practitioner at some point who suggested that eliminating it for a month would probably help, just because our bodies react more under stress and that it probably wouldn't have to be a permanent fix.

I have a fabulous recipe for a dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free chocolate cake, and an equally-fabulous GF all-purpose flour mix that you can substitute 1:1 for all-purpose flour in any recipe. I think you'll be able to buy a pre-packaged frosting, though I'm not sure about the GF aspect. I haven't read a label for that in a while.

Coconut or soy ice cream is really good, and even the rice stuff is decent. So is daiya cheese, which Whole Foods sells, and most of the other natural markets around us too. We just had it on our pizza tonight. The book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day has yummy GF bread recipes according to my GF friends. I haven't tried those, but I have their other bread book and those recipes are all egg- and dairy-free. It's really good bread with very little work involved. No kneading, no punching down. It's very, very easy. I don't know if you have Udi's bread out there but I've heard wonders about their GF bread too.

All that said, transitioning is really, really hard, so I'm sorry you have to do it at all. We're just DF, but we've been doing it for 7 years and I don't much think about it--except when I was trying to buy York Peppermint Patties which have been dairy-free, only to discover they added milk to their recipe! Grrrr. Thank goodness Whole Foods has other options.

RR: 7 miles, more or less, with a friend. She's doing one of those crazy diets at her gym where she is trying to drop a lot of weight quickly. There's a $5k prize involved if she wins. So, she's not really eating carbs, which makes it kind of hard to run 7 miles. I think we ran about 3 and then walked the rest. She kept apologizing, which made me wonder what kind of a reputation I have when the only two people I run with--tjsmama and my friend K--apologize for being slow or walking. I'm not really that fast or that strict about it, yk? Like, yes, I usually run up hills, but that doesn't mean I don't get to the top, stop, and decide it's a good time for a water break and to enjoy the scenery when I'm by myself. (And if I did want to cover 7 miles at a certain pace without stopping, I wouldn't talk to a friend about running together!) I'm guessing it's because I mostly run by myself, so no one knows what my real running style looks like.

[MelW]

Sparkle, good luck with the lice laundry. I know your pain!!

JayGee, trail running makes me pretty happy, too. I'm contemplating a trail half next May to keep myself in that happy place.

Shanti, I'm glad to hear your coursework is progressing.

Plady, I'm interested in the wheat belly stuff. I've spent a lot of time off various allergens for BF and notice a cyclical change in my digestion of wheat/gluten. I avoid it in the week before my period and go light the rest of the time (not hard in a house where nobody eats/keeps bread).

The fiddle concert is in a theatre, so no weather worries.

RR- More circuit/body rock stuff and a lot of yoga with the kids. They got a kids yoga book from the library and have been really keen this week. I admire their youthful flexibility.

[tjsmama]

real~Well, really, the only other times I've run with you have been at the Bolder Boulder, where you smoked me, and with drjen where it was clearly a social run.

shanti~Hang in there, mama.

I love my parents, but I think I'm glad they're leaving tomorrow. We're all kind of exhausted and my mom is starting to drive me nutty.

rr~8 mostly ok miles on the dreadmill. The fitness room was super busy when I got there, so I had to wait for a mill, and then the one that I got on was one that only allowed you to program 60 minutes. Bah. Then I got a sidestitch with about a mile to go. Did I mention that it was about a 1000 degrees in the fitness room? The good news...I'm pretty sure I sweated off a couple of extra pounds!

[Geofizz]

Mel? Plady? All ok there?

[MelW]

Was working a night shift and felt the first shake, but pretty mild locally. On the easy coast of our big island we're protected from tsunamis. I've heard it was pretty scary near the epicenter, but all of the friends up that way are safe.

[Nickarolaberry]

Hi mamas.

On elephants in the (marital bed)room: we have quite the herd. They have been making quite the noise the last few months but seem to have quieted for the moment. We'll see.

On stress: yeah. Mental acuity definitely takes a dive. For me this is also strongly correlated with the change in seasons (to darker days/longer nights, colder weather). 

On hormonal surge/sexual prime: yeah.  43 here...hmmm. Wish dh would you know, get with the program a bit. Sorry. TMI.

Kerc: I mentioned some ideas in a fb message to you. Like real says though, I don't honestly think you will figure out what is going on unless you do the elimination diet for a while. Same as when a nursing mom suspects a food issue/gut issue. I get the skepticism but I know enough people that suffer from these things and it really does throw the whole system out of whack. I think our food supply has been so profoundly corrupted by various chemicals, genetic modifications, and whatnot that a person who would not otherwise be gluten (or anything else) sensitive can have something triggered which sets off a whole chain reaction of issues. As I mentioned, I don't find dairy to be the most challenging 'give-up' although it takes getting used to. Gluten and dairy and eggs are easily substituted in the diet, but the bigger issue is being very vigilant about ingredients. A small amount of something that you don't realize is an 'avoid it' ingredient can throw the whole experiment off. YMMV of course. Like many things it requires a paradigm shift in the way you think about what you and your family can/should/will eat. Once that shift is made, and the first weeks endured, it does get easier.

We are battening down the hatches here. I did sneak in a run this morning, pre-storm. Preparing for the possibility of lengthy power outages. Stay safe everywhere, mamas. I'll be in touch as I can.   

[sparkletruck]

Kerc - I dont have time for more response, but I agree with Real and Nic. I think this area is very individual, and that it takes a lot of trial and error and open-minded cynicism to find what is right, and this involves a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. I had the response from dh you mention, and he is an m.d., so was very critical of where I was getting my info. (is it placebo controlled, double blind, how big and how many studies, etc etc etc). Because i do need some "evidence-based" data to properly orient my "intuition" about the right path, I sought out books from the medical library as well as read anecdotal stuff online. I found the combo helpful. Mostly, I think you ("one") find your own way through it, and it can be exhausting. But that part is temporary. You eventually find something that works for your case, and then you're done. For me it took about a year of testing lots of stuff (supplements, diet, meditation, and much more - flower essences anyone? ) As for the gut, and "healing the gut", I think reactions to stuff (food, chemicals, etc.) is the red light on the dashboard. Changing diet, adding supplements puts tape over the light but doesnt necessarily address the underlying issue (unless its beyond the realm of "individual results may vary" as in the case of celiac). Ive mentioned my reasons for thinking so here. In the meantime, the results Ive had shut Dh up entirely. He definitely appreciates that western medicine's expertise is very circumscribed.

Good luck

[Realrellim]

Originally Posted by tjsmama 

real~Well, really, the only other times I've run with you have been at the Bolder Boulder, where you smoked me, and with drjen where it was clearly a social run.

Yeah, when it's a race, I pretty much run fast. The rest of the time I'm not really competitive.

Sending for both our east and west coast people. Nic--hope the power stays on. Plady--hope you weren't affected. MelW--glad everyone's ok there.

Trying to convince myself to go running. Outside. By myself. It was comforting to run with K yesterday. She lives just a few minutes away and we realized we're having the same reactions. Mostly, I'm trying to figure out where to run. I want to do 6, but most of the trails I'd prefer are now associated with the recent event, and the few that aren't are wooded or remote enough that I'm not ready to go there either. I'd think I was a mental case if not for the fact that K's basically in the same boat. Maybe it's the double hit: both a murdered child and an attempted jogger abduction, presumably with the same outcome. It's a little more than I'd like to come to terms with, and the more details that come out, the more it's very, very likely that I've passed this kid at a park or on the trails in the last few months, probably more than once. We moved in the same areas. Knowing that nothing happened should be a comfort (because the odds were and are that nothing will happen) but it's not, not yet.

[Nickarolaberry]

Dingo mamas,

Please say prayers and send up vibes, positive thoughts, strength, etc. for Zub and her new baby boy. He is in hospital being monitored for pneumonia and a possible heart condition.

[Plady]

For little Charlie!  That's so scary, I hope they have good support nearby and the hospital is ready for the hurricane.

More coming towards all the east coast Dingos, it sounds like you're all in for a wild ride! 

Re: Earthquake. No shaking felt here, It was waaay north and Vancouver Island is humongous.  But I thought I felt a little tremor two nights ago when I was awake stewing over the many projects I forget to do in the daytime.

Like many things it requires a paradigm shift in the way you think about what you and your family can/should/will eat. Once that shift is made, and the first weeks endured, it does get easier.

So true.  For so many things. 

Real - I would be reluctant to get back out to the old routes in your situation.  I'd be telling myself that statistically it's all fine but emotionally it wouldn't be for a while yet. 

No RR but had a good rehearsal.  My little Macbeth is beginning to actually enunciate loudly!  Whoo hoo!  He started out doing all his lines with this weird accent which was cute but unintelligible, now he's beginning to really come out from behind that, I love it!

[kerc]

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. After careful consideration, research, consultation with our medical "team" -- we've decided to do (almost) nothing. Yes, there is lots of ancedotal evidence of people who have found success in food elimination.

• There's science out there that suggests mixed results for these specific immunoglobins we tested for. Also -- there are blind studies that suggest that unless there's some other reason to believe (low iron for instance, constipation or loose stools, acne, bloating, joint pain, attention problems), just doing an elimination of a particular food doesn't help. In fact, it can put a growing child at risk for other nutritional problems.
• The particular lab she used has a parictularly high reproducibility error and did not tell us numbers, rather reported "moderate" or "high" reactivity. When these labs are ordered in the course of celiac testing (as my friends' kid underwent this past spring), they report where you are and the average for people like you.
• The college from which she obtained her doctorate of naturopathy states on its website that this style of testing is not considered reliable.
• We did dairy elimination before and saw no change. If it were any of the three (milk, wheat, egg), my gut tells me it would be egg. Which we will pay attention to.

All food talk aside, my gut feeling, my mama instinct if you will, suggests that it isn't a food as a chief culprit.

The naturopath prior to recommending food sensitivity testing suggested that she might have one or some combination of things going on. She might have a food sensitivity, she might have a heavy metal toxicity issue, or she might have an overgrowth of h pylori (the bacteria that is associated with ulcers). We decided to move forward with the food sensitivity testing, although had I done all the research I did this weekend prior to ordering the test, I would not have done so.

We've seen the rash come and go over the years, with no change in diet. In the last month we've seen the rash go from red and angry to looking like you're average chapped lips to all but gone this morning. In the last month we didn't change diet. We did re-add the fish oil + multivitamin + zinc and some probiotics.

Looking objectively at the three options naturopath suggested, I think the most possible one is the h pylori. It's communicable and frankly in the month in which Erin had the awful rash I too had the symptoms (taken from webmd, but also as told to me by the naturopath)

When H. pylori does cause symptoms, they are usually either symptoms of gastritis or peptic ulcer disease. The most common symptom of peptic ulcer disease is gnawing or burning abdominal pain, usually in the area just beneath the ribs. This pain typically gets worse when your stomach is empty and improves when you eat food, drink milk, or take an antacid.

Other symptoms may include:

• Weight loss
• Loss of appetite
• Bloating
• Burping
• Nausea
• Vomiting (vomit may be bloody or look like coffee grounds)
• Black, tarry stools

I didn't have the last two. So -- the md and the naturopath both recommended probiotics to help and we'll go from there.

Again, thanks for sharing your stories and ideas. I do so appreciate them. I sure hope you can get past that I'm ignoring these results and returning to my mama-life.

Thinking about the hurricane's path and how many folks I know are in it. Also keeping Charlie in my thoughts.

[Geofizz]

Seems well reasoned, kerc.

Plady, I forget just how chewed up the crust it out there.  EQ energy just doesn't go far when it's like that.

I'm home with a house full of kids -- no school for teacher grading day.  DD's math teacher is not endearing herself to us.  Moving deadlines, changing grades, scheduling tests on Nov 1.  Who does that?  So we caught wind last spring that the new math curriculum for the middle school was going to be online -- autograding of homework and tests, no textbook, etc.  We spun DD's misery with the online extra math practice program (ALEKS) and all the torture of the whole thing with errors copying from the textbook as grounds to put an accommodation into her IEP that she works from paper with a pencil, and is not required to do anything on a computer screen for a grade.  The teacher is then printing all the homework assignments for DD and is actually grading her work (the computer is just marking "right" or "wrong" for all the other students -- no other feedback), and then last week the teacher had everyone -- except DD -- take the test online.  The teacher had everyone else retake the test with pencil and paper.  DD got 100%.  The class average without her was 63%!   So glad we're not putting DD through all this garbage the rest of these kids are now suffering.

RR ~ RP and I need to get into better shape.  We did an 8 mile loop with major hills.  It's a route that can only be done at the butt-crack of dawn, when there's little enough traffic we can get across the highway to the river, then run through the $$ neighborhood above the ravine.  Our butts were kicked.  The 40F and 20 mph winds didn't help.

[sparkletruck]

Geo - I was struck this morning noticing that the bike part of my cardio was hard; my muscles are tired from weights and it was hard work to push the pedals on the higher levels of the intervals. Then I got on the TM for my run, and I was almost laughing it was so fun - not hard work, and I was running hard. I couldnt feel the sore muscles I had just been laboring with on the bike. I dont think running makes one strong Good luck with the kids

Alex/Charlie -

Real - did you run? I can imagine how stressful that would feel, but also that a little bit at a time will get you back to normalcy a little bit at a time?

Plady - its fun to hear how excited you get about your little macbeth


RR: bike intervals 1 hour + run/walk intervals 25 minutes

NRR: I'm pushing myself and I can feel it. Yesterday, after 4 hours sleep Friday night, and better, but raggedy, sleep Saturday, and hard work-outs Fri/Sat, I felt hung-over. Literally; ill. I told Dh and he said, straight faced "I dont know what you're talking about" (b/c obviously he does, as a night shifter w/ 3 kids). Anyway, I plowed through the day, getting school work done, helping dd1 finish a month-long project, cooking for yet another pot-luck (last night), cleaning the whole house.

I made a *plan* to go to the gym this a.m. such that I would be at DD1's school by 8:45 for her presentation. This, of course, included getting EVERYTHING ready for dh; lunches prepped, school materials readied, clothes, etc etc - y'all know the drill. I set my alarm for 6, but woke at 2:30 feeling really tired and sore from previous weights, so turned off the alarm and figured if I woke on my own with enough time I'd do it, otherwise my body needs the rest. Well, I wok at 5:30, got everything prepped for an hour, got to the gym by 6:30, exercised till 8, showered fast, and made it to her school by 8:35.

Now home doing the final push for the midterm. I have one more part of a paper to write - it's personal/connect Aristotle to your life/work part, so Im pretty much done. Have started reading articles for the paper due in the other class Th. Friday I get on a plane for a climbing comp. in Tuscon I hope I dont totally forget about Halloween, b/c I keep forgetting I can feel that my body is overwrought - Im hoping that a big fat massage after all this work will undo some of the damage

[Geofizz]

I think that's why the hills were easier for me than RP.  I ride my bike 7 miles daily, and I always try to ride as hard as I can for the half mile from under the freeway to the crest of the "hill" between the two rivers.  I think it's a total of 40' elevation change, but it is effort for those of us stuck in flatland.

I'm hanging out at the library now that my sitter is at home.  I checked out a prealgebra textbook for DD.  The content for her class isn't available online until they've done it in class, but the homework is posted a week at a time.  This weekend DD needed a bit of vocab reminder so she could work ahead, and she had no place to look it up.  Seriously.  No index/glossary in the online "text".

[Nickarolaberry]

This storm is bad, mamas. It is very bad. Entire towns under water. Where I used to live on Long Island...under water.

Right now we are ok, and have power. Please keep sending up prayers and good thoughts for those of us in Sandy's path...

[Geofizz]

Thinking of your Nic.  It's nasty even here, nearly 300 miles from the center of it all.  I hope it stays mild in ME for Zub and Charlie as well.  Her last update was that the heart checked out OK, but they're planning a week in the hospital.

It's cold.  If power goes out, so does the heat.  I worry about people setting unsafe  fires or using unventilated heat sources.

[Shantimama]

      Nic     

[MelW]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Plady, I forget just how chewed up the crust it out there.  EQ energy just doesn't go far when it's like that.

I love these Geo moments. Mostly because in my day to day life it's usually me making these kinds of comments to perplexed stares. Just to be clear, we're not talking gluten-free pizza crust, which is my predominant sidebar ad for this thread

Nic and everyone else in the east, stay safe. We're thinking of you, and check in when you can to let us know your okay.

Zub and baby Charlie Wishing you smooth healing and strong hearts.

kerc, I think you have a good plan to move ahead with.

sparkle, hang in there. You're amazing!

NRR- We got the set list for the fiddle concert, and the youth section includes 4 songs that my daughter has heard/played in fiddle jam but doesn't really know. I taught one this morning and her teacher crammed three new songs into today's lesson. There is a LOT of practicing if she's going to play them all (plus the other 6 or 7) by Saturday night. She may have to sit out one of the youth sets and learn two new songs to complete the other ones. Her current plan, however, is to practice like a maniac and have occasional meltdowns. The good news is that it's a compass week at school for student conferences and evaluating learning plans; the bad news is it's a compass week and I have to deal with her all week long ;)

RR- I ran today- a wonderful 3.5 miles on the trail. My cough is still lingering but it feels good to run. I'm contemplating a trail half next May, which gives me a goal to work toward and lots of training/lead time. I have two possible strategies: consider doing two back-to-back half training plans (or the same one twice, but hopefully harder/faster the second time), or run a 10k training plan until March, then start a half training plan. I'm leaning toward doing two half training plans because I really want more commitment to running through the winter. There is a local road half in March (the one I injured my hip in two years ago), and the possibility of doing it again injury-free is on the radar. I'm still nervous about longer distances on the road. Thoughts?

[Nickarolaberry]

So far, ok here. Lost power for a while, it came back on. Things are pretty terrible along the mid-Atlantic coast and in NYC. Lower Manhattan is entirely flooded and Con-Ed shut the power grid down. Long Island's coastline and the barrier regions of LI are under water. Most of NJ's shoreline is under water.

Here we have a lot of wind and debris, not much water at the moment. Big thud outside a while ago -- huge branch down on our deck.

Over 3 million (something like that?) without power at the moment. The school where I teach is shut down tomorrow; the highway to get there in CT is closed.

Pray.

[Realrellim]

Originally Posted by MelW 

Her current plan, however, is to practice like a maniac and have occasional meltdowns.

That's usually R's plan too. It tends to work.

kerc--it's all about what works for you.

Nic-- more for everyone out there. The pictures are incredible.

Zub-- hoping everyone stays safe and the little one heals quickly.

sparkle--yeah, the 4 hours thing is ugly. Unfortunately, I do it most days a week lately--except last night when I actually went to bed at midnight. Then again, J was also up until midnight, albeit laying on the floor while watching a video and fighting sleep, so between that and AF, it was a lost cause. Coffee in regular doses during the day really helps once you get used to it. Though preferably, you won't need to get used to it.

RR: Despite my concerns, I ran 6 yesterday as part of the "stick to routine" recommended by our county mental health service. (Yes, I went to one of their free crisis center sessions because, among other things, I felt a little bit like a hypocrite for recommending my students do this when they're having trouble focusing or getting work done and not doing it myself.) The sun was out, and that always helps. Honestly, it was a beautiful day for running, if a wee bit on the chilly side from the wind. I took this picture at Standley Lake, while thinking that this area is far too beautiful for what happened. This is part of the area where they were searching for remains a couple of weeks ago. The lake is pretty low due to the drought we've had this summer. When it's full, the water comes right up to that tree.

There was a lot of sadness but not too much panic. People are starting to emerge, though most of the women I saw were with someone else or with large dog. I passed one other solo female runner. That's an improvement over last weekend, when the path was pretty much dominated by men, at least from my window observations and the hour I spent outside in the garden, armed with loosening the soil with a pitchfork.