It's Not Cancer If You Still Have Control of Your Poop.

Well, I finally went to an MD to discuss my back pain which comes and goes. Today it has started radiating down my legs. The doctor was very uninterested. Had me walk on my tip toes and walk with one foot in front of the other and then told me to go see a physical therapist.

Me, being me, said to him, "Don't you need to at least touch it to see if there's a big cancer mass back there?"

"Well," he said. "If it was a tumor you'd probably have other symptoms such as loss of bowel control. So while I can't say you don't have one, we should try things like physical therapy first."

I found that to be a very amusing answer. So while I'm not convinced that 2 months from now I won't go back to a new doctor and have him or her say "What a shame you didn't come to me when you first started having pain. You have back cancer and two days to live. But if you came to me right away I could have saved you."

In the meantime, it's off to find a good physical therapist. Blah.

Cleanse: Day 3 Update 2

Wow, a two update day. I must be getting used to this cleanse.

Unbelievably, the almond butter tortillas kept me very full all afternoon. I had some preemptive fruit this afternoon to tide me over until a late dinner and was fine.

I took the boys to a Back to School party where there was all sorts of wine and beer and munchies and I easily refrained. None of the items were my favorites but that never would have stopped me before.

I have decided that it is most important for me to be true to the spirit of this cleanse, rather than the letter of the law. For example, I had sea bass in a marinade tonight that included soy sauce. I left out the sugar that the recipe called for but I did go ahead with the soy sauce even though that is technically a wheat product. I prepared the sea bass over a bed of brown rice. It was delish.

Cleanse: Day 3 Update 1

Wow, no updates today until 2:30. That must mean things are getting better and it's true.

Knock wood, I don't have a trace of a headache.

But I did have my first (known) mistake. In searching for something a bit more filling than fruits and veggies for lunch, I found corn tortillas at the store. I spread some natural almond butter on them and had them for lunch. I was so pleased with myself for substituting the corn tortillas for the flour tortillas and thereby not having the wheat. But then I looked at the ingredients:

ground corn treated with lime

cellulose gum

propionic acid

benzoic acid

phosphoric acid

dextrose

guar gm

amylase

Definitely processed junk. Doesn't that sound disgusting.

Also, I hadn't had even a little bit of a craving for any of the junk today until I had lunch. Now I am being tempted mercilessly by my kids' chocolate chip granola bars. I wonder if there is something about the junk in processed food that makes you crave more?

Tonight's dinner - sea bass in a ginger soy marinade. and a huge salad.

ps - another whoops. just realized my organic, natural almond butter also contains "unrefined cane sugar, palm oil and sea salt." i'm thinking you can't go to the local safeway for truly healthy stuff. whole foods it is. i bet they have almond butter that is ground almonds and nothing else. of course, it probably won't taste as good as the one with sugar and salt, but it will be better for me.

Cleanse: Day 2 Update 4

I DID IT!!! I did not even have one lick of the icing (not easy to do when you're setting up and cutting the cake.

Cleanse: Day 2 Update 3

BTW, I do not assume that any of you reading this blog are actually interested in my ad nauseum updates on the cleanse. I am doing this more as a record for myself of how it is going. So feel free to skip over these if you are less than interested.

3pm - the headache is starting in. Today I know it is not protein related as I had over 4oz ounces of chicken with my lunch. That is more than I would normally have. So the headaches has to be related to the lack of sugar and caffeine. Scary.

Also, since Aaron and I are in this together, he's been updating me on the research related to caffeine withdrawal. It generally takes 72 hours for the aches, pains, headaches, etc related to caffeine withdrawal to go away and 9 days for all caffeine to leave your system. Caffeine Withdrawal Syndrome is recognized as an official diagnosis by the WHO and American Psychiatrict Association. It has ICD9 codes and everything.

I have to say Aaron has been feeling even worse than me because he drinks double the caffeine I do every day.

My first big challenge is in a few minutes. We're having Jack's birthday cake. Cake, milk, and ice cream. Yum! But no-go for me today.

Cleanse: Day 2 Update 2

It's noon and I'm feeling good. Had a hand full of almonds at 11, not b/c I was hungry but b/c I knew I needed some protein and I think that may have helped. Today's lunchtime salad will have grilled chicken.

Hubs is also going caffeine free (actually, he is switching to only water) which is big for him too. We were not happy campers last night. But hopefully the worst is behind...

Cleanse: Day 2 Update 1

8:30am - Felt so much better after a dinner of pork tenderloin in an orange ginger marinade. It must be all about the protein for me. Also think I have to eat dinner with the boys (5pm) rather than with aaron (7:30pm).

Woke up this morning feeling good, fresh, ready to start the day. Amazing how many times I think about coffee though. Shocking what a part of my daily ritual it is.

My friend starts with me today. I'm looking forward to the camaraderie.