08.28 - Meal of a Lifetime

A certain someone (who we shall henceforth refer to as I) took me out for dinner Thursday night-- and let's just say it was a meal of a lifetime . . . in many ways. Not only did I feel like a judge on Iron Chef (haha-- awesome!), but . . . I was completely taken by surprise in the most beautifully messy kind of way. :*}

Some highlights:










<3

08.19 - Mystery Solved

For years, I prided myself on being able to eat anything and everything. I had friends who were allergic to seafood, some to peanuts, and other friends who were lactose intolerant. But not me. I could eat it all.

But one random evening years ago while on break at my first job, a coworker offered me some guacamole from Chipotle. After having only one guac-covered chip, my entire throat and stomach started burning. I drank water until the feeling subsided but I was so surprised by it. I wasn't allergic to anything in guacamole-- not avocados, onions, cilantro, chiles, nothing. I considered it a freak accident, but that tainted my desire for avocado for years to come.

And over the years, I've found that other random things will cause allergic reactions. After eating peaches in the summer, my lips start to blow up. After having soy lattes from Starbucks a handful of times, I realized that soy milk makes my throat incredibly itchy. After drinking wheatgrass juice, I want to gag and die at the same time. I have similar reactions with cherries, almonds, and (as I found out just yesterday) hazelnuts.

So after a bit of research yesterday and a little help from my friend Wikipedia, the mystery has finally been solved. I have OAS (a.k.a. oral allergy syndrome)!! It's actually quite fascinating, really. I'm allergic to pollen (i.e. my eyes get super itchy and I sneeze like a crazy person), therefore I'm allergic to contact with "pollen foods" (mainly when they're raw). So what are these pollen foods, you might ask? Well, there are different kinds of pollen! Alder, birch, grass, mugwort, and ragweed.

Here's an overview of the different pollens and the foods they're associated with:

Alder pollen: almonds, apples, celery, cherries, hazel nuts, peaches, pears, parsley
Birch pollen: almonds, apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, carrots, celery, cherries, chicory, coriander, fennel, fig, hazelnuts, kiwifruit, nectarines, parsley, parsnips, peaches, pears, peppers, plums, potatoes, prunes, soy, strawberries, wheat; and potentially walnuts
Grass pollen: fig, melons, tomatoes, oranges
Mugwort pollen: carrots, celery, coriander, fennel, parsley, peppers, sunflower
Ragweed pollen: banana, cantaloupe, cucumber, honeydew, watermelon, zucchini, echinacea, artichoke, dandelions, hibiscus or chamomile tea

So I've established that I'm only allergic to alder, a little birch, and a little mugwort. Coooool, huh? Haha. Sorry. I'm just excited to finally know what's going on. And to realize that the guacamole incident was no accident after all. Crazy . . .

08.17 - Phase One: FINISHED!!

I FINALLY get to have brown rice and whole grain wheat bread! *long, content sigh* All is right with the world again.

So now begins Phase Two-- which pretty much means incorporating one serving of a "good" carb and one serving of a "good" fruit ONCE a day. As I move closer to my target weight and increase my physical activity, I can increase the carb and fruit servings per day. Oh man . . . it would be a dream to have as much fruit and starch as I want. Haha. Let's doooo this!

Phase One Recap:

• I officially dislike cashews now. Having to snack on them nearly twice a day for the past two weeks was borderline excruciating.
• Turkey chili is not bad. Not bad at all.
• Regular sweet drinks have A LOT of sugar in them. Ya'll should stay away.
• Vegetables are quite yummy. Particularly tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and mushrooms.
• I cheated a little and had dark meat chicken and full-fat cheese a few times. Oops.
• I missed mangoes with a passion. I probably thought about them every day.
• I lost five pounds. Woohoo!

Phase Two Forecast:

• Fruit rocks my world. Particularly mangoes! And I love finally being able to have low-fat fruit-flavored yogurt again.
• Something as simple as toasted whole grain bread with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray is unbelievably delicious. I will have lots of this.
• Time to work out. If I don't, I'm guaranteed to blow up and negate all I've suffered for.
• I get to have whole wheat pasta, whole wheat stone ground pita, and bran sugar-free muffins!! Augghhh!! Is it sad that I'm excited?
• After two torturous weeks, I'm finally feeling positive and motivated. I think I can tone up and knock off a few more pounds in no time.
• I've done South Beach Phase 1 four times now, and I think this is the first and only time I'm actually attempting to do Phase 2. Normally I'll be so starved for carbs and sugar, I go crazy and nix everything. Props to my SB partner who motivates me by suffering with me and igniting my competitive nature. ;)

08.13 - The Klutz

I don't know how I came to be this way, but I am a walking klutz-- especially when you put me in close proximity with food or drink. It's sad, but it's also something I've gotten so used to that nothing tends to surprise me anymore. And it's pretty much my reputation among friends and family. When I do something, there is no longer any shock. Only the rolling of eyes and exasperated sighs.

This morning, I walked into a crowded elevator and ran into my coworker. He was carrying a bunch of stuff including a tall, hot cup of coffee. He asked me if I could hold it for a second and I gladly obliged. But as my strong, manly hands gripped the cup, the top suddenly flew off and coffee went everywhere (mostly on my hands and the floor). All you could hear after that were the "ohhhh"s of everyone in the elevator. *sigh* The smell of coffee is both haunting and pleasing as I go about my day. :\

I spill food on the table or floor all the time. I drop silverware during 80% of all meals. I'm constantly dipping my sleeves into food. I've been known to break plasticware and chopsticks (both wooden and plastic!) and have them fly through the air. I've knocked over many a drink. I've dropped plates. I've splattered food on people. My side of the tablecloth is always the messiest. And I go through at least one Tide pen per month.

*sigh* Sad, sad.

08.10 - "What Are You Going to Eat?!!"

I had lunch with my friend F on Saturday because we had been meaning to try out this Indian restaurant that had been featured on Check, Please! awhile back. Sadly, we made the plans before I realized that I wouldn't be able to have any of the rice or yummy bread. *sigh* Needless to say, it was quite a struggle. Here's the convo I had with the owner.

Me: Hi, would you be able to give us some recommendations?
Owner: (points to lunch menu) You should have special number one and special number three. That way, you both can share and taste a variety of things.
Me: (reads lunch menu and notices the excessive carb presence) Okay. You know, she (points to F) will probably have one of the specials, but I might just get something on the menu.
Owner: You don't want to try the specials?
Me: No, it's not that. It's just that I can't have rice or bread.
Owner: Oh, then you can have (points to picture on paper placemat) this donut here. It is very delicious.
Me: (laughs a little) No, I can't have donuts either. No rice, no bread, no donuts.
Owner: (eyes suddenly become wide) So what are you going to eat!?!?
Me: Umm (laughs nervously), something on the menu.
Owner: Like what!? (looks at me with wide, expectant eyes)
Me: I'll, uh, probably have one of the dishes-- like . . . umm . . . the homemade cheese and peas. I can eat that.
Owner: (looks at me incredulously) What?! That comes with rice!
Me: (nervous laugh) I know, but don't worry. She'll (points to F) eat it.
Owner: So you'll just eat the dish by itself!?
Me: Yeah! It'll be good.
Owner: (looks at me one last time, shakes his head, and walks away)


Ha. We eventually place our orders. F gets one of the specials and I opt for the mattar paneer (as previously mentioned). When the food comes out, everything looks really good, but the breads on F's plate seem a little sad. There is no nan, there is no cool thin, pizza-sized rolled-up thing that we saw on someone else's table, and there is no yummy looking fried bread that I saw on Check, Please! I really want F to taste all the yumminess I can't, so I quickly call the owner over.

Me: Hi. Sorry to bother you, but we wanted to order another type of bread.
Owner: (incredulous look) Bread?! But you cannot eat bread!!
Me: Yes, I know. (apologetic smile) It's not for me. It's for her.
Owner: (looks at F, shakes head a little, goes to find the menu, and comes back)
Me: There was this really big, thin rolled-up piece on someone else's table. What was that?
Owner: (thinks) Oh, that is a crepe. It is filled.
Me: (looks at F) Want that? (F shakes her head)
Owner: (walks over to F, points at menu) We also have this special fried bread. It is very delicious.
F: Okay. I'll have that.

The fried bread eventually comes out and it looks oily and delicious. F says it's really good, so I can't help but pop a piece of the fried bread into my mouth, chew it up a little . . . and then spit it back out. *heavy sigh* Ha. Yeaaaaahh . . .


Note to Self: Do not go to an Indian restaurant known for its delicious carb items while you are on South Beach Phase 1. You will not only struggle, but you will upset the owner as well.

Eatery Info: Udupi Palace, 2543 W Devon Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

08.06 - Low Point

I went to a dinner last night where I was surrounded by people eating warm, fresh bread and raving about it as if it was the most delicious thing in the world. I'm not going to lie-- it was torturous to sit there and hear them break the toasty bread apart, to smell the steam that was wafting up into the air, and to see the butter melt oh so nicely into the nooks and crannies of the bread. *sigh*

Today is a very hard day. I'm craving ice cream and bread and pizza and donuts and froyo and a sandwich and lasagna and cupcakes and flan (flan of all things!) and a hot dog and a burrito and fried rice and cinnamon rolls and . . . *sigh* . . . I'm going to eat my sugar-free Jell-O now. It's the only thing that can make me happy these days.

08.05 - Hate My Life

Our office building is having a building-wide ice cream social as we speak. There are like three different ice cream varieties and two different sorbet varieties. They also have fancy cones, nuts, whipped cream, and other yummy toppings. *heavy sigh*

It felt good to walk in from lunch and right past the mingling, happy, ice cream-eating fatties without a second glance. But then I whimpered in the elevator a little.

08.03 - It Has Begun (Again)

My brother looked at me the other day, paused for a bit, then said, "Dude, you're fat. And your arms are big." *sigh*


Yes, he and I generally like to insult each other and, yes, there have been many times when I've more than happily pointed out his weight gain, so this comment really shouldn't have bothered me. But, for some reason, I've recently started noticing extra chubbiness in my cheeks and extra sway in my arm flab . . . sooo yeaaaah. I am now on a mission! I must eat better and start going to the gym again!

So as I've done in the past when such a problem has arised, I am beginning the tried-and-true South Beach diet again. I hate this diet for the two-week Phase 1 (total elimination of carbs and sugars, including fruit!) but I love this diet because it's less about a quick fix and more about training yourself to eat "good" carbs and "good" fats with low glycemic index values. But yeah. Phase 1 stinks. It's unnatural to eliminate all carbs and sugar from your diet, but the purpose of this phase is to rid yourself of starch and sugar cravings, to stabilize your blood sugar, and pretty much to see immediate weight loss results. So once you make it through those two weeks, Phase 2 lets you reincorporate good carbs, low-sugar fruits, and other yummy things so I guess it's not too bad.

So yeah. I tried to make the most of my weekend before beginning these next two weeks of sheer torture and crankiness. :\

A's avocado-mango salad (yum!) courtesy of a Cook's Illustrated (woohoo) given by R

My "final" meal last night (I didn't take this picture, but it looked exactly like it...mmm)