Llama

[Llama]

Sounds like you are gently nursing your stomach back to being healthy again

I'm trying at least! Whatever the reason was for my lower digestive tract's unhappiness that seems to be improving as well.

Veggies for breakfast would not sit well with my stomach

Meals without veggies feel so heavy to me and my stomach is always a bit annoyed after, unless I eat a tiny amount that doesn't fill me up. Bodies are creatures of habit, I guess.

I love fetta cheese on most anything, or just by itself.

I first read that last part as "or just on myself"

By the time you read this you should have had hopefully a good night sleep and hopefully a bit of improvement in how your stomach feels.

Thanks Tru! Regular half-portions seem to be just right for now. Mildly annoying because of the extra time investment and lack of real satiation but quite doable. Looking forward to the return of hot sauce though

 

[Llama]

Came home super hungry and ate my whole lunch in one go. A lot more slowly than my stomach wanted me to but still all of it. So far it's ok-ish but now I want to stuff my face with sweets, which is exactly what my stomach doesn't need. Feel like a mouse in a treadmill with a cat behind me.

 

[liza3]

Came home super hungry and ate my whole lunch in one go. A lot more slowly than my stomach wanted me to but still all of it. So far it's ok-ish but now I want to stuff my face with sweets, which is exactly what my stomach doesn't need.

I hope you can resist those sweets. So hard when our brains want one thing, but our stomach needs different things!

My digestive woes are a little like my eczema issues: sticking to the rules I found for myself works quite well most of the time but then sometimes there's a flare-up even though I thought I was doing everything right. Probably similar to your anxiety.

Yes sounds like it...I am similar also with eczema...I think a lot of it is connected with inflammation and it's hard to control that.

 

[Llama]

Inflammation sucks, regardless of whether it's my skin, digestive tract, eyes, tendons, or joints. But being sensible does help so I didn't have those sweets. Had a tiny handful of nuts instead because I was stupidly hungry. Stomach's doing ok, which is great, but I definitely need at least one more day of strictness. When I'm constantly hungry my mind start to circle around binging like water circling a drain - but unlike water I don't have to take path of least resistance. Tomorrow's breakfast is waiting in the fridge and I added some extra fruit with another tiny portion of nuts to make sure I don't get home TOO hungry. I managed to do the right thing today mostly because I peeled and cut potatoes before leaving so all I had to do after coming home was drain, dry, oil (half a teaspoon), and salt before tossing them into the airfryer. Must remember to do the same for tomorrow because I have one portion of chicken salad left and they're SO good with that it's motivation to come home to eat rather than picking up something on my way home.

 

[alligatorob]

being sensible does help so I didn't have those sweets. Had a tiny handful of nuts instead

Good for you, nuts are a lot better than sweets for sure.

Always like reading what you are eating, your cooking is very impressive, particularly for someone who lives alone.

Hope your stomach continues to do well.

 

[Cate]

It sounds like you are being very sensible. Inflammation is so hard to deal with. I don't get eczema but do have asthma & it flares up with inflammation, along with stomach issues. It's so hard to know what causes it. I hope you're on top of it, Llama xoxo

 

[Llama]

Always like reading what you are eating, your cooking is very impressive, particularly for someone who lives alone.

Thanks Rob: I always feel like I do the bare minimum so it's nice to hear it doesn't look like that for others. Took me long enough but at some point I accepted that I won't be able to keep my skin, joint, and digestive issues under control if I don't make most of my food myself and add veggies to basically all meals. I remember years ago visiting a guy with debilitating joint issues and histamine intolerance who knew perfectly well his daily red wine and cheese board habit was killing his mobility yet never stopped. That was a bit of a wake-up call for me.

Inflammation is so hard to deal with. I don't get eczema but do have asthma & it flares up with inflammation, along with stomach issues

Inflammation sucks. Chronic low-grade inflammation has even been tied to things like dementia and Parkinson's. Don't know if the correlation will turn out to be due to causation but I don't want to risk it.

Stomach feels good today (duh, I haven't eaten anything yet...) and at least for now I'm not craving sweets. PMS may have played into yesterday's cravings as the floodgates opened this morning.

 

[liza3]

Good for you making those sensible choices!
I hope your stomach stays settled.

 

[Llama]

Thanks, Liza. The good news is that I figured out why I was having issues. The bad news is that I found out by trial and error. Since I was doing so well I thought I might have a small sweet treat after dinner: a chocolate toffee and a marshmallow. And I have indeed been having that combination pretty regularly in the past 5-6 weeks, which is also the time my digestion has been messed up. Not sure which part of it is to blame but it might be the artificial vanilla; that's often a bit harsh.

 

[Cate]

It's good that you sorted out the problem, Llama. I hope your stomach settles down now. At least marshmallows would not be something that you would miss madly (like dark chocolate).

 

[alligatorob]

a small sweet treat after dinner: a chocolate toffee and a marshmallow

Can you do without the treats? I know its no fun, but if it causes you trouble. I probably know the answer to that question all too well, for me anyway. Hard not to eat things just because they aren't good for us.

Inflammation sucks.

Yep! I imagine you have probably tried an anti-inflammatory? For me 15 mg of meloxicam a day really helps.

I always feel like I do the bare minimum so it's nice to hear it doesn't look like that for others.

Ha, you want to see bare minimum look at my food log yesterday, 2 meals were peanut butter sandwiches....

 

[Llama]

It's good that you sorted out the problem, Llama. I hope your stomach settles down now. At least marshmallows would not be something that you would miss madly (like dark chocolate).

Dark chocolate is gross and upsets my skin. Marshmallows are among my favorite sweet treats; sadly I can't get them here outside of grilling season so I stocked up when they were priced down a couple of weeks ago. But it's clearly still the best case scenario: it's something I can avoid without it being bad for my health.

Can you do without the treats? I know its no fun, but if it causes you trouble. I probably know the answer to that question all too well, for me anyway. Hard not to eat things just because they aren't good for us.

Physically, sure. Mentally we'll have to see. Financially they were the perfect solution for sweet cravings.

Yep! I imagine you have probably tried an anti-inflammatory? For me 15 mg of meloxicam a day really helps.

Meloxicsm is pretty strong stuff afaik: I don't think I could even get it otc. I understand you need it for your arthritis and that's a 100% valid reason to take it but in my case it would be like starting to mop up without first turning off the faucet that's causing the spill.

Sorry I'm grumpy guys: I can't sleep and I'm trying to come to terms with once more having to give up a "food" I like. I will, of course, but in the meantime I hate it. Also period woes.

 

[alligatorob]

I'm grumpy guys

Same here, for different reasons. We all are sometimes.

 

[Llama]

Bodies are annoying sometimes

Didn't get any more sleep after 4 am. Past 6 now so I should probably be getting up but I feel like I've been run over by a train. Let's try coming up with a food plan again, shall we? Before I had that toffee and marshmallow yesterday I had tuna salad with some crackers and now my stomach isn't happy about the thought of eating any kind of meat/fish. Maybe I should humor it and throw out my leftovers. I also don't feel up to eating a lot of fiber though, and definitely no highly processed meat replacements, so this could be fun I can have a faux flammkuchen for one meal. Mushrooms, bit of cheese, bit of lettuce. That'll work, even if it won't fill me up for long. Frozen mango with a couple of pistachios for my post-exercise snack. I want cashews, but I don't think I have any. Lunch... pitabread with avocado and a boiled egg. And lettuce. Probably the same again two hours later. And for dinner I want airfryer fries. Airfries? Wiiith... broccoli, maybe? Or pureed green peas? And some kind of protein. I once knew a lady who had such severe kidney issues her doctor recommended her to have potatoes as her main source of protein. I'm getting hypoproteinemia just thinking about it. What I would like for protein are Nürnberger sausages (a kind of bratwurst). Will my stomach be happy about that? Only one way to find out. Isn't this a fun game? No. No, it isn't. And I know I'm throwing out one animal protein and buying another and it doesn't make sense: I hate it as well. But it feels like it might work.

 

[Llama]

A bit of good news: despite the bloat I dropped another 0.2 kg since... Monday? Can't remember when I last weighed myself. Which makes 2.3 kg this month. I guess being sick has some benefits.

 

[Llama]

Got up hungry, ate a small amount, felt sick, waited until I was even more hungry, ate a small amount again, felt sick again, was frustrated, bought Viennetta, inhaled the whole thing... didn't feel sick? No more than before at least. I don't understand this body and sometimes I hate it.

 

[liza3]

I once knew a lady who had such severe kidney issues her doctor recommended her to have potatoes as her main source of protein

i was surprised to hear that--i thought potatoes was something one was supposed to avoid for kidney issues...

Got up hungry, ate a small amount, felt sick, waited until I was even more hungry, ate a small amount again, felt sick again, was frustrated, bought Viennetta, inhaled the whole thing... didn't feel sick? No more than before at least. I don't understand this body and sometimes I hate it.

Really really sorry to hear the battle continues...That sounds so hard and frustrating. I'm glad you can see an upside to dropping weight but dropping weight that way seems kind of terrible to me. I remember dropping A LOT of weight when I was sick for a while. Not worth it at all.

Sending you a hug and hoping you feel better soon

 

[Llama]

thought potatoes was something one was supposed to avoid for kidney issues...

I have no idea about kidney issues; her nephrologist could have been a complete quack!

I'm glad you can see an upside to dropping weight but dropping weight that way seems kind of terrible to me. I remember dropping A LOT of weight when I was sick for a while. Not worth it at all.

Completely true, of course, but if I'm going to be miserable anyway I might as well get something out of it. Normally I gain weight when I don't feel great Which is just adding insult to injury.

Spent most of the day on the couch, but that at least meant I had ample time to listen to a struggling friend. Some people really have it bad and it's frustrating when there's nothing you can do to help.

Apart from the icecream I ate well. And I'm not even that sorry about the icecream: it was so nice to feel full sgain. Will try to shift the balance toward accepting a bit more nausea for the sake of not being hungry all the time. Which can be kind of hard because there's an overlap in hunger growling and upset growling sometimes where I'm not sure which it is. So far I've been waiting it out until I was 100% sure it was hunger but as today has shown that raises my binge risk, which is the last thing I want.

Don't feel like planning for tomorrow but I have a bunch of food in the fridge and the goal is to eat only things I already have.

 

[Llama]

Woke up super congested, which could be a reaction to too much icecream or it could mean I'm getting sick. Got up to take antihistamines and elevate my upper body but it's taking annonyingly long to clear up and I just want to sleep! Must remember to take a covid test in the morning so I'll have the result before I go to work on Monday, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Cate]

I really hope you're not getting sick, Llama