Creating Wellness

I have a cool job. Like a super cool job. Working for a chiropractor has more benefits than I could have ever dreamed when it comes to improving my health, and today I found out the next dimension of that: test-driving our new Creating Wellness program. We have enrolled in a program called creating wellness that we offer as a service to our clients. We help them achieve wellness by using this program to monitor their health levels from every angle, physical, mental, emotional, social, etc. In turn, our trainer helps the patients/clients to improve their overall wellness quotient through a variety of means that I have yet to learn. All I know is that as an employee I get to be a guinea pig for this new program and will be participating in it, not only for myself, but also for the rest of the office who will all being doing the program at the same time. I guess we will have prizes and incentives or something for improving our overall wellness quotient. I can't wait to find out what they are!

I will be posting more info on this dimension to getting healthy as I find out more about how it works and what it is all about.

In other health related news, I think I ordered my last month of gallbladder supplements. I am going to attempt to wean myself off of them and resume normal digestion. Fingers crossed it goes well. I am nervous! Plus, I plan on starting the mild gallbladder flush recommended on the gallbladderattack.com website in the coming weeks. I'm too much of a wuss to attempt the full-fledged flush, I'm deathly afraid of a stone getting stuck and having to have surgery! Yikes! Should be interesting though. I will keep you posted on the details, as always.

Another food sensitivity?

My esophagus hurts. It's been hurting since dinner, when I made this wonderful ginger-sesame stir fry recipe from one of my new favorite magazines, Clean Eating.

Thing is, I can't figure out why my esophagus is hurting, though it was definitely something I ate. Best guesses are either the jasmine brown rice or the massive amounts of sesame and sesame oil in the recipe. I know I've had similar sensations after eating brown rice before, but I can't even remember the last time that happened and I've had brown rice quite a few times the last few months with no issues I can remember. As far as the sesame goes, I've never once had a reaction to it that I'm aware of, so it's really only a guess. I will have to do some investigative work later to see which it was that caused the reaction. In the meantime, my friend Benedryl will be putting me to sleep tonight... better safe than sorry if it really is a mild food sensitivity causing the esophagus discomfort (and my tongue and roof of my mouth are starting to feel weird as time progresses).

Like I mentioned, the recipe from tonight's tasty, yet offending, dinner came from this wonderful magazine I found called Clean Eating. The mag is a health nuts' dream, and it is chock full of healthy eating recipes and information. This month's issue features a Clean Eating menu for thanksgiving. I will have to try some of the recipes, for sure. The neatest part is that there is an index of recipes in the beginning of the mag with a guide for which ones are gluten-free and vegetarian. The one shortcoming of the mag is that I wish it could go a step further and offer more nut-free or dairy-free recipes. Granted you can always leave those things out, but sometimes it ends up altering the whole dish and it doesn't turn out right or looses all it's flavor.

The other new magazine I found is pictured on the right, Natural Health. This magazine is also awesome for health nuts, but it comes at it from a slightly different angle than Clean Eating. While there is a focus on food choice, there is much more discussion of overall health and well-being with anything from yoga poses to organic clothing to mental health issues. I like both and will probably get subscriptions set up so I can stay focused and have lots of tools at my fingertips as I continue with my journey of attaining good health.

Speaking of eating, I not only made that wonderful dinner, but I made homemade Mushroom Soup for lunch. It was good, but both my husband and I agreed that next time I make it I shouldn't blend it all up, I should just leave it as a chunky vegetable soup. Either way, it was good and we will definitely make it another time. I can't wait for eating the leftovers for lunch this week. Should be tasty!


You can see it as a chunky soup while it was boiling, and as the final emulsified version below.

Health Item of the Week. I'm in love.

I have found a new favorite thing: My Chiropractic Cervical Pillow. This thing rocks.

Best night sleep I've gotten in a while. The pillow works in a bunch of ways to give you a great night's sleep. You fill the pillow up with so many ounces of water (depending on the firmness level you prefer and will support your neck the best) and the water helps to cradle your head and neck while sleeping, whether it be on your back or side. And because the water is flexible (duh!) if you change positions during the night it moves with you so that your head and neck remain supported and in line with the rest of your spine. Awesome.

Last night was probably one of the best nights of sleep I've gotten in a while. Granted, the dreams were beyond weird and I don't care to repeat most of them, but the fact that I did dream so much is just testament to how deep my sleep was. I can't remember the last time I dreamt like that. Not to mention my neck feels great today!

I also got my first chiropractic adjustment yesterday. The last time I was adjusted was almost eight years ago, so I was way overdue. Especially since my x-rays revealed a lot of things that explained why my body screams at me so much. I have some mild scoliosis in my lower back, no thanks to my uneven hips, and my neck has no curve to it like it should. Aha! No wonder my lower back and neck are always bothering me! The doc said that because my hips are uneven (something I was born with), my spine has tried to compensate for the imbalance by curving so my head stays upright. It's funny how spines do that. The lack of curvature in my neck is most likely due to a car accident I was in two years ago from whiplash that I never had treated. Seriously people, if you are in a car accident get yourself to a chiropractor right away. Whiplash can really mess up your spine, your muscles, and everything. The effects become systemic, almost like a domino effect.

The doc also explained to me (with a cool drawing) how the spine works and what can happen if it's not taken care of. Let me see if I can recreate this with words since the drawing was actually interactive so I can't quite reproduce it here:

• The brain, which controls our central nervous system (the master system), is supported by the spine, which is the gateway through with all of our body is connected to the brain.
• When the spine is able to FUNCTION the body is then in a state of EASE.
• If the spine gets out of line, causing vertebral SUBLUXATION, the nervous system gets in to a state of (DYS)FUNCTION.
• This state of (DYS)FUNCTION leads to a state of (DIS)EASE.
• Once we begin to correct some of the subLUXATION (I am uncapitalizing to show that some of it has been removed), the symptoms of (DIS)EASE go away (such as pain, or other symptoms) the spine can return to a EASE, meaning no pronounced symptoms or pain.
• By only correcting some of the subLUXATION we still have a state of (DYS)FUNCTION, which can lead to more (DIS)EASE, so we continue to correct the subluxATIONs that we can return to a state of FUNCTION and EASE.
• Continued care will prevent subluxation and help to maintain the state of FUNCTION and EASE.

Neat, huh? Seriously, everyone should get chiropractic care. We may not even know our spines are in a state of DYSFUNCTION until the DISEASE shows up, and by that time your problems may have a progressed to a point where it takes much longer and a lot more money to treat. We noticed a rib out of place near my gallbladder in my x-rays, and the subluxations in my lower spine have been shown to increase the likelihood of gallbladder and and other digestive dysfunction in clinical studies (I'll get the resources later, I read about it in the exam room). So, things are starting to make some sense. Also, subluxations in the neck have been shown to increase the likelihood of mental and emotional disorders, which explains even more to me about some of the issues of anxiety and depression that I have dealt with over the years, and the occasional brain cloudiness I feel. The proof is in the pudding though; ever since my adjustment yesterday my head has felt clearer and my mood is definitely lifted, and the nausea I was feeling all week from my gallbladder has subsided. I even ate the same meal for dinner last night that had made me god awfully nauseous just one week prior! The change was so quick!

Get yourself to a chiropractor folks. It is the first step you can take towards truly achieving health and wellness.

"Whacked Out"

Lots of stuff to share in the coming days, though I haven't had the time to get to it. I've started doing chiropractic at work and should be getting the results of my x-rays and tests, and subsequently, what it all means soon. I will share once I have received my report of tests. An interesting note on that though is that while the doctor was doing my exam, she mentioned that numerous areas of my spine were "whacked out," and yes, that's a technical term. We ended up combining her terminology and mine by the end of the exam to describe the state of my spine: a whacked out hot mess.

All sorts of chiropractic goodies to come, especially some interesting information I've been discovering about the role of the spine in many different health conditions.

Today, I discovered an awesome magazine that I will share later (as well as another one I found a few weeks ago) that are dedicated to healthy lifestyles in an extreme way. Also, today at work we all got signed up for the "Creating Wellness" program that we offer and I will be starting that program. So, there is lots to share!

But, unfortunately, I am exhausted from traveling to and from Chicago this morning and then working this afternoon, so I will have to share everything later. But there are lots of developments in my journey to breaking out of my bad health bubbles that I can't wait to share!

PS, Did I mention that working for a chiropractor/acupuncturist is quite possibly the best job for me in this process? Yeah. Can't get much better than that!

Spinach-licious

Tonight's meal was a real GB pleaser, as well as a taste bud pleaser. We had a wonderful soup out of my new soup cookbook, The Complete Book of 400 Soups. That's right folks, 400. Ridiculous. And it was only $4.99 in the bargain bin.

Anyway, I made a very tasty spinach with rice soup that was quite simple in ingredients, and even simpler in it's creation. I literally diced the garlic, onion, and red chili pepper in the food processor, sauteed that up, added the rice, added the broth, added the previously cooked and wilted spinach, and voila! Soup! The heat from the chili was amazing in the soup. The recipe called for pecorino cheese on top, but I left that out since my gallbladder does not like dairy... or at least cheese and most other cow's milk based products. Surprisingly, I can eat a little bit of butter spread on my bread and I'm all right. Baby steps. Someday I will eat cheese again.

Here is the soup in all it's glory.



Look at all the Spinach! It's ridiculous. Next time I will probably use less spinach, but whatever. It was good, and good for me. Did I mention that I used my own homemade (carrot free) broth for it? My carrot free broth was a stroke of genius I had one day that I could use butternut squash in lieu of carrots (cuz I'm allergic, case you forgot) for a broth flavoring since they both have a nice sweetness to them (okay, full disclosure, my dad mentioned that butternut squash might be a decent substitute, which is weird because he hates butternut squash). It's super flavorful, too.

I wanted to share with you another other quick, gallbladder friendly meal that I like to consume, though I may have shared it already. It is my husband and my favorite tuna recipe, courtesy of Tyler Florence (love him!). It's a cilantro-lime soy cooked tuna that is made with all sorts of healthy and GB friendly items (garlic, ginger, cilantro, tuna, EVOO, lime, etc). Tyler recommends serving it with sliced avocado, and we take it a step further by serving it with rice. When we don't do the avocado, we serve it with corn which tastes amazing in the cilantro-lime soy sauce. Corn is not GB friendly, but with all of the good Omega-3s and other healthy fats in this meal I know my digestive juices are lubricated enough to handle it (and it usually does). Seriously, between just the avocado and tuna alone, not counting the EVOO, the meal is chock full of very healthy fats that are really good for the GB. Here's the pic:

Yes, I ate way too much last night when I had that for dinner, but in all fairness, my husband did eat quite a bit of the tuna for me (I never finish it). And, as a side note, my tuna is completely broken in to pieces in this pic because we have to kill my fish completely for me to eat it. Can't eat raw fish. Bad allergic reaction to that one. Never fun. And while I did eat too much last night, my GB and tummy handled it all right. Like I said, lots of good lubrication.

If your mouth is watering, here is the recipe. It's awesome.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/pan-seared-tuna-with-avocado-soy-ginger-and-lime-recipe/index.html

What gives with the GB pain?

Today has started out rough already. The last two weeks worth of overindulging and eating bad for me foods must have really caught up with me. After recovering from last night's dinner, I went to bed feeling fine... though, admittedly, my body must have been trying to tell me something because I couldn't get myself to go to bed until after 1am, which usually is a sign that some thing's not right internally for me. Anyway, I woke up this morning not feeling great. Slightly nauseous and some GB pain. Took some Phos drops to help out the cause and ate some breakfast. Felt fine for a while.

Well, at least, I felt okay for about an hour until I started to feel sick again and started to get that familiar pain behind my right shoulder blade. Damn gallbladder. Took some more Phos drops and drank some water and now I am feeling better, though my right arm/shoulder still suggests I am not 100%.

Last night, while I was up and couldn't sleep, I was looking in to the possibility of starting the mild gallbladder/liver flush that the gallbladderattack.com website suggests I do. I am not sure I am quite ready for it yet, but with how this week has gone, I am feeling like I need to do something different to make sure I am still progressing with my gallstone dissolving/elimination goal. I might also re-up the amount of gallstone dissolving pills I take. I had started to ween myself down to two per meal, as opposed to three, but I think perhaps I did that too soon.

Now I'm just rambling. Long story short though, this process has a lot of ups and downs and can be downright frustrating at points. I wish there was a way to tell that I am making progress without getting another ultrasound. I want to wait another month or two before I do that. In the meantime, I am totally going to spend the money to do a consultation with the gallbladderattack.com lady to get some clearer guidance on this journey because I don't understand why all the sudden the GB pain is back this week. It should have come back while I was on vacation if there was really a problem, right?!?!

Revenge of the Gallbladder

I think my not as "clean" eating from vacation and this last week might finally be catching up with me. We went to Water Street Cafe for dinner and got my favorite turkey avocado sandwich (on a pretzel bun, with bacon, what's not to love?), a glass of wine, and Aztec chocolate fondue. Yeah, that was a bit too much "bad" food for my gallbladder. While I didn't get awfully sick feeling, I definitely didn't feel right about forty-five minutes after I finished eating it all. I noticed it primarily in the discomfort I felt behind my right shoulder blade (gallbladder attack symptom), and some not so pleasant tastes in my mouth with a mild sensation of heartburn. The sensations have since subsided, but I'm not yet 100%.

Lesson learned tonight: wheat products plus meats (including bacon) plus wine plus chocolate don't not make for a happy gallbladder.

I think now would be a good time to review what it is I am supposed to be eating and what I am supposed to be avoiding. My information comes from the lovely lady from whom I get my GB supplements at www. gallbladderattack.com. Let's start with what I should be avoiding to prevent GB attacks:

• Eggs, pork, onion, fowl, milk, coffee, oranges, grapefruit, corn, beans, nuts, in that order.
• Trans fats
• Hydrogenated, partially-hydrogenated oils
• Margarine
• Fried Foods
• Saturated fats
• Red meats
• Dairy products
• Eggs
• Coffee, regular or decaf
• Chocolate
• Ice cream
• Black tea
• Alcohol, beer, wine, liqueur
• Fruit juice
• Carbonated water
• Tap water
• Radishes and turnips
• Cabbage, cauliflower
• Colas and all sodas
• Oats (for some people)
• Wheat
• Barley
• Rye
• All legumes (beans)
• Avoid all artificial sweeteners, sugar, preservatives, refined and bleached foods (like white flour)

And here is what she says I should be eating to help avoid attacks and (for some foods) help get rid of stones:

• Beets
• Cucumbers
• Green beans
• Okra
• Sweet potatoes
• Avocados
• Vinegars all types
• Shallots
• Tomatoes - ripe
• cold water fish
• Lemons
• Grapes and fresh organic grape juice
• Omega 3 oils like flax or hemp
• Vegetable juices - Beet and cucumber are especially helpful to gallbladder
• other green vegetables like tender baby greens, Swiss chard, dandelion greens, beet greens, celery, carrots -- avoid the cabbage family
• Avoid all fruit juices except organic grape juice and organic apple (self-juiced is best).
• All the vegetables listed above for juicing are good
• Fiber such as found in fruits and vegetables and guar gum
• Drink lots of water - very important
• Garlic and garlic oil
• Artichokes
• Ginger root
• Coconuts
• Apples, apricots, berries, casaba melons, currants, figs, guavas, lemons, pears, prunes
• Turmeric (organic)
• Cottage cheese - lowfat

It's not the most thrilling list of foods to eat in the world and I am slowly incorporating more of the "avoidance" foods back in as I feel better. However, after tonight, I think I might need to slow it back down and be conscious of how much I am eating of all of the "bad" foods. Fruits and vegetables must still be the staples.

Having a broken gallbladder is rough on you social life when it comes to eating out!

This Week's Adventures in Food

Since coming back from Puerto Rico I've become really creative/adventurous with our dinners. Sometimes I try to recreate things that I ate in Puerto Rico and sometimes I try to recreate dishes at other favorite restaurants that I've had. All in all they have gone over just fine with my gallbladder and stick with my dietary restrictions thereof. I also discovered since coming back from vacation that I have more normal "digestion" when I actually include wheat in my diet. So, they last few days I have tried to add it back in to help bind things back up again. Did I skirt around the issue enough to get the point across? I hope. :)

Anyway, on Monday night I decided to recreate a dish I saw on a blog from a couple who suffer with a lot of food limitations: wheat, gluten, onion, garlic, and some other things (can't remember them all). I saw this recipe on their website and attempted to make it. The dish calls for mushroom broth braised fish, with porcini mushrooms on top of a bed of spinach and rice noodles, topped with tomato. I ended up doing more of a poach on the fish because I used too much broth, but the end product was alright. My husband loved it, I thought I would make some alterations the next time around to up the flavor quotient.

Wednesday night I made a dish inspired by a noodle dish I had at Sushi Popo (on one of the those random nights I ordered something other than my usual vegetarian combo). I sauteed up some veggies with fresh grated garlic and ginger, and some teriyaki sauce. I then added some Chinese yellow noodles at the end and some sesame seeds. This dish was good. The noodles were quite salty, but tasty nonetheless. I had a rough day digestively that day, and I think this helped to solidify everything again, while still including veggies. The leftovers taste just as good, if I do say so myself.

Today, I decided to attempt to recreate some of my favorite foods from Puerto Rico. Dinner had three pieces to it, the first of which was a salad with fresh diced mango and tomatoes in a salty balsamic and olive oil dressing. It was heavenly. The second part was roasted potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper and some herbs in olive oil. It was our favorite part of the meal. To round the meal out we had pan cooked halibut. I cooked it in a butter and olive oil combination, which worked out pretty good. Next time I probably won't use as much butter, but tasted good nonetheless.

Today's dinner was by far the best of the week, and my gallbladder liked it the best too, so it was win win situation. I just don't know how I am going to top it tomorrow night. I don't think it's possible!

What it looks like to go on vacation with gallstones.

Just thought I would share a pic I took at lunch on the first full day of our vacation. It's the box I kept (almost) all of my pills in to take with each meal.

Sad, but true, this enormous pills box did not hold all of the pills I needed for each day. The Saturday slot is filled with what I could fit of my probiotics (not enough, I was short almost two days worth), and I ended up carrying my beet supplements in their own, original bottle because there was not enough room.

Despite it not being nearly large enough for the massive amounts of supplements I am taking to keep my gallbladder functioning somewhat properly it did do the trick and saved me a lot of space in my suitcase. Albeit, I opted not to bring the gallbladder and liver detox tinctures so I could avoid having to check my suitcase. I figured I would be alright for a week without them, and I was.

Long story short, that's how it looks to go on vacation like an old person, I mean, like a person who has gallstones and is trying to fix them naturally. :) Fun!

San Juan- Day 4

The last full day we were in San Juan, we ate breakfast at the hotel like usual. Unfortunately, they were out of berries that morning so I had to find an alternative breakfast that was friendly to my gallbladder. I ended up getting the fruit platter (having them get rid of the melons I was allergic to, and substituting the banana bran muffin that had nuts for wheat toast) which had pineapple, papaya, grapes, and mango. Yum.

Not realizing how much food they were going to give me with the fruit platter, I ordered a side of their breakfast potatoes (which I had been sampling from my husband every morning prior to this) to go with the fruit.


We spent the day at the pool, so we ate my favorite chips and guac, and salad for lunch at the hotel again. I miss it already. I actually tried to make a similar salad tonight and it tasted awful in comparison. I was spoiled by Puerto Rico.

Anyway, for dinner we went to the other restaurant the hotel food manager had recommended, Marmalade in Old San Juan. This was five star dining at it's best, and the waitress and chef were very accommodating to my dietary restrictions. I really didn't know I was missing anything when they took out dairy products from dishes or made other substitutions. It was that good.

My appetizer was a Proscuitto di parma with grilled peaches with arugula and a champagne-peach vinaigrette dressing. It was supposed to also have a dollop of lemon marscapone, but they just gave me the lemon zest instead. This was paired with my favorite wine of the night, Conundrum, Four Grape Blend, 2006 from California.

The chef was very nice to us and sent out a complimentary dish, which I have to admit it was my favorite. An onion risotto with red wine reduction and kalmata olives. I attempted to recreate it at home last night and it was good, but not nearly as good as the one at Marmalade. Plus, having eaten it in such a large portion last night I think the onions started to aggravate my gallbladder. The ladle size portion was much more gallbladder friendly. :)

For my salad course I had baby field greens with a honey-passion fruit vinaigrette, toasted coconut croutons (they should seriously make a cereal out of them they were so good), and mango carpaccio. I also tried to recreate this dish at home last night and it was a far cry from Marmalade's version. I particularly liked the Star Trek-esque plate it was served on. The wine paired with this was Tomassi, Le Rosse, Pinot Grigio, Venezia Guilia, 2005. It was quite fruity for Pinot Grigio and not dry at all. My husband like it so much he switched from the other Pinot he was drinking.

For the main course, I had Alaskan Wild Halibut wrapped in Italian bresaola, on a bed of roasted fingerling potatoes, with a Chianti butter sauce. Heaven on a plate. Halibut is officially my new favorite fish, and fingerling potatoes my new favorite vegetable. I was hesitant about the Chianti wine it was paired with (having never had a decent Chianti before) so the waitress brought me out a "flight" of wines to taste: the Chianti, a Merlot, and a Pinot Noir. The Merlot was too light, the Pinot had too much of a tar undertone and was missing the usual blackberry notes I love, and the Chianti ended up being my absolute favorite, Cecchi, Sangiovese, Chianti, 2006.

Every dessert offered had ice cream or something else in it I couldn't eat, so I opted to drink my dessert with one of Marmalade's signature drinks: the Kiwi Libre. It was made from freshly juiced kiwi fruit, and had Bacardi, and fresh lime in it. Needless to say, it was quite potent, but I did enjoy it. I wasn't able to finish it, but I reasoned that it was the best dessert choice because kiwi's are good for the gallbladder. :) Admittedly though, I did sample some of my husband's dessert: Creme Brulee at Marmalade, with vanilla lemon rosemary custard, layered atop a bed of spring plum marmalade, with Caribbean cinnamon ice cream (I didn't eat that part of it, too risky). Not pic on that one, but it was heavenly.

If you are ever in San Juan, I highly recommend the restaurant, especially if you have any food sensitivities since they are so accommodating. You can read the rest of their menu at their website: http://www.marmaladepr.com/index.htm

Puerto Rico- Day 3

Our third day in Puerto Rico we went to Old San Juan for the day, so that allowed us to adventure a little more with the restaurants available on the island.

For breakfast we ate at the hotel again (we had a coupon-- I'm cheap, what can I say), and I decided to try the banana pancakes for breakfast with a side of berries.

Bananas and malfunctioning gallbladders, I discovered, don't go together as one would think. I was "stopped up" and could tell my tummy was struggling to digest the bananas. Which is not a fun feeling when you are climbing around old castles and whatnot. At one point I had to sit for a few minutes to rest so my stomach could get the energy it needed to finish digesting.

For lunch we went to a restaurant called Toro Salao, a tapas restaurant. It was very, very good. Trying to stick to the diet, especially after how breakfast went over, my husband and I split a whole bunch of gallbladder friendly tapas. We started with a simple salad with tomatoes and peppers with a light vinaigrette dressing.

Then we had some marinated olives, which were so tasty my mouth is watering just talking about them. But really, how can you go wrong with Spanish olives? Seriously?

For the main course we had a seared halibut with a mango salsa and bacon topping on a bed of avocado mash. It was soooooo good. The halibut was cooked perfect (minus the one piece that smelled a bit fishy), and the mango salsa and avocado mash went with it quite well.

Unfortunately, that didn't fill us up, so we ended up ordering a vegetarian sandwich too. It was good, but they left off the shitake mushrooms and shoestring sweet potatoes that were supposed to be on it, so I'm sure it could have been better.


The hotel had a cocktail reception that we were invited to, so we had quite a few glasses of wine on the hotel before going to dinner. However, at the reception we met the hotel's catering manager and he was able to recommend some restaurants to us that would be accommodating to my dietary restrictions (he himself is allergic to shellfish, so he understood). For dinner we went to the local restaurant he recommended, Barlovento. It was a casual outdoor cafe, and while they did have things on the menu I could eat, the waitstaff was not as bilingual as I needed to communicate my food allergies. We ended up getting some really good calamari (not on the gallbladder diet list, being that it's deep fried, but it I ate it anyway), and I ordered a nice salad for my main dish. It had mango in it and the dressing had a nice saltiness to it that I quite enjoyed.

I also decided that since coconuts are on the list of gallbladder friendly foods it would be perfectly acceptable to drink a pina colada. Very good.

San Juan, PR vacation- Day 2

We did eat a whole lot of anything exciting on Day 2 of vacation. Breakfast was blueberry pancakes with a side of berries (very good). Lunch was the same chips and guac as the day before, but instead of the salad we had wrap made with chicken, sauteed spinach with garlic, avocado, and some mayo (which I didn't know they had on it, though I did tell them to take off the cheese). My husband and I agreed that the sandwich was good, but not spectacular.

For dinner we went to a restaurant the the concierge recommended, called Miro. What a disappointment. The menu looked good in theory, but the flavors just weren't there, and they weren't as acommodating to my dietary restrictions as the concierge said they would. For main courses they primarily served whole fish (gross!), so we opted for the tapas. I ordered a plate of roasted vegetables- peppers, eggplant, and onion- and what they brought out was a vinegary mess. I sent it back it was so gross. The peppers and eggplant tasted like they came straight out of a can. It was disgusting. We also ate mushrooms in a garlic wine sauce (good enough to eat, though not amazing), and some chorizo with peppers (not that there were many). The highlight of the meal was dessert, which was actually quite good. It was a red wine poached pear flavored with cinnamon and star anise. Really good. And yes, I avoided eating the ice cream that came with it... you can see what was left of it here.

Being that I hardly ate anything for dinner we went back to the hotel's poolside restaurant and I got the salad I ate for lunch the day before. We also ordered drinks, and I had the mojito. The put a lot of mint and lime in it, and it was good. And, suprisingly, the alcohol did not bother my gallbladder at all.

Food in Puerto Rico- Day 1

Our first day in Puerto Rico was filled with awesome food, and I was happy to have stuck with my diet so closely.

Lunch was very tasty and healthy. We had a late lunch once we got to the hotel and ate at the poolside restaurant, Solera. My husband and I split a plate of Nuevo Latino Chips and Guacamole, which was a wonderful spin on the traditional dish. The chips were made of exotic vegetables (plantains, taro or yucca- not sure-, and some other root veggies), and the guacamole had some olive oil in it and peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

We then split a salad that was full of avocado, kalmata olives, tomatoes, field greens, onions, and cucumber with a passion fruit vinaigrette on it. The chicken on top was grilled perfectly. I had this salad almost every day we were there it was so good- as well as the Chips and Guac. I was constantly craving this meal!

For dinner, we ate the fine dining restaurant at the hotel, Perla. The meal was nothing short of perfect. The waiter and chef were very receptive to my food restrictions and accommodated my needs wonderfully. The waiter even found some wines I could drink without having any bad reactions from the sulfites. He gave me tastings of two wines for each course so I could see if I would react. For dinner I ended up going with the Chardonnay from Chile and it was wonderfully fruity and not dry at all.

For dinner I had a perfectly cooked sea bass on top of a bed of shoestring cut parsnips, fingerling potatoes, shallots, and asparagus in a light butter sauce. The flavor was so light and healthy, and very refined in flavor. I couldn't have been happier with the meal selection-- which was actually a compromise from two different dishes (the fish from one and the vegetables from the another). I had too much flash on the pic, but you can see how lovely it was still.


The restaurant had a dessert of berries that I knew would be "gallbladder diet friendly" without having to alter the dish at all, so we had that for dessert. I particularly liked the strawberry portion of the dish, but it was all perfectly flavored. You can see that I already started to break in to it before taking the picture.


Since I was doing so well with the wine, I decided to have a glass of port (from Portugal) with dessert. It had a wonderful light cherry flavor with a chocolate undertone. I could drink a whole bottle of that for dessert by itself. Of course, my husband doesn't care for port and you can see him in the background making faces at it, telling me how gross it is. I think he's missing out.

Even after all that food and wine I had zero gallbladder issues. No nausea, no nothing. I was so excited!!!

Back to reality

Late Friday night (actually, it ended up being Saturday afternoon) I came back from vacation to San Juan, PR. Vacation was good. Food was awesome. Gallbladder issues- negligible. Overall, the trip was a success for both mental and physical health.

Funny thing is I actually had some digestive issues last night after trying to recreate one of the meals we ate on vacation. Not sure if it was the wine, or something in the risotto I made, or just that I overate a little, but my esophagus started to hurt like I was having an allergic reaction or something. I took some of my "stomach acid" supplement and that seemed to take the edge off and I drank my liver and gallbladder detox tinctures and the discomfort eventually went away, without resorting to Benedryl. I wish I knew what caused it. But such is my life of eating... random reactions from everyday things, usually with little to no idea as why it happens. I'm guessing that I overate.

Anyway, I was really successful in sticking to my diet on vacation, with only minimal deviations. I was really proud of myself and I have a ton of food pix to share of what I ate. It did take some effort at some restaurants to stick to the diet, but I made it work and took great care in selecting which restaurants to eat at so as to make it work. Pix are coming in separate posts.

The one downside to the vacation was that I did get some serious rashes on my shoulders, chest, and upper back from the sun... a sort of heat rash that I regularly get every summer when I get exposure to the sun. It's kind of like a heat rash, but it's super super itchy and will spread rapidly (much in the manner of a heat rash) if I put too much cream on it or don't give it enough cool air exposure. Here is the improvements since last year though: the rash was confined to my shoulder/chest area for the most part, I developed no hives on my legs, and the rash has gone away on it's own quickly with having only taken a single Benedryl to help the cause. Last year after vacation I had hives all over my legs, back, shoulders, arms, chest, and pretty much anywhere I had sun exposure (despite wearing a ton of sunscreen), and it took not only massive amounts of Benedryl, put also some prescription strength creams, and heavy dosages of prednisone to get it to somewhat clear up. Acupuncture has definitely made a difference there, and I can't wait to get pinned up tomorrow to get rid of the rest of it.

Are we really that old?

So far so good on eating healthy while traveling to San Juan, but I can't say it's been easy to do. Before leaving for San Juan I broke down and ate some McDonald's for lunch since we couldn't find a Quizno's or something else healthy-ish that's not Subway (gives me allergic reactions from I have no idea what). I can't say the McDonald's went over great, but it went over okay thanks to my supplements. Monday morning we planned ahead and picked up some strawberries and bagels the night before to eat for breakfast. We managed to catch an earlier non-stop flight to San Juan and I was able to avoid having to eat airport food for lunch and held out by eating some seasame seed crackers (gluten free) until we could eat a slightly late lunch at the hotel. I took pictures of both lunch and dinner from Monday so I will talk about those meals (which were awesome) once I am able to post the pix.

Today, we ate breakfast at the hotel and they had some wonderful blueberry pancakes and fresh berries on the side that I could eat. It was very tasty and the pancakes were cooked perfectly. For lunch I ate a chicken wrap that had chicken, avocado, sauteed spinach with garlic and some mayo (though, had I known there was mayo in it, I would have told them to leave it off just as I did with the cheese). I was still digesting that meal six hours later. Granted it was tasty, but I blame the mayo on slowing everything down. For dinner we tried a restaurant that the concierge recommended that looked good on paper, but once we got there it was a disappointment. They had a lot of fish, but it was WHOLE fish, not just filets. What was available in the filets that they did offer was much more limited and didn't appeal. So we tried out the tapas they offered. Not so much. The roasted vegetables tasted very vinegary, like they had come out of a can and I sent them back. The mushrooms with garlic and olive oil were good, but not outstanding, as was the chorizo with peppers and onions. What was good was the dessert we had and I will share a pic of that later. Since I ate so little there, I ended up getting a salad back at the hotel, as well as a MUCH better tasting mojito than I had at the restaurant.

So, two and a half days in I am making it through our vacation and sticking to the diet. What is troubling me most is how sore I am after (stupidly) walking from our hotel to Old San Juan. My husband and I thought it would be about a mile walk, and it was more like three. Needless to say, we are sore from walking all that way, which is why I am asking, "are we really that old?" You would think three plus miles would be no big deal, but apparently my calves and thighs and his knees don't remember how young we are! As a result, we are spending the night doing nothing, which I guess is okay, especially since I am attempting to fight off some rashes from the sun. I keep forgetting to stock up on massive amounts of vitamin E supplements to see if I can fend off the sun rashes with that. At least I have some serious hydrocortisone... fingers crossed that will clear up today's round of rashes before tomorrow when we spend the day outside again in San Juan and at the pool!!!

Vacation is here!!!!

Tomorrow morning my husband and I leave for vacation and I'm both excited and a bit nervous at the same time. Originally, we were supposed to go Miami Beach, Florida for the second year in a row, but with Hurricane Ike looking to cause a good 2-3 days of rain during our vacation we took our airline up on their offer to change our travel plans. Now we are heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico and we are really excited!!! We went to Puerto Rico for our honeymoon four years ago, but it was on the far east side of the island so we never actually spent any time in San Juan. We will be staying at an gorgeous resort in San Juan, so we will have the option of leaving the pool/beach and exploring the city. I promise to update with lots of pix when we get back next weekend.

While I am very excited to go to San Juan I am nervous about how dining out three meals a day is going to affect my progress with my gallbladder. I have been branching out a lot on what foods I am eating and was even able to have a glass of wine with dinner two nights in a row with now complaints from my GB or tummy, so that bodes well for me. However, I have to wonder how my GB is going to hold up during a week of torture since I will not be able to follow the diet except in a limited manner. I will be making good use of the concierge at the resort in finding places that will be able to cater to my dietary restrictions! Hopefully, we can find many different restaurants that are willing to cater to my diet and help me stay healthy while on vacation.

I've stopped by Whole Foods and stocked up on some diet friendly snacks that will at least help me while we are traveling to and from in the airports. We also bought some fresh strawberries for breakfast, so at least I can have some fruit with my cinnamon raisin bagel. Fingers crossed I digest everything like a champ.

Earlier tonight we had Chipotle for dinner, and while everything felt like it digested well, I had some referred GB pain behind my right shoulder blade and had a weird heart-palpitation feeling thing too. I've had the weird heart-palpitation things most of my life and my dad said he's had it too since he was young, so I guess it's okay. I just wish I knew what caused them. They only occur once every 3-4 four months, though sometimes I will get them for a few days. It's not comfortable at all. Perhaps that and my referred GB pain today are only issues that result from chiropractic issues or something of the sort... I spent most of the day in the car driving from Peoria to Chicago and then around the Northern Suburbs. And let's be honest, I don't sit with my spine all straight while I am driving!

Anyway, pix from vacation in PR will come next weekend, though I will try to post while I'm there about how I am handling the diet. Goodness knows, I need something to stay focused!

Another Year Older

Today I turned 29, and for some reason I'm just not so sure how I feel about it. In a lot of ways, it's just a number and it's no big deal, but in so many other ways it makes me take a hard look at my life so far and wonder in my last year before I'm the big 3-0 and officially an "adult" what I have accomplished and what I still have yet to do. What makes it more interesting is that where I worked last week I was considered one of the "older" employees in respect to the majority of the rest of my coworkers, and this week I work at a place where I am literally the baby of the office. If that doesn't mess with your head when you are turning 29, right? One of my coworkers was nice to put things in perspective for me when I was explaining how I felt so fearful of being one year away from 30. She told me that being in your thirties is the best thing ever because you are finally an adult and really just stop giving a care about anyone or anything else... you just are and no one can stop you. Now, of course I paraphrased, but you get the point.

This morning I was trying to think of what I have accomplished since being in early adulthood, you know, something to show for what I've done since I finished undergrad. Here's what I came up with as the highlights:

1) Finished my Master's Degree in Music

2) Got married to a really great guy, who, strangely enough, will put up with my craziness

3) Figured out how to live within a budget and stop overcharging on credit cards

4) Gained the ability to say "no"

5) Found the strength to be able to break-away and move on

6) Learned how to identify true feelings

The last three are really intertwined, but have all given me the ability to do what I am doing today. Nonetheless, they have played a part in my everyday life since I learned how to do them. It has made me a better person. A more real person. And one step closer to being able to say "I don't give a 'crap'" like my coworker said you do in your thirties. I can't wait for that day.

There is a long list of things that I would like to accomplish before my thirtieth, but the list depresses me to no end because I feel as though I should have accomplished many of those things earlier. It makes me feel as though my real life hasn't started yet and I'm still stuck in limbo between child and adult. I still have a hard time accepting that I had to slow my pace the last few years, and I know I shouldn't feel that way. Perhaps this next year, of being 29, will remedy that as I check things off the list and can say that I moved forward this year and took a few big steps forward in to adulthood, in to my real life. Maybe I just needed to get to 29 for my life to truly begin. Who knows? Here's hoping...

Coming off the detox perhaps a bit too soon.

I've been binging on Chili's chips and salsa the last few days, and I think the corn chips caught up with me today. Not so much that I am sick, but I can tell my digestion is not what it should be. Nonetheless, I keep eat things that aren't on the diet (primarily wheat and corn products). Sometimes it goes just fine, but sometimes, like today, it doesn't go over so well.

I also discovered at dinner tonight, or should I say remembered, that tomato sauces don't agree with me. Something about the acidity, I'm not sure. Some sauces bother me, some don't, but the sauce I had in my vegan eggplant Parmesan tonight (courtesy of One World Cafe) really didn't sit well. I felt like gagging a little for a while afterwards, but was able to make it go away quickly once I took my Super Phos supplement (helps with GB nausea side effects). I hate the feeling of being nauseous like that. My friend who was at dinner with me, noticed I wasn't quite myself as a result of the discomfort. Certainly doesn't make me exciting to be around.

What worries me the most about not being able to completely integrate other foods back in to my diet is the fact that I will be on vacation next week. This means I won't have access to the fresh fruits and vegetables I am use to eating and am going to be at the mercy of what the restaurants are serving. Even more so, I am at the mercy of the chef's and will have to beg and plead for them to be accommodating to my food allergies and restricted diet. Sucks.

However, it appears that a hurricane may prevent my vacation to South Beach altogether, so I may not have to worry about it at all! Fingers crossed the hurricanes miss South Beach and head south or way north!

Starting a new adventure, working in healthcare

Today I had my first day working for Dr Kramer. That's right, folks, I am working where I'm a patient. And it's super sweet if you ask me. I can't wait to learn more about all of the "alternative" treatment options available and continue to explore how these treatments can heal/improve ailments from the everyday to the more serious. Being to able to work with patients who are seeking these alternatives therapies is exciting to me, and I look forward to watching them improve their health and well-being.

Granted, I still have no clue what I am doing in the job and my job only focuses on coordinating the patients for their treatments (plus a few other things). Still, I like that I am going to be a part of that... and I like that I'm in a better work environment for my health too!

Part of my training on the job is to actually receive all of the different therapies available at the office so that I know how they work when patients ask questions about them. Tomorrow I get to do some chiropractic, which I actually need anyway, and over the next two weeks I will being doing decompression traction therapy, and other cool treatments. I hope that massage is included in the training... fingers crossed!

Cheese is out, natural fragrance is in...

I am very excited to report that natural fragrance is back in-- I can tolerate it again without becoming a hivey mess all over my body. It's super exciting for me because the last two years I have been able to use little to no shampoo/conditioner products, and the last year it had gotten so bad that I was using 100% fragrance and anything fun free in order to avoid the scalp itching and hives. And no, the itching wasn't from dry scalp, and would you believe that Head and Shoulders has friggin' fragrance as one of the main ingredients?!?!? Yeah, I was upset about that one-- I couldn't even use shampoo that was supposed to make my head stop itching because for me it just made it itch more! So, I have upgraded from my Whole Foods 365 Fragrance Free Shampoo and Conditioner (which is actually really good stuff, FYI) pictured right, to the wonderful Aveda Color Conserve shampoo and conditioner collection. Aveda stuff is made with what they call "pure-fume" because the fragrances are derived from natural plant oils and extracts. Good stuff, and it makes my hair look awesome. I'm still going to play it easy and rotate in the fragrance free stuff, but at least now I'm not as much of a complete leper. Two thumbs up for acupuncture's effect on my autoimmune system in that respect!

On the bad side, I believe that I discovered today that cheese is out. The soup I made last night (see pic in previous post) had a small amount of cheese in it and I was having some serious digestive distress today. It got really bad after I ate the soup again for lunch (with some extra cheese added because I was being brave, not realizing the morning's digestive problems might be related). By the time I got back to work the cheese was starting to leave an awful aftertaste in my mouth and a lot of mucus started to develop, too. It was gross. Not to mention that I ended up having to go to the bathroom numerous times afterwards. As a result, there was the momentary feeling that dinner wasn't going over well either, but it quickly subsided (though I still ended up in the bathroom again). So, cheese is out. I am keeping my fingers that it's not permanently out, but I will have to investigate further. It could have been the combination of cheese and tomatoes, or it could have been something else completely. There might be a food sensitivity to milk that I'm not aware of and perhaps is now only being discovered because I eliminated it from my diet long enough. This could have in turn caused the very gallstones I am trying to get rid of. People afflicted with Celiac disease almost always end up with their gallbladders out because their body is unable to process/digest glutens which in turn causes GB disease. It wouldn't surprise me if a milk sensitivity could do that too, as many people with Celiac have milk allergy as one of their secondary diseases. I guess I will have to get the testing done and keep experimenting on my own.

At least there was one small victory this week- being able to have nice smelling hair again. I'll take it.