What results, you say? Okay, I'll fill you in...
At the behest of my mother (and her infinite wisdom), I went to see a naturopath here in HK. A few people here gave me the hairy eyeball when I said "naturopath" clearly thinking "you believe in that hippie BS?" Actually, yes I do. I'm of the philosophy that if it works, then it works, who am I to judge? (well, with the exception of the Korean suction cups, but I won't get into that).
Anyway, off I went to a reputable naturopathic clinic in Central. The Doctor I was paired with actually lived and studied in Toronto, so that was a bit of a relief. Her main focuses are Chinese medicine and nutrition, I think, which I'm assuming is my issue. I had already been "avoiding" dairy (with varying degrees of success) and coffee, but she gave me a list of other foods to stay off, an herbal tincture to take thrice daily and probiotics to take twice a day. The list of food was not in anyway surprising (pop, alcohol, sugar, blah blah blah). The tincture tasted like ass, but was supposed to clear up the problem in my gut. The last thing she had me do was get a blood test - called the York Allergy Blood Test - that's supposed to test for food intolerances (more on the controversy behind this test later). Oh my, this blood test was a pretty penny. And not covered. *sigh* So I went back yesterday to get my results and really start the healing! (unfortunately not much improvement happening in the meantime.)
Not surprising, a dairy intolerance showed up. What was surprising was that an EGG intolerance registered, actually higher than the dairy. Other foods that were listed in the "Avoid" column were cashews and tomatoes. I don't even like tomatoes or eat them in anything other than ketchup (not real tomatoes anyway) or pasta sauce. Thankfully, according to the test, I can still eat wheat.
Now I have a whole new list of things to avoid and things I should be eating. I'm calling it my lifestyle change, just so that my brain and mouth understand that while they may crave icecream, they're going to have to live without it. Here are the dos and don'ts:
DON'T
- any kind of dairy (that means no more yogurt)
- egg (the big things anyway...it'd be hard for me to avoid egg found in baked goods)
- tomato
- cashew
- coffee
- highly processed foods (goodbye granola bars...)
- sugary or fatty foods
- steel cut oatmeal (bland as hell, but good for you. I actually considered putting cayenne pepper in it thins morning)
- soy or almond milk
- foods with fewer than 5 ingredients
- MORE MEAT!!! (i don't get nearly enough protein in my diet)
- bananas (they help to combine things)
- tofu, beans (other protein alternatives)
I should also clarify that what I have is a food intolerance, not an allergy, the difference being and allergy would have a more severe, rapid response, whereas an intolerance has gradual symptoms (sometimes taking more than a day to show up) that are somewhat less severe including, but not exclusive to, IBS symptoms (that's me!!)
Okay, onto the York Blood Test info. I spent some time searching the web for information AFTER I had had the test. I'm fairly certain I still would've taken the test even after reading some of these articles. Who knows? Anyway, kind of like the "Andrenal Fatigue" theory, the York Blood Test (and similar blood tests) are not recognized as accurate by conventional medicine. Not many studies have been done, but the ones that have found discrepancies in results. To test for food intolerances, conventional medicine would use the food elimination route: eliminate all suspected food from the diet for a few weeks, then gradually add them back in and watch for reactions. No problem, that's how my sister found out about her intolerances. The York Blood Test test for certain antibodies in the blood, call Immunoglobin G (IgG) antibodies. Apparently there are specific ones for different types of food. According to this article, we can have IgG antibodies in our system without having an intolerance, or may just indicate that a certain type of food is being consumed frequently.
Anyway, I find this whole thing quite interesting. I'm just going with the flow and hoping that, after a few months in an egg-less, milk-less, joy-less world, I can start eating them again without any troubles. Chances are, eliminating those foods AND eating less sugar and processed foods is gonna straighten me out. I hope.
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In other news, it's report card season!!! (fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la) All the teachers look like zombies (appropriate for hallowe'en), and just about everyone was at school yesterday (saturday) working. Because I was able to start entering marks a couple of weeks ago and chipping a way a bit everyday, I was able to finish yesterday. w0000t! I, being a program teacher, had to have my marks finished by this Monday. Homeroom teacher's have to be done by Wednesday morning, however their dilemma is that many of the students are still working to complete some of their projects and won't have them in until Tuesday. Yikes.
I keep having to remind myself that after this "Big event" is finished, there's no break to take a breath, regroup and come back strong. We just plow on ahead through November and December. I have a new found appreciation for all my report cards.
I've also discovered how artificial the whole process is. I'm fairly certain that a very small percentage of the grades I gave out are actually representative of what the students are able to do. The reporting period was so short, and I see some classes so infrequently, that I had only 2-3 marks per student. THEN, to add to it, we have to use canned comments, which often don't really say what we need to say. Sure, they save on time, but what does "Sings or plays instruments with expression and proper technique with some effectiveness" actually mean? To put the cherry on top, we are encouraged to fill the comment box, meaning there shouldn't be any white space. I don't have that much to say about some of these students. In fact, when I was evaluating the grade 8s, I often had to refer to my picture book just to be sure of who the student was. At least I'll be able to explain myself if and when people come and see me for parent teacher conferences.
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Well, it's almost time to head to the beach. That's right. November 1st, going to the beach. It will be a well deserved mini vacation before starting all over again tomorrow.
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