A Theory

First, a quick shift--I am updating my meal schedule to the following:

Breakfast

Lunch

Smoothie/snack

Supper

For one thing, trying to fit in eating five times a day was inconvenient and time-consuming.  Plus, I am not feeling as hungry in between meals, so the mid-morning snack isn't really necessary.  My weight has pretty much stabilized, so that isn't a concern.  And finally, smoothies in the winter weren't going to be very appetizing, so decided to have snack as an option in the afternoon instead.  

I have had several people ask me what I thought brought all my health issues on so suddenly.  The truth of the matter, though, is that it wasn't sudden at all, but had just reach a point of affecting my general health.  Two of my symptoms; my red cheeks and nose, and my constantly runny nose have been around for years and years.  I chalked the redness up to being my particular coloring, and the runny nose was simply allergies, though to what exactly I could never quite figure out.  It was quite a revelation to me when both these issues improved dramatically as I have changed my diet.  

As I said in the first post, I am not dealing with allergies.  I don't react to my lotions which I am sure contain corn derivatives.  Nor do I have issues with basic soaps or with shampoos and conditioners.  It is only what I eat that causes problems.  Thinking back on how I never have been able to tolerate a lot of whole grains, my guess is that whatever the body uses to process these foods is in short supply in my body.  And, with growing older, I am speculating that my body is producing even less of whatever that is, thus causing me to react more strongly to these foods.  I will probably never get a definitive answer, but this is my theory, and I am sticking to it! :-)

Now comes the big menu organization.  I have to put things into some kind of routine or system so that I don't have to always be figuring out what to do on the spot (a very stressful place for me).  Now that I pretty much have my parameters in place, I can look for a variety of recipes to use for each food.  I will write these down and then be able to quickly put together a varied weekly menu.  But, as is always with organization, things always look worse before they look better.

Looks like my kitchen table will be out of commission for meals for a while.  Once I have my recipes in place, I will begin to post them here.  Until next time!  :-)