Last Week of Gluten

Four weeks of gluten later and I am still not up to the required gluten for this test.  I am not going to be able to get the results they want from said test.  Even with the little about of gluten (one serving a day or less) that I have been able to consume I have had strong results externally.

Results:

Weight Change: + 15lbs
Skin change: Dry, itchy, patchy, small rash, breakouts
Energy change:  Fatigue, trouble sleeping
Mood Changes: irritable, slight depression, (may be lack of sleep)
Body Changes: Joint pain in neck, hips, and knees.  Bloating, Headaches, Ulcers, acid reflux, excess gas
Hair Changes: Nothing Noted

Passion 4 Life - Review

I had personally gotten tired of looking for Gluten free vitamins that will work with my individual needs.  I have tried drops that you hold under your tongue for a minute, and I have tried pills (I got nothing out of the pills.)

Energy for 2013

The last prompt for the January NaBloPoMo is "What will you do to energize yourself in 2013?"

This answer is easy.  I am devoting myself to my schoolwork and my family. Since this year is finally graduation time, that helps a lot with the energy levels.  I want to be done with school and out there working and doing what I planned to do.  I am excited for that.  However, for now while I am home I am concentrating on being the best wife, friend, and guardian I can be.

Mental Energy and Money

Today’s NaBloPoMo prompt is "What reoccurring thought uses up a lot of your mental energy?"

I have thoughts that constantly take up my mental energy.  Basically I get nuts about money and our money situation.  I am still in school and almost done, while I am in my last part I am not working.  That leaves my husband as the only income.  We also have two dependents that we take care of.  Not that I would want to ever make them go away but it makes it hard to live on only one income.  It wouldn't be so bad if the house we own stopped giving us issues.

How to deal with a long power outage

This image is Public Domain

Dealing with a short power outage can be fun.  Dealing with a power outage of days or more is not fun.  Being gluten free it will be harder for me than it will be for others since gluten free food has a very short shelf life outside of a freezer.  However, there are steps to help you during a long power outage.  Quite simply we are not prepared at my house for a long haul.  However, I can go without gluten free products and be very careful about what I eat.

To Play in the Dark

When the power goes out and we don't have electronics to play with the first thing we do is go on a scavenger hunt.  One person finds the flashlights, another finds the batteries, a third, finds the candles and the last makes sure where everyone is so we don't bump into each other.

Conserving Energy

We conserve energy in mostly normal ways here at my house, simple ways that almost everyone should do.

Turn the light off when you leave the room

Unplug appliances that are not in use

Energy for the Modern Age

Energy is the topic of the month and you can't talk about energy without wondering what is going to happen when we have used up all the fossil fuels?  Will we move to biofuels? Will our heat come from hydroelectric or wind mills, how about solar power?  All of these are great ideas and while I think cars may be moving to hydrogen engines or electric power, which will lessen the strain on our resources.

Humans and the Environment

Today's prompt is: "What is your biggest concern about the future of the environment?"  My answer is that most humans are my largest concern.  Quite simply we have overpopulated what the earth can easily sustain.  Since humans tend to move in and create an environment that suites us we will "tame" the land around us.  That taming action means that we cut back the natural vegetation, we utilize all the resources, and we keep the animals out.  Quite simply we destroy the natural ecosystem of anywhere we settle.

Super Hero Names? Maybe

If I were to be a super hero my hero name would be Bloodroot.  This is based on the lovely plant with the red roots.  It also is toxic to humans and animals.  This is an easy choice for me since I have been playing online games for a while and it is one of my handles. 

Super Hero or Super Villian?

NaBloPoMo prompt of the day is "How would you start saving the world if you woke up tomorrow with superhuman powers?"  Answer is I probably wouldn't, I might start saving the environment, children and the animals on this planet before I start saving most of the humans.  I think most humans are capable of saving themselves or causing harm to others.  Instead of saving most people, I would concentrate my efforts on making the world a better place as I see it. That is if I do anything to help and don't blend into the background and just live my life.

Gluten is as Kryptonite.

Public Domain

Public Domain

If I were a super human and I had one weakness or Kryptonite as it were, I would have to say it is Gluten, nothing stops me faster than getting into gluten.

Feed me gluten and I will spend a lot of time in the rest room and unable to perform my super tasks.  Even at places where they have gluten free menus and kitchens they will still mess up.

No Writing Energy, Can't Go On

When I run out of energy and I can't blog anymore, I simply stop for a while. I have no issue saving a draft and coming back to in an hour or two.  I may take a bath or read a book between writing times, something to bring back up my energy level.  Because If I were to push through when I really don't want to blog all that I would put out is garbage. 

Finding the Right Topic

Blogging can sometimes be a chore, sometimes the topics and words come quickly and easily, other times I have an issue.  I try to write things that can connect with the readers.  However, I sometimes have issues knowing exactly what people want to read about.  Most of my blogging energy was in trying to find what my readers want.  This can be an issue without any feedback.  I can see what posts receive the most views, and so I try to plan around some of those.  That took up too much of my energy and I still wasn't getting feedback.  In the end I am doing what I want, since I still don't know what people want.

To Dream or not to Dream

This picture is Public Domain to the best of my knowledge

The NaBloPoMo question today “If you could be given the option to never sleep and also never be tired, would you take it if it meant you'd also never dream again?”

The night life is for me!

The NaBloPoMo Question of the day is "At what time of the day do you feel most energetic and productive.

The answer to this is in the evening or at night.  I am very much of a night person.  I never feel as alive as when it is just starting to get dark.  I have never been able to abide by the morning even when I was a child.  My parents never had to worry about me waking up early.  Christmas morning, yep can that start at noon.

Relaxing and Unwinding

Day Three: the question for NaBloPoMo is "What is your favorite way to recharge when you feel drained of energy?"

I recharge in a variety of different ways, each have their own unique place depending on my day.  If I am really stressed about money then I want to spend time by myself, if I am only drained from a long day then I want to be with my friends or family.  

I spend time with my family members.  I like to curl up with my husband on the loveseat and watch Anime while eating gluten free snacks.  I also might watch the Food Network to get ideas of things that I want to make Gluten free.  The easiest way for me to recharge is to spend time with my husband.  It really doesn’t matter what we are doing, it could just be sitting in the car alone talking.  WE make it a point to specifically set time aside every Saturday to be with each other.  That is the day we leave the house or hole up in our room and only spend time with each other.  It may sound silly but it is one way we have managed to keep our marriage as long as we have. 

Another thing that I do is soak in a bath with a great book and let the world fall away.  It is times like that where I wish I lived in the home I own.  That way I could trade out the bathtub for my dream one.  It couldn't happen right away but I have plans for when I am in my dream home. 

 Other things I do to relax and recharge is spending time with friends, those friends can be online or they can be physically with me.  I have friends all over the US, I will spend time chatting with friends in Florida, Montana, Texas, Germany, and many more.  I will chat via phone, Skype or Facebook.  

My secret obsession is that I love to play Facebook games.  I refuse to pay for them but I enjoy playing and seeing how far I can get on just the time I spend.  I will generally do this at night after others have gone to bed and I am allowed to have the whole apartment to myself. 

My last way to recharge is to put on music most likely Celtic or soft alternative; I love to sing with what I am listening to.  I studied music most specifically vocal performance, singing is a great way for me to recharge.  I feel energy when I sing something that I deeply feel.  I also spend time doing Karaoke, it is a fun way to blow off some steam and spend time outside of the house.  

On another note this is my 100th post.  I am proud to have come as far as I have.  I can't belive that I am up to 100 posts already.  I have so many more planned.  I want to thank everyone for helping me grow.  

Question of the day!

What do you do to recharge? 

 

Sometimes Reality can be Draining

Public Domain

NaBloPoMo Question of the day “Which Daily Tasks take up most of your energy?"

For me this answer is easy, my school work takes up most of my daily energy.  Not only in learning my subject but also in the subject matter.  I am currently taking a course in Family violence.  How family members can hurt each other and do so on a daily basis.  The reality of this situation is draining for me.  I end up emotionally invested in some of these scenarios. Then I end up asking myself "how could this happen?" This leads me to my Psychology minor where I truly reason out what they may have been feeling and thinking.  That train of thought can lead to depression and a giant lack of energy towards anything.

Other items I find draining are TV shows like Springer, and Maury, I don't watch them in my home but they seem to be shown in a lot of public places.  Even 10 minutes of this and my energy is waning and my intelligence quotient numbers start dropping.  These are the same type of people that I read about in my text books and it makes me irate with the human race in general (not individuals).

When people don't understand what Gluten free is and refuse to learn.  I have been to restaurants where they have an extensive gluten free menu.  I was informed at one point that they also proudly served only gluten free vodkas.  It quickly became evident that even with a vast gluten free menu our server had no idea what that meant.  Also when I started to talk to her about it, she showed that really didn't care.

The last major daily drain on my energy is using my willpower.  There are so many fantastic foods out there and so few of them are gluten free.  While I am getting great at making Gluten free versions of my favorite foods, the issue is that they are imitations.  There is nothing that can truly replace wheat, barley and rye.  It can be hard on me to not allow myself to be tempted.  Even knowing that I will be sick for days that there are longer lasting consequences I am tempted to eat some of those very yummy looking items.

Question of the day!

What drains your energy?

New Year, New Energy

For this month I will be participating in NaBloPoMo, which is short for National Blog Posting Month (It is not really shorter is it).  Each day they post a question and we the bloggers start typing about the answer as it is relevant to us.  Today’s question is "From where do you draw your energy?"

For me the answer comes in a few different forms.  My main source of energy is my friends and family.  They have been so supportive of me from the time I found out I had Celiac, to when I knew that I wanted to blog about it.  They have been there for me with every Fertility hang up and every loss that I have had.  Without them I don't think I would have even lasted as long as I have. My Husband has been my biggest supporter, I know that I could not have come this far without him.

My secondary source of energy comes from knowing that I may be helping someone.  While it can be a real challenge to get people to answer questions on a post, or to even know who is reading, I keep hoping that someone out there is getting something from my posts.  That they enjoy the recipes, that they have learned from my mistakes and that they have found good products or that they have been able to avoid others.  If I can reach enough of those people then I feel I can make a difference.

I also talk about my infertility and health issues, I want those women to know that they are not alone in having one miscarriage after another, or that they are not the only ones who can't lose weight no matter how little they eat, or who go crazy when their hormones get out of balance, which happens a lot.  Also it might help those that are having these issues and do not yet have a diagnosis. 

So in answer, I get my energy from both my friends and family and from the hope that I might be able to help.  Also, with the New Year, I feel some of my Energy Renewed, I had more entries in a giveaway then I would have dreamed possible at this stage in my blogging, I have a whole bunch of fantastic products to try, I am getting ready for my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide.  I have so many plans; my only hope is that I will be able to build enough readers to get more of these ideas out. 

Question of the day!

Where do you get your energy?