Late Update

It was not such a great idea to have this separate blog for logging food and symptoms. I don't find it in me to update two parallel blogs dealing with the same theme, more or less.

So, I left it where I was feeling on top of the world, cause unknown.

Then, as I relate on the other blog, I managed to convince my doctor to put me on levothyroxine -- T4.

I have been checking my calories intake on Cronometer these last few days. I am very surprised: I clock around 2300, at least, while maintaining my weight! So, things have improved, I am burning a lot more fuel and consuming a lot more energy, somehow! When I am active, I rock, indeed, it is like the old times.  I manage to get a lot done and to feel upbeat all day long. So, those days might explain a big expenditure of energy. The enigma is what I am doing with all those extra calories on the days I spend between computers?

Anyway, I'll take it! Sure I want to live on 2300 calories a day, as opposed to 1600! That's a huge difference, almost 33% more!

But I feel those calories inside my head and my heart, truly! I have come to understand the women who told me that thyroid treatment "gave them their lives back"! I recognize my old self in the way I tackle issues and I solve problems. There is a way of forging ahead, with all my might, which had all but left me. I had come to ponder a lot and to view some challenges as really difficult to overcome. So difficult that they would stop being worth the trouble. Why bother? My world had gradually filled with such "worthless possibilities" and I was less and less active, on all fronts, without even realizing this was happening to me. I figured I got smarter, or something. "Older and wiser".

It was the thyroid, stupid! Combined with and dragged down by my constant hypocaloric diet, so I might shed those "important" pounds and keep them off! What a misguided way of life!

Now, all those "unworthy purposes" appear within easy reach and the whole process becomes worthwhile. I am reconsidering things I never thought I would reconsider. I am even being a little crazy in some respects, because I have the energy to spare, so... why the hell not?

How I eat these days:

I am not religious about PUFAs. Sure, I don't use any for cooking anymore, but if I am eating out or I really want that bag of potatoes or tortilla chips, I will get it and not think twice about it.

I am trying to kick out all cow's dairy. This turns out to be a huge challenge. I have been at it for a while, but there's always a Haagen Dasz or a slice of great cheese or some mashed potatoes with butter and heavy cream that make it past my defense mechanism. I think part of it is my lack of conviction that this might be an issue -- I have always eaten cow's dairy and my allergy test came back negative. Plus, I am not that fond of a goaty smell in my coffee...

Otherwise, nothing to report -- I am eating a regular diet, with lots of animal protein and as few veggies as I can get away with, with orange juice and a few tropical fruits thrown in. I gave up on aged meats and cheeses and replaced them with fresh stuff. I take my gelatin and coconut oil every day. I occasionally deep fry in coconut oil as well -- potatoes, nothing else so far. I drink alcohol sometimes, with meals that "call for it" -- sulphite-free wine and gluten-free beer.

I have developed a fetish for black cherry preserves in heavy syrup, with the fruit intact inside, luscious and crunchy, with that bitter tinge. I got a jar from Romania that is outstanding in every way -- they said they used 350 g of fruit per 100 g of product!  I love to drink espresso with that. The bitterness of the coffee combines with that of the cherries, but then there is the intense sweetness of
the syrup, and all is dark and laden with flavor. My favorite Nespresso is one of the new series, "Trieste", it has acidic undertones that marry perfectly with the black cherry.

My love affair with the milk and rice preparation I used to have quiet often has ended abruptly. That happened in Romania too, where I bought from a "Carrefour Express/Angst" store their own version of rice and milk. That was divine. Lemon zest and cinnamon in perfect proportions. If I added the black cherries on top, it was nirvana. I need to learn how to cook that, but... I'm afraid it can't be the same with goat's milk. And I want to be eating exclusively goat's milk in the future, at least for a few months, see if that makes a difference in my Anti-TPOs...

So... If I were to eat again 1600 calories a day, I bet I would lose weight and go down to the 58 kg that had been my ideal for so many years. However, I am reluctant to do that. I feel that the sugar and the fat and the protein I go through are needed by my body and that they are as important as medication for its well being. So I will keep trying to increase even further the amount of calories I ingest while staying at the same weight point.

My BMI is somewhere between 21.4 and 22.1, but my fat percentage is horrendous -- actually, it has never changed since I got off Paleo -- and even then it was very high. I refuse to write it down, maybe it will go away...:)

A new discovery: magnesium chloride and baking soda baths! Quite a find... I need to be careful and monitor what I am doing because that form of magnesium seems quite potent. But I remember Dr. Peat raving about the effects of magnesium on the body -- it was up there with progesterone, if I remember well. I'll look it up and write it down here.