Thursday, December 9, 2010

The McComb's Plan...What it's Done

About 2 months ago at this rate, I went on the McComb's Diet Plan. I mentioned it in one of my posts in November. You can read about the plan on the doctor's own website. I am not taking his supplements nor doing the sweating protocol on his website. Just the diet. Wanted to make sure that was clear...hehe

What has it done?

Eliminating sugar has been tough, but I have been very successful with it and am loving the results. I dropped about 10-13 pounds depending upon the time of day I weigh myself. This was really unexpected and not why I even did the diet in the first place. I do miss my Chai Tea Lattes at Starbucks, but the benefits of the diet far outweigh any emotional pleasure I'd get from drinking a Chai. haha

Aside from the weight loss, my skin is looking really good. Over the past 3-4 years my skin has been way more prone to break outs for some reason. Especially on my forehead and near the temples. Well I can say without any doubt that this diet has really helped my skin. I still have terrible problems with blackheads, but at least the pimples are gone.

My heart is no different. Sorry no cure for POTS here! haha The first week, I was having really strong sugar cravings and the dizziness (white outs) upon standing seemed to be worse. However that has normalized now and I'm not getting that anymore.

The mid afternoon crashes or need to take a nap is now gone. It took at least 2-3 weeks on the diet for this to occur, but I no longer need to take a nap mid-day. I think this has to do with blood sugar, but am really not all that sure.

This diet is very similar to how I was eating when I went on Dr. Mercola's Carbo Nutritional Diet many years ago. Interestingly I felt pretty good back then but the POTS was kicking my butt. I've also tried to lower my salt intake a bit just to see. My legs, especially the calves and ankles still seem puffy to me.

Will Likely Continue On

I plan to continue eating like this, but might allow myself to have 1 treat a week. I can let that be whatever I want, but it can only be 1. However I will certainly put an end to that if I start to notice problems.

What I Found Out...

I have found out that dairy is a major issue for me. My husband experimented making his own kefir and yogurt. Both of them made me so ill that I realize I must be allergic to the actual milk protein (Casein) rather than just being lactose intolerant. There isn't supposed to be any lactose in either of those (from what I've read), so it makes little sense that in 4-5 hours after ingesting, I get the typical bloating, gas and intense stomach pain. For 3 days after, I was passing pale stools that was likely undigested milk proteins and fats. Sorry for the details, but something is not right and that was a huge wake up call for me. No more dairy!

We will see how this goes.

In regards to my labs, I haven't heard anything. My doctor may be holding them until we see him in office. Money is tight so I have no idea when that will be at this rate.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

What I do in my Spare Time!

I wanted to make a happy post today on my blog! What do I do in my spare time?

Well I quite honestly I lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Every morning I look forward to my morning cup of coffee. As I get older, I am finding that I am actually developing a palate for coffee. I am starting to become a coffee snob where I only use a Coffee Press these days to make coffee!

I absolutely love my Bodum Coffee Press and don't know what I'd do without it. My mornings would be quite sad. Even though I really like coffee, making it can be annoying. One morning I made the comment, "I wish there was a machine that made coffee". My husband thought that was the most hilarious thing because DUH there's tons of machines that make coffee. LOL What I really meant was, I wish there was a robot that could make me coffee in the coffee press. That line has now become a family joke. "Man I really wish there was a machine that made coffee". I'm glad I entertain my family.

The one other thing that I love even more than coffee is singing. If I tallied up how much I sing every day it's likely pushing 8 hours. I am not kidding at all and my poor husband has to hear it all the time. haha My mother was always singing so I think that kind of stuck with me. She would listen to various singers like Bette Midler and Celine Dion. I'm sure there were others, but that's all I can remember. My family went to church every Saturday night and I started to realize that I had a really good singing voice. However with my lack of self-confidence I had been afraid to let anyone know about it and sort of hid it. A few months ago, I decided to record myself to see if I sound good on tape. To my surprise I think I sound pretty darn good for having very little official vocal training.

I really wish to write some music and at least put it out on the internet for people to download. Singing makes me feel so good. It's like all of my problems go away and it is a major destressing tool I use. If you are interested, I have put up a few covers on Youtube. Let me know what you think--if you hate it that's ok. There is always room for improvement with singing. My trills, slurs, vibrato and hitting high notes could be much improved and I hope to take vocal lessons again one day. My last vocal teacher was pretty terrible and I sang better than her.