Warning! Being Healthy Could Kill You

Thursday, April 7, 2011
Do you ever have times when you think "why do I even bother?"  Today is one of those days for me.

I guess I should let you all know that I am a fluffy person, meaning that I am considerably outside the "official" weight range for my height.  I will probably never be not fluffy but I have been attempting to be less so.  Mostly I'm just trying to eat healthier.

We all know what that means.  More fruits and veggies, more fish and seafood, more nutritious snack choices.  My daughter and I have been pretty successful the past couple of months.  I've gone from nearly no fruits to an average of two servings a day.  We eat lean meats, including fish and shellfish more often.  We also started having a carb snack a couple hours before bedtime since my daughter had read that having carbs make you sleep better.  I'm not a good sleeper but that's a topic for another posting.

My carb snack of choice is a bowl of steel cut oatmeal with fruit, a few sliced almonds and a bit of brown sugar. It seems to be working.  I sleep better at night and the scale was moving down again after being stuck for almost 4 weeks.  It's come to the point that I look forward to my nightly bowl.  My favorite is fresh mango with almonds, a tiny bit of coconut, cinnamon and brown sugar.  Yum!  Even now, I want a bowl so badly.

I ran across an article recently about leg pain.  When I exercise or walk a lot, I was getting pains in my calf along the outside of my leg.  I read that ginkgo biloba might help that and I knew it was good for your brain too.  Hey at this age we need all the help we can get.  So I started taking ginkgo tablets.  

I also saw a bottle of grapeseed extract I had purchased some months ago and figured I might as well take them too.  I was doing this for a couple of weeks and all was going well.  My legs were hurting much less and I was feeling pretty good.

About a week ago, I noticed a slight sore throat.  My voice was a little rough when I was singing but overall I felt great.  Then I noticed a fine rash along my jawline and on my chin.  I thought "Oh oh seasonal allergies".  I also figured that it was what was wrong with my throat too.  So I diligently started taking my Zyrtec in the morning.

On Tuesday, we made a run down to the nearest Mitsuwa Japanese market, which is an hour away and also to Costco, since it lies midway between our home and Mitsuwa.  It was a great shopping trip.  I got to stock up on essentials and sushi at the Japanese store.  Since we were at Costco I figured I'd save some money and get the big bottles of the supplements I was taking.  So I got ginkgo biloba, resveratrol and figured that I'd add fish oil in too.  Gotta get those omega's you know.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I woke up and realized my face felt all puffy.  I looked in the mirror and saw the rash had spread across my cheeks and around my eyes.  This time it itches!  I immediately thought that maybe it was the supplements.  So I didn't take any yesterday.  I had chicken and a baked potato for lunch, a bit of saba (mackerel) left over from my shopping trip the day before. and then my oatmeal last night.  I thought maybe the mango had something to do with it, so I had canned peaches instead.  By bedtime, I was feeling slight better.  Even the headache I had all day had gone away.

This morning I woke up and was sitting on the edge of the bed, still groggy.  When I realized I was scratching at my chest and it was itchy.  I look in the mirror and now the rash is going down my neck to my upper chest. Ok time to call the Dr.

I get in to see the Dr.  He looks at the rash and says it definitely looks like an allergic reaction to something.  He writes me a prescription for prednisone, tells me to take Benadryl or another antihistamine.  Then he says, "No nuts, fruit or fish until the rash is gone."  Then I need to add each in slowly by itself to see what happens.

So right now I'm thinking "Why bother?"  Eating healthy is killing me.  Ok maybe a little dramatic but you know what I mean.  Thing is though, aside from the rash and itching, I do feel better.  So I guess for now I find something else to put in my oatmeal, stop snacking on nori (seaweed sheets they use for sushi) and fruit.

I'm praying it's not the nuts or fish.  Maybe it's just mangoes.  I LOVE mangoes but would rather give them up than the other two.  Until then does anyone have any ideas on what to put in my oatmeal to give it some crunch? Quick before I remember where I hid the chips!

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