My Systemic Yeast Probe

And the Number Is . . . .

178!!!  Yes, I said 178!!  That is awesome!  I realize this is not an exact measurement and certainly not the only measure of how much the systemic yeast has decreased in my system.  However, it is an indicator that things are headed in a really good direction. 

I am feeling so much better.  I have so much more energy, less depression, less headaches, less stomach pain, less moodiness, less spacey feeling, and the list goes on. 

I have continued my diet but have loosened it only when we are going out to eat.  Even then, I watch carefully for the best choice.  However, in virtually everything you eat out, there is some ingredient that is not helpful to a yeast-free diet.  I have noticed that when I eat something off the diet I do get the weird headache, which was daily in the past, and get very tired and somewhat lethargic.  So, defiantly still having reactions.  It is, however, nice to be feeling better enough that I noticed the difference!!  That is BIG. 

My big struggle this week has been getting into a rut with my diet.  I've been virtually eating the same things all the time with little variety.  I sat down yesterday and made a grocery list to try to have some different things for next week.  One of my "treats" is sun butter now that I don't eat my beloved peanut butter.  I can't find any in town or my regular on-line shopping retailers without sugar so I ordered the nuts and made my own.  Since I am still transitioning in tastes somewhat I did add a little stevia and um, um good!!  It is fabulous and at a fraction of the cost!.  Yay me!

All-in-all, I am very happy with my progress.  I am believing that as I do my part, God will do His.  His Word is true and I am healed!  So exciting!

On My Way!!

I took my wholeapproach.com quiz today and scored . . . . . . drum roll . . . . . . . .233!!  Such progress! 

I'm very encouraged by my progress but must admit, having a bit of struggle sticking to the diet.  Still doing far superior over where I was when I started, however.  I have decided to start ThreeLac tomorrow.  I have a box left over from the last time I tried it.  The last time, however, I didn't change one thing about my diet. 

I have heard/read on some sources that it is good to actually change the herbal yeast fighter you are using every two weeks.  I haven't decided if I will stop the Oil of Oregano and start the ThreeLac or just add the ThreeLac.  I am still occasionally using Coconut Oil but haven't been good about using it consistently.  I'm excited to see how the ThreeLac does. 

This is certainly trial and error.  I don't know when the diet will end, if ever officially.  I'm not sure what changes I will maintain.  I suppose a lot of that will depend on how I do when I begin adding things back into my diet.  I'm looking forward to FRUIT!!  Oh, that will be scrumptious!  I am thinking I will need to maintain a fairly consistent yeast-free diet for a few months to give my body optimal time to heal but I am believing the Lord will lead me in that step as He is in each step along the way. 

Total healing is on the way to ME!!

PROGRESS!! (Maybe?)

My post two days ago that was never published -- 284!!  That was my score on my quiz Monday evening.  That is a huge decrease in one week!  I don't really *feel* much better but I'll take all the encouragement I can get!  I have been careful with my diet, a few slip ups here and there but nother major. 

As of today, I am actually feeling a bit better.  Still a lot of stomach issues, sore throat, cough, sinus issues but definately more energy.  Things are looking up. 

Frustrated

If you've read my blog, you know that a week ago (Friday) I went completely off my current diet with Dr. Pepper, pasta, bread and cheesecake in the evening.  My score last Sunday was then higher than I had originally tested.  I have been very mindful all week, with a few mistakes as I'm still getting used to so many restrictions, but I'm still not feeling that well. 

I'm still have sleep issues, stomach bloating, headaches, foggy, muscle aches, joint aches, irritability . . . . and more.  If all of this is still from that one evening, boy can a little break do a lot of damage. 

After a week of pressing on, I think I am getting discouraged at a lack of progress.  Makes me, again, question the yeast issue.  However, I suppose, if I am starving the yeast by not eating sugar, have cut down drastically on my dairy intake and other fungus and yeast products, and am taking the Oil of Oregano and Coconut oil to kill the yeast, maybe these symptoms make sense. 

I'm anxious to take my quiz again tomorrow and see what I get.  I now it's not specific but could definatley be an encouragement.  Hopefully, next week I will begin to see the benefits of progress. 

As far as my diet, I'm still trying to just make better choices.  Tonight I had a turkey and bacon roll up with whole wheat tortillas.  I added lettuce and avacado--it really hit the spot!  I also made Carmelized Cauliflower--a nice change of pace.  I am a die-hard morning coffee drinker with 2 cups per day.  I have decided I will cut down to 1 cup as I know it would be best for me to stop it all together.  I figure 1 cup will be a 50% reduction which will make it much easier when I decide to cut it out completely. 

On to another day.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Still plugging along trying to get back to where I was almost a week ago.  Sleep is still disturbed, cough is still troublesome, heaviness in my chest is still there, itching (have I mentioned that symptom yet?), sluggish, foggy, TIRED, irritable and __________ (fill in the blank). 

Pray for my family!  lol  They have to put up with me.  However, just since starting this blog, I have seen so much evidence that I am on the right track.  My family has been very patient and encouraging as they see me daily struggle with symptoms, cravings and what I still view as denying myself when they sit down with a cold, chocolaty, with chocolaty something-or-other in it, creamy, SUGARY, delicious . . . ICE CREAM.  That just may be one of man's yummiest food inventions.  I like many kinds, but especially types with "somethin' in it", especially if it has chocolate!  Hmmmm, probably a bad subject but you get the idea. 

I am concentrating on each day that I feel better, I see that those foods were hurting me so I stay strong and press on with the mission of getting and staying well.

Still not a fan of rice  milk but I have only tried it in my coffee, a little scared to try  it any other way.  I do about half rice milk and half milk trying to adjust.  I tried oatmeal for breakfast this morning and found it so disappointing.  I have always eaten my oatmeal sweetened.  Today I tried to just do stevia, cinnamon, nutmeg and a touch of clove.  It was a let down.  I'll give it a couple of days and try that again.  This would be a good place to try the rice milk in a new way - I'll let you know how it goes.

I am adjusting quickly to my sunflower seed butter in place of peanut butter.  I have been enjoying an occasional whole wheat bagel with sun butter on it and that is quite good.  Regular snacks have become carrots and cauliflower frequently.  I have found that I seem to want to munch on something quite frequently.  I'm getting the feeling that is when the yeast start starving for sugar.  So instead of giving in, I grab the veggies and munch away until I am past the worst of it--its working quite nicely for now.   When the craving is REALLY bad, I gave a sugar-free peanut cluster.  Unfortunately, this is sweetened with sucrose but one cluster does the trick and it is far less sugar than what I would have grabbed before.  I'm counting that as progress.

All for now, time for some rest and an even better day tomorrow! 

Still Paying

Sigh.  It was a long night.  I woke up feeling achy, sluggish, joints hurting, foggy, bloated and just plain blah.  Still pushed through and got a lot done though.  I was very strict today and am excited that each day will get better.  I took my quiz again last night, despite being off my diet for two days.  My score went up, even higher than original --332!!  YIKES!!  (Anything over 85 indicates you are likely to have a systemic yeast problem.)

For record keeping, I'm going to list the dietary changes I have made to date:

• NO SIMPLE SUGAR.
• No simple carbohydrates.  I have replaced everything with whole wheat versions and then still limit the intake of that to a degree.
• For my coffee, I have replaced sugar with stevia. 
• Today I actually began replacing milk.  I bought one rice and one almond and plan to compare the two.  Opened the rice milk today and I have to say, it is looking pretty yucky.  We'll see.
• To replace my Dr. Pepper, I am drinking seltzer water with a little cranberry juice.  I have been doing this for about 2 weeks and I really don't miss my daily Dr. Pepper!!
• Beginning today I began replacing peanut butter with sunflower seed butter.  Unfortunatley, my husband bought a kind that has dehydrated cane sugar so it still has sweetner.  I will limit my intake and then when that is gone, I will find one with no sweetner.   Still eliminated the peanuts that way.  At $7 a jar I wasn't wasting it and I was CRAVING peanut butter!! 

On another subject, I have read that when you begin killing the yeast, constipation can become an issue.  Let me just say - YES, lol, despite the daily Melaleuca FiberWise.  I will be adding another supplement to help keep that in check. 

I did buy a cookbook yesterday, The Yeast Free Recipe Cookbook.  Most of it was information I had seen other places but it is so handy having the recipes already laid out and even a meal plan to help.  That takes a bit of stress off.  Today, when I was hungry, I just looked over the meal plan until I found an idea of something that I wanted AND that I had on hand, or at least similar.  It was helpful. 

Saturday night I read an article about the connection between getting rid of the systemic yeast and WEIGHT LOSS!!  Oh, yes, that would be awesome.  I could stand to lose about 30 pounds.  Then today a friend said "have you lost weight?"  *Big grin*  I haven't but I was encouraged.

All-in-all, despite feeling poorly today, I'm encouraged.  I am making positive changes and I'm excited to stay on track and see the results.  Tomorrow, however, will be a challenge.  We will be going on a field trip (I homeschool) to our state capital tomorrow.  It is a 3 hour drive.  I prebought boxed lunches before I started on this plan.  So, I'm gonna pack some water, veggies and other appropriate snacks and do the best I can despite it all. 

Sleep good!

 

 

 

 

Okay, okay, I'm convinced!

Oh me, oh my!  I'm paying for things today. 

On Friday my two young children (one is in college) were both gone for the night.  My husband and I had 26 hours childless.  We decided to go to dinner and I decided to go off my diet, no restrictions, and see what happens (and just enjoy the evening with my hubby).  I enjoyed it but I'm paying for it now!  In the last 48 hours, I have had Dr. Pepper, pasta, cheesecake (lots of cheesecake) and the results are pretty clear.  Symptoms I hadn't even realized had gotten better came back with a furry.  Let me explain.

After our Friday night dinner out and bringing a large cheesecake home and eating 1-1/2 pieces for desert and 2 pieces for breakfast (I believed if things went bad, it might be my last opportunity), I began to feel very sluggish and foggy late afternoon yesterday and into the evening.  Now, I realize someone eating like I did my be sluggish and foggy, even without yeast.  The sluggishness and foggy feeling progressed throughout the evening.  Last night I was up coughing most of the night which had gotten much better in the last two weeks.  My chest tightness increased again, which I hadn't realized had improved so much.  My sinuses are SCREAMING this morning and I hadn't even realized how much better they had gotten.  I think I'm convinced my great week last week, with lots of energy and clarity and less pain was due to my diet changes and decreasing the sugar available to the yeast. 

With scores like I have on questionaires, I am about convinced that my body and organs are fully invaded by yeast.  My concern is, have I figured this out in time.  I have to believe I have. 

So, starting today I am back on my decreased sugar diet and am only having carbs that are vegetables and whole grains.  I am continuing on the Oil of Oregano, Melaleuca FiberWise, and slowly increasing the coconut oil.  I am also praying and believing God will speed up the process, heal any damage and help me know what to do step-by-step.

I WANT SUGAR!!!

*Tear*  Really, already!!  It's only been about two week since I began to decrease my sugar intake and treat for yeast and I want sugar terribly.  I'm trying to be strong, but I could take my sugar in cookies, candy, ice cream, heck, I'd even take it by the spoonful at this point!!  Every evening I feel like a sugar monster is sitting on my shoulder taunting me.  I grab a bag of carrots and start munching.  I know carrots still have natural sugar but I figure, at this point, its a good alternative.

I have not been limiting my carbs excessively; dreading that!  Sugar AND carbs, sigh.  I know that will need to be done.  I continue to take two drops of Oil of Oregano each evening, Melaleuca FiberWise in the morning and Coconut oil each day, now at 3 teaspoons a day, increasing by a teaspoon each day.  I have also now officially changed my daily vanilla syrup in my coffee to stevia; still getting used to that but it will work.

As far as physical symptoms, I have had a lot of energy this week; really getting things accomplished.  Depression is nil even after paying bills yesterday (if you saw the checkbook, you'd really understand!)  I am still having times of feverish feeling but not to the same severity that I was a week ago.  I typically get headaches with this as well and those are not as bad either.  As I mentioned before, instead of my daily Dr. Pepper, I have been drinking seltzer water with a bit of cranberry juice.  With this I have made a discovery!  I'm urinating every 30-60 min!!  What is up with that.  In the past I have had  a full glass of cranberry juice and didn't have that problem.  This presents more questions. 

So many questions and so little answers at this point. I will keep plugging along and see what happens.  I can definitely say that reporting to you is keeping me accountable.  When I think of giving up, chowing down on a life-sized sugar statue, or drinking a gallon of Dr. Pepper, I think of how I would admit that to you.  So, I carry on . . . without sugar.   :(

On to the next phase

Thinking back over the past week, there seems to be a pattern emerging between my eating doses of sugar and then feeling worse within 2-3 hours with symptoms of body temperature change (mine goes down rather than up), headache, foggy feeling, extreme tiredness.  I have also noticed swelling in my hands and feet every night (a new development). 

I retook my www.wholeapproach.com quiz today and it was 311 - down 11 points in one week but still WAY off from "normal."  Am I getting better or could this be a normal variant?  Time will tell. 

I have decided to kick things up just a bit and see what happens.  I will continue to take 2 drops of oil of oregano at night and the Melaleuca FiberWise each morning.  I will now add coconut oil at 1 teaspoon the first day and increase by 1 teaspoon each day this week to see how things go.  From what I have read, coconut oil is very effective in killing yeast.  I remember reading a recipe a few years back on one of my searches that mixed coconut oil, cocoa powder, stevia and nuts to make the coconut powder more palatable.  I think I'll give this a try and see if it helps with a bit of my chocolate/sweet cravings at the same time. 

Excited to start the next week!

Strange Happenings

An interesting occurance today.  I went off my lower-sugar diet today by drinking a Dr. Pepper.  About 3 hours later, I began feeling poorly with a headache, felt slightly feverish and just plain blah.  I was frustrated because this has happened randomly to me in the past with increasing occurance lately. 

Then, I had a thought.  Could the sugar in the Dr. Pepper have caused some kind of reaction with the yeast, feeding it, causing my body to launch a reaction trying to defend itself, thus, fever?  Interesting. 

Another point on this subject is that over the last many years, at least 10, when I am sick with a virus or infection and feel feverish my body temperature is actually low, rather than high.  I NEVER register a "fever".  Before posting, I took my body temp now, while I'm still not feeling well, and it was 96.2.  I have looked this problem up in the past, didn't find any good news, of course.  I found it likely is an immune problem.  Wonder if I do have a systemic yeast issue, could it be causing my immune system to react poorly?  All question I hope to be answered in the future.

One thing I dislike about probes, journeys, experiments - no quick answers.  

I am  back to my decreased sugar diet and may try a dose of sugar again in a few days to see if this "fever" thing happens again. 

Otherwise, I've been doing well, staying on track and anxious for answers.