Diet Changes

I’ve made more dietary changes than usual these first months of 2023…challenging myself to eat healthier. I am not entirely settled into my ‘new normal’ and realizing that, now that I’ve have succeeded in a few changes, my confidence for changing more is growing. The overarching theme for the changes is eliminating foods that are heavily processed (ones that include heavy metals or ingredients that seem to cause digestive problems first).

The changes I’ve already made –

I moved from Lactaid milk to soymilk when it seemed that the Lactaid was not completely resolving my lactose intolerance. The soymilk was better, but I still sometimes felt bloated. I discovered that all the soymilks that provide calcium also have gellan gum which can slow digestion in some people. All the soymilks I found that did not include gellan gum, did not have calcium. So – I am back to the ‘no milk’ situation and taking supplements to get enough calcium (since I don’t get enough in my diet).

I was using stevia for sweetening my hot tea when the research about erythritol came out…discovered that the packets I was using had erythritol as the first ingredient! The packets in my pantry were thrown away and I didn’t replace them. Right now, I am using honey if I want my tea sweetened but usually don’t need anything.

I started looked at my supplements and discovered that all the chewables have sugar of some kind (usually sugar alcohol or artificial). I have finished my supply of those supplements and bought capsules or tablets instead. Also – I noticed that chewable calcium supplements not only had sweeteners…the also contained talc (which is not something I want to eat either).

Diet Pepsi has been my soft drink of choice for a long time. I have cut back…sometimes stopped completely…but have always started up again. This time I am more serious about avoiding it completely. Aside from the health benefits, stopping has reducing the volume of our recycling! An element of self-discovery: just stopping is easier than gradually tapering when it comes to habitual food choices.

My 1st breakfast has been dark chocolate for years. The recent story about lead and cadmium in dark chocolate was an unpleasant surprise. My brand of choice was high in cadmium and had enough lead to be problematic for eating on a daily basis. So – I ate what I had and will not buy more. A positive aspect to eliminating this habitual food was that my 1st breakfasts have a bit more variety now…and usually include chia seeds (1 tablespoon in water to make swallowing supplements easier and provide a good amount of omega-3 oil).

Bread in the grocery store often has a lot of ingredients that don’t sound like food at all. Presumably most of them are preservatives. I found an organic brand that had ingredients that I recognize…the same ones I would use at home if I took the time to make bread…and won’t buy anything else from now on!

I’m not sure what the next round of changes will be; my focus is to let these changes become established as my ‘new normal’ as I gradually hone my diet toward healthier choices.

Unique Aspects of Days – September 2022

The unique aspects for September….

Queen Elizabeth II died. The event is something that will be memorable about 2022. Her coronation was in the year I was born...she was the only well-known person I can think of that was on the international stage for that long period. Closer to home – her death accompanies the older generation of my family ebbing away. I am fortunate that both my parents are still around.

Making a quick run to Walmart for coffee. My dad makes coffee every morning and had somehow forgotten to tell anyone that there was not enough left in the container to make another pot. If I had not been visiting…they just would not have had any morning coffee that day!

Murmuration of pigeons over the Walmart parking lot. Somehow lots of pigeons were on the Walmart parking lot…and they flew up in a big swirl when they were startled by something (maybe a car?) and they did the usual turning in unison….the undulating ebbs and flows in the air. It seemed like they stayed a loft longer than required to escape danger and I wondered if the birds enjoy the ‘dancing’ in the sky.  

Talking with a man hauling hay at the gas station. I stopped to buy gas at a very large gas station just off the highway and a man with a trailer full of the round bales of hay pulled up on the other side of the pump. We had a short conversation and l learned: he is getting $60/bale rather than $30 he got last year, his fields are Johnson grass and cows like that kind of hay, this haul was from the 3rd mowing.

A upside down truck on the highway. The only time I got on the highway once I was in Carrollton, there was an upside truck on the other side….traffic just beginning to back up. It wasn’t obvious how the accident occurred; the truck was against the dividing wall that kept it from crossing over to the other side of the highway. I came back an hour later and could see that the truck was still there (upside down), but a crane has been brought in….and it was rush hour. Fortunately, I was already at my exit and the backup only slowed me down for about 5 minutes.

Rats. My parents had their house treated for rats. Insulation in the attic was replaced and holes in the eaves were sealed. There is a 10-year warranty. Hopefully this is a truly unique experience.

Grilling when it was windy. We didn’t use our gas grill when it was windy at our Maryland house, but we discovered that the house does a reasonable job of blocking the wind at our Missouri house….another reason to like our new location/house.

Laundered/dried our pillows in our new appliances. We don’t launder pillows frequently…and this was the 1st with our new washer and drier. We discovered that the sensor in the drier thought they were dry when they were dry on the outside…but not on the inside. We had to manually run the drier again….but the process was still faster than with our older appliances.

Bakery bread. I have started looking at the list of ingredients for breads…and buying ones where the ingredients are about the same as for homemade bread. It seems like commercial breads have a long ingredient list. I’m finding that the bakery breads with the shorter list taste great and are easier for me to digest.

A third COVID booster. My husband and I got the 3rd COVID booster along with a flu shot (one in each arm). I had more side effects (sore arm, aches) with this 3rd shot than I did the second…but they only were bothersome for about 24 hours and were completely gone in 48.