Someone asked on another thread about my weight loss so I thought I'd start a new topic.

At my heaviest I was 110kg (I am 5' 8"). I am now down to 78kg.
When I started this process, I wasn't actually changing my lifestyle to lose weight but that has been an amazing side effect.
I've had all my clothes taken in several times and my seamstress has insisted there are some things that just can't be taken in more!

A few years ago I started having a lot of health issues, I was eating out a lot and having a lot of fun with the cocktails and rich food.
I was having a lot of symptoms but didn't connect any of them.

Exhaustion, aching bones (I thought I had arthritis), swollen joints, swollen extremities, tingling and numbness (at the same time!) in my fingers, which made typing very difficult.
Sometimes the soles of my feet were so swollen I couldn't walk. I would often have a nap in the afternoon and wake up completely shattered and unable to move. I thought it was low blood pressure, iron deficiency, all sorts of things. Some days I couldn't work, I was just too tired.

But it turns out it was gluten, which is contained in the flour of wheat, rye and barley.
I also found out gluten causes and increases anxiety and depression.

So the cycle would go like this-
I would feel depressed because I was feeling awful. So to cheer myself up, I'd have a cake. The cake would trigger all sorts of physical nastiness, as well as anxiety and depression. The more I ate, the worse it got.

I was on holiday in Vietnam a couple of years ago with someone who is gluten intolerant (and his wife is lactose intolerant) - one can have the milk and one can have the cookies. lol.

After talking about symptoms and doing some research, I completely flicked the switch, to see what would happen.
It was easy in Vietnam to be gluten intolerant, everything is made with rice flour. I went off dairy at the same time, just to make sure it wasn't a lactose intolerance (which has some of the same symptoms).

When I got home after my holiday I had a glass of milk and was fine.
I had a sandwich and knew within a few hours that my diet had to change radically. I had to eliminate flour!
There is hidden flour in all sorts of things, even soy sauce! So for example, sushi is fine - the rice is fine, the mayo is fine, the wasabi is fine, the fish is fine - but the soy sauce could wipe me out for three days!

I have done more reading and research and it seems I have IBS as well, which is often linked to gluten intolerance. So now I've cut down on alcohol a LOT, I balance each drink with a glass of water.
I've also cut down as much added sugar as I can. Everything is made from fresh ingredients, I have a lot of salads, vegetables, rice is okay but I avoid fried food as much as possible.

It's been quite a challenge but I feel FANTASTIC!
I wake up with energy, I can focus, my insides feel great and I am proud of how I look on the outside.

Please feel free to ask questions, I am not a dietitian or any sort of professional, but I am happy to share my experience.

IraHayes wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 10:54 am Thank you for sharing.

I trust we will see you at next weeks meeting?

There's a meeting?

you need some sausage rolls

PIEMAN wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:57 pm you need some sausage rolls

I miss sausage rolls.

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:25 pm Traditional Chinese Medicine

is that the one involving tiger paws, bat hearts, and so on?

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:25 pm Well done Roz.
I think Traditional Chinese Medicine has a lot to offer. TCM comes at you from a totally different POV from western medicine. Some of the basics are whether you are too hot or too cold and too damp or dry inside. Until recently the official cause of death in Cambodia was often "hot inside".
This diagnosis then leads to a recommendation to avoid certain foods, such as no dairy if you are hot and damp inside.
Western doctors scoff at the recent trend towards food "allergies" (an allergy should be life-threatening!) and even debunk intolerances. But a good TCM doctor can help people address fundamental imbalances in the body by adjusting diet, taking TCM and doing acupuncture. Unfortunately, I don't know of any in Cambodia.
I also think that we are too concerned that our food should taste great, just look at all of the competitive cooking shows on TV.
Restauranteurs will tell you that most food tastes great if you are hungry enough.
We should instead focus on listening to our bodies and ingest what our bodies need.
For drinks, again we have a huge array of them marketed at us when mostly our bodies simply need water.
Bon appetit!

I'm drinking two coconuts a day. My skin isn't as dry as it used to be.