cold

Kate, I've not gone totally low-fat. I do still use olive oil when I saute stuff (and that's supposedly one of the "happy fat" sources) and I do still eat some nuts and cheese.

Though maybe I need to add a bit more back in. My skin is starting to look kind of flakeadelic so maybe I've cut too much.

I also wonder if I've loaded up too much too fast on antioxidants. I've read that people who get too MUCH vitamins A, E, or C (though I'm probably not getting too much E) kind of experience a low-level "blah" feeling, because their energy kind of gets sapped. (It has something to do with free radicals. Too many of them in your body and you die but too few and you're kind of miserable.)

I think a big part of the frustration with the eating plan is mental. I get the feeling of "Fud: Not yours" or "No, You Can Not Haz" (to put it in LolCatSpeak) and I just get frustrated because (for example) one of the skinny-girl students in one of my classes will sit down and unwrap her daily fast-food sandwich and eat it all up and I'm headed back to my office for watery yogurt and high-fiber crackers. (And I don't even LIKE fast-food sandwiches).

I wouldn't do well if I had salt-sensitive hypertension or if I developed Type II Diabetes (which actually, this plan is a frantic and probably over-worried attempt to prevent. I really probably am not at that great a risk because I get enough exercise and all, but when the news is trumpeting "Fatties: you're gonna die soon!" on a regular basis at you, it's hard not to fall into the trap of "must...punish...self...for...liking....sugar") because of the restrictive eating plans those require.

I think a big part of the frustration is a failure-of-the-imagination too. There are just honestly not that many vegetables I like, and of the ones I do, there are only so many ways to prepare them. (And carrots and celery and their relatives are out - I am actually allergic to carrots and their kin. And I can't eat raw broccoli or cauliflower because they cause some really unpleasant digestive issues). And there are only so many sources of "lean protein" - I've been rotating chicken breast, beans, low-fat cheese, and boiled eggs and I'm getting really tired of all of those. I feel like all the food I'm eating (well, except for the veggies and fruit) is white. White white white. Bleah.

I also think I may be fighting some kind of low-level cold or other respiratory virus. I've been sneezing, I've coughed off and on, I've had lots of muscle aches, working out has been hard because my chest feels like it's full of crap. And I'm just tired.

So I said the hell with exercise this morning and didn't, because my back hurts and my knees hurt and my chest hurts and I just feel like crud.

Heh. If nothing else this whiny post gives me another use for the "food?" tag.