Health Check

Post From Nov 13, 2006:

Well, I think I have finally figured out some of the things I am allergic to. This process has taken me several years now and NUMEROUS bottles of pepto. Most of these items I know I have a "problem" with, and the last I am still experimenting with.

Peanut Butter
Raw Peanuts
Beef - more than a hamburger worth
Red Sauce with spices
Coffee

I can eat cooked peanuts - like those found in Baby Ruth bar - but not uncooked ones. It treats me just like the peanut butter. I am not allergic to it in the sense of a peanut allergy, but it creates a big painful lump within my stomach and just sit there. I will occasionaly get indigestion from it.

The last three (beef, red sauce with spices, and coffee) cause my system to be flushed out repeatedly. Now, I can handle normal quantities of these items, but any bit more and I suffer. I can eat a regular hamburger, or a steak, and be just fine. But, give me 2 hamburgers, or hamburger helper made with >1 pound of meat, or a BBQ feast and I will be miserable for days. Just like with peanuts, I will get this knot/plug in my stomach that will painfully sit there until it sloooowwwlly leaves my system.

So far, I have not had any coffee over the last month or so and I have been healthier during that time. I still need to conduct an experiement with just coffee to see if it affects my system. It could be just a coincidence that I was drinking coffee during the period of time that my stomach was not happy.

So, I have been eating more chicken and pork lately.

I still have not figured out what it was in one of those boxed-bake-dinner meals that caused me to be violently ill moments after eating it.

My back continues to be a problem and causing me to be less active than I want to be. I am unable to jog at all. My muscles continue to atrophy due to my inactivity. Sitting in a chair at work numerous hours a day and sitting in a chair at home working on a computer for school assignments does not help my situation much either.

And now that my waterbed is gone to water-heaven, sleeping on an air mattress isn't the best thing in the world for my back either. However, I must say that it is more comfortable than alot of regular beds I have slept in (thinking of the many luxury hotel beds I have slept in over last few years). So, for now, I continue to gain weight and lose muscle strength. I am really hoping that my next job will place me near a gym. Ideal situation would be to work for an organization that has a gym located on its campus.