Another day out of jail....
Oct. 10th, 2013 02:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaI'm so loving this.
Today marks two full weeks completely wheat free. I walk without pain most of the time. My hands are working with no trouble. No longer am I having to deal with red, swollen, tender, hot joints in either my hands, feet, wrists and most importantly, my ankles. I have my moments where there's some discomfort from challenging my ligaments, but they're fleeting and controlled by my morning Celebrex.
And I'm no longer constantly scratching my head because of the psoriasis. It's a fraction of what it was.
This morning I ran on the elliptical at the gym for just over 45 minutes, covering 3.1 miles and burning a glorious 700 calories, if the machine is to be believed. A 15 minute mile ain't bad for someone my age, and for somebody my size, its downright impressive according to my doc. I had an appointment at 10:30 this morning and left the car at my office, choosing instead to make the 2 mile round trip on foot, just because I could. (And I am blessing my podiatrist office neighbor, who got me into these running shoes which are giving me the correct foot/arch/ankle support so I'm able to do this without injuring myself. He caught me me going out for a hike on Sunday afternoon and called out to me from behind, "not in those shoes you're not!")
So far I've said goodbye to 19 lbs since I started with the change 3 1/2 weeks ago.
Figuring out what's safe to eat is still a bit of a challenge. Deciphering wheat products in all of their incarnations is interesting. Maltodextrin? No, not on the list of things that are safe. Did that soup get thickened with flour or cornstarch? Not chancing it. Dealing with picking the croutons out of my salad, even though I told the waiter not to add them, and then skipping the dressing in favor of just plain oil and vinegar on the table. Again, hold the maltodextrin please. At least the waiter heard me, when I said, "dressing on the side please." It is however so totally worth it, not to have the arthritis and to be able once again, not feel disabled. It's kind of hard to identify as disabled, after doing a 3 mile run on the elliptical.
Incidentally, that's not something I would yet dare to do on open ground, and may never think of doing so. Running, your feet hit the ground with 3 g forces - multiply your weight by 3 and that's what your feet and weight bearing joints 'see' with each foot strike. The damage left by the 22 years of the psoriatic arthritis ain't going to tolerate that at my current size. One technically pedals an elliptical, so its a superb cardio workout, without the joint trauma. I've always wondered what it would be like to run a marathon, though. I doubt that with ever happen, but who knows? It I lose enough, I suppose anything is possible. Without the wheat on board, and without the pain, I itch to move every morning when I get out of bed. I can't wait to get out and see things, listen to the sound of the wind in the trees, in my hair, on my skin. It's delicious.
And this morning I finally felt it again. The first recurrent inkling of the runner's high. That was one of the things I used to love about the elliptical. Once upon a time it would hit at about 25 minutes in to a run. This morning I had my first taste of it again, some 35 minutes in. What a delicious sensation!
Off to patient care. My day awaits!
Today marks two full weeks completely wheat free. I walk without pain most of the time. My hands are working with no trouble. No longer am I having to deal with red, swollen, tender, hot joints in either my hands, feet, wrists and most importantly, my ankles. I have my moments where there's some discomfort from challenging my ligaments, but they're fleeting and controlled by my morning Celebrex.
And I'm no longer constantly scratching my head because of the psoriasis. It's a fraction of what it was.
This morning I ran on the elliptical at the gym for just over 45 minutes, covering 3.1 miles and burning a glorious 700 calories, if the machine is to be believed. A 15 minute mile ain't bad for someone my age, and for somebody my size, its downright impressive according to my doc. I had an appointment at 10:30 this morning and left the car at my office, choosing instead to make the 2 mile round trip on foot, just because I could. (And I am blessing my podiatrist office neighbor, who got me into these running shoes which are giving me the correct foot/arch/ankle support so I'm able to do this without injuring myself. He caught me me going out for a hike on Sunday afternoon and called out to me from behind, "not in those shoes you're not!")
So far I've said goodbye to 19 lbs since I started with the change 3 1/2 weeks ago.
Figuring out what's safe to eat is still a bit of a challenge. Deciphering wheat products in all of their incarnations is interesting. Maltodextrin? No, not on the list of things that are safe. Did that soup get thickened with flour or cornstarch? Not chancing it. Dealing with picking the croutons out of my salad, even though I told the waiter not to add them, and then skipping the dressing in favor of just plain oil and vinegar on the table. Again, hold the maltodextrin please. At least the waiter heard me, when I said, "dressing on the side please." It is however so totally worth it, not to have the arthritis and to be able once again, not feel disabled. It's kind of hard to identify as disabled, after doing a 3 mile run on the elliptical.
Incidentally, that's not something I would yet dare to do on open ground, and may never think of doing so. Running, your feet hit the ground with 3 g forces - multiply your weight by 3 and that's what your feet and weight bearing joints 'see' with each foot strike. The damage left by the 22 years of the psoriatic arthritis ain't going to tolerate that at my current size. One technically pedals an elliptical, so its a superb cardio workout, without the joint trauma. I've always wondered what it would be like to run a marathon, though. I doubt that with ever happen, but who knows? It I lose enough, I suppose anything is possible. Without the wheat on board, and without the pain, I itch to move every morning when I get out of bed. I can't wait to get out and see things, listen to the sound of the wind in the trees, in my hair, on my skin. It's delicious.
And this morning I finally felt it again. The first recurrent inkling of the runner's high. That was one of the things I used to love about the elliptical. Once upon a time it would hit at about 25 minutes in to a run. This morning I had my first taste of it again, some 35 minutes in. What a delicious sensation!
Off to patient care. My day awaits!
