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Top Ten Pros and Cons of an Allergy Elimination Diet

Top Ten Pros and Cons of an Allergy Elimination Diet

twigs bark leaves

For the past nine days–not that I’m counting–I’ve been on an elimination diet. Nothing serious. Just trying to get to the bottom of some allergy and sinus issues. The diet consists of twigs, bark, and leaves. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. But it is limited to lean meats, vegetables with low starch content, and nuts.

Not fun.

So every morning involves a positive self-talk. A pep rally of sorts that gives me the gumption to stick with it for another day. These daily pep talks include the constant debating of the diet’s pros and cons. Here are the top ten that get repeated again and again.

10. Pro: Doing this diet during grilling season means there are lots of delicious options for preparing lean meats and vegetables.

9.  Con: Starting the grill aggravates this princess’s smoke allergies.

8.  Pro: Some of my favorite foods–onions, garlic, and fresh coconut–can be eaten often. Very often.

7.  Con: I am becoming rather fragrant. And I nearly injured myself cracking open a fresh coconut.

6.  Con: It’s hard to get enough calories on a diet of twigs, bark, and leaves lean meat, green veggies, and nuts.

5.  Pro: A diet of twigs, bark, and leaves lean meat, green veggies, and nuts promotes weight loss.

4.  Pro: My sinuses feel much better.

3.  Con: If my sinuses feel much better on this diet, parts of it may need to continue beyond 2 weeks.

2.  Con: If parts of this diet have to continue beyond 2 weeks, my pants may get too loose and fall off.

1. Pro: Never before in my entire life has the above sentence been necessary.

Are you on a diet? What are the pros and cons you debate each morning? Leave a comment.

Three Very Clean Thoughts for Thursday

Three Very Clean Thoughts for Thursday

too clean

  1. Have you heard the good news? A recent Swedish study says our clean houses may be causing allergies in kids. I plan to cut my cleaning efforts by half to celebrate.
  2. The good news is even better for this mom whose kids were grown and out of the house before the study came out. No need to worry about them using the results to get out of cleaning their rooms.
  3. However, would you please keep the news to yourself? The Man of Steel, who is also Chief Vacuum Officer at this house, doesn’t need to know.

How are you celebrating the good news?

Three Breezy Thoughts for Thursday

Three Breezy Thoughts for Thursday

After a week of wind, the weather finally settled down. To celebrate the fact that residents of our fair town are no longer in danger of wind surfing down the street each time they unzip their coats, here are three breezy thoughts for this spring Thursday:

  1. Two weeks into the war against allergens, we’re engaged in a battle against dust mites. So far the mites are winning.
  2. After 16 weeks, my name made the top of the library’s waiting list for the new Catherine the Great biography. Twenty pages in, after reading about her father (in his 30s) marrying her mother (in her early teens) in a match not made in heaven, it’s already obvious poor Sophie (aka: Catherine the Great) doesn’t have a chance for a normal life.
  3. Wouldn’t it be lovely if the wind expired along with the wind advisories?

What kind of weather would you consider lovely this spring?