Health things

Its day 2 of the new Weight Watchers program, and overall, its going well!

The new points system is a little harder for me to get used to, but I know deep down that these changes are all positive and goal-oriented.  I may have had a minor meltdown in the grocery store when I realized that bread has a lot higher point count than it used too--mostly because the new point equation takes carbs into consideration.  (Bread is my kryponite...I've never given it up, always said I've wanted to be "well-rounded" and not cut out any food groups.)   But I'm coming around to the idea of less bread.  People that eat less of it lose weight, right?  Haha.  I ate my chili stuffed turkey burger on two pieces of lettuce with a side of teriyaki vegetables, and was sufficiently satisfied.  :)

I get 26 points everyday.  I'm finding that I'm blowing through these pretty easily--3 meals a day plus 1 non-fruit/vegetable snack, and I'm out.  (Oh, and a small vanilla latte--no one said anything about giving up coffee!)  Then, I have 46 flex points that I can use throughout the week.  I can either divide these points evenly up each day, or I can splurge and use more of them on one day.  I feel like it is a testament to my will power, but I'm trying not to touch these extra points.  At least not at first.  Yesterday I used all 26, and as of tonight, I have 1 left for the day.  Trying to conserve my points is making me ultra aware of everything I'm eating and/or snacking on, ANDDDD...I didn't eat ONE sample (food or coffee) at work today.  Didn't want to waste my points!  :)  (Weight Watchers only seems to work for people who care about their points.  I'm trying not to become neurotic about them.)

In other news, these past couple of weeks I've really been focusing on my overall health, not just my weight loss journey.  As some of you may know, I've suffered from chronic stomach pain pretty much since I started my weight loss journey back in late 2009.  My doctor at school never really seemed to figure out the problem.  They thought it was my uterus, ovaries, IBS, ulcers, kidney stones, ect ect.  Justin and I ended up paying way too much for doctor's bills that told us nothing.  I gave up, and moved on to pain management.  I figured out that if I take 1 pro-biotic pill a day, I generally have little to no stomach/intestinal pain.  So that's what I've been doing for the past year or so.  I've talked to lots of people with similar issues, and have gotten lots of theories.  Recently, I've stumbled upon 2 pretty likely culprits:

Either, I'm gluten sensitive (or intolerant), and gluten is destroying the natural bacteria in my intestines, orrrrr...
the Splenda that I've consistently been eating in my coffee, coke, and desserts is essentially doing the same thing.

Either way, these both seem like easily fixable (though a bit daunting) problems.  I've been doing a lot of research on Truvia, the new "natural" no calorie sweetener that has recently hit the market.  So far, there doesn't seem to be any adverse side effects, and humans seem to be able to digest it and poop it out without problems (unlike Splenda, which apparently builds up in your body for years...uggghhhh.)  A recent university study showed that feeding Splenda to mice destroyed pretty much all of the good bacteria in their stomachs, and even worse, the bacteria didn't come back for 12+ weeks of no Splenda use.  Awesome?  Why didn't anyone tell me I was eating chemicals?  Okay, well, I know a couple of people have tried to tell me, but I was too stubborn to listen.  So I think I'll be giving Truvia a try, and selling my Costco sized boxed of Splenda on craigslist!

As for the gluten thing, I can get tested by a doctor, IF I can ever get my paperwork at work changed and filled out.  I get health insurance through them, I just don't currently have it.  I would love to get a gluten sensitivity test, to find out if maybe that's the cause (or an added cause) to my pain.  Going gluten free would be a pain in the ass, but something I could definitely adapt to if it meant no more pain!  A person who is adversely affected by gluten can have a healed stomach in as little as 6 months after changing their diet.  I guess its good to know that even if you abuse the bacteria in your stomach for years, its still willing to come back!  :)

Well, that's all I've got.  Here's to hoping I have an excellent weight loss week, and also to hopefully getting some answers soon!  :)