Food

 Recently I was told I should have a food blog and show things that I cook & bake and talk about food .....well made me think about the blog I started three years ago which was this one.  So instead of inventing something new with having a new blog sitting out in cyberspace might as well take the same block which talks about travels escapes and coffee and creates a different format for it so here we go.

I've always had a difficult time with food - I love cooking, cooking for other people & entertaining has  is been a true joy of my life. But the struggle with food is always a difficult one with me. I'm a total foodie, I love restaurants, love socializing around food. With that being said,  food is sometimes my enemie. I go through phases of my life where I eat totally healthy, start diets & break diets, I gain weight and I lose weight -  it's been a struggle for over 20 years.

This year I finally have come to the conclusion that that's enough I've never weighed as much as I way right now,  I've never been as unhappy with my appearance as I am right now......so things have to change.  I've recently got some medical issues that I'm finding are food related (Gout) as well so change is a good thing. With that being said I'm learning about different foods and how they react to me.

 So everyone always refers to GOUT as the old man's disease. Well women do get gout too (mostly to women after menopause) and since I only have one kidney, I am a little more susceptible to getting gout plus the food that I was eating  triggered episodes and after a lot of analyzing what I  found that there were certain food triggers that would bring on a gout episode. For me it was mushrooms, beef & asparagus. Well after the last two episodes they were probably the worst and most excruciatingly painful all times I've ever had.

I bought a book that provided  me with more information on gout that I've ever had before and I found my list of food triggers or far larger than just those three items.   Again food is my enemy. But that being said coffee and espresso is high am a list to help with some gout and inflammation ........inflammation - I've been told that I have quite a bit of inflammation throughout my body, my hands are always swollen (just thought they were fat pudgy hands but they're always swollen),  my feet and ankles constantly are swollen, I thought a lot of it was to do with flying because I am on a number of planes every week and the altitude really does not help with the lack of circulation that I have with my legs & feet.

So it was suggested that I go see reflexologist well I've done that the last few weeks and it is in life-changing let me tell you. The first visit my feet were so non-inflamed and swollen that my shoes were falling off just been a fantastic journey with my reflexologist. As painful as the sessions are I really think it's helping