Let's talk....YEAST/CANDIDA!! #2

[Jonika]

Welcome Susan! Keep us posted. It looks like you are a very STRONG woman who can do ANYTHING to stay healthy and happy. I wish your daughter the best of luck (good grades too!!! )...

[Kattbelly]

Originally Posted by Jonika

Kattbelly
Thank you so much for all the information you provided! I just bought that clay and I will start using it as soon as I receive it. I will let you know how it works on me. I will also read your older yeast threads, thanks for the tip.

I am taking yeast killer pills right now - my doc gave me a 6 month supply and I am being strict with the diet + the clay detox...so hopefully, it will help to some extent.

My pleasure Jonika, I hope it helps. Not every thing that worked for me will work for others, but hopefully it gives others ideas of things to try if what they're doing isn't working for them.

Keep us updated on what is working for you and what isn't.

[Iwillbeskinnyagain]

I have candida and I am addicted to carbs but I hate vegetables and I don't want to eat chicken and red meat anymore because they're hormonated and I also don't want to eat fruits because in my country they use pesticides
What can I do to get rid of candida and controle my carb addiction?

[Kattbelly]

You prolly already know what you need to do Iwillbeskinnyagain. Bite the bullet, go completely low carb, and eventually your carb addiction will subside if you don't feed it. We carb addicts are especially prone to Candida, because the Candida can actually make you crave the foods that feeds it.

I wish you well!

[gilbabe75]

I am sorry to just jump in, but wanted to ask a question before I started reading all of the pages and pages of information. Just in case I'm totally off base. I think I may have a yeast issue but I'm not sure. I have never had one in the past but cannot lose weight on any plan to save my life. I also have wicked periods and although I haven't had any yeast issues, I can say that maybe down there is a little off? Also, I have developed a lily/allium intolerance. I work with flowers all day and cannot stand to be around oriental lilies. Handling them and smelling them gives me an instant headache, nausea, thirst and weakness. As that gets worse, so does my intolerance for garlic and onions. To encounter someone with garlic breath makes me sick, to have any garlic smell in my fridge, *gag* to eat onions causes me extreme thirst, cramping. If I ate onion rings its the worst. Raw onion severe cramping and gas. The smell of allium flowers I cannot stand. I have read that this may be caused by yeast, but may be heavy metals from amalgam fillings. I have other symptoms too but not sure what fits. My thyroid is fine. Do you think this is a good place to start? Thank you.

[tweetynole]

Originally Posted by gilbabe75

I am sorry to just jump in, but wanted to ask a question before I started reading all of the pages and pages of information. Just in case I'm totally off base. I think I may have a yeast issue but I'm not sure. I have never had one in the past but cannot lose weight on any plan to save my life. I also have wicked periods and although I haven't had any yeast issues, I can say that maybe down there is a little off? Also, I have developed a lily/allium intolerance. I work with flowers all day and cannot stand to be around oriental lilies. Handling them and smelling them gives me an instant headache, nausea, thirst and weakness. As that gets worse, so does my intolerance for garlic and onions. To encounter someone with garlic breath makes me sick, to have any garlic smell in my fridge, *gag* to eat onions causes me extreme thirst, cramping. If I ate onion rings its the worst. Raw onion severe cramping and gas. The smell of allium flowers I cannot stand. I have read that this may be caused by yeast, but may be heavy metals from amalgam fillings. I have other symptoms too but not sure what fits. My thyroid is fine. Do you think this is a good place to start? Thank you.

I know that having the yeast/candida supposedly causes you to be really sensitive to smells and such. I know I am. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if you have it. Why not try the protocol and see if you improve? All you have to lose is weight

[tweetynole]

Originally Posted by tweetynole

Hi Everyone! My name is Susan, and I've struggled with weight and candida issues for most of my life. I am diagnosed with fibromyalgia, although I seriously doubt if I have it, tbh. I feel that most, if not ALL of my issues stem from an abundance of candida.

I started on the Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type diet a few months ago. While this worked really well for getting rid of most of the bloat, diarrhea, etc as it took away wheat and dairy from my diet, I wasn't losing any weight for the most part. I started looking into the "yeast factor" again as I just went through hell with a terrible vaginal yeast infection, a rash all over my face and neck that caused my right eye to be swollen shut, and I was so lethargic I could not function. I thank god I was unemployed as this would have made it VERY hard to go to work. Candida was an underlying issue with me as I was still eating sugar (okay on that diet) and was downing some green tea with honey in it all day long every day. THEN, to make matters worse, we have a mold issue in our house, and my moronic roommate decided not to do anything about it. This sent me into a tailspin.

So, I have been reading up on the boards here, and I started using ACV on the advice of a friend that I know that has Candida issues as well. I even wiped my rash with it straight, and low and behold the rash has vanished and I feel like a new person. I am also taking it internally, and I was eating greek plain yogurt for a week. In order to not be "off the diet" I chose to buy some lactobacillus supplements and take them instead of eating the yogurt. I am on my way to Walmart in a few to get some CO and I plan on using that with baking soda. The brain fog is starting to lift. And while I am still a tad itchy "down there", it's 99% better.

So, as you can see, I'm on my way. I'm going to try not to cut carrots and the other "questionable" veggies out of my diet just yet. I want to see how I get on without doing that. I'm already pretty restricted.

I will keep you all posted on my success. The hard part (giving up dairy, sugar, and wheat) has already been accomplished. My main issue when I am on the Atkins diet is that it's really hard for me to eat enough. I am not very hungry. And although this seems like a blessing, as you know, if you don't eat enough, you won't lose weight. So that is my challenge.

One question for now....I was used to drinking protein shakes to get all my protein in every day. I used egg protein in soy milk...usually chocolate. Being that I'm on induction, I assume soy milk is out of the question. So, I want to mix my protein powder with something...can't do fruit juice, obviously, and I can't do any sort of milk. It would be gross in water. I am clueless. Any ideas would be welcomed.

Susan

Sorry, I said I'm taking CO and baking soda....that would be CO and then ACV and baking soda. The other just made no sense LOL

[gilbabe75]

Originally Posted by tweetynole

I know that having the yeast/candida supposedly causes you to be really sensitive to smells and such. I know I am. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if you have it. Why not try the protocol and see if you improve? All you have to lose is weight

Thank you. I went through the list of symptoms on the first thread and have 48 out of 73. I also have a wicked bad eczema like rash on the back of my neck and get rashes on my neck very easily. I will try and see!

[Kattbelly]

My neck is one of my worst places for Candida outbreaks. I wonder if it's cuz we have so many lymph glands in our neck/head area?

[gilbabe75]

Originally Posted by Kattbelly

My neck is one of my worst places for Candida outbreaks. I wonder if it's cuz we have so many lymph glands in our neck/head area?

I thought it was my hairspray or sweat, in the front of my neck I thought it was my lotion. I haven't been doing LC in years and truthfully, being totally honest, I drink a fair amount of vodka right now. Does that make it worse?

[gilbabe75]

Does this look like yeast to anyone?

[gilbabe75]

Sorry to ask so much.... Have you heard of yeast issues along with allium intolerance issues? Or problems with the lily family? I have severe issues with lilies, allium, onion and garlic and I see alot of peo;ple saying to take garlic to help with yeast. I don't know even know where to start.

[Kattbelly]

Originally Posted by gilbabe75

I thought it was my hairspray or sweat, in the front of my neck I thought it was my lotion. I haven't been doing LC in years and truthfully, being totally honest, I drink a fair amount of vodka right now. Does that make it worse?

For me, alcohol is one of the worst things for the breakouts. Recently my husband and I were having fun with cocktails-trying new recipes and all. I was having one or two cocktails a nights for a while and all of a sudden I got a huge breakout all around my neck! If I drink occasionally, it doesn't seem to affect it, but obviously for me everyday for long periods is a no no.

[Kattbelly]

Originally Posted by gilbabe75

Sorry to ask so much.... Have you heard of yeast issues along with allium intolerance issues? Or problems with the lily family? I have severe issues with lilies, allium, onion and garlic and I see alot of peo;ple saying to take garlic to help with yeast. I don't know even know where to start.

I have no knowledge of allium intolerances, but if you have any issues with garlic I sure wouldn't take garlic pills. There are many alternative natural yeast fighters out there that you can skip the garlic and do just fine.

I rotate every other week curcumin and garlic (obviously the garlic's not a good idea for you) one week, and the next week oil of oregano and grapefruit seed extract. You can use colloidal silver-which I'm using this week as a matter of fact (to try to combat my alcohol skin break out). You can take it internally and also rub it into your skin. I have a lot of success with coconut oil, which I take internally and use as a moisturizer-the best moisturizer I've ever used, but only minimal success with Apple Cider Vinegar, although I know many people have really good results from the ACV-it's one of those YMMV kinda things, you just gotta experiment and see what works best for you.

[Jonika]

Kattbelly, thanks for your posts i will keep you posted about my reaction to the clay.

Gilbabe, yes, it looks like a skin yeast infection, but can't be sure for 100%. Let me ask you something. Do you experience itching there? Think hard. It may itch just once a day - but the itch is so strong and it happens so suddenly that you have to scratch it. I see you have long hair and the infection naturally develops in places that are warm and sweaty (like the back of you neck, between your toes, etc.). Yes, your odor intolerance could be yeast related...

Ladies, I've been on an antifungal med for a few days now and it's astonishing what a difference it's made! I used to get bloated very much from eating anything with polydextrose (low-carb ice cream, low-carb chocolate) or maltinol (low-carb chocolate). Yesteday, I had a whole bunch of low-carb ice cream and I experienced almost no bloating or gas...This is such a revelation for me! It makes me feel even more convinced to follow low-carb diet...All my yeast problems are diminishing right now and it's such a releaf. Finally, I can relax and stop thinking about this s***t for a day or two. However, I know I haven't won yet because I don't know what's going to happen after I go off of the antifungal med.

[tweetynole]

So I decided to try ACV and baking soda the other day. It was weird. I hear people say that the ACV gives them energy. I don't think ANYTHING gives me energy LOL. Anyway, after I took it I was really light-headed and in a big brain fog for about two hours. Other than that, no issue.

Well, I have had important things to do the past few days, so I didn't want brain fog, and I really wanted to try the coconut oil, so I decided to do that. I don't know how you guys let it "melt in your mouth". I'm not too fond of it. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't make me sick and I can tolerate it, but I sure don't look forward to it! Anyway, I started with one teaspoon. Then two, and today it was 3. So far, so good. However, I rubbed it on my eczema and it really made me itch. I will keep the faith and try it again, but I don't really want to have any itching issues after the week I went through last week (god that was awful). I about scratched my skin off my face.

So, as I said, so far, so good. No side effects that I can detect. I'm keeping my fingers crossed

Susan

[vli1127]

Susan, I put my CO in my coffee. I don't let it "melt in my mouth". Otherwise, melt it and make a salad dressing out of it.

Now, I have a question, how do you know the difference between die off and the original symptoms? I am taking a homeopathic remedy and have been for about 10 days now. I still have all of the itching. I am using monostat in my ears and rear end. I am using CO haven't started with the aCV yet.

gibabe, it is hard to tell if the patch on the back of your neck is yeast. Sorry not much help. Nor do I know anything about alium issues. Have you tried searching yet? You might try Bee's candida site. Just Google it and you will find it I believe.

[tweetynole]

Originally Posted by vli1127

Susan, I put my CO in my coffee. I don't let it "melt in my mouth". Otherwise, melt it and make a salad dressing out of it.

Now, I have a question, how do you know the difference between die off and the original symptoms? I am taking a homeopathic remedy and have been for about 10 days now. I still have all of the itching. I am using monostat in my ears and rear end. I am using CO haven't started with the aCV yet.

gibabe, it is hard to tell if the patch on the back of your neck is yeast. Sorry not much help. Nor do I know anything about alium issues. Have you tried searching yet? You might try Bee's candida site. Just Google it and you will find it I believe.

It sounds like you are experiencing die off or you just have it so bad, that it's taking awhile to get over it, OR your remedy is not working. Not sure what to tell you. I know that about two weeks into my new eating habits all hell broke loose, and that was with no other intervention. My symptoms sure did worsen. That's how I knew it was die off. I am still having a bit of itching but it's very tolerable and could be because I'm still eating carrots and peas? I may actually do away with them once I've run out and see how that goes.

Think of it this way....it certainly didn't take you only a week to develop your candida issue and it probably won't take you a week to get rid of it. I guess if you continue and you see NO change, you need to ramp up your attack of the nasty stuff. That's my plan.

I know that after my die off ten days or so, I felt so much better, had more energy and wasn't as sleepy. So it's well worth the bad stuff I had to endure. I may only be in a lull and will have a rip roaring die off session again, though. I'm not too sure...I possibly didn't have it too long because I had already altered my diet two months ago to eliminate dairy and wheat. Who knows. Just hang in there and if you don't get to feeling any better soon, you may want to be a little more aggressive in your approach.

[Kattbelly]

Blarg, I don't just eat coconut oil either, lol. I usually cook with it.

We are all different, and what might work for me, might not be as effective for you. There are some foods I can eat just fine without candida issues, like carrots and peas, but some one else might not be able to. My body can't handle alcohol very well with Candida, other might not have a problem with it. It really is a YMMV kinda thing.

[5blues]

O.k. I have long history. I know I have yeast and I have tried to control it before and I was successful before. I have fibromyalgia it seems to be very quite right now. I conqueered that beast. I am wondering if it is really th yeast that made me that bad. I tried gse. and coconut oil. I take garlic everyday.

I changed my diet to add cream of wheat and apple cider vinegar. For two days I took makuna honey.That's all I did different and bam. The worse yeast infection I have ever had.I have only had five in my entire life. I am 45. I put on 20 pounds like overnight a couple of months ago. I thought it was from still breastfeeding. I stopped and lost one pound. So I have been doing garlic and eggs gse and as of yesterday coconut oil. I usually use udo's.My thyroid is overactive but I have nodules. I lost two pounds. which had been impossible to do I was walking an hour a day for a year and never lost a pound.I was eating very good. I have bad allergies so I eat mostly organic.

I want to try the apple cider vinegar with the co. I am afraid to it had taken four days just to not be in severe pain raw and itching in the womanly place.

here's the thing I am taking the garlic and I get pain in the wp. I drank coconut milk and started itching. The coconut oil is making the beat of my vein in my stomach beat harder.I didn't have this last time. I used my grapefruit seed extract. I start hurting but i know this helps. I drink a ton of water to calm it down. I even have the itching inside my ears and they peel My inside of my nose is itching. It feels like a bug is inside Crawling around. My dh took his medical tools and looked inside cause I was itching so bad. Has anyone ever been this bad and what worked some of the remedies that worked before work for only a couple hours than it stops. I am keeping at it. I have had eggs everyday for breakfast. chicken for dinner organic popcorn with turmeric. as a snack. water and lemon and o green tea once a day. a turkey burger w garlic for dinner plain. I am starving and What I cant get under control is the yeast. Does anyone have itching from die off?
I didn't last time It is usually itching form the yeast. If that is the case then nothing is working help! I did buy lifeway yougert with 11 probiotics and drank some of that yesterday. Is that what is not letting the yeast die off. Even my teeth hurt. They were fine before this. I had them cleaned a few weeks ago and my gum and teeth are healthy. I use tom's toothpaste. I appreciate any help. Do you think I should add back the acv? It's braggs with the mother. Any suggestions are welcome.
I am only on page 12 of the older post.

[Kattbelly]

Honesty I think wheat is one of the worst foods you can eat for yeast. I would def cut out the cream of wheat. Also, the popcorn isn't helping. Sugar is yeast food, so if there are any hidden sugars in your food it would be best to eliminate that while you are battling the yeast. I would eat very lc for a while so you don't feed the yeast. Keep reading and see what you think sounds good for you, because everyone's yeast problems aren't the same and we all respond differently to protocols. I'm not gonna outline what I do, cuz you can click on my nic and view my previous posts where I've described in detail what I've done. I had a MONSTROUS yeast infection and I had to go to some extreme measures to get it under control. I don't think you can cure Candida, but you can get it under control.

Basically you need to do three things to get the Candida under control:

1. Starve the yeast-through your diet

2. Battle the yeast-through antifungals like herbs, CO, ACV etc. and if necessary the only prescription that is available to fight fungus (which is what yeast is)-I had to do SEVEN courses of this as my infection was so bad. The brand I took was called Nystatin, but there are other brands with different names.

3. Eliminate the yeast-you can do this with things like benotonite clay, which if you are experiencing rectal itching it means you have yeast in your digestive tract. View my previous posts for more info on this.

I live my life trying to keep the Candida at bay. Which means I try to keep my diet clean of yeast food-like sugar and wheat. I continue my rotations of antifungal herbals, incorporate coconut products in my diet-not in weird ways like eating coconut oil plain-blarg!-but cooking with it, using coconut flour etc.I use Braggs ACV in salad dressings, beverages, etc.

I hope this helps!

PS for your ears, try putting some ACV or coconut oil, or colloidal silver on q-tips and swabbing inside your ears (and nose for that matter). It might help.

[5blues]

I will not cream of wheat again. I will cut out the popcorn I thought this was a safe snack. I believe you cannot ever get rid of it forever.It only goes dormant. I have had so many does of steroid for allergies and rounds of the worst offender cipro. My friend who is a trauma surgeon. He said it kills all good and bad bacteria. He tries not to give it to his patients.He picks other that aren't as bad. He told me when I met him that once you have cipro you bowel loses the good bacteria you are born with and you never get it back. He is very knowledgeable. I breast feed my son for four years. I stopped on his four b day. This is very rare in the us. Both his peditrician and my friends cannot
believe he is four and never been sick. I gave him organic vegatables the first two years along with breast milk. Then we added meats etc. and he was breastfeed only once at night for two years. He also doesn't get one than one vaccine at a time months apart. Today was a little better with eggs again for breakfast and chicken for lunch. I had it at bay but I think the cream of wheat did me in. I will stick to atkins and for a while then maybe try low carb slowly.I love meat my husband says I should be a cavewoman. I am going to ask my doctor for nystatin. I could feel today it was in my muscles. Thank you for all the info. I'm sorry you had to go threw it seven times.

[5blues]

I lost four pounds in five days. I feel better today still have the lingering signs of yeast. I know this is going to take a while this time to calm down and then get on a daily regime. I tried the oil pulling. I was able to do it for two minutes. I could of done it longer. I just don't want to overdo it and have a bad crash. I feel better than I have in my breathing. I am 45 and I was out of breath going up and down steps. I have always been small and in good shape until I got sick with fibro. They gave me tetracycline for what they thought was lyme disease. That was in 01. I've been blessed to always be 5'2' ad a size 2-4. I never had to work at it. I love walking and that was all I did. Today I weighted 152.5 and I am down four pounds in 5 days. My feet didn't hurt this morning my heels spurs have been awful. It is not good for me I am very small boned and the weight has caused all sort of problems. Finding this out may be my life saver. IN more ways than one. I haven't taken zyrtec in two days. I haven't been off it in years. I have the worst allergies ever. Like someone said. I was allergic to myself. They actually thought I had Pheochromocytoma. The doctors told me it would be malignant and I would not make it. Most people don't survive long. Thank god I didn't have it and Been able to control my allergies with zyrtec and the dreaded nasty steroids. which is a contributor to the yeast. I even had to take them my whole pregnancy along with zyrtec. I even had trouble in the delivery room with a mega does of steroids to stop a reaction. I still have a bad reaction. I have been in life threatening anaphylaxis more times then I care. I had my fist bad reaction after I had my son two weeks after I had him and here's the funny thing I had my first yeast infection. Now it all makes sense.

[Kattbelly]

That's great 5blues, I really hope you are able to continue on to getting the Candida managed.

[tweetynole]

Hi all! Sorry about being MIA. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

I continued on with my greek yogurt (plain) each day and the coconut oil. I got rid of my pesky infection. I finally started losing some weight! The problem was, along came Thanksgiving. I'm afraid my mom just doesn't get it. She seemed to sabotage my success while there, and I ended up falling off the wagon.

Cut to last week. I started having a few symptoms again. I have been playing with eating right ever since. Today I am back on the wagon and intend to be strict. I just found that a little temptation lead to a complete break down of the eating program I had put myself on.

I did find that my belly was losing faster than anything. I also had NO heartburn, no itching or rashes, no headaches, no belly bloat, and my sinus issues were improving. So WHY on earth would I start eating differently and give all that up?

Laziness! Well, that's over. I will not lie - when my daughter is home from college I do tend to indulge a bit. But when I am not "treating myself" I will be strict so that the damage is not too great.

I hope everyone else is doing well and in good health. Good to be back!

Oh, I am on coconut oil and I am adding in ACV, lactobasillus and I am taking myself off of yogurt. It's too hard to control...LOL

Susan

[Lillianna]

Hello everyone,
I'd love to hear what 'die-off' symptoms you experienced...I'm my 2nd week into making kefir and drinking two glasses per day. During my first week drinking kefir I started getting hives around my neck and chest. I'm about 4 days very low carb. I also started taking Culturelle and coconut oil yesterday (I've used CO off and on for years, but never as part of an candida protocol). I had a severe sore throat on Friday, took a bunch of vitamin D and C and I felt better yesterday. It's back today -- I feel awful...my head is stuffy/achey and I'm tired but my worst symptom is this sore throat. I can hardly swallow.

I haven't had a cold or sore throat for four years, since I started Vitamin D.
That's why I'm thinking this might be a die-off symptom.

My candida symptoms are fatigue, itchy ears, incapacitating brain fog, and joint pain and itchy skin. These have persisted for years.

Could a severe sore throat be a die-off symptom?

How do people deal with die-off while going about daily life? Yikes, I hope I can go to work tomorrow. I just took two ibuprofen and I''ll gargle with hydrogen peroxide and go to bed...

Looking forward to reading more of the first thread when I'm not so tired... What a wealth of information...

[vli1127]

Lilli, welcome. I don't have much to contribute as of yet. The homeopathic remedy I tried didn't work for me. I have the colon cleanse by Blessed Herbs waiting to be used. But, I am having surgery on the 20th and they recommended not to do the cleanse if having surgery. I will wait til after Xmas and do the cleanse. I sure hope it works.

[Lillianna]

Originally Posted by vli1127

Lilli, welcome. I don't have much to contribute as of yet. The homeopathic remedy I tried didn't work for me. I have the colon cleanse by Blessed Herbs waiting to be used. But, I am having surgery on the 20th and they recommended not to do the cleanse if having surgery. I will wait til after Xmas and do the cleanse. I sure hope it works.

Good luck, Vickie... This candida is hard to figure out! Let us know how the cleanse works...

Feeling better today and I'm thinking my sore throat was just part of a cold. I've cut back on the CO and increased the probiotics. Maybe I'll take more CO on the weekend when I don't have to be at work...

[realwinner]

Although this article does not specifically mention yeast or candida, it does discuss how antibiotics may increase weight while probiotics may cause weight loss.

Are Antibiotics Making Us Fat? | Yahoo! Health

[esam]

I'm new to this forum, but have been battling yeast F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!

My lastest attack has been going on since Thanksgiving. (almost 2 months) and I think in the last couple of days, I've found some relief. (Praise GOD !!!!)

I have the same back story as most of you, many rounds of antibiotics as a kid ( strep, tonsilitis, ear infections, etc.....) many courses of them in the 90's (my 20's) and I had a major outbreak 6 years ago when I was nursing my youngest ( both of us were pretty tore up) and was able to follow Dr. William Crook's yeast Connection program with success for over 3 months, but then gradually went back to "crap" eating ( SAD- Standard American Diet) I have always had problems with my weight, even topped 300 for a couple weeks when on antidepressants. ( one of the worse times in my life) Had tried atkins years ago and was amazed that it was the only time in my life when I was not plagued by obsessive compulsive sugar cravings.

Last August I went into the hospital and had my gall bladder removed (only one attack, but was pretty bad and the Dr's said I didn't have a choice)
At that point, yeast wasn't an issue, and I was more concerned about eating healthy. Reading extensively about whole natural foods, raw foods and the vegan lifestyle. I chose to be completely vegan. I embraced whole grains, some vegan sugary treats and fruit with abandon, LOVE LOVE LOVE being vegan, but after 4 months of this my body has been completely conquered by this evil viscious yeast!!! Tried for 4 weeks to eliminate wheat, sugar and mold (mushrooms and nuts, not cheese) STILL no frickin relief! SO then I went to the Dr, she gave me diflucan (200mg every 3 days for 15 days..... some releif. (tried the boric acid suppositories_ could barely leave it in for 5 minutes, crying and buring more than I could stand) tried to stay closer to vegan ( I really mentally and emotionally like this lifestyle, but I recognize that it's not working for my body)

After 3 days on eliminating carbs ( pretty much induction on Atkins) I can finally say that I have relief. I am eating (*gasp*) meat, eggs, some fresh veggies (yummmm) and after 4 months of giving up latte's (my true love) I have discovered the rich and satisfying "egg creams" that everyone is posting about. (Hallelujah)

I'm not sure I have a point, just need love and support I guess. Hoping that I can also shed this cursed weight as well. (have dropped down to 253, so I have a ways to go)

anyway, thanks for listening. I feel that after reading both threads, you guys of all people can understand me for the first time ever.!!!!