Day Five - sulfites and arthritis?

I was happy to lose another 0.8 lbs today. Turns out there's a lot of really yummy food on this diet. I actually plan on keeping several of the recipes I've tried so far, for when I don't even have to eat it just because I like it so much. Dinner was really great. I made asparagus, with lemon juice and salt and pepper. I also made shrimp scampi, which had garlic, a little chicken broth, lemon juice, and parsley. So yummy! Oh, and I made some cool coffee drinks too; crushed ice, coffee, dark chocolate stevia, vanilla creme stevia, and a tablespoon of milk. Yum. For lunch Mom made me chicken salad; chicken, celery, and apple. So simple but super good.

I had an interesting experience, though. I have ankylosing spondylitis, which is arthritis. The pain comes and goes and is very inconsistent. As long as I'm monitoring my diet, I'm trying to pay attention to whether particular foods influence my pain. Before I started hCG, I celebrated my 21st birthday with a glass of Sangria. The next morning, I had severe joint pain. The next evening I had another serving of wine, and before I even went to bed I started aching. Wondering if there was a corellation, I looked into it and found that some people are sensitive to sulfite, found in most wines. I didn't have any joint pain, essentially, for those five days between having the wine and tonight. However, right after dinner, I had a sudden flare up and my hips, knees, and lower back started aching (and still do! :( ). I looked into it, and turns out sometimes shrimp is preserved with sulfites. I actually e-mailed the company to ask if they use sulfite on their shrimp or not, because this could be an important clue into how to manage my arthritis. We'll see what happens!


Day five
Weight: 141.4
% Body Fat: 33.1