Liquid Nonsense

The other big story of the last month actually has to do with my dietary habits. Several weeks (months?) ago my doctor put me on the elimination diet to see if I had any potential food allergies that would have been interfering with all my physical activity and my ability to gain weight.

First, the elimination diet. It's an eating regiment that you go on for about 2-3 weeks to clear the system of anything that might be a potential allergens. This means you are not allowed to eat: wheat, dairy, corn, soy, peanuts, solonacea family, nightshades, egg, and a few other things. Not only can you not eat these things, you aren't allowed to eat anything that is derived from them either. Ketchup? Nope, generally has high-fructose corn syrup in it. Pita bread? Nope, has wheat. Licorice? Nope, wheat again. Tofu is out because it's made from soy. The list goes on and on of things your basically not allowed to have. Then, after two weeks of this you start adding in one new food every three days to see if it triggers a reaction in the body. Day one after the elimination period, we decide to try egg. Within about two hours my back had turned bright red, my skin completely broke out, and it felt like my stomach was full of shrapnel. The only other food that produced a result even close was dairy. Turns out I'm semi-lactose intolerant.

After completely eliminating egg from my diet (even the crazy hidden sources) I resumed my workout plan in early-mid October to see if I could finally make some gains. Lo and behold, I'm about 5-6 weeks in and I've made more gains in those last weeks than I have in the last 3-4 years. Fucking egg! Apparently it's presence prevents me from absorbing nutrients and throws off my hormone balance and generally interferes with body functions. Eliminating this one stupid food was the roadblock that's been in my way for years. Go figure. As of Tuesday evening I was up to about 144lbs from 139 in early October. Hooray!

Since I've had a legitimate battle wound.

Most of my martial arts workouts these days are purely sparring. I do the group class and work on the usual martial artsy things, and then for my own private instruction it's basically just fighting. I don't remember when it was specifically anymore, but at some point I stopped sparring with gloves, and at this point the thought of having to use them is kind of terrible.

Seth and I have some great matches, but tonight's was wicked. We were both "on." At one point Seth and I locked each other in close. I think he grabbed me, I think I swung for his head, I think he popped me in the face. I'm not sure as it was something of a blur. All I know is that one second he had my arm, the next he managed to get another one underneath me, and proceeded to shoulder throw me to the ground. In the air I tried to grab his throat, and when I landed I tried to kick out one of his legs. Next thing I know he has one of my legs pinned, is essentially kneeling over me... and punches my head into the ground. A new student, who used to train for a few years I believe in Tang Su Do, was watching. He had a sort of wide-eyed, oh-my-god-this-is-really-fucking-cool expression on his face as he watched us tear into each other. It's always funny watching other students from other schools see what we mean by black belt full-contact sparring.

Either way, the punch I received while prone left a cut underneath my eye and is starting to turn the area a yellow-ish color. I'm going to have a fun explanation at work tomorrow.