Tuesday: Rest

Today I was planning on going for a swim after work only to remember that I had an acupuncture appt. at 3:30pm. We were going over my MRT (Mediator Release Test) and reviewing my LEAP (Lifestyle Eating and Performance) program. Daniel explained to me what the MRT was testing for and how this test is not 100% accurate but gives us a good place to start in figuring out what foods are causing my breathing issues. There are 150 foods/chemicals/additives that they test to see which are causing sensitivity reactions. It quantifies how strongly my immune cells react to the foods and food chemicals tested by measuring intracellular mediator release indirectly. When released from immune cells, chemical mediators such as histamine, cytokines, and prostaglandins produce damaging effects on body tissues, leading to the development of symptoms.

So, by following a strict eating plan, I will systematically build a healthy diet of foods that I can tolerate. It's a 5 week phase and am quite limited to what I can eat.
First Phase: one week long.

Protien: Scallops/Beef/catfish/Tilapia
Starches: Millet/Quinoa
Veggies: Broccoli/Spinach/String beans
Fruit: Cantaloupe/Olive/Blueberry/Papaya
Dairy: American Cheese/Whey
Nuts: Olive/Almond Nuts
Flavors: Parsley/Black Pepper/Honey

This is going to be very interesting and I am anxious to get started to see if my breathing really does improve. Phase 2 I will add a few more things in each category but stage 3-4-5 I just add one extra thing per day.

I figure now is a good time for me to do this as I am not running at all, I can work my cycling/swimming and Yoga into this routine pretty easily. I will be laying low for the first 2 weeks and then by the 3rd phase I should be able to at least eat out at a restaurant if I wanted to. My next big race isn't until May 9th and I should be done with my so called "diet program" by the first full week of April.

Intersting that my tests did show that I am sensitive to coffee/tea/cocoa/walnuts...all of which I know bother my breathing, however, Mushrooms/onions/mustard/turkey/spelt are on my reactive list as well but not sure how or if they are making the breathing worse.

We are hoping that once I go thru this we can pinpoint exactly which foods trigger my breathing problem and then go about trying to get those foods slowly introduced back into my system on a rotation diet....rotating foods into my diet every 3rd day so it is harder for it to produce an inflammatory response.