Good Friday morning! Raeanne, bon voyage. I am so glad you got that package in time LOL! Have fun. John, see the effect you have on women! Sounds like you were the perfect gentleman. Good luck sleuthing, I mean babysitting! Hopefully they pay more for babysitting than .50 an hour that I was paid years ago. LOL Maddie, I am still trying to figure out how I can pull NYC off in December. I am in on the exchange too. Besh, have you given any thought to NYC? Good job on Dee's package BJ! Have fun at your planning party tonight. Planning is the key. Dee, enjoy all those lovely gifts! What a fun package to receive. Speaking of planning I have my carriage club's planning meeting tomorrow night. This is where we plan all the events for 2008. It's a pot luck (ugh) but I plan on being prepared for good eating with what I bring. I have to get a photo of this but will share so you can imagine what I am seeing: About 2 miles from my house is a lovely farm with big fields on both sides of the road and a lovely antique colonial home. The fields host flocks of sheep all summer and fall. On my way home Halloween evening someone had delivered to both fields huge piles of pumpkins for the sheep to eat. So I am driving along taking this all in. The sheep, some with black faces, eating from these huge piles of pumpkin, the setting sun filtering through the trees giving off this warm cast of oranges and golds through the leaves and a old man (presumably grandfather) standing next to this tow headed boy who is petting one of the sheep through the fence. It was all too beautiful. I will try to get a photo of the sheep and pumpkins but I doubt I the camera will ever be able to capture what is in my mind's eye. I hope you can imagine it.

I'll tell you what, I definately have a wheat and cheese monkey on MY back, lol! They both have opiate like substances in them apparently, but I'll bet peaches do too! ;) I was reading long ago about the possibly inflammatory properties of wheat gluten, and I went on a wheat free diet for months and months, (along with many other strategies) trying to lessen my severe menstrual cramps and migranes. Did not do a thing! I do have my problem foods, but thankfully it is not gluten. Salt, red meat, artificial sweeteners, alcohol and tea and refined flour and sugar are the things that bother my system. Like I said, I balance carbs with protein and fats to avoid the blood sugar spikes that go along with eating "unopposed" carbs. A sugar binge can trigger a migrane for me. But a sugar binge also piles on the pounds so I try not to do it for so many reasons. But along the way I picked up the idea of eating a balance of whole grains and not overdoing the carbs. Luckily I actually do not like refined white flour or heavily spiced and salted products and really sugary stuff, so I have no trouble staying away from it. Really good bread and cheese is harder for me to moderate myself on. One thing that is troubling to me is the COST of some of these wheat alternatives. I wanted to get some brown rice spinach linguine at the health food store, but it was $3.50 for 12 ounces and the whole wheat Barilla was $1.30 for the same amount. I'm unemployed right now and can no longer afford these types of products. I stick to oatmeal, cornmeal and brown rice for my carb alternatives. Occasionally some quinoa or barley. Pasture raised chicken by me is $3.50 per lb. and the regular old store bought stuff ins $2.00 and below. Needless to say we can't afford that either! And fish is a rare luxury.

If you can see a dietician, that would be a good start. Although they are not all created equal so it doesn't hurt to do a little research on your own. Monica gave good guidelines. I'm a 'diet' for gestational diabetes but it's really just the way one should eat. I get so many proteins, carbs and fats to eat but primarily I watch the carbs. You want to eat good carbs - whole grains, high fiber, low-starch vegetables and whole fruits in moderation. Eat lean meats and fish for protein. Eat good fats - olive oil, canola, etc. Use low-fat dairy products in moderation. You can eat well once you figure out what you can eat. I've been dropping back to simple meats and sides which makes it much easier. If blood sugar is a problem, you need to eat regularly with small snacks between meals and maybe even before bed. You want to avoid highs and lows. Without monitoring your blood glucose, it's hard to tell what's working or not in that respect. Everything else should fall into place. My BP was lower after not even a week. I'm eating less sodium just due to eating less junk.

There's a side-effect of Brewer's yeast: selenium-overdose, so cut back when you see the below signs of selenium-overdose, like garlic-breadth, below is from Livestrong.com: Hair, Nail, Teeth and Skin Changes Common early symptoms of selenium toxicity and poisoning involve the hair and nail beds of the hands and feet. Excessive selenium causes brittle hair, hair loss, deformed nails, brittle nails, sloughing off of nails, tooth discoloration, tooth decay and mottled or discolored skin. Jess: If you take Solgar probiotic and Brewer's Yeast together, the Brewer's Yeast has Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is a relative of Saccharomyces boulardii yeast (Florastor probiotics). Any yeast/fungus will wipe out BOTH beneficial bacteria and bad bacteria. Antibiotic penicillin is made from a yeast, or fungus. I once asked the biggest company in probiotics (Hyperbiotics) why don't they put Saccharomyces boulardii into their 15-bacteria-strains. They say that yeast will contaminate and wipe out the 15 good bacteria-strains. I STOP TAKING BREWER'S YEAST today for that reason, and for the research I did in the thread, "To your Mom", where I learned that Brewer's yeast kills both the bad bacteria like E. Coli, Salmonella, plus the good bacteria. Also I took only 1/2 tablespoon per day, but its high selenium made my fingernail chipped, plus I lost more hair. My hair is very thick, but it's annoying to see hair in the family's dinner. Nothing is wrong with Solgar, never see a bad review for that probiotics, and both I and my kid are taking Solgar-multidophilus for the past 2 weeks, zero gas nor tummy upset, UNTIL I took Brewer's yeast for the past 4 days. Then I got tummy-ache. Lots of people complain of tummy ache with Brewer's yeast on Amazon reviews. Four days of Brewer's yeast is like being on antibiotics again, since it wiped out the good bacteria that helped me to digest milk & cheese. So I have to take L. Acidophilus again just to digest dairy. I see brewer's yeast being useful only few days per week to supply B-vitamins & chromium .. then take a probiotics (good-bacteria like Solgar) at least 10 hours apart from brewer's yeast. That's what I did with antibiotics (which is a yeast/fungus): take it at breakfast & then at 4 pm, and wait for 7 hours before I took probiotics (good bacteria) before bed-time, to help digest my dinner. At the end when antibiotics Doxycycline tortured me with gas & upset tummy, I had to take probiotics (good bacteria) with antibiotics but I spaced them apart, with at least 7 hours gap. Here's from U. of Maryland Medical center: http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/brewers-yeast Side effects from brewer's yeast: gas. People who have frequent yeast infections or who are allergic to yeast should avoid brewer's yeast. From WebMD: People who are allergic or sensitive to yeast might experience itching and swelling. Crohn’s disease: Brewer's yeast can make Crohn's disease worse. Don’t use brewer’s yeast if you have Crohn’s disease.