Still enjoying the gorgeous snow.  Our local school district rarely calls off school - generally, there has to be a blizzard in Hell before they will.  Amazingly, they called off today.  So even though we homeschool, I've always promised the girls that if the local schools are closed, no school for us either.  Needless to say, they were extremely happy and slept in very late today.

I had to go out and do a bit more shoveling this morning.  Two more inches had fallen since my shoveling last night and I hadn't even touched the front sidewalk and steps.  I'm sure the guy up the road who was playing with his snow blower thought shovelers like me must be jealous.  Nope, not one bit. 

From the looks of the weather forecast, this snow should hang in here and give us a white Christmas.  We will probably get a few more inches to top it off by next week.

~o~

My sister sent me an interesting little quote:  "Food is the new drug of the future."  I can believe it after researching into all this histamine reaction stuff.  How I made it this many years without killing myself is evidence of God's mercy for certain! 

It turns out that my most prized food, my morning standard...is full of histamines.  Whey protein is chock full of them.  Until I get my histamine levels lowered, I'm going to have to back off of that.  Spinach is high in histamines, too.  I just bought a big old bag of baby spinach two days ago.  Cheese, another necessity, is high in histamines.  I already new that old cheese was - I've had some nasty reactions from old gouda cheese.  (And I love, love, love gouda).  Chocolate is a no-no.  Why is it that all the good stuff has to be bad?

Leading up to this big allergic reaction, I realize that I was definitely chipping away at my immune system and my histamine response.  Intense exercise can lower your immunity for 3 - 4 hours after a hard workout.  Add to that what I've learned about hard exercising releasing histamines.  Yikes.  Then there is my daily choice of foods:  Whey protein, strawberries and non-fat yogurt every morning.  Cheese and tomatoes at some point every day.  Frequent spinach. Occasional dark chocolate.  Lots of fruit high on the histamine enabler list.  Delicious Quaker Oat Squares (which are full of wheat).  Whole wheat pasta.  Then of course, there was the super awesome high-intensity cardio I was doing - the progressive resistance HIIT.  All the stress from the wedding.  Add to it the Bactrim and I guess that was the straw that broke this camel's back.

Just cutting the stuff out of my diet for the past day has made an impact.  The fine rash on my face is disappearing.  I had eaten whey this morning and got all red within two hours, but that is gone now. 

I did find out something interesting:  Vitamin C is a strong natural antihistamine.  I had forgotten that years ago when an allergist was going to test Rhianna, he told me to make sure she didn't take any Vitamin C supplements for a couple of days before the test. 

There are some funky supplements that are supposed to help, but other than amping up my vitamin C, I'm not willing to take anything at all until I clear it with Dr. Allergy - or at the very least, my regular doctor who I see on Thursday.

~o~

I filed an official report at the health department today.  The head nurse is supposed to call me tomorrow morning, but I was asked if I wouldn't mind stopping in and talking to her personally. 

I spoke to an elderly couple, Helen and Mike, who I've come to know for the past couple of years at the gym. I told them my tale of woe -- and they were immediately concerned because Mike seems to have suddenly developed a pimple-type sore on the back of his leg and it has rapidly worsened.  I said to get him checked out right away before it gets worse.

I have to add that Helen and Mike have GREAT taste in books.  They've read lots of the same things I've read - The Ghost Map, for one - and have recommended great books to me.  Neat people!  Sometimes they bring me printouts of books they think I'll like with all the info from Amazon. :)

~o~

And yes, that means I went to the gym today.  I can't stand wasting money and I'm already all paid up for the month.  I sterilized everything before I touched it - and after. I Purelled my hand when I left, came home and showered with Hibicleanse.

Today's workout - aside from another 1/2 hour of shoveling.  17 minutes of MIIT (lol, that's what I decided to call Moderate Intensity Interval Training) on the Octane.  I kept my heart rate from 70 - 76%, which was quite a challenge.  I kept wanting to amp it up but had to tell myself, "Whoa, Nellie!")  23 minutes of circuit training.  An easy 8 minutes on the treadmill, 4.0 mph, 4% incline. All told that is 48 minutes at the gym.  Half the time I used to spend. 

I'm going to be following Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training once again.  He's all about getting in and out of the gym in 45 minutes with a fantastic workout behind you. Efficiency, efficiency.  Everything is done in a slow tempo, with no rests between sets.  So it's 1 count to lift, 2 counts to lower, ever-so-brief-pause then lift again.  Of course, I was supposed to do the HIIT now MIIT after the weights, but I had an opportunity to be on the Octane and took it.

dumbbell split squats 8/70
dumbbell incline chest press 8/70
Superset 3X

stability ball leg curl 15
push-up 15
Superset 3X

stability ball jackknife 10
dumbbell rear delt raise 10/24
Superset 3X

The snow fell yesterday, followed by the rain and the ice.  This afternoon the snow began to fall again and added 6 more inches to the snow/slush mix that was already there. It is beautiful powdery stuff.  The stuff that is perfect for sledding...and I would dearly love to go sledding.

Next best thing to sledding:  Shoveling!  I love, love, LOVE to shovel snow.  Erin came out to watch me shovel and said, "Yep, there's my mom, the one who likes to do anything that involves moving things into piles...leaves...snow..." I then reminded her that I would not be fond of raking/shoveling manure.

Shoveling is exhilirating...and I was quite able to convince myself that it wasn't "working out," it's necessary work.  Someone has to do it and it might as well be someone who likes it.  Sounds like a good argument to me.

We couldn't make it out to church this morning due to icy, untreated roads.  The weather was so bad that all evening services were cancelled.  That means that Erin's Christmas program is delayed until next weekend.  She is singing a couple of duets and we were so excited.  We also had to reschedule my father's birthday celebration.  Just cake and ice cream, he's not up to much since his fall last week.

~o~

I think I'm on to something with this whole allergy business.  I already know that I have a strong reaction to histamines in food.  I thought I was a total nutcase because I felt like I was hooked up to intravenous espresso when I ate tuna, salmon or cod.  Turns out that those fishes are high in histamine and in sensitive individuals it can cause some nasty effects.  WELL, I have been unknowingly eating foods that are either high in histamine or are foods that encourage the release of histamines.  Every morning I drink a protein shake made with 1/2 banana, a scoop of whey protein, flaxseed meal, psyllium husk, nonfat plain yogurt and frozen strawberries.  Yogurt and strawberries are high in histamines.  Apparently tomatoes, wheat and milk all carry very high levels of sulfur which screw with histamine levels.  That antibiotic is probably what put my body over the edge.

I read some research that indicates that if you eat a high histamine food and exercise within a few hours that you will likely have an episode of angioedema or urticaria (if you tend to have a problem with histamines).  I have *never* had exercise induced hiving before...but I have eaten the wrong foods before exercising, including the other day when I curtailed my workout due to becoming flushed. 

Sooooo... I'm cutting out all the high histamine foods until I go back to the allergist.  I already cut out wheat because of the nasty lip reaction. 

Now...if wildest thoughts came true, I would love to be like those yogis who walk on hot coals and don't even blister because they've learned to control their vagus nerve.  Imagine if I could harness that and zen my body into not reacting in crazy ways.  Not likely to happen, but it would most definitely be wonderful if mind over matter could work like that. 

My dear, sweet Aunt Louise called me earlier today.  (She's the amazing woman who at 76 years old walks several miles a day, lifts weights and doesn't look a day over 50).  We were talking about allergy problems, of which she has many.  Turns out she had nasty anxiety and sweats and stuff from steroids, too.  She won't let them give her prednisone any more.  She just makes sure she is very, VERY careful about what she eats and is exposed to.  Like me, she is also very sensitive to medications, often needing a much lower dosage than anyone else. 

~o~

Today's workout:  A lazy little stationary bike ride for 45 minutes while watching LOTR.  I suppose I should count shoveling snow, but that's "fun" not working out.  40 minutes of it.