Category Archives for art

eating well x2

i feel so lucky that we have so many local, organic choices, particularly if we want to try to grow some little human inside our bodies.

sometimes, it can be so overwhelming to try to eat the “right things.” i went to the corner store and bought an odwalla because i was thirsty (echinacea) and then didn’t like the taste today for some reason, so i left it by the garbage garbage can. while the clothes were in the washer, i wound up after a walk at the whole foods down at fillmore, where, since i was still thirsty, i searched for a different odwalla. i was thinking of the ginseng, but then reading the label, it said ‘seek advice of your practitioner if you are lactating or pregnant’ (like i’m going to get on my cell phone, from the store, and patch a call straight through to my doctor — “i’m considering drinking this beverage?” — “ok, we’ll connect you to her *right away*”); that scared me off, so i bought a femme vitale instead, thinking that certainly wouldn’t bear any harm to the fetus or the breast milk. i then went back and changed the clothes into the dryer and started to drink my drink and read the label, and saw the same print, albeit in tinier font, on the bottle! probably the mah dong herb or whatever was in there. so then i started to think about spontaneous abortions and, mad at odwalla, i stopped drinking it and threw it into the trash this time. i’m guessing now that even the wellness had that warning on it, but later when i walked by the corner trash can, i was nonetheless happy to see at least that someone had taken the rest of the wellness echinacea drink. sheesh, we need to know _everything_!

i’m glad that in san francisco we have a lot of local, organic choices that help make it easy for us.  leanne signed up for the weekly email letter from http://www.twosmallfarms.com … in this week’s newsletter is some good information about organic milk and which brands are the best.  good pointer to straus:

http://www.strausmilk.com/pages/where/retail.html

could i be allergic to JICAMA?

every once in awhile — maddeningly untraceably infrequently — i get what seems to be some sort of allergic reaction.  my skin gets itchy and hivey.  frequently on my hands; sometimes on my legs and arms. quite uncomfortable for a matter of 5 minutes or maybe a half an hour tops, then it vanishes.  then i try to think back.  what did i just touch? what the HECK am i allergic to?  i have never found it.

this is how i get to the point where i gift my thousands of dear readers with a log (nay, blog) of everything i have exposed my body to in the past couple of days, and hence begins the long, dangerously slippery process of “internet self-diagnosis.”  perhaps someone, somewhere will KNOW the answer.

as it is, just today, something has been giving me a rash on my hands, all may long!

could it be related to the “amylactin” body creme? it is high in lactose… but this comes on couple hours after lunch, strong — but maybe just because i would sit outside with my hand in the sun — and if the hand had had the creme on it? but surely i wash my hands of it during the day before then?  or MAYBE it’s the soap at work.  which is not a common denominator from the days it happens at home. harrumph; bafflement continues:

Date: Fri May 16, 2003 8:32:35 PM US/Pacific
Subject: ragout and other oddities
on thursday morning, ~ 9a, ~20 hours after eating that salad from the work salad bar (not that i draw conclusions!), i had an upset stomach. drank mint camomile tea. following morning, friday, also had some cramping/not as severe.

but it was also tuesday night i had the least cooked piece of salmon…

On Wednesday, May 14, 2003, i consumed:
green tea
ruby mist tea

~12:15
lefthand in sun at lunch:
baby field greens
jicama
garbonzo beans
red potato salad
eggs
cauliflower
broccoli
tofu marinated in _____
green salsa stuff
olive oil / balsamic / rocksalt / rainbow peppercorns
olive roll
rootbeer – with half soda, half empty-coke-soda-only spigot stuff

~4:15
rash on left hand
by 4:30, 5p it was on both hands…

On Thursday, May 1, 2003,
sat with this arm, the right arm, in the sun for about an hour at lunch. started raised itchy blotches on the top of the hand; spread to spots up the arm.
over eight hours later the hives, though diminished, are still there and itchy…
hhmm, sun activated?

On Thursday, May 1, 2003, at 03:45 PM,
acute contact urticaria
Angioedema: what is it?
salicylates, preservatives (benzoates), and artificial coloring (azo dyes)

cheiropomphylix, a pompous word if ever there was one. But really it’s just hives of the fingers.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aair/urticaria.htm
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aair/angioedema.htm

Thursday, May 01, 2003 3:30
twirling wheat allergy?
juniper berry?
Butternut Squash, Carrots, Parsnips
Ragout over Pasta
Cal 519 Fat 29g Chol 90mg Fiber 6g
$5.50
butterscotch / english toffee frozen yogurt

sigh.

alien spacecraft stole the moon!

alien spacecraft stole the moon!

last night, we took our dinner up onto the roof and trained a telescope upon the total dwarfing of the moon by the earth’s shadow. just when i was watching the rim of the moon grow bright while escaping the ghastly pall of the earth’s reflection, i saw an alien spacecraft scream over the face of the smudged moon! i looked up from the telescope but all i saw was a plane continuing in the path where the spaceship would have been.

we stayed awhile longer on the roof, met a neighbor, ate dinner. the moon continued to morph and color with its efforts to escape the shadow. it grew brighter as it reclaimed its way. jupiter, tiny big jupiter, bright by comparison, was gorgeous, as always, miles ahead of the moon in the sky.

i was cold; leanne brought down the dinner plate and i brought the telescope inside. i washed my numb fingers under warm water. we went on to dream, separately. i dreamt of the end of the world and planes slowly sinking into the ocean. leanne dreamt that i flew, by myself! i guess you could say things balanced out, in the end …