I have decided that if I am going to suffer through this, I am going to really make it count. Next week I will see my doctor and ask for blood tests so that I will have a good comparison. I am in fairly good health for my age. I sometimes bicycle, and last spring I took my first ever ballet class, so I'm not bedridden or anything. I do have occasional bouts with low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), so it will be interesting to see how that goes. My husband says that to track this experience well, I should occasionally record my weight. Hmmm . . .this is where I may draw the line.
Here's my food diary so far:
Day 1
Food:
Two cups of cooked wheat with molasses and Rice Dream
Two bowls full of Tabouli
Symptoms:
None. I felt full and great.
Day 2
Food:
Two cups of cooked wheat with molasses, Rice Dream, and 1/2 cup of canned pears
Caprese salad (Roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and olive oil.
Two small bowls of Tabouli)
Symptoms:
I felt too full. The digestive process seemed slow and I felt a bit sluggish.
Day 3
Food:
Two cups of cooked wheat with molasses, Rice Dream, and 1/2 cup of canned pears
Homemade Italian pizza.
(I must clarify here. I didn't fully decide to commit to this experiment until after we ate dinner. Besides, it was New Year's Day. One must never pass up real Italian pizza. This is going to be hard.)
Symptoms:
A little bloated with a little bit of diarrhea (I hate this word - so undignified. From now on I will write it d******a.) Something is going on inside of my body!
Day 4
Food:
One cup of cooked wheat with canned chili sauce courtesy of the kitchen of my dear friend, Lynda.
Two small bowls of Tabouli
One bowl of warm cooked wheat with rice milk, molasses, and pears - mmmmmmm.
Symptoms:
I had to hurry to the "ladies' room" shortly after I awoke this morning. Quite a bit more d******a and a bit of discomfort. Will this work? Is the end near? As my mom always said "It will feel better when it quits hurting." I know she is right (and so wise). Anyway, later in the morning I felt quite good and "clean" inside. Tonight my abdomen feels like it has had a workout, but no discomfort.
Earlier today the thought hit me "Do I really want to publish these intimate experiences for all the world to see?" If it will help one of the sisters in Relief Society buy wheat, then "Yes!"
Day 5
Food
Throughout the day I had four cups of cooked wheat with molasses and canned fruit (pears and apricots from our trees).
Symptoms
I awoke with a small rash on the top of my right foot. A friend told me that this indicates a cleansing going on, as toxins attempt to exit the body. Wahoo! Goodbye toxins!
Other than that, I felt great and the "process of elimination" seems to be returning back to normal. (Boy, there just doesn't seem to be a delicate way to talk about this.) I didn't sleep well last night, and and in the middle of the night I awoke chilling - just couldn't get warm - almost as if I was in mild shock. It was a bit unpleasant.
Day 6
Food
I had cooked wheat and pears for breakfast. For lunch I had some Tabouli leftover from a couple of days before - and an orange. I justified eating the orange by thinking that maybe I would have some left over in my refrigerator after a disaster. An apple probably would have been closer to my guidelines. Oranges would never grow where I live. Later in the afternoon/evening I had three small bowls of wheat with canned cherries. Last fall I wondered if canning the cherries was a good idea. As I was looking through my canning shelves for variety, and after enjoying those sweet delicious cherries with my cooked wheat, I decided that YES, it had been a great idea. Resolve: Can more fruit varieties next fall.
Symptoms
The morning was difficult. I thought things were going back to normal but the morning "go" was a bit unpleasant. Maybe I need to drink more water. I still have a small rash on my right foot, but it is not getting any worse. Except for the morning unpleasantries, I felt great throughout the day. I slept like a baby!
My husband brought home some bathroom scales Saturday night. Ugghhhh. "If you want to do this right, you need to track your weight," he says. So I stepped on. 142 lbs. Hmm.
Day 7
Food
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner consisted of cooked wheat with canned cherries. I thought the lack of variety would bother me, but so far it hasn't. So glad I bottled those cherries! Also, my sweet husband made some 100% whole wheat bread. I had a slice fresh out of the oven and it was delicious. I have to admit that it was a nice change.
Symptoms
"Things" are still not back to normal, but not bad. The rash is still on my right foot, and now there is a small one on the top of my left foot. I will try to drink more water. My energy is up and I feel great.
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Can a person really live on the wheat he/she has stored in the basement without getting sick or going crazy?
What Am I Doing??!!
Hi. My name is Patti Adams. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I try to do all the things I know I should - and sometimes I venture into the second mile - and some days, I would rather just stay in bed.
I was recently called as the Relief Society president of my ward - charged with the task, among other things, to get the sisters under my stewardship to get excited about food storage. I had been assisting the previous president in this already. Our Enrichment Nights consisted of great presentations from water storage to foam clothing. We had some great stuff!! The problem was, the same twenty people came each month and most of them already had food storage. Seventy percent of the sisters weren't even coming.
I have spent a good deal of time thinking and praying about this. How do I get the other sisters to peek their heads out of their routines and look at how easy it could be to put something away for a rainy day (or worse).
The Church used to ask us to save two years worth of food. Then they cut it down to one year. Recently, on their webite at http://www.lds.org/, they suggest we store 90 days of the food. I am sure this isn't because their recommendations changed, only that they hope people will get AT LEAST this much. I passed this 90 DAY concept on to the sisters. "Surely we can all get 90 days worth, right?" I said. The responses were usually "I can't afford to get 90 days of the food we usually eat. I can't even afford to keep food in the house for a week." This is a valid concern. When I suggest storing basic, inexpensive commodoties like wheat, they often respond "But if we start eating wheat, won't we all get sick?" My response, muttered under breath is "Isn't sick better than dead?" And so the cycle goes.
About four days ago, New Year's Eve I think, I got a craving for cooked wheat for breakfast. No, I don't usually eat this healthy. If I eat breakfast, it consists of Sugar Crisp (now called Honey Crisp so that we feel okay about giving it to our kids) or a spoonful of Nutella - so this was a strange craving. Could I be pregnant? Certainly not. I turned fifty last month. Too old for childbearing.
So, I cooked some wheat - and ate it - a little molasses and rice milk (we don't drink real milk at our house). It was delicious! I had a second bowl and felt satisfied. That afternoon I made Tabouli with the cooked wheat I had left over. Delicious!
The next morning I cooked wheat again and added a few pears from a jar that my husband had canned in the fall. Wow - closer to heaven. It was great! I began to look forward to what I could do with wheat at lunchtime. I could get to like this stuff!
This led me to think about the sisters in my ward. What if I could prove that a person wouldn't spontaneously combust if they suddenly began eating wheat? Maybe then, if the sisters in my ward could see that hard red wheat, at just $6 a bag from our local cannery, could provide sustanence without killing them, they would begin storing it.
I have to admit, when the idea first came to me, my biggest fear was, "What if I do do get sick?" Well, better to know now and make other plans before I need to live off of my own wheat.
So, I am into the fourth day. I will eat wheat as my main food source for 90 days. I am not sure, under what circumstances I would not have access to commercially grown food, but in case I was ever in that situation, I have created a few ground rules for myself.
1. Wheat must be the main ingredient for all of my meals.
2. Anything we grew in our garden this past year, or would grow in our garden, can be added for flavoring. This includes herbs, spices, garden vegetables, and fruit from our trees.
3. We don't produce any edible animals on our land, so I will not eat meat products. All protein will come from wheat.
4. The wheat can be ground to make other things - as long as it is the main ingredient.
5. I will not eat refined (white) sugar.
Here on this blog I will record my progress. If, all at once, the blog stops, one can assume the worst has happened and you are welcome to whatever wheat I have left.
(I'm really going to miss Nutella!)
Patti
Hi. My name is Patti Adams. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I try to do all the things I know I should - and sometimes I venture into the second mile - and some days, I would rather just stay in bed.
I was recently called as the Relief Society president of my ward - charged with the task, among other things, to get the sisters under my stewardship to get excited about food storage. I had been assisting the previous president in this already. Our Enrichment Nights consisted of great presentations from water storage to foam clothing. We had some great stuff!! The problem was, the same twenty people came each month and most of them already had food storage. Seventy percent of the sisters weren't even coming.
I have spent a good deal of time thinking and praying about this. How do I get the other sisters to peek their heads out of their routines and look at how easy it could be to put something away for a rainy day (or worse).
The Church used to ask us to save two years worth of food. Then they cut it down to one year. Recently, on their webite at http://www.lds.org/, they suggest we store 90 days of the food. I am sure this isn't because their recommendations changed, only that they hope people will get AT LEAST this much. I passed this 90 DAY concept on to the sisters. "Surely we can all get 90 days worth, right?" I said. The responses were usually "I can't afford to get 90 days of the food we usually eat. I can't even afford to keep food in the house for a week." This is a valid concern. When I suggest storing basic, inexpensive commodoties like wheat, they often respond "But if we start eating wheat, won't we all get sick?" My response, muttered under breath is "Isn't sick better than dead?" And so the cycle goes.
About four days ago, New Year's Eve I think, I got a craving for cooked wheat for breakfast. No, I don't usually eat this healthy. If I eat breakfast, it consists of Sugar Crisp (now called Honey Crisp so that we feel okay about giving it to our kids) or a spoonful of Nutella - so this was a strange craving. Could I be pregnant? Certainly not. I turned fifty last month. Too old for childbearing.
So, I cooked some wheat - and ate it - a little molasses and rice milk (we don't drink real milk at our house). It was delicious! I had a second bowl and felt satisfied. That afternoon I made Tabouli with the cooked wheat I had left over. Delicious!
The next morning I cooked wheat again and added a few pears from a jar that my husband had canned in the fall. Wow - closer to heaven. It was great! I began to look forward to what I could do with wheat at lunchtime. I could get to like this stuff!
This led me to think about the sisters in my ward. What if I could prove that a person wouldn't spontaneously combust if they suddenly began eating wheat? Maybe then, if the sisters in my ward could see that hard red wheat, at just $6 a bag from our local cannery, could provide sustanence without killing them, they would begin storing it.
I have to admit, when the idea first came to me, my biggest fear was, "What if I do do get sick?" Well, better to know now and make other plans before I need to live off of my own wheat.
So, I am into the fourth day. I will eat wheat as my main food source for 90 days. I am not sure, under what circumstances I would not have access to commercially grown food, but in case I was ever in that situation, I have created a few ground rules for myself.
1. Wheat must be the main ingredient for all of my meals.
2. Anything we grew in our garden this past year, or would grow in our garden, can be added for flavoring. This includes herbs, spices, garden vegetables, and fruit from our trees.
3. We don't produce any edible animals on our land, so I will not eat meat products. All protein will come from wheat.
4. The wheat can be ground to make other things - as long as it is the main ingredient.
5. I will not eat refined (white) sugar.
Here on this blog I will record my progress. If, all at once, the blog stops, one can assume the worst has happened and you are welcome to whatever wheat I have left.
(I'm really going to miss Nutella!)
Patti
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