Bread.

"If you have a chronic illness - or are just feeling run down - the answer could lie in your bread bin. Jerome Burne reveals why more of us should steer clear of wheat" - this article is very good.

and this page has a lot of quotes from other sources about the dangers of bread and gluten.

The shutdown aka Frankie (part 1)

If I had been the type to commit suicide, I probably would have killed myself AT SOME POINT during my shutdown.
Frankie (this is what I named my shutdown) was the worst experience of my entire life. I know that many other people are going through this same thing and have GONE through this same thing... And they're never the same again. I understand why - I will never be the same as I once was. I know that the Frankie lasted a really long time and that, naturally, over a period of two years people generally change at least a little. The changes I went through were not your typical changes.
(I also wanted to take this time to tell you that the Frankie was caused because I had been really stressed out for years, then I was supposed to graduate in December of '05. I had a best friend, who was a guy, and at some point, amidst all of the stress and anxiety that I already had, I began to confuse my feelings of complete and utter FRIENDSHIP and love for him as something that it wasn't. I also then, began to date him. And then I seemingly "went crazy." I threw up all the time, I was always anxious, always stressed out, I couldn't handle anything. I can remember doubting whether or not I should actually sign up for classes that fall. I used to wish that I hadn't signed up, but if all that hadn't happened, I wouldn't be as knowledgeable as I am today.)
The after-effects of the Frankie were:

I had OCD thoughts that I did not want to have and that I had literally NEVER had before. (When I would drive, I would sometimes imagine myself careening off a bridge or sometimes, I would imagine that *I* was running over *my* hands while driving. That sounds way more insane to me right now than it did when it was happening.)

A lack of eye contact. (Specifically, well, it took several months for it to occur to me that I needed to look someone in the eye when talking to them. Then, when I tried doing that, I wondered how long I was supposed to look and even then, I couldn't make eye contact for very long because it REALLY creeped me out for some reason. I don't understand this AT ALL, but it made me very very uneasy to look *anyone* in the eye. Sometimes I still have to force myself. -- But the diet, as long as there are no hidden culprits, works very well if you wish to make eye contact for whatever the appropriate amount of time is.)

Stress. social stress. I have honestly never in my life wondered about so many different social things. I didn't even realize all these things existed and that most of these things "come naturally" to neuro-typical ("""normal""") people.

extreme ADD

poor coordination

I lost many abilities that I had prior. They are slowly returning. I understand that I didn't do these things for a long time, but it was like I forgot how to do EVERYTHING.

My memory seemed to not be very good after the shutdown, but it has improved with time and possibly even the diet has helped it.

My sense of sarcasm left me completely. (I began understanding sarcasm in the 7th grade, I kind of think that was the product of some type of shutdown of SOME sort.)

Oh yes, I also wanted to let you know that the shutdown that I encountered was a full shutdown. Here is some information on shutdowns. This is the best information I have found about shutdowns and the description for a "full shutdown" accurately describes what I experienced.

Stress and guilt caused me to "shutdown" and then I didn't know what was going on, so I kept pushing myself to go out and socialize. This was not a good thing to do. I did so many insane things and at least ONE really dangerous thing. I came out alright, but it was still a dangerous thing to do. I was very vulnerable and I could not see what someone's true intentions were until I was going over it in my head over and over again much later.

this is a work in progress. i will add more to this later.

Msg is a problem.

http://www.msgmyth.com/hidename.htm

Okay, that website tells like, everything that contains some amount of MSG.
COINCIDNETALLY, all those foods that are in the lower chart are off limits if you're on the gluten-free/casein-free diet (IF you want it to work for you..)

i was suspicious of malic acid, but I believe it is okay.

any kind of carb supplement has MSG in it.

:(

a lack of diet *can* drive you insane

Well, I don't really know where I am on this whole gluten-free/casein-free/soy-free diet at this point. I had been having some strong cravings for cheese and my sister bought some goat cheese from Whole Foods. I started consuming it often and then started having sinus problems again. Not a coincidence. Luckily, my neighbor has goats and they hang out near our road. I was riding my bike past them and caught a whiff of what they smell like. They smell just like their cheese and milk tastes. Now I can't eat it, and I am eternally thankful. It was really messing my sinuses up. I also thought it was making me pee more often, but I believe something else did that.
My eating habits have become so bad, that I am beginning to develop these new health problems... Like, all at once. I believe it is because along with not eating, I was beginning to exercise a whole lot. I lack a lot of the proper enzymes and the right amount of enzymes to do everything that needs to get done in my body (apparently).
I have found it is quite difficult to think straight when you are low on carbohydrates. When you are low on carbohydrates and also quite hungry as well, you are MUCH more likely to pass out in the literal sense. I started seeing stars a few minutes ago and so I drank some V8 Fusion. My only source of carbohydrates right now is fruit and juice. I may fry some corn tortillas up. And last night, I had the STRANGEST craving for food EVER. I was craving corn bread. I wanted to eat like, a LOT of it. I don't even really like corn bread, but obviously I am beginning to fall in love. (I prefer corn bread that is in pancake form, not the kind that is made in an iron skillet. I hate the crust. It tastes terrible, but last night I could picture myself eating the crust and enjoying the hell out of it.)
I went to GNC yesterday and I was very insane, but I purchased: choline, calcium (w/trace minerals), manganese, and papaya enzymes. I got the manganese for TMJ and the choline for TMJ as well. The manganese is working WONDERS for my jaw-clenching problem. However, the calcium could also be helping with that.
I am going to return to GNC tomorrow to purchase some carbohydrates for consumption. :) My body will probably thank me in more ways than one once my carb levels get back up to some normal range.
This weekend, I am hoping to have enough energy to put forth to make sorghum flax seed bread. If I have carbs in my system as well as all these other things, I will definitely have energy.


Last night, I measured my height before I went to bed and I discovered that at some point in time, I grew half an inch. I used to be 5'4 and a half, but I am most definitely 5'5 now. I think I must have grown sometime within the last year or two.
I also re-organized my purse. This may sound insignificant to you, but I was able to figure out how to fit more things in my purse than ever before and I still have room left over. I believe I can attribute this to the diet.

I am terribly excited about the prospect of my body having carbohydrates again. I think that it will be easier for me to "waste energy" (cuz it won't be a waste, it will be a release) on cleaning my room once I have plenty of energy to do everything that I want to do. :)

enzyme supplements.

http://www.ourkidsasd.com/products/20/1601?gclid=CO3M4PrX9ZMCFQyenAod2jvyWg

I just bought those enzyme supplements. It was the best price for that kind, so I bought 3 of them. It says to take 1-2 every time you eat a meal or a snack..

This should help out a lot with the diet.

I have been experiencing some very interesting side affects of not eating gluten. Gluten is apparently where I was getting pretty much all of my carbohydrates. Since I cut that out, I am very low on carbs unless I eat a lot of fruit. It's hard to do that consistently.
Anyway, I'm still going to be on the gluten-free, casein-free diet, I'm just not going to work as hard to stay on it and I'll be eating things like goat cheese and stuff. Even if the enzyme supplements work great, I still don't think all those highly processed foods are a good thing to eat.

things i learned tonight

white "fingernail beds" are a sign of low selenium

selenium, coincidentally, breaks down mercury.

Excellent sources of selenium include button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, cod, shrimp, snapper, tuna, halibut, calf's liver, and salmon.

so I need to learn to like mushrooms, apparently.

selenium is what we need to get rid of this excess mercury. i looked up more about my fillings and i dont want to have them removed. i want to eat foods high in selenium and low in mercury. mercury is what causes our guts to not be able to digest gluten and casein.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=95

So, THEORETICALLY speaking, if I were to eat all these foods that are high in selenium and hopefully contain no mercury, then could my body eventually level itself out without the use of "enzyme supplements"???
i'm still quite confused about that whole supplement procedure or how everyone is doing the enzyme thing.

http://mercurytalk.com/wiki/index.php/What_Mercury_Does_To_You
That's how I got on the right path to finding out how to break down the Mercury. Mercury causes ... so many damn problems.