Food Sensitivity Test - When You Actually Have Proof

"People who love to eat are always the best people" - Julia Child

You know that feeling when you eat something and your body just isn't having it? But yet it tasted so good that you ignore it anyway? Yeah, that's how I've been lately. There are foods that I eat, because they're obviously delicious (like cheese), but afterwards I'm just not feeling the greatest. 

For more than two years now, one of my very good friends (who is also a personal trainer) has been telling me to take the Food Sensitivity Test at Life Time Fitness, which is the gym I go to. I never did it because I didn't want to buy in to it, literally. It's a fairly costly test but kept thinking I could do it (lose weight) on my own. Recently my gym bff did it and said she was surprised by the results.  After having long conversations about it, I decided to do more research into it. I searched through the Life Time site, I Googled reviews (which were mainly blog posts), and anything else I could find. Life Time's website read:

Belly fat that you just can’t get rid of. Trouble building muscle or losing muscle tone. Eating like a bird and still gaining weight. Sound familiar? You’ve likely tried many ways to lose weight without lasting success. Lab testing can be the easiest, most cost-effective, scientifically validated way to find out why you haven’t been achieving the results you want.

Yeah, yeah, fine. Take my money. I mean, I always knew that I wasn't doing well with dairy but didn't want to admit it. I just reached the point that I was so sick of not seeing results so I threw the towel in on this one. Maybe, maybe, there was something I just didn't know. 

The process was easy. I paid for the test and they handed me a box. The box contained vials and some information that I needed to take to LabCorp to have them draw my blood. Stopped by a LabCorp with no appointment just a few days later and went on my merry way. Then a few days after that the results were in.

OH MY GOSH. Seriously? My mind was blown by the results. "No way," I thought.. but I guess my blood/body don't lie. There it was, on paper, my sensitivities -- a lot of them.

How it really works: Your blood is run against 96 of the most common food items. Sensitivities are listed 0, 1, 2, and 3. Zero meaning there is no sensitivity and a three meaning you have a severe sensitivity. They also do a CBC (complete blood count) test to evaluate overall health. Included in the test is a meeting with a registered dietitian to go over results.

I met with her, she gave me a color coded spreadsheet and then she broke my heart.

Class 0 are listed in alphabetical order while the others are listed by severity with the result in parenthesis. The foods with results listed next to it in Class 0 are ones that are close to being a Class 1. Class 0 = 0-.199. Class 1 = .2-.299, Class 2 = .3-.399, Class 3 = .4+

This means no gluten, dairy, or eggs for me. That's so tough. I feel like that's most of what makes different foods so delicious. While, yes, some items are across the board, because there is a part of it in severe, I was told to avoid it. For the next three months I am avoiding (at all costs) the above mentioned. I'm trying to keep away from Class 2s and just watch my Class 1s.

I'll periodically do updates on how this is going. I'm planning on starting a new post series with different recipes and foods I can eat. I don't want to make this post excessively long, so if you have any questions, please leave a comment and I'll respond to the best of my knowledge. Until next time..

I Ran My First 5K!

Hi Everyone!

Guess what.. I'm back! I don't want to sit here any promise that I'm going to get better at posting, I'll let my actual posts do the talking. So let's dive in!

I've crossed thing the first thing off my 30 Before 30 bucket list for 2014. I ran The Color Run DC! It was a great first 5K for a few different reasons. First, it was fun! The colors made each kilometer go by faster. Second, it's great for beginners. It's not timed so there's no worry about crossing that finish line as fast as you can. Third, it's something that everyone can participate in. There were people of all ages, people running alone, in partners, in families. My favorite were the moms with their running strollers.

I will admit, I took the longest shower of my life after this race. It wasn't easy to wash everything off. There was definitely scrubbing involved. It was totally worth it though! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the race:

Now that I've gotten my first race out of the way, I'm definitely going to do another. Except for the next one, I'll actually train beforehand. 

I definitely recommend that everyone do at least one 5k at some point. Even if you're not a runner, there are 5ks that are for walkers. They're a great way to go outside and be active with friends. Any bit of exercise you do is better than none! :)

Talk to you all soon!

My New Years Resolutions

It's time for me to share my resolutions for 2014. I'm one of those people that if I write out my goals I am more likely to accomplish them. I can come back and look at them, keep track and once it's out there, I tell myself "now I have to do it!" - So here we go.

1. Work harder on my blog - As I mentioned it in my last post, I really want to be successful at blogging and give my blog a good life. I'm having trouble finding my niche but I think I'm slowly getting there. I'm also now looking at it in a different way. I'm currently not the engaged, married, a homeowner, etc but one day I will be. I realized it's a good thing that I've started my blog before all of this so then I can track all of it and be able to look at all of it.

2. Health and fitness - Last year I was doing really well with my fitness, I was in the gym a lot and then BOOM, I got very sick. I spent two weeks in the hospital, a total of five weeks sick RIGHT in the middle of summer. When I was in the hospital it was the point that I was getting pretty gauntly because I was barely eating. After I was cleared and feeling better, I just couldn't get myself to go to the gym and I started eating again and gained a ton of weight. This year I am determined to get myself back on track and sticking to it, no matter what.

3. Keeping track of my finances - Now that I have a job in my field, a salary paycheck, and real world bills, I'm going to get myself on track. I made myself a pretty awesome excel spreadsheet and listed EVERYTHING. It is honestly one of the most scary things I've looked at recently. One of the scariest things to me is the possibility of ruining my credit and not being able to be stable financially.

4. 30 Before 30 - This year I will be 25. That (obviously) leaves me 5 years until my 30th birthday and I still have 28 things to mark off my list. This year I am going to go for FIVE more things on my list. I don't know which ones yet but it'll happen.

5. Inner peace - I want to focus myself on my inner peace. I want to try to relieve some of the stress in my life and try to make myself a happier person. I truly believe if I can just get rid of some of the massive amounts of stress in my life it will make me a much happier person mentally, it will help me being on track with my health and it will overall help me with every aspect of my life. Maybe I'll start with some yoga?

I have a few other things on my list but they're not major so I'm not going to go into detail about them. All I know is, I have never said "New Year, New Me" but I'm going to say it this year. I will be 25, major milestone, and I am going to make this an ah-mazing year. With the year I had in 2013, I think God will be guiding me into a better year. I can't wait to see what comes my way. I can't wait to accomplish my resolutions, hopes and goals of this year and I hope the same for you!

Talk to you soon.

Oh, Hello There!

Hi! And welcome to my blog. I guess I'll begin by saying the first post is hardest. It can definitely be tough trying to catch attention by just your first post, but that's okay, I've done this enough times that I shouldn't be too horrible.

I'll start off my introducing myself. My name is Christina Theresa (hence the title) but I mainly just go by Christina or Tina. I'm a 24 year old college graduate trying to figure out life. I'm a daughter, girlfriend (to my wonderful boyfriend Kazem of more than two and a half years), friend and cat mommy (to my little girl, Zoey).

I love Pinterest, blogs, trying new things, things that glitter and shine, and things that help make me feel and look pretty. And this leads me into the start of my new blog. I'm just your average, normal girl next door. I'm not a pro at using beauty products and health but I know how to. Incase that doesn't make sense.. I know how things are suppose to work but my execution isn't always the best. This will be me sharing my trials and errors, likes and dislikes, and whatever else with you. I will read the blogs of those perfect skinned and haired girls, the in shape health nuts, and try different products then share with you how they turned out.

I'm the girl that goes, "I LOVE her hair, I'm going to try that!" and then it turns out either really good or not good at all. I'll share my experiences and hope you enjoy reading and can learn something from me!

Let the games begin. :)