Thursday, June 30, 2005

Days When Your Brain Isn't Firing On All Cylinders

Okay, for the past two days whenever I write a post or an email or anything, I swear it seems that it comes out unintelligible. Now, could that just be because I dropped all yeast/sugar/processed sugar etc out of my diet—plus went for lowering my daily caffeine intake? But what’s up with that, really? It all seems to make perfect sense in my head, but when I read back over the communication, it’s all a mish mash.

Jud gets Men’s Fitness and there’s an article in there about how you can tell how healthy your brain is by how long you can stand on one foot with your eyes closed. Sounds easy, right? Try it. I could go like seven seconds. Now I think I must be losing my mind. Men around my age should be able to go 15-20 seconds, but they listed no findings on women. Can I not stand on one foot with my eyes closed because I’m on a yeast free diet?

I hate dietary changes. They make me feel PMS and strange. Or, wait… maybe I am just PMS and strange. That too.

I fear even attempting to write anything real right now, and yet I'm dying to be writing on my second book. It just seems pointless if my emails are hardly sensible and I can’t stand on one foot. What do you think?
Deidre

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, the magazine *is* called "Men's Health." They probably figured there was no point in giving stats for women.

As if women don't read their husband's mail. Huh.

That said, you seemed perfectly normal to me... :-)

Deidre Knight said...

I didn't expect results for women, but I figure I should be able to stand for less time anyway. :) So seven seconds is probably stellar! But, I'm telling you--I've got a sugar free/yeast free brain right now, and it ain't pretty! :)

Anonymous said...

Here. Take some of mine. I've got extra. (Have been eating Milk Duds all afternoon, and they don't taste as good now as they did when I started. Blech.)

Anonymous said...

Well Deidre,
I tried that little experiment and all I can say is...it's a good thing I had my a** to fall on :)

Jaci Burton said...

i think if you're off sugar and caffeine, I won't be emailing you again for awhile *g*

Gina Black said...

I did the no yeast thing for 10 weeks a long while back and my overall health improved greatly. What made me crazy is they wanted me to do a papaya fast once a week. That was too much sugar and nothing to balance it. People told me later we had conversations I couldn't remember at all.

Good luck with this. Do you really have to quit the caffeine too? Now that's rough.

Deidre Knight said...

Gina, I think I've turned my corner and am feeling better. EArlier today I just felt WEIRD, then somehow--not sure how--I got better. Exercise helps a lot too. I went for a walk after dinner, and that really seemed to open my brain up.

Bonnie, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. :)
D

Anonymous said...

No yeast=no beer=no way.

But I admire you for going for it.

One of these days, I'm going to jump back onto my Weight Watchers bandwagon which always worked well for me in the past.

Why can't I have the metabolism of a hummingbird?

TJ Brown said...

Okay. What is the book called? Never heard of that one and I need something to jump start me back on my way. I lost 40 between NOv and March and haven't been able to do it since.

Secondly, I barely held for 7 seconds, but that isn't surprising considering the surgery two years ago and the radiation last year. I am lucky to be coherent and writing!

My 14 year old daughter lasted 45 seconds!

And maybe we can't do it cause we have bosoms??
Teri

Gena Showalter said...

All this talk about diets and exercise ruined my enjoyment of my 4th jelly doughnut and 2nd glass of chocolate milk. Thanks a lot guys. :)

Deidre Knight said...

Well, Ms. Gena, if I looked like you, I wouldn't be worrying about my food intake either! :)

Honestly? I am starting to feel really good from this new diet. It's not just weight loss, but also a health decision. Wanting more energy, tired of dragging, that kind of thing.

And I don't want to think that at a younger age I could stand on one foot for 45 seconds. SIgh. Let's see if once my dietary changes settle in if I can go for 15. :)
d

Diana Peterfreund said...

First of all, I could NEVER do a no sugar or yeast diet. I live on bread. LIVE.

And I could do ten seconds -- after about three tries. I can't believe how hard that is!

Jaci Burton said...

I'm glad it's working for you, D. Though I think I'd rather pull each of my fingernails out than live without my bread and pasta *g*

And I'm not sure I want to try standing on one foot for any length of time since I tend to be dizzy as a natural tendency anyway ;-)

Good luck, though!

Anonymous said...

I did 9 seconds on my 2nd try. We won't go into the 1st.

But then I DO have an absolutely HORRID sense of balance. I'm the type who hits the edge of doorways when I walk thru them, usually because I'm thinking of one of my WIPS!

Cindy

Anonymous said...

Huh! As long as I didn't try touching my nose like in a drunk test, I could go a pretty long time on one foot. That being said, I am far from deprived in any of the food groups.

Shannon McKelden said...

Sugar? Caffeine? Yeast? Aren't those the three major food groups?!? More power to you, D! I could never do that. And it shows, unfortunately. :-) I wish you all the luck!
Shannon

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

I didn't believe you all when you said how hard it was! I went 12 seconds of flailing arms and vibrating body. It's a good thing I have more space in my office now.

Anonymous said...

I made nine seconds. I had that arm flailing thing going on too, and my foot kicked my chair.

Good luck on your diet, Deidre. I eat pretty healthy, but sugar is my downfall. And I enjoy it too much to give it up.

Anonymous said...

I went off sugar and caffine a couple months back.

Man, I didn't have a clue the combination was fueling my creativity. For the first week I walked around in a daze, unable to concentrate. The words, when they would flow, sounding like they'd come from a first grader.

After a week it started easying up. And yeah, walking helped alot--really opened my brain back up. So did drinking lots of water. Don't ask me why.

Hang in there, from this point out, it gets easier each day/

Therea

Anonymous said...

Update: DH, who is not the epitome of grace, was pretty solid on one foot with his eyes closed. I asked him, "Isn't it difficult at all??" so of course he started bouncing around and shaking his booty, all without opening his eyes or putting his foot down. I had to knock him over for that.

DH is also not deprived in any of the food groups.

Deidre Knight said...

Now that I'm not in withdrawal from sugar and starch, etc, I can go about 11 seconds. Maybe tomorrow it will be more. :)

Tracy Sharp - Author of the Leah Ryan Series said...

I drastically changed my diet two years ago. No bleached white flour, no starches, no sugar. And I dropped three sizes and feel SO much better. But at first I felt pretty dazed. More than usual. It takes the body a while to get used to the change.

Brenda said...

Yikes. I do think those are part of the major food groups, at least in my house they are.

~looks at her body and chooses to ignore the results of said food groups~

I'm with you on the rambling writing thing today, as attested to the post I did on the Knight Agency Blog. And I'm not even on the same diet, so I don't have a good excuse at ALL.

Well, 'cept I birthed a lot of kids, and they suck all intelligence RIGHT outta yer head.