Another reason to change my diet, no more YOLO

I like food.  I use it for comfort at times.  I also believe that hey, I can eat that strawberry shortcake because today might be the last day I live so I should go right on ahead and eat the whole shortcake myself.  Sounds good to me.  That was until I noticed I have been feeling off.  Feeling fatter than I am was a big clue that something is off.  I went to the doctor and asked him to draw blood and put that under a microscope or whatever they do with it and tell me what the heck is wrong.  The diagnosis today, Candida.  Now, I have heard that word before and I've heard people make fun of it.  Is it one of those made up diseases to let the pharmaceutical companies have their way with me.  Is it like I'm allergic to gluten or something that sounds asinine like that?  I looked it up and it makes sense.  I eat horrible things all the time.  My YOLO diet is making me sick.
(YOLO is the acronym for "You only live once" if you didn't already know that)

Last weekend I ran into a healthy friend who has a dark secret, he has HIV.  He doesn't know that I know that.  I told him about my PVNS and he exclaimed that it must be my diet that contributes to my suffering and a bunch of other shamanistic talk about what is good like a juice cleanse.  He invited me over to share in his juice experience.  So I went over and had a lovely beet, apple, basil, celery, kale and I think there was celantro and cucumber.  It was delicious.  He talked about how he looked forward to getting up in the morning and making his juice knowing it would make him feel great.  He also reminded me that we are creatures of habit and that all I need to do was to get into a routine.

Before I got the call from the doctor I was already at the store buying up vegetables to put into my own juice.  Then came the big challenge, I had a dinner meeting.  Off to a swanky restaurant where I would have probably ordered some meat dish with rice or noodles or some kind of carbohydrate.  I was also offered a drink.  I usually drink wine with a nice dinner to bring out the flavor but after reading up on why I have full blown Candida, alcohol is not in the picture.  I declined and sipped the tea instead.  I ordered a salad and it was amazing.  Even the girl sitting at the table next to me said, "What are you eating?"

However, last night after a fine morning of productive eating healthy I went full on YOLO and got dinner from Ezelles Famous Chicken complete with fries, mashed potatoes and gravy and their yummy buttery rolls.  That is going to have to be my last YOLO meal for real.  So now I'm back on to my experiment that I set out to do after my surgery over a year ago.  Today my routine was started right even though I ate pasta during lunch because that was before the Candida revelation.  Now with my new diagnosis I will be strictly juicing and eating salads and other really ultra healthy foods.  I will be cutting out sugar, refined carbs, alcohol, and kim chi.  I like kim chi but the candida diet says to stay off the probiotics.  I will have to fight the craving of sugar which is a symptom of Candida.  I can't and probably won't give up coffee.  That's an addiction I might need a 12 step program for.

PVNS and extreme ways to cure it

This guy recently has been popping up on media sources because he has chosen the difficult decision to amputate his foot in order to rid himself of PVNS in his ankle.  I like many other people with PVNS have actually considered amputation.  I will keep my leg for now.  See link below for his story.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/09/foot-amputation_n_5571204.html

Acupuncture Time! Almost.

After fighting and kicking the State of WA to get medical benefits I finally got to see my family doctor and asked him for a referral to get acupuncture.  Then I got a letter from the insurance company that they denied my referral.  I talked to my acupuncturist who said that in the State of Washington, we can have 12 visits paid by insurance for any reason as long as it's medical.  She is going to send in an appeal.  It shouldn't have to be so difficult.  Meanwhile my foot is doing weird things and it is getting more difficult to stand or walk for any length of time.