Lupie Eating

I've noticed something interesting lately. My lupus symptoms are better or worse depending on what I eat. Normally, my diet is the same. Cereal for breakfast (typically raisin bran, oatmeal or granola). Veggies and fruit for snacks (I usually bring a small salad and a lot of fruits). The occasional cookie (because I love cookies). Lunch is generally my largest meal of the day. That's when I fulfill my meat requirements for the day. I'll sometimes microwave popcorn at about 3 in the afternoon. And a very light meal for dinner. I rarely eat anything more than a salad or a piece of fruit for dinner.

A few weeks ago, I varied off this food schedule. My husband Geoff wanted to go to Quizno's and share that new Sammies meal. I ate my one Sammie and I was still hungry, but I didn't want to order another Quizno's sandwich, so I figured I'd eat some of my fruit and veggie snacks when I got back to work. By the end of the work day, I was starving. I decided that I wanted a burger, so Geoff and I stopped at Burger King on the way home for a Whopper. I don't eat burgers all the time. I think it had been several months since the last time I had a burger. There are just some days you need a Whopper, and that day was mine. Anyway, the next morning, I woke up in such pain. My joints were more achy than I can remember.

At the time, I remember wondering if the meal I had the night before could have had anything to do with my achiness. Then there was yesterday, another unusual eating day for me. Yesterday was our company Christmas party. The day started off with me wanting to find shoes for the party, and Geoff wanting a bike ride, so Geoff took me to the shoe store with the hopes of taking his bike ride later. After the shoe store, we were hungry, so Geoff asked if I wanted to go out to lunch. My original thinking was to say "no" because we were meeting friends for dinner before the company Christmas party, and I knew the Christmas party would have heavy appetizers. I ended up saying "yes" in order to spend quality time with Geoff before his surgery on Wednesday.

We decided to try out Shanghai Reds on the Marina. To our surprise, Shanghai Reds serves only brunch until 3 p.m., so we had the brunch, which was great, by the way. They had an omelette bar, chilled crab and shrimp, sushi, mexican food bar, traditional breakfast items, belgian waffles, etc. I ate way more than I should have considering that we were meeting friends for dinner. Later that evening, we met our friends for dinner at Locanda del Lago in Santa Monica. I ordered the chilean sea bass which was delicious. They prepare it wrapped in what I can only describe as a salt mound. When the waiter brought it to me, he removed the mound of salt that consisted of these huge grains of salt lying on top of what I assume was something like wax paper. My fish was then spooned onto my plate. After the dinner, we walked to the Christmas party which was being held at Tengu. I passed on most of the appetizers. I did have a cookie toward the end of the evening.

Now, as I type this, I'm in terrible pain and have a horrendous headache. Yesterday, was an unusually long day for me, so I don't want to completely blame the food. I'm usually in bed by 10 p.m., but last night, I turned in a little after midnight. Considering the party ran until 2 a.m., I was early. It was a cool party because PriceGrabber is the coolest place ever, but 2 a.m. is a bit long for my lupie body to be anywhere.

Even considering my long day, I tend to wonder if the salty food I had the night I ate the Whopper and last night have anything to do with the way I feel. I think I'm going to be careful from now on and try to avoid foods that have a high salt content. Let's see if that keeps my lupie symptoms in check.

This time of year, it's kind of hard for me to avoid the salty food with all the Christmas parties and family meals, but I think I'll eat my healthy meals at home, and then just snack lightly at the parties.

Take care and have a lupie day.

LupieKat