Project Status: Elimination Diet Day 16

Project Start:  Feb 9, 2016
Days Since Last Headache:  12

• Caffeine
  • Currently consuming ~1/4C coffee per day, down from ~4C/day
  • On day 1 of the project I reduced from 4C/day to 1C/day.  This was a mistake.  I experienced about 4-6 days of withdrawal symptoms.  Not only headache, but lethargy as well as muscle soreness.  I have a better appreciation for what Restless Leg Syndrome might feel like.  Falling asleep was difficult.  Fortunately ibuprofen eliminated all discomfort completely.
  • Anticipate removing all caffeine consumption over the next few days.
• Diet
  • Food consumption has been generally highly controlled, attempting to introduce only one new thing each day.  This should probably be slowed to one new thing every two days.
  • Current foods include ground beef, chicken, brown and white rice, romaine, garbanzos, edamame, black beans, blueberries, dried fruits (cherries, prunes and dates) and yogurt.
  • "The big ones" I have yet to add include wheat, nuts, cheese, and citrus.
  • I've eaten so few hamburgers in my life I think I could live on those forever.  :-)  (Fortunately I have low cholesterol and my various blood numbers are good.  So for this project I'm giving myself much more leeway on ground beef consumption than I do typically.  My focus is on consuming freshly-ground grass fed beef rather than fat content.  My Sprouts store grinds their own ground beef in store daily.)
• Other
  • On approximately day 4 of this project I changed from a thick to a thin pillow.  I literally have not had a headache since that time.  It would be easy to assume the pillow change was the reason I've gone 12 days without a headache, but i don't have a way to prove that.
  • Other than the above-mentioned ibuprofen for muscle soreness, I have not taken any Excedrin or prescription migraine medicine.
  • I'm defining "headache" as something uncomfortable to the point where I feel like I need to take something.  Although I report above I've been headache free for 12 days there have been times I've had a minor headache.  I'm trying to let these resolve on their own in an effort to reduce med use - be they OTC or prescription meds.  It has been surprisingly easy to do this.  There are times I would have taken something because my head hurt a little.  Now I'm realizing I can actually forget about it because the pain is not that bad.