Allergy Update

This Saturday will complete week 8 of my becoming a vegan.

The Recap
The first week it was all sunshine and roses, as cutting out dairy helped my body rid itself of all sorts of yucky mucus, and my sinuses started clearing up. Weeks 3 and 4 "clear" seemed to turn to "open and vulnerable" and I began harboring resentments and reservations about the whole vegan thing as every speck of dust caused sneezing fits. Into weeks 5&6 I was still sneezing more than I was before cutting out meat and dairy, but not exactly having sneezing fits. Each time I cheated a bit of dairy into my diet, my sinuses would plague me for a day or so after. Week 7 I resolutely avoided all dairy, and at the tail end of that week, I caught a nasty cold. The cold is mostly cleared up 7 days later. I still need until at least week 10, I think, to determine whether my sinuses will remain clearer and the sneezing down to a minimum.

Is It Working?
There is no doubt my allergies have diminished and my sinuses are a lot clearer. Hitting weeks 7 and 8 my weight loss has picked up too. Glad I kicked the dairy-sneaking habit. I'm still completely off Q-Var and all allergy pills. One day of my cold over the weekend I had to take periodic hits on the Albuterol inhaler, but other than that, I am successfully free of allergy meds. I said way back on week 2 or 3 that this by itself is a miracle, as before cutting out the dairy I was abjectly miserable with puffy sinuses and wheezy lungs every single day without meds.

My overall health is just great, at least if I gauge it by how I feel. I no longer have energy dips after lunch, or at any time during the day. Even coming to work with a cold, the only difference is I blow my nose more, but I'm not slumped over my desk feeling fatigued and miserable. I no longer have those mentally cloudy days that prompt me to drink an excess of caffeine in efforts to clear the fog. My attention is better and my focus sharper. I feel like I'm thinking more clearly. It's nice. More updates to come as I see what weeks 9 & 10 bring.