Well, this is going to suck...

As some of you will be aware from my FaceBook, I'm having to give up dairy. It's not just the lactose that's the problem - I figured that out several weeks ago. Recently, friends of mine told me that one of them gave up milk products totally and had a huge benefit from it, so I looked into caseine-related problems and found that this could well be it.

So, I'm giving up dairy totally for a few weeks to see what happens. Hopefully my gut will behave itself, which will also confirm the caseine thing. Then, if that test is successful, I'll be gradually re-introducing it in small amounts to see how much I can tolerate. If it isn't successful, I'm going to eat a truckload of cheese and feel depressed about having a gut that hates me for no good reason.

Wish me luck :-)

Ergh. Broke.

I'm broke at the moment, which is annoying. Especially as I have a wedding coming up and I don't want to dip into my savings to pay for that.

The reason I'm broke is that I've made several long-term investments:

The biggest one by far was the bicycle, with the idea of getting healthy and saving on fuel (there are very few local places I go where I can't get by bike, and I'm hoping to also cycle to work). This will take a few months to pay for itself. All the bike gear cost close to $800, and I spend about $90/month on fuel. Most of that is commuting to work, but it'll still take quite a while to break even. I guess it'll also reduce other wear and tear on the car from driving it, but I have no idea how to calculate that.

The other thing I guess I should factor in is that having a bike means I'm not paying for a gym membership, but I'm getting the exercise anyway. If we count that in, it'll pay for itself a lot more quickly (5 months, instead of 9).

The benefits to my health will also be unbelievable. My resting heart rate has already dropped considerably. It's gone from around 85bpm to around 70 (+/- 3bpm), and that's after only a week of regular cycling. It should also reduce my stress levels, my blood pressure, and help with my ADHD symptoms (they hyperactivity, at the very least; I know this because I noticed changes in my behaviour from regular exercise before I even suspected that I had ADHD).

Actually, now that I think about it, the benefits of having this contraption are HUGE. How do I put a monetary value on all that?? Screw being broke. It's worth every penny, and more.