Acid Attack

As I am writing this post, I have been ill for three days.  I am in bed with pounding headache and nausea.  While the pain in my stomach is really irritating, the one I can't stand the most of is the feel of boredom.  I can't stand staying in bed doing nothing but my head and stomach ache every time I try to do something that require some movements. I tried to do my work but my brain just refused to cooperate.  So I am trying out my luck with writing. Let me share with you what I did over the weekend.

My sister and her family visited us last week and we decided to go to Johor for the weekend.  After driving for three solid hours, we finally reached our first destination : Johor Premium Outlet. Everyone decided to forgo lunch and do some shopping instead. While I don't really enjoy shopping, I did enjoy the look at my daughters when they find something they liked.  I liked to see the excitement of my nephews going from one shop to another looking for the best bargain. I love the happy and satisfied look of my husband when he came out from a shop with shopping bags.  Not to mention the smiles from my sister's face when she described the value-for-money treasures she bought on the 2nd floor.

While everyone enjoyed their shopping, instead of visiting some boutiques, I spent my day visiting toilets, purging like I were 3-month pregnant. I didn't know why but I purged everything I ate.  I felt terrible... My stomach was on fire, my head was spinning and my body was shivering... I felt worse than when I was carrying a baby.

The next day, instead of enjoying the rides at Legoland, I tried to survive a taxi ride to a nearby clinic.  After some Q & A, pressing and knocking some points on my body, the doctor asked me, "Do you eat a lot of spicy and oily food?" I can only confess yes.

He told me that my stomach lining is thinning due to years of acid erosion.  I am a carnivore who love fried and spicy foods. When my father told me to eat less chilies, I ignored him. When my husband told me to eat more steamed food instead of fried food, I shrugged it off. When my husband asked me to prepare salad for dinner, I sneaked out some chicken or seafood inside the salad.  Not a day in my life that I didn't eat meat.  Meat, oil and chilies are very acidic and I was addicted to them. I am paying for my addiction now.

The doctor advised me to "clean" my body from excess acid for at least a week, followed by strict alkaline diet.  I searched the net about acidic and alkaline foods and it gave me more headache.

Below is a simple list on acidic food that I have to limit or even eliminate in my diet:

Alcohol
Artificial Sweeteners
Beef
Black Tea
Carbonated drinks
Cheese
Chilies
Chocolate
Coffee
Chicken
Eggyolk
Fried food
Noodles
Preserved food
Sausages
Sugars
Syrup
Vinegar

Now... I know why I get the headache.. It's the list..!! It has almost everything I love... How I am supposed to enjoy life when I can't eat anything nice?  Only fruits and vegetables are alkaline..!

I had an avocado for breakfast this morning (thanks to my sister for bringing the creamiest, fattest and tastiest avocados from Bandung).  I can't think of any appetizing alkaline food for my lunch and dinner yet. Just thinking about the fate of my beef and chicken in the fridge increased the pounding in my head.

How am I going to survive this...??