Do you listen to your body?

Well, do you? Do you really recognize when your body is trying to say something? I have to admit that I have not been the best at this. Considering my profession, it is even crazier that I don't. I was trained to listen to bodies and try to "fix" them yet I never did listen to my own.
I have been a fairly healthy person ( aside from the fact that I'm obese ha!), other than allergies and allergy triggered asthma I have never really suffered from a chronic condition. My hope is that with a lifestyle change and losing my weight, my journey will allow me better chances and not having one later on.
With all of that said, I must say that I think that my body is trying to tell me something. I have mentioned many times that I have been under a lot of stress lately. This has caused me a lot of anxiety and it is in my nature to try to "deal" with it internally. Hence, why eating and binging is what I did. I could comfort myself this way, without anyone knowing. Funny to think that people couldn't see me eating, that was important. I never considered that even though they may not have seen me consuming the food, they saw my ever growing body. Crazy, how we do not stop and consider those details lol.
I would not say that I am the most stressed I have ever been, far from it. But I do think that this is the longest period of time where I have had the same source of stress and a lot of unknown. I have always been a planner and want to be in control, so having much unknown that I cannot control drives me nuts. But I know it should be coming to a close soon just how soon I am not sure. So that's a good thing.
 Because I am committed  this journey and seeing it through, I have tried to deal with my stress without my usual companion (food). I thought I was doing pretty good but about two weeks ago I started having random bouts of hives. The very first time it happened, I was at Walmart picking out lettuces. I figured that I must have touched something and I must have reacted to it. My wrist and hand got the hives and they went away after taking some benadryl. I didn't think anything of it but about two days later, I had the same thing happen. I was reading when all of a sudden, I started feeling itchy on my side and within seconds i had 3-4 welts that itched tremendously. Within minutes they went away even without any pills.
From them on, I will get them in random places ( face, scalp, tummy, arm, legs,feet) often enough (though not daily) to make me want to "fix" it. I have never had them all over my body and not lasting more than 5 minutes. Although I believe that a part of it is anxiety related and it could just be idiopathic chronic urticaria. I am thinking that food may also be related.
The only "pattern" I can find has to do with sugar and carbs. The days that I have had them have been heavier in carbs  than others. Those days have been within my calorie intake and all that but according to MFP heavy on the carb ratio. I keep thinking about it, and I am not concerned about it enough to see the doctor just yet ( trust me, I would know if that was the case ;) ). I have hyperinsulinemia but my glucose  and such are fine (for now), I think this is my body's warning sign.I am  thinking that my body is screaming at me to make a change before it does break.
So in order to see if I notice a change, I am going to do a few things:
1- I will make sure I am drinking LOTS of water, I am cutting my coke zero ( or diet soda) intake completely.TODAY.
2= I will avoid artificial sweetener as much as possible, limiting myself to one stevia pack for my morning coffee ( I am giving myself a 1 cup limit)
3- I am slashing my carb intake goal by half and my goal would be to eventually do it by 90%
4- I will be mindful of fruits and starchy veggies. I am eating them, but will not over eat them.
5- I will keep a log of the days it happens and try to find a food/activity pattern.

Will this be key? who knows, but I am hoping it will help. I am sure it will. I feel good but the hives can drive a person crazy even when its for a couple of minutes. These changes can only help,It can't hurt right? Right!
So I started today by filling up the top shelf of my fridge with prepared veggie snacks. I have 50 grams each of baby carrots, radishes and celery in each. I have grown fond of plain rice cakes as a snack ( hey only 40cals right?). This will stop. I can crunch away on veggies if I need to. If they are ready I can grab and go. No excuses.So I am going to try this for now and see if there is any improvement at all. I will keep you guys updated. For now, I am leaving you with a nice pic of my snack shelf in my fridge lol Until next time!