Oh gods what is wrong with my stomach. Was it the eggs? The ketchup? The oat milk? The caffeine in my iced tea? Something else in my iced tea? Please, please not the eggs. Anything but the eggs. Owww.

Can I just ... stop eating forever? No? AUGH. Blasted human bodies.

At least I have this dairy-free carrot cake to look forward to. I am so trying that. No idea what almond meal is, but it does say I can use flour instead. Carrots are yet another item on the list of things I can't eat raw, so I always appreciate an opportunity to do something unusual with them.

Then again, there are eggs in that recipe. Anything but the eggs, please. D:

So as you may have noticed, I have not been magically relieved of all my ills lately. Looks like my mother's acquaintance (this is starting to sound like a secret codename) simply got extremely lucky. You're supposed to feel significantly better after only a few days, but I didn't notice even the tiniest difference after more than a week. I still tried to keep on taking the stuff for a while, but gave up when I started to repeatedly lose track of when my last "breakfast" had been due to insomnia.

There's still enough left that I could give it another go when I'm back to a halfway stable sleeping pattern, but if I do that, it'll mostly be to avoid wasting it.

I just started to try out one of the things that my mother's acquaintance told me about last week. There's this plant-based pulver powder (oops) that she takes every morning in place of a normal breakfast (you're technically allowed to eat breakfast in addition to it, but it's filling), which helps her so much that she's now almost completely painfree and even sleeps better. She did say that she also knows people for whom it didn't work, but there's no harm in trying.

You have to order it online, which I did right after she left. It seemed expensive at first glance, but the FAQ informed me that it's actually not because it lasts for about two months and will likely replace all the breakfast foods you would otherwise have to buy. Makes sense to me, except for the part where I'm mildly creeped out at the thought of never eating breakfast again. o_O

Yesterday I received my first 500g box of the stuff in the mail and a few hours ago I gave it a try. You have to stir a tablespoon of powder into a liquid of your choice, down it as fast as possible and then drink some more because it's slightly dehydrating. I went with water to find out what it would taste like on its own, but it turned out to be surprisingly bland, so I think I'll use oat milk tomorrow.

Of course I'm not feeling any effects yet. That's supposed to take a few days, but I was curious as to whether I would actually be satiated afterwards. It was interesting - I definitely noticed a reduction of hunger, but it felt odd without the presence of proper food in my stomach. It was like satiety slowly snuck up on me until I finally had to admit that it was in fact there. What a strange sensation.

Sadly the product's website is only available in German, but if I find that it helps me, I imagine I'll eventually end up translating what it is and how it (supposedly) works for those of you who don't happen to speak my native language.