The last year has been a work in progress where my hypothyroidism is concerned and these last few months have been about food experimentation.
Read all the articles you like but it isn’t until you begin playing with your food that you comprehend how food can help or hurt your body.
Regular readers are familiar with my Whole 30 journey which ended after 43 days of whole foods and no sweeteners, dairy, soy or grains. Then I took a break for most of June when it seemed to be a parade of meals outside my control.
I used this time to stretch boundaries and learned that they don’t stretch very far. When I ate Whole 30 for those 43 days, I felt great and had tons of energy. Since stopping, my energy has gradually waned and some of the pain has come back.
So I started a new round on Saturday. Only, this time will be different. This time, I’m working to make the Whole 30 way of eating the norm rather than something that has a beginning and an end. This time, I’m allowing vanilla yogurt with a small amount of sweetener because I like yogurt and life with plain yogurt is just too basic.
There normally is no room for mistakes when you do Whole 30. Make a mistake today and you’ll start again tomorrow. This time, if I need to go off script for a meal, I will just keep going with the next meal.
You can lie to yourself about all manner of things but your body will never lie to you when it is feeling abused or neglected.
I really haven’t eaten that badly until the last few days of my break when I developed a “last supper” complex, eating fried food, popcorn and Oreos.
I didn’t feel good about it at all. Three days in and it feels like I’m detoxing a bit and am looking forward to feeling good again in a few days.
One other thing to note – I had fallen into the habit of blaming my thyroid and having negative thoughts toward this small gland that is basically command central for the human body. It’s a big responsibility. But it isn’t my thyroid’s fault that it is under siege. So I am flipping the narrative to speak with words of support rather than contempt. No more calling it “my stupid thyroid!”
Thyroid disease is life altering for most patients but I refuse to give in and just live with it for the sake of a cookie. So today, I will double down on nutrition, rest and water consumption.
It’s the first day of the rest of my life and I’m dedicated to making it count. I hope you do the same in whatever way is good for you.
It feels like such freedom to eat whatever you want. Until you discover that the real freedom is feeling good after whatever you ate. Good luck with this journey.
Thank you so much. It has been a journey and, honestly, I’m sick of it. However, I am doing my best to be grateful for answers and for the opportunity to educate others. Even if in just the smallest ways.
I appreciate you sharing this difficult journey. I get away with eating all manner of unhealthy stuff and really need to do better for my body.
Don’t feel bad. Most people can afford to do better but it’s much harder than it sounds in the world we live in today.
I think it’s good how you’ve adjusted your attitude and how you look at / work the Whole 30 program. You might make further adjustments as you figure out what works and what doesn’t, and that’s ok! I know you’ll get it all sorted eventually and feel much better more of the time.
Regarding the plain yogurt, are you allowed honey on the Whole 30? If, so I find that I really like plain Greek “strained” yogurt with honey. I just discovered the “strained” recently and I like how super thick it is. I think the brand I just got is Simple Truth. Anyway! IF you can do honey and if you LIKE honey, give that a shot.
Thank you! It is definitely a work in progress!
And no honey. The Whole 30 allows absolutely no sweetener and honestly, I’m not a huge fan of honey. Although, I do love maple syrup in my yogurt!!
I’ve had that mentality in the past as well. Good for you for recognizing it and course correcting! Good luck on your journey!
Thank you so much! It has been a rocky road but no one ever said life would be easy. 🙂