Tag Archives: Wellness

Thyroid, Nutrition And Next Steps

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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.

Recommitting To Myself

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new years 2019I’m not a huge fan of the New Year’s Resolution. Maybe it’s because I believe every day is a perfect time to commit to doing something that’s necessary or good. Maybe it’s because I see how quickly most people fail with their resolutions. It takes at least a month of commitment to form a new habit. Sadly it takes one bad decision and about five minutes to revert back to our old ways. Then discouragement sets in and before we know it, we’re waiting for next January 1 to repeat the process.

Last spring, my beautiful friend Sarah introduced me to the Whole 30. It’s designed to help kick a sugar addiction and it’s an elimination diet to help folks with health issues figure out their allergies or other food related problems. For me, it became more of a lifestyle to stave off sugar cravings, lose weight, have increased energy and greater mental focus. I even found that food was causing some mild Rosacea like symptoms.

I quickly learned that I am happier when I eat whole foods and avoid heavily processed stuff. 

It’s a real commitment to be a Whole 30 Pescaterian. It’s a lot of cooking and most convenience food is off the table because it’s packed with sugar and all sorts of nasties you can’t pronounce and probably shouldn’t digest. For most Whole 30’ers, the prospect of eating in a restaurant is enough to incite panic. In other words, it’s a commitment and a challenge. And unlike most diets, if you make a mistake today, you don’t just pick up and go on tomorrow. You go back to day one with every slip up. So if your goal is to just get through the thirty days, it’s stressful when you’re new or when you’re trying to eat on the go.

Like I said, I have achieved a place of lifestyle where I try to stick with it as much as possible but am not bound so tightly by the rules of being on a thirty day round. This healthier diet gave me more energy for hiking, working out and going on adventures. After a few months of being really strict, I gave myself a season of leniency – more or less to see what my tendencies are, what my weaknesses are and what I do if given some leeway.

Turns out, my weaknesses and natural tendencies are appalling.

So today I start a new Whole 30 round and recommit to some of the lifestyle choices that made me so happy last year – drink lots of water, fuel my body with good food, get outdoors when possible, hike a lot, read good books, listen to amazing music, write daily, and surround myself with people and things that make me happy.

I’m also doing a reset on my budget. The holidays and poor self control on this last road trip tell me that I simply cannot be trusted with food, money or anything else. Ha, ha… ahem.

So, I’m not making a resolution. Instead, I’m making conscious decisions to recommit to what’s good for me and to what’s really important.

If you are among the many today who are committing to a resolution, here’s my advice – PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!!! Write out your strategies, write down what you’re doing, study your choices and reward yourself for good performance.

If your goal is to cut spending so you can pay off a credit card, you would need to make a budget, write down every penny you spend, study your spending habits and chart your progress as the credit card balance decreases. Then periodically reward yourself with something special but not necessarily something that costs money. Maybe you invite a friend over for coffee or take a long, hot bubble bath. If you have kiddos, plan a picnic at a local park.

You get the idea.

Whatever you do, remember that the thing you want – the slimmer body, the fatter bank account, the life without cigarettes, or whatever it is – you can work toward every day of the year. You don’t need a calendar or a silly annual tradition to make it happen. You WILL need some elbow grease and a commitment to make it reality.

I have my plan together and I have a goal to be good to myself. And really, my friends, what’s better than committing to being kind to yourself?

Best wishes with your resolutions or goals or whatever it is you call them. Go forth and conquer every day this year! Let’s make 2019 our best year yet!