Day 1: Hopeful Trepidation

Friday I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease (Hypothyroidism), Leaky Gut Syndrome, Candida, and multiple food sensitivities. This blog is my attempt to document my treatment plan over the next few months. The good news is that all of these issues can be healed through supplements and diet. The challenging news is that I need to follow a very restrictive diet for the next 6 months to see the improvements I am looking for in my health.

I plan to use the next 6 months as a catalyst to make changes long over due. I recently read that the 3 pillars of health are healthy eating, regular exercise, and spirituality - and I plan to reach for this trifecta to help me achieve balance and healing. I will be documenting my attempt at this on Healing Bites to see if the diet works to aleviate my symtoms of IBS, mood swings, exhaustion, and headaches. Food intake, energy levels, exercise, and emotional experience will also be logged on this blog. My hope is journaling this experience will help me and anyone else who might be suffering in the same ways as myself. With that in mind, let's get started.

This morning as my body began to wake I felt tired, so tired. I peaked at the clock, it read 7:30 am and I noticed I had slept in and then immediately calculated how many hours I had slept - 8 and a half. Opening my eyes seemed a feat far too great for my mind and body to achieve. It was like they were glued shut. So I stayed there - eyes closed, mind open for a bit. I contemplated my day and the daunting task of preparing a food plan and began to feel excited for the changes that are coming. You see I have been exhausted for a long time now, and the prospect of having more energy is energizing in and of itself. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Slowly I drug myself out of bed and started my morning ritual. Sixteen ounces of water and a probiotic followed by green tea with agave and inspirational reading. I find that if I have even 15 minutes to do these things before the kids wake, my day goes so much smoother. And that is all I was able to get today.

I feel hopeful and yet overwhelmed with what lies ahead. I am hoping to make it through day one with ease and grace, but we will see.

This afternoon proved to be simple for lunch. Which was great and motivating, so I sat down to plan my menu for the week and had a complete meltdown. I have no idea what half of the foods are on my "ok" foodlist and I do not like the other half. This is going to be tough. How do I stay on track with this without becoming OCD? All I can do is try - I guess I should mend my relationship with cooking, looks like I will need to spend time learning to cook in a completely new way. Dedicating time to food is not my strong point. Simple and easy is best for me and my family. I don't know how on earth I will be able to balance my needs with my family's. Beginning to lose motivation and seriously considering adding some foods back in regardless of my reaction to them.

After reviewing the changes I need to make more closely I have decided to take things one day at a time. No need for perfection here, I can build up to the complete elimination over time. Energy wise I felt mostly good today really peaceful and relaxed, I did not have an energy crash until about 5, which is also when I became moody, snappy, and annoyed. I recovered fairly quickly though. Looking back that is actually very good for me as I usually have several energy crashes where I feel like just crawling back into bed.

Dinner was fine, although my after dinner sweet tooth wreaked havoc on my mind. I have had several ups and downs since five with a final realization that I have been looking at meal planning all wrong. I need to just look at replacing ingredients within current recipes rather than looking at the foods I can eat and magically coming up with a recipe - what do I think I am - a chef? Much more ease around the whole issue since then. It is 8:30 and I am spent, so I am off to bed now. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Meals:

Breakfast - Green tea w/agave, Puffed Rice Cereal, Green apple, and 4 oz coconut milk.

Snack - Green smoothie with yogurt, kale, mango, apple, ginger root, pea protein. I can see where this will take some time to learn the best combo - as it wasn't bad, but it was not delicious either. I kind of had to force it down.

Lunch -Brown rice, scrambled eggs, sugar snap peas, salt, butter and bragg's soy sauce.

Snack - Handful of walnuts, 6 oz. green smoothie

Dinner - Quinoa, grilled chicken, and steamed zucchini with salt and butter to season.

Snack - none

Water Intake - 72 oz.

Supplements - Probiotic, Multivitamin, Fish oil, D3, Mag-Cal Citrate, and antifungal (for candida).

Energy levels:

Morning - Low, but mood upbeat. Slight headache.

Afternoon - Steady energy. Mood, also steady.

Evening - Very low - very tired by 6pm.

Exercise: None (although I researched several options and worked on a schedule to add some into my life).

Mood: Mostly just calm with a few spikes of irritation.