Staying The Course

OK, I have a confession. I strayed off course during the holidays despite my planning paleo meals. There were just too many temptations and I gave in. I have dealt with some guilt over this, gained ten pounds, but have moved on and am back on track. I am human, and it only takes one or two slips ups to fall back into bad habits. I paid with increased joint pain, especially in my shoulder. I had shoulder surgery this week to break the adhesions that had restricted my shoulder movement and caused an incredible amount of pain. The pain is much better, but now I am full of anesthesia and pain killer chemicals. Time to detox!

I got my diet back on track two weeks ago and have shed most of the ten pounds I gained during the holidays. I think gluten's impact on me is water retention and inflammation, which easily goes away when I avoid grains, dairy and sugar. I have also started a running program that I begin every January, do one 5K, then take the rest of the year off. This year I hope to continue the program. I'm one of those "been there, done that" people and have trouble continuing something once I reach my goal. Time to set new goals, maybe a 10k this year! I am feeling great now that my shoulder is pain free (or at least very minimal pain) and I am getting my very ugly varicose and spider veins in my legs removed. I am even getting a hair make over next week, I'm gonna "wash that gray right out of my hair"! I have thirty more pounds to reach my goal, which will be a total loss of eighty pounds. I can do that this year. Vanity seems to have set in. Not sure how I feel about that...

My life has been super busy recently. I am driving an hour and a half one way each week to the vein doctor, I have to do physical therapy five times a week for my shoulder, I have had weekend band events for my students, I have events for my kids, church events, whew! That has left no time for planning and preparing meals, which contributed to my getting off course. Today I have an entire Saturday at home. I went to Whole Foods yesterday when I was in Nashville and stocked up on ingredients I need for new dishes I want to try and for some of my favorite paleo meals. I am going to batch cook and freeze as much as I can today. The menu includes almond flour muffins (carrot date and pumpkin), almond flour bread, Jamaican beef patties with plantain crust, honey-lime chicken skewers, sausage patties, sneaky liver burgers, and whatever else I have time for and think of. The idea is that on those busy days I can put something in the fridge to thaw in the morning, come home and pop it in the oven to heat up or cook without the prep work. Vegetable sides are easy enough to whip up with little preparation.

I will also whip up some snack bars to have when my sweet tooth needs a little something, such as chocolate-dipped nut bites and energy bars. Thank goodness for dates and honey! The best snack is roasted dates...place pitted butterflied dates on a cookie sheet, drizzle with coconut oil, sprinkle with sea salt and unsweetened coconut flakes and broil until they begin to caramelize. Oh My Goodness!! Be sure to eat them while they are still warm.

It is about time to begin seedlings for my early spring garden, which I find very exciting. I WILL overcome the deer and varmits this year, game on! Even though we are experiencing the coldest winter we have had in thirty years, the days are getting longer, which means spring is getting closer. Healthy green leaf vegetables will go in the ground soon.

Have you got a plan together to become healthier?

A Little Taste of Success

FINALLY! I have some encouragement that what I am doing is paying off! On a previous post I wrote about my struggle to get my dose of levothyroxine reduced. My endocrinologist finally agreed to decrease it, with the caveat that I would most likely be calling in a couple of months needing it increased again.  Because, according to conventional medicine, there is no going back once your thyroid begins deteriorating. Well, it has been three months and my blood levels are still good. So good that I may need my dose decreased again next month!

I am somewhat surprised, as I haven't been completely faithful to my paleo diet. I became discouraged a few months ago when other health issues begin popping up related to my thyroid. I was disappointed that despite my efforts I was not only not seeing improvement in my lab work, but new issues were being discovered. I began to consider if it is really all worth it. It became easier to "cheat". Non paleo foods began sneaking back into my routine. I have been approximately 80% paleo for the last month.

Now I am re-energized and have a new motivation for continuing to pursue a paleo lifestyle. If we reduce my dose again, I will be at half what I was taking this time last year. I admit that I did not expect this to take so long, I expected more immediate results. Obviously I had unrealistic expectations. Now I understand that it took years and years of eating the wrong foods to create my health issues and it will take an extended period of time to heal my body. But I am well into the journey and have gone too far to turn back now. I will trudge on.

I believe that behind everything there is a purpose. That purpose is not always obvious to us. I still do not know the purpose behind my trials of the last few years with my health. Perhaps it is to help me appreciate my resources more and not take things for granted. I have begun a journey to grow most of my food I consume. Perhaps that through my experiences others are able to improve their lives.

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven...Ecclesiastes 3. Read this chapter when you get a chance. Soli Deo Gloria.

Making The Connections

This post is not for those who do not have any health issues. This post is for those struggling, or those who care for someone who is struggling with health issues.

During my journey of becoming healthy I have made a distinct connection in what I eat and how I feel. It is very clear to me that if I eat grains I bloat and feel sluggish. If I eat sugar I get headaches and feel tired. I have learned not to eat those things. Yes, sometimes I am tempted and I give in and I live with the consequences.

Someone asked me recently what I have accomplished by changing my lifestyle. My immediate response was that I have cut my triglycerides in half, as well as my liver enzymes. My moods are more even without the highs and lows that were such a problem before. I have lost 50 pounds! As I thought about it more later, I came to realize the most important change I have experienced is how I feel about myself. I feel like I am more what I am meant to be. That is very difficult to explain, but while I was heavier and becoming more and more unhealthy, I never felt like that was really me. I would look in the mirror and not recognize the person I saw looking back at me. I know that had to affect how I interacted with others, especially my family. I was happy with my husband and my kids and my life in general, but I was not happy with me and I felt like there was nothing I could do about it. With thyroid disorders, traditional diets do not work. You may temporarily lose weight, but it is guaranteed to come back plus some. It is horrifying to watch yourself gain fifty pounds while doing the South Beach Diet and working out three times a week. And it physically hurts to gain weight like that, down to your bones.

No one ever suggested to me it might be the foods I was eating that were responsible. I have come to that realization on my own through experimenting with my diet. I have come to the conclusion that what we eat impacts our health more than any other single factor, including genetics. Absolutely genetics predisposes us to some types of health issues, but our food is the trigger for our problems. I do believe there are some issues that require traditional medicine and the care of an experienced medical doctor and diet is not the answer for every medical issue out there. But I do think the most prevalent diseases are related to our diet and nutrition, or lack of. Diabetes, autoimmune diseases, thyroid disorders, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis...the list goes on. These are the diseases of our society. It is so easy to say "it's not my fault" when we are diagnosed. "My grandmother had it" is an easy answer as we eat a pizza and ice cream to make us feel better. We have an emotional attachment to food and can't imagine not having certain things like bread. We take our medicine and do not change our eating habits. "I can eat what I want as long as I take my medicine". I cringe when I hear people I care about say this. My response is "eat healthy and you won't have to take your medicine"! My favorite quote is "Let food by thy medicine, and medicine be thy food" by Hippocrates, ironically, the father of modern medicine. I don't think he meant a handful of pills should be our dinner!

Food is a habit and any habit can be changed in 28 days. Our bodies become addicted to certain substances such as refined sugar. That substance begins regulating how our hormones function. When we run low, our bodies crave it. That is why we can't imagine not having a soda or ice cream. It is the same with alcohol or nicotine additions. When our hormones are controlled by those substances rather than the chemicals our bodies are supposed to produce to control them, disease sets in. Our metabolism gets out of whack, which affects our weight, energy, blood sugar, heart, blood pressure...We get fat and we get sick. And we get depressed. And we eat more pizza because that makes us feel better. It is a vicious cycle. It is a cycle I have been on for years. But I broke those habits cold turkey. Some need to do it in baby steps, but it can be done!

We are fast becoming a society that does not take responsibility for our conditions, whether financial or physical. There are government handouts for those with the victim mentality. There are pills and surgeries for those whose eating is out of control. We are a generation addicted to instant gratification. The processed foods that feed that addiction are killing us. We need to realize that it is up to us and only us to change our circumstances. Do not wait for someone to do it for you. Take control now and do something, anything! Once you make that first step, the next step becomes easier, then the next, and the next...

Just give it a try for 30 days and see for yourself. Don't make any more excuses as to why you can't. Just do it. Make that connection between your actions and your condition. Take responsibility. You don't know where to start? The book "It Starts With Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig is where I started. Or check out their website. Practical Paleo and balancedbites.com are another great resource. thepaleomom.com has great aricles.

I am by no means at the end of my journey, I am just getting good and started. I have a long way to go yet. I have more weight to lose and a thyroid condition to reverse. It is going to take time and patience on my part. It takes perseverance when those around you do not hop on board with you. It takes educating yourself and understanding what you are doing. It requires you to take charge. You can do it!

A Lonely Ride

My journey has had some turbulence recently, but I am hoping for clearer skies soon. We have been really busy lately and I haven't planned and prepared food like I normally do. I have made bad food choices due to lack of time and motivation to cook. I can tell in the way I feel too. I must get back on track immediately or I am going to undo all the progress I have made. Thank goodness fall break begins after tomorrow and I will have some down time to get it back together and on track!

I am finding that I am on this journey alone. People try to react positively when I describe paleo, but I can tell they think it's wierd. I don't mind that really, because I know it is the right plan for me and everyone is different. A few of my friends have given it a try and they are believers now. I feel so strongly about this that I know if people will just try it, they will be amazed. I probably get a little too passionate about it sometimes. I have to remember most people do best with baby steps.

The biggest issue I am facing with this is with my family. No one is along for the ride with me. They do not openly discourage me from eating paleo, but they do not participate either and that is the hardest part for me to deal with. I know, without a doubt, that how we eat effects our health, mood, appearance, everything. I am trying to transition my kids to at least gluten and refined sugar free diets. I do not expect them to be 100% paleo. I have faced a lot of resentment on that front, even though I have tried a low key approach to transitioning them. I'm not getting any back up to encourage them, so it is a big fail. I eat very healthy and my kids eat crap. As a mom, I want nothing more than for my kids to grow up with healthy eating habits and no medical issues. I don't want them going through what I am when they are my age. I wish with all my heart someone had told me about paleo when I was in my twenties. But I also know that I would have laughed at it and not given it a try because I was healthy and invincible. People have to be ready and do this on their own terms and I know that. But while my children live in my house, I control what they eat while at home. I will focus more on educating them why they should make good food choices. I refuse to buy the crap and I hope my family will respect my role as their mother enough to cooperate with me when they are in their care.

I do not write this post just to feel sorry for myself, but to let others who feel alone know that is our reality and we must persevere. Our example may just be what brings those that we love around to our way of thinking in their own timing. In the words of paleo mentor Robb Wolf..."Suck it up, Buttercup!".

A Bump In The Road

If you have read my previous blogs, you know I am on a journey to return my thyroid to functioning on its own without the help of medication. Hashimoto's, which my endocrinologist says I have, is an autoimmune issue. My endo stopped there and said "We found the problem, here's your medicine!". I am digging deeper to try to address the autoimmune response, thereby theoretically stopping the attack on my thyroid. It is my goal to prove to traditional doctors that thyroid disease can be improved, if not put into remission, with diet and lifestyle changes.

My endo is NOT on board with this. I literally had to beg him to lower my dose of levothyroxine this week because I am convinced I have too much thyroid hormone swimming around in me. I had this plan of eating gluten for a couple of weeks then getting my antibodies tested to see if there was an autoimmune response. He agreed to do the blood work to check my thyroid levels, but would not run the test for antibodies even though I specifically asked him to. He said it wouldn't change the management so there was no need. I didn't ask my chiropractor to do it because I thought my endo would. I was wrong. And I was so sick from eating gluten that I couldn't go a few more days to get more blood work done, so I just dropped it and will assume it is indeed autoimmune. That was a very frustrating experience! I ate all that junk food for nothing. The tests he did run came back in the "normal" range, he says my symptoms are not related to my thyroid. I disagreed. I don't think that went over very well.

Six days ago I began the paleo autoimmune protocol (AIP) I described in an earlier post. It has gone well so far. I already have more energy back and I have lost several pounds. I hit the fifty pound mark for total weight loss this week! Thirty more to go to my goal. I am eating great meals avoiding all the foods that could cause a gut trigger. I am not eating out, at all. Tonight's supper is poached salmon with lemon and dill, roasted carrots and roasted Brussels sprouts. I made kale chips the other day for snacks, and they are surprisingly good. I do want something sweet, but oh well. I have given up coffee with no ill effect. I drink hot herbal tea in the morning instead. No headaches! I stopped taking my Zyrtec and had a withdrawal I didn't expect. I broke out in hives and had intense itching all over. I have managed this with chamomile and lavender essential oils and it is much better. I have regained most of my movement in my shoulder thanks to physical therapy and should get released from that this week.

So, the next part of the journey is to continue AIP for twenty-four more days and take the lower dose of levothyroxine. I will be monitoring how I feel along the way. I am looking for the heart palpitations and overall jitters to end. Then I will know I am on the right track. I will get new labs run at the end of AIP and see if there are any differences, just out of curiosity.

Mentally I feel much better than I have been feeling recently. It is overwhelming to have so many different things wrong all at once and no one can connect the dots. I am my own best advocate and am educating myself so that I can have in depth discussions with my doctors and understand what is going on with my body. This is a team approach. My team consists of my primary doctor, my endocrinologist, my chiropractor and me. It is my goal to bring all three doctors into the same line of thinking by proving with my own body how lifestyle can cure what ails us better than medicine can. I don't know, we shall see...

Meanwhile, I am enjoying having the use of my shoulder back by paddling on the river near our house at sunrise and enjoying the serenity.

The Heart of the Matter

Waiting for test results can be very stressful, and this week proved to be no exception. The lesson learned from this week....don't have a test run on a Friday before a holiday weekend. 8 days later, I finally hear the results of the echocardiogram. Mild aortic regurgitation, atrial dilation and mild pulmonary hypertension. It sounds worse than it is really. The bottom line is that the heart murmur is being caused by a leaky valve and I have a high volume of blood pumping through my heart, causing increased blood pressure. This is certainly not something I want to let sit around and get worse, but there is nothing urgent right now and no need to see a cardiologist. These are all signs of being hyperthyroid. Have we heard that before recently? Yes, with the frozen shoulder issue. I see a pattern.

I talked to my doctor at length about autoimmune, my thyroid, and the gut connection. Doc is actually researching and experimenting around with Paleo himself, so he didn't think I was a complete nut job! I gave him the book "It Starts With Food" last year and it has sparked his interest in the connection with our diet and chronic illness and diseases. He is watching me as the "guinea pig" I believe and I am happy to oblige! He is not sure that he thinks I have Hashimoto's because the antibody tests he has run haven't shown anything. He also said that just means that for day they drew blood I didn't have a flare-up. He also wants me to have the nodule on my thyroid cut out, as it is suspicious to him even though the biopsy came back negative. I will agree to have the nodule removed only if they can take it and leave all of my thyroid intact.

I am making an appointment with my endocrinologist next week to discuss all this with him. I do not believe he is as open to the whole diet connection. I am going to ask to significantly decrease my levothyroxine dose. I have become pretty adept at assessing my body and I KNOW I have too much thyroid hormone swimming around in me. 

So this is my plan and I'm sticking to it.....next week I will make an appointment with my endo like I said above. At the same time I am going to my chiropractor and have him do some blood work for me. I want to look specifically at thyroid hormones T3 and T4, along with TSH, adrenal hormones and antibodies. He will also check nutrient and vitamin levels. Why my chiro and not Doc? Because he is easier to get in to see, I don't have to explain "why" to him, and functional blood chemistry is "his thing". I am going with a team approach on this. Why don't I just go with the functional medicine route and leave traditional medicine behind? Because I intend on proving to them the connection and that many of our chronic and life changing problems can be reversed or prevented by taking care of our gut.

I have spent the last week intentionally eating "normal food". I have had a hamburger (with the bun!), pizza, Chinese food, lasagna, Mexican...are you ready for this? I even drank.... A COKE! (gasp!) And I feel like crap! I did not enjoy the meals as much as I thought I would, but I did get a break from the kitchen. Why did I do that after working so hard the last year to not eat that stuff? Because I have a point to make and I want my blood work to show what this stuff does to us. Once I have the blood drawn early in the week, I will "detox" for a couple of days and let my gut rest. I will have a green smoothie for breakfast, drink a really good veggie broth during the day, eat a light dinner, and soak in an epsom salt bath each day. Following that I will begin the autoimmune paleo protocol for 30 days. Then I plan to repeat the blood tests.

One last thought....something else I struggle with is reconciling God's sovereignty in my life and my control over my life. I do believe with all my heart God is ultimately in control of everything, even the bad things that come along like thyroid disease. I also believe that He has given me a healthy body that I have helped weaken by my food and lifestyle choices in the past. By rebuilding my body I hope to bring glory to Him, not myself. I could not possibly have the will power to make the changes I have needed to make, and continue to need to make, without His hand guiding me. I can't imagine embarking upon this journey without Him beside me the whole way. I have had many people say they could never do this diet because they do not have the will power I have. That makes me laugh, because I have NEVER had will power before. Perhaps they don't have the security of knowing that through Christ all things are possible?

The Journey Begins...

This has been a pretty big week in my world. Unexpectedly so. So big that I have begun a new blog to document and provide accountability for what I am about to undertake. Put on your seat belts!

Some background...I have know for several years I am hypothyroid and have been on levothyroxine to regulate it without any issues. Until last year when we discovered a rather large nodule on my thyroid. Bring on the endocrinologist who put me on suppression therapy to try to shrink it. That began in January of this year (2013). In May I began feeling run down again, much like before I began treatment for hypothyroid. I was also having heart palpitations, a sign of hyperthyroid. I asked to have my medication reduced and we did so in July. In early May I woke up with shoulder pain and dismissed it as overuse as a band director. In June I noticed I had reduced range of motion, and began deep tissue massages and chiropractic treatment. It has been hurting much more recently so I finally went to my family doctor to be sure I don't have a rotator cuff injury. That bring us to where I am today.

They always check your blood pressure, etc. for any kind of doctor's appointment. Mine was 134/99 and caused a wave of excitement in the office. My BP is usually very low. Suddenly they are giving me aspirin and asking if I have chest pain. Really?? I did not feel like what I thought a heart attack would feel like. The doctor came in and listened to my heart and found a heart murmur. They did finally talk about my shoulder after doing an EKG and scheduling me for an echocardiogram. I was referred to an orthopedic and got in the next day. He said I had classic frozen shoulder, gave me a steroid shot and physical therapy instructions. He also said something that caught my attention....he asked if I had endocrine issues, I said yes, thyroid, and he immediately said that was what was causing the problem with my shoulder. Hmmmm.....so I go home and begin googling.  I find out that hyperthyroid (remember that I was on an increased dose of hormone) can also cause heart murmurs, which can cause high blood pressure. Maybe all my issues are related and I am not really falling apart at the seams? I have to wait until next week to be able to talk with my doctor about it.

I am spending my time this weekend reading books. Dr. Kharrazian's book "Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal?", Anne Angelone's book "The Autoimuune Paleo Plan", Izabella Wentz's "Hashimoto's Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause", and lots of blogs. So now I have a plan....

My symptoms all point to an autoimmune issue, though my blood work really does not. I wonder that because I am paleo that my diet masks the response in my blood work? I am going to discuss my plan with my doctor next week before implementing, and I do hope he is open to trying it with me. What if I eat some gluten and more of a "normal" diet for the next couple of weeks and then run the blood work again? The worst that will happen is I might gain a couple of pounds and feel run down, but that will be temporary.  If that blood tests shows positive for antibodies, then I will know it is an autoimmune issue and will follow a strict autoimmune paleo diet. If not, then I will know it is not, but at least I will know something. Not knowing what is wrong is the hardest part of all of this for me. 

My biggest fear is that my thyroid seems to be out of control even though I am on hormone therapy and my TSH is in an ideal range. It has attacked my shoulder and my heart, what is next? The issues are getting more serious with more complicated treatments. I am also feeling rather discouraged by the fact that I have spent the last year of my life cleaning up my diet, exercising more, losing 40 pounds, eliminating chemicals from my household products, getting plenty of sleep...and I have more problems than before!

So I begin this blog with two intentions....1) to let others who face similar issues know they are not alone in their journey and 2) to have accountability for sticking with my plan.

Bon Voyage!