Hello again, I'm so glad to be back here (in addition to the blog on my website) and truly happy that my friend Elizabeth encouraged me to continue using this site for more personal blog posts.
I wanted to share with you all what's new with my own health. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's, an auto-immune condition that in essence causes your own body to attack itself, several years back as a result of my colon cancer. If you've ever been diagnosed with hypothyroidism then you most likely have Hashimoto's, although not necessarily. An under-performing thyroid (i.e. hypo) can result in issues like fatigue, weight gain, dry hair and brittle nails, memory loss, dizziness, problems concentrating and many more serious concerns.
So I've been on a natural or compounded hormone treatment for some years now and at times it's been a non-issue. But those times correlated with eating in a way that supports my body, and for the last 4-6 months I have definitely NOT been doing that. I have gotten back into a habit of consuming sugary foods (lots of stevia, maple syrup, honey and good ole fashioned sugar), wheat & oats, a little dairy and too much caffeine. What happens in my body when I eat this way is it creates inflammation (and we suspect a bacterial overgrowth), which causes a cascade affect all through my endocrine system - from adrenals on down to my sex hormones.
A few weeks ago, when I realized I was having hot flashes (more than just a random 1x/day), night sweats and not sleeping very well, I went to see my practitioner who ordered blood work and a comprehensive stool test (yes, yuck) to see what's happening in my gut. No surprise the blood work showed all my hormones are out of range, with my thyroid especially struggling.
Now I of all people know good and well that all good health begins in a healthy gut, and I'm challenged in that area to begin with, thanks to 3 surgeries, chemotherapy drugs, pain meds, antibiotics and not to mention a lifetime of drinking too much alcohol. But sometimes my five-year old self just wants to misbehave, and my adult self just wants to "relax" and enjoy food like I used to - between the two of us, accepting reality can be a little challenging.
So here I am - I have gained about 10-12 lbs, I'm exhausted both mentally & physically, and I can tell I have a lot of inflammation as my favorite rings are too tight. So what am I doing about it? Well, I am cutting back and eventually stopping the caffeine for a while to let my adrenals rest, drinking more water, making sure I have good snacks in my purse so the pumpkin bread at Starbucks doesn't tempt me and keeping lots of ready-to-eat food at home so I don't decide a run through Jack In The Box is a good idea. And I'm also looking into eating, for a while anyway, what's called an Auto Immune Protocol (AIP). It's basically paleo, but with things like nuts & seeds, eggs & nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers) taken out and bone broth, fermented foods and more herbs added in. I'm going to make more bone broth (you guys know I do that already anyway), add unflavored, grass-fed & organic gelatin to my foods and try some fermented vegetables. Cutting out eggs is tough but I've done it before and truth be told, I do feel a little weird when I eat them.
The plan is to eat AIP for about 6-8 weeks so your body can calm down and return to a state of homeostasis, or balance. Then you slowly add some foods back in to identify what you're having issues with, but I pretty much know already - wheat, sugar, grains, dairy. I've found a great website, AIP Lifestyle, that has a lot of yummy recipes and I really love that she connects our food with our emotions (see: Pork Burgers and Trusting Your Life or DIY Red Wine Vinegar and Suffering).
Lastly I wanted to share how I'm feeling about this happening now, when I am trying to maintain energy around my new business Ellaquent Coaching. I have to walk my talk, not just in the past or on days when I feel like it, but all the damn time. My message is that certain foods, thought patterns and consumer products are very endocrine disrupting, and that just cleaning this up makes a huge difference in our menopausal lives - so here is God giving me the chance to live my own message. That my friends is poetry personified and I am grateful to be walking this path beside all of you. I will be posting some of this on my website so I hope you'll check that out too.
I hope this finds you doing well - in the immortal of words of our now departed Mr. Spock - Live Long and Prosper!
Metamorphosis
