Winter Blahs? Not Me!

Research and Reading

I have continued to do well on my new eating, vitamin, and supplement regime. I would like to take it "up" a notch. To do this, I have done the following:

1. Purchased a few books which have lead to more changes.
2. Begun applying the KonMari method to my home. This has already reaped benefits. I have only completed the first category and I already have experienced a better attitude, sparked some creative projects, and brought some positive energy my way. I have experienced a recent increase in the number of job postings that I am truly interested in and some projects in the form of web design work.
3. Made an appointment to see a functional medicine practitioner. I was thrilled to find one with 45 minutes of my home. The appointment is next week. I anticipate she will be putting me on a strict diet and have been grocery shopping with this in mind. I'm not buying my usual snack foods.

Books

I have purchased the following books:

• the life changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing by Marie Kondo (finished) and I immediately bought...
• Spark Joy: an illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up by Marie Kondo - (currently reading)
  
• The Autoimmune Solution by Amy Myers, M.D. (currently reading)
• The Immune System Recovery Plan by Susan Blum, M.D., M.P.H.
• Wake Up Happy by Michael Strahan 

Somewhere along the line, my research lead me in the direction of autoimmune disorders. The changes I made initially to get my digestive system healthy made such a dramatic difference in how I felt made me think something wasn't right in the first place. A few changes in diet made this big a difference? A friend told me about Amy Myers, M.D. and I looked into her research a bit more. She was a pioneer in functional medicine. Diet can trigger autoimmune responses, but it can also put them into remission. It sparked the epiphany that I was on to something with the autoimmune disorders and diet.

Amy Myers has a very strict diet to follow initially. I haven't reached the details yet in my reading, but it prompted me to make the appointment with a functional medicine practitioner. I have had gastric bypass surgery and I need high amounts of protein, don't absorb nutrients as well, and felt I needed some one on one guidance.

Winter Blahs 

Winters in Michigan are long, dark, and cold. It is common for everyone to start feeling down in January and February. I am usually not the exception. Add the fact that you are unemployed and fruitlessly job searching and facing rejection you would expect to be depressed. This is why I purchased Wake Up Happy. I expected to be depressed and thought I would be preemptive. The book was listed on a "feel good" book list and I bought it with some of my Christmas money.  So far I haven't needed to read it. 

I want to read it, I am still interested in improving my outlook and I am not usually a morning person. I can be grouchy in the morning. I am looking forward to reading it, just haven't had a lot of reading time with the additional job opportunities I am applying for and the web page work. All good.

I am so grateful I have managed to remain positive and optimistic this winter!

Day 3

Day 3: at least I think it is Day 3. I have lots of energy and no appetite. 

Sipped my Kombucha and lemon water this morning. Fixing myself a salad for a late lunch and first meal of the day. Added the kale and the dandelion greens again today and did without the egg. Added walnuts, sesame seeds, and flaxseed. Made the salad much smaller than yesterday and managed to eat all of it.

 Going to try and make a point to eat something before 3 o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow!

Dinner was white chili.

I had my favorite gluten-free and molasses cookies with skim milk for dessert.
I am not in this to lose the weight and I am not planning on trying, but if that's a side effect I'm fine with it!

I am considering raw almonds and pumpkin seeds for future evening snacking. I always seem to want something when knitting and watching television. The almonds I can eat plain and the pumpkin seeds could be sweetened or salted to satisfy which ever I needed at the time. Maybe I will hit Pinterest for ideas?

Nutritional Baby Steps

Now

I lead a relatively healthy lifestyle. Especially, compared to what I used to live. I am post gastric bypass (2003) and have kept off the weight. At that time I gave up sugar, carbonation, juices, and high fat foods. I occasionally have bread, but, for the most part I try to eat high-protein. My doctor gave me a goal of 90 g of protein a day. That is not easy to do with your amount of food that I can consume in a day.  I added strawberry/banana protein smoothies, which I love! I recently bought a Nutrabullet and am starting to add flaxseed to my protein drinks. I also try to walk at least three times a week and love to participate in a yoga class when budget allows, but I'm not a saint. 

So what's the problem you're thinking?

 I have chronic pain. I am fortunate that mine is relatively mild and does not interfere with daily living and work. Lately, I feel irritable, and forgetful. Yeah, some of that is to be expected however maybe there something I can do about it. A few months ago I added turmeric to my supplements and had an almost immediate improvement. Still have pain, and the other things I mentioned, so I've decided to change up a few things in my lifestyle (again) and try and improve the way I feel some more!

What prompted this?

Again, as I mentioned, I have pain, and have felt irritable and forgetful. I am also unemployed and have been for three years. Yes, this will add to or be part of this problem - but it also means that I have time to do the research and change my lifestyle. It's a perfect opportunity!

The other evening I went to a free wellness workshop that with offered at the local township hall by one of the yoga instructors. It was a general wellness talk with the opportunity to purchase supplements from the presenter. It was a very soft sell so it wasn't annoying in any way. The presenter was very knowledgeable. I picked up several new tidbits. But mainly what I walked away with was a new resolve and conviction that I can improve the way I feel. 

Part of the presentation she offered free samples during the presentation. At the time I refuse them because they contained citric acid. I would have to do more research to find out how much before I could try them. She did offer a sample for me to take home and evaluate.

The free sample that she gave us contained a small amount of citric acid which I'm allergic to in that it will give me cold sores. This seems to be getting worse over time and I can tolerate it less and less. Since I already had a cold sore, I decided to try it anyway. It was a powder to mix with water to form an isotonic solution that I will break down for you on another post. I mixed it with a glass of water about 10 o'clock in the morning. It was amazing. I had good energy all day and low hunger. The big thing: I forgot to take my pain medicine before I went to bed. And I did not reach for my pain medicine first thing the next morning. Nothing has ever happened that quickly! I may consider a 30 day supply and see if there's any residual effects to the citric acid. 

In the meantime, I wanted to do some research on organic foods that I could introduce to my diet that would help in other ways.

I knew I would have to do some research in order to know where to start. There is an abundance of information and experts out there and I didn't know where to begin. I posted on Facebook that I was looking for other Facebook pages about nutrition that would help me learn more about feeling better and living organically. I had a huge response with suggestions and even some dietary suggestions. This morning, I wasted no time researching kale and dandelion greens and by afternoon I was at the local organic produce store making my first purchase.

Priority 1

Basically, I decided that the first thing I need to prioritize is my digestive health. If I cannot absorb the nutrients then I'm just wasting my time and money and getting no benefit. My thinking is: I have to get my digestive track working right and that will make me feel better and absorb more nutrients. 

Absorption is also a priority because I am post gastric bypass and have absorption issues in the first place. I already have to take a handful of supplements and vitamins each day because I can't absorb what I need by eating alone. I will write all of them down in another post on another day. Recently, I've added Vinpocetine 10mg 2x a day in my initial effort to improve my memory and cognitive health and I want to be able to keep track as I go through this process.

I don't want my first post to be a book but I did want to get something down that would remind me about several things I need to focus on as a part of this process. There are things I need to address, evaluate, research and try. For example, another thing I want to discuss in a later post is the lack of quality in our vitamins and supplements and how difficult it is to find a good one. I have replaced a few of mine but still working on that process as well.

I want to feel better and live healthier.

Hey, we all want to feel better, don't we?