21DSD – Last Week, and FLO Living!

So, we’re entering the last week of the 21 Day Sugar Detox (21DSD), and I’m starting to feel really good! Last week was really rough though. It’s very difficult for me to get carbs in when I can’t eat grains or potatoes (it’s very easy to forget), so I have to make a really conscious effort to provide my body with fuel. Because I wasn’t paying attention, I had a major carb crash on Thursday, and ended up over indulging as a result. Earlier day, I got an email from FLO living (which I signed up for months ago, but never really looked into) offering a quiz for hormone issues as well as a 4 day reset plan. After taking the quiz, I purchased the book she wrote (Woman’s Code), and noted that I had problems in all 4 zones: blood sugar, adrenals, elimination, and estrogen. Adrenals and elimination were the worst. My adrenal problems were responsible for my anxiety, hypothyroidism, and general fatigue, and my elimination problems were causing acne, food sensitivities, and indigestion.

I poured over the information in the book, and noted that in order to fix these problems, I didn’t really need to change what I was eating (since I was already eating really well), but when. I simply needed to add about 20g of carbs at lunch, and then add a nutritious snack in the afternoon (keep breakfast and dinner relatively low carb like I usually do). That would resolve my blood sugar and help me keep cravings at bay. For my adrenals, I just need to do gentle workouts in the morning (which is a struggle since I tend to be nauseous in the mornings), try to go on walks, and temporarily avoid stress in my life (as best I can). For my elimination, I just need to keep eating lots of fiber, drinking water, taking baths, and bouncing a little more on my medicine ball at work (which is REALLY fun, btw!). After I get these three things in order, I can begin work on syncing up my cycle (which is already pretty much in sync). Above all else, though, I plan to focus on listening to what my body has to say, and what I’m craving at the time.

I started implementing the food related and elimination related changes last Friday, and hoped that maybe I would start to notice some positive changes after a couple of weeks. That Friday, I felt pretty good, enjoyed my carbs for lunch, and REALLY enjoyed my snack of a green apple and some nuts. The best thing about this plan is that I can start it even though I’m in the middle of the 21DSD, and really, it can be applied to pretty much any healthy diet (vegan, vegetarian, paleo, pescatarian). It would be harder to start if you are starting from ground zero of eating poorly, but since I was already eating well, the switch was pretty easy 🙂

I planned to go work out first thing Saturday morning, but didn’t really feel up to it yet. I allowed myself to have breakfast and wake up a bit before going to the gym around 10AM. The workout she recommends at first is very gentle, with cardio consisting of 8 cycles of 2 min walking and 30 seconds of light jogging (20 min total) and strength consisting of 20 min of light weight compound movements. I did the strength workout on Saturday and felt like I could keep going, which is the idea. I continued to eat well on Saturday, and went to bed a little early since I was tired.

On Sunday, something miraculous happened: I woke up, and felt like I had energy to go to the gym first thing. I drank a little water before going, and did the gentle cardio workout with only the slightest twinge of nausea toward the end. I was so proud of myself! The only problem I had at the end of the day was that I had dinner a little late, so I was pretty hungry by then. Still, I had a taco salad and that was incredibly satisfying.

Last night, I slept pretty poorly. After having the bed all to myself all weekend, my boyfriend returned home from his hunting trip and wasn’t feeling that great to boot. I woke up in the middle of the night a few times and had some difficulty going back to sleep (probably due to being a little dehydrated – I always get dehydrated when I go out for the day since I tend to talk more and drink less).

Despite a poor night’s sleep, I had enough energy in the morning to work out before work.

That. has. never. happened. twice. in. a. row!

So far, things have been going absolutely wonderfully, so I’m definitely going to stick to the protocol and see how it goes. I’ve already noticed body composition differences and that my mood tends to be a lot better, so I’m hoping after another couple of weeks on the protocol, I will be well on my way to recovery!

If you are a woman struggling with any kind of hormonal issue (seriously, sign up for the free quiz on the FLO living website – there are some signs you may not think are hormonal!), I highly suggest giving this protocol a shot. Listen to the author, Alisa Vitti, speak – she has been there too!

Thanks for reading, and stay healthy, friends!

 

Been a busy week…

Apologies for not uploading yet this week, but I wanted to write a quick post to let you know that I’m still alive! Mostly, this week I’ve been dealing with issues with my dog. His name is Boone and he’s a 14 year old Walker Coon hound. Over the last month, he’s been in and out of the vet several times, starting with a skin infection, then he had surgery to remove a cyst on his leg, then his stitches came open, and then he had various check ups. There was a moment where we weren’t sure if we were going to have to put him down or not. At his point, we’re keeping him in a state of drug induced sedation so that he won’t further pick at his healing leg, and he’s looking like he may recover. But now we have a new problem.

We’re keeping him on prednisone so that he doesn’t itch as much and therefore won’t scratch open his leg. But this is acting like a diuretic, and now he’s occasionally having accidents on the floor overnight. His future is uncertain, and I don’t know what is going to happen. If things keep trending in a downward spiral, we may conclude that the medication is worse than the disease and we may have to put him down. He’s racking up a really large vet bill now, and I don’t want to keep prolonging his life for my mother’s and my sake when it’s his time to go.

In other news, I’ve done the spit test again, and my candida has only barely improved even with all of the supplements, changes in diet, probiotics, and ACV. I know that I’ve cheated on my diet occasionally, but I try to keep the sugar less than 30 g when I cheat, and I’ve been cheating less often lately. Regardless of how much I’ve cheated, I should be seeing a more marked improvement than I am. This led me to the difficult decision to come off of birth control.

Hormone birth control is known to weaken the bacteria and yeast that fight candida and make a perfect breeding ground for it, among the other reasons to come off of it, like my recent transition to a more natural lifestyle and my desire not to use any medication unless I absolutely need it. I was planning on coming off of it after I’d had several months to get my diet and hormones in balance, but I think just biting the bullet and coming off of the pill will make the transition to a better hormone imbalance go more quickly and more smoothly. It will probably mean that I break out like crazy, have terrible, long periods, and be moody for a little while, but that means I have a hormone imbalance anyway that needs to be resolved. Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading, and stay healthy friends!