Sleep: Asleep by 11, woke at 2:30, took 5mg Melatonin fell back to sleep, woke at 4:30, took 5mg of Melatonin fell back to sleep. Awake with alarm around 7. Best night of sleep since Saturday.
(Sun/Mon/Tue were 2-3 hour in the middle of the night disrupted sleep nights).
I spoke with Christene (health coach) yesterday. I needed to find out if I was screwed for the rest of my life. Given the fact that I had 3 nights of disrupted sleep, I was in a pretty down and discouraged mood and very upset that I may never get to eat normally again.
She believes that I have a raging candida issue. Not just mild. Raging. So we're going to hit it hard with diet & supplements. She said candida can be very tricky and could take 3-4 weeks to get rid of, or 2 years. I'm hoping for the shorter time.
Candida feed off of yeast & sugar. So my gluten issue could very definitely be related to the candida issue. And the wine set it off again on Monday night.
So now that I know what is going on, I feel better equipped to choose food to eat. I need to keep adding lemon to my water, keep loading up on fresh veggies and cut down on anything sweet. I realized that even though I was eating a very plant focused diet, I was choosing the plants that were sweet: melons, grapes, cherries, sugar snap peas, dried fruit, etc. I need to focus more on fresh veggies - rather than roasted, sauteed, or grilled and keep up with the big salads.
I am totally willing to go as hard core as necessary to resolve this issue. I'm so sick of being one bite of food away from not sleeping. And I'm tired of my body holding onto or gaining weight with the slightest mis-step in my diet.
We are going on vacation next month and that is going to be more difficult, however, it is not a kid-less vacation, so I won't miss out on the nice dinners with wine with Dave. I'm really, really hoping that things are resolved by the time we go to Costa Rica next March so I can enjoy nice dinners and wine while we're there.
I can and will do this. Candida: beware!
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Day 10 - Wednesday July 24, 2013
I had intended to update this more frequently so I could go back and read it when I needed ideas or a refresher. Hopefully I'll remember to do so more frequently from this point forward.
I slept so much better last week. Most nights I woke up around 2:30 to go to the bathroom, took 5mg of Melatonin and went right back to bed and slept until my alarm. There was even one night that I slept through the entire night without waking. It was heavenly.
We ate really well on this plan last week and even made it through a weekend away from home at my parents house. It took a lot of planning and a trip to the grocery store, but we were able to stay on plan all weekend.
Then I made the mistake of getting a bottle of wine for dinner on Monday night. I had 1 1/2 glasses. I was happy - I missed wine. And I've spent the last 2 nights waking up and not falling back to sleep again.
I was feeling so good and so positive and hopeful... and now I'm upset and discouraged again. Disrupted sleep really wreaks havoc on me.
I spoke with my health coach yesterday morning and told her about it. After asking a few questions, she decided that I have a candida issue... which is interesting because I thought i had a candida issue a few years ago after taking a round of antibiotics and feeling unreasonably tired all the time. At that time I cut out all foods that had yeast or sugar and felt better within 2 weeks. Now I need to cut out sugar entirely (alcohol, dates, dried fruit) and add a probiotic to try to crowd out the yeast. So I got that and started it yesterday.
An example of my daily meals:
Breakfast: I make a big breakfast salad: saute some onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms in butter and put them on a huge plate full of organic mixed greens. Add 2 fried organic, free range eggs & 1/4 avocado (if I have one). Drink a tall 20oz glass of lemon water & take all of my supplements.
Mid-morning: cup of green tea
Lunch: Hemp protein smoothie made with water, banana & berries. Bowl of some sort of vegetables - usually a cucumber, tomato, onion, pepper salad mixture (add avocado if I have some).
Afternoon snack (if I remember): strawberry infused water with basil & ACV, small bowl of berries.
Dinner: chicken saugsages, chicken tacos, hamburgers, pork, etc. This has been my biggest challenge because we didn't normally eat a lot of meat for dinners... but we're figuring it out. Served with vegetables - grilled or a salad.
Before bed: cup of herbal honey vanilla chamomile tea, sometimes with 2 pieces of dried mango.
I'm enjoying the food, a lot. It hasn't been as expensive as I anticipated. Although the supplements could get that way if I have to continue taking them or keep adding to them.
I have not worked out in probably 3 weeks because of my sleeping issues - that is incredibly bothersome to me, but that issue will get fixed in time, too. I need to do this one day at a time and have confidence that my health coach knows what she knows and can help me.
I slept so much better last week. Most nights I woke up around 2:30 to go to the bathroom, took 5mg of Melatonin and went right back to bed and slept until my alarm. There was even one night that I slept through the entire night without waking. It was heavenly.
We ate really well on this plan last week and even made it through a weekend away from home at my parents house. It took a lot of planning and a trip to the grocery store, but we were able to stay on plan all weekend.
Then I made the mistake of getting a bottle of wine for dinner on Monday night. I had 1 1/2 glasses. I was happy - I missed wine. And I've spent the last 2 nights waking up and not falling back to sleep again.
I was feeling so good and so positive and hopeful... and now I'm upset and discouraged again. Disrupted sleep really wreaks havoc on me.
I spoke with my health coach yesterday morning and told her about it. After asking a few questions, she decided that I have a candida issue... which is interesting because I thought i had a candida issue a few years ago after taking a round of antibiotics and feeling unreasonably tired all the time. At that time I cut out all foods that had yeast or sugar and felt better within 2 weeks. Now I need to cut out sugar entirely (alcohol, dates, dried fruit) and add a probiotic to try to crowd out the yeast. So I got that and started it yesterday.
An example of my daily meals:
Breakfast: I make a big breakfast salad: saute some onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms in butter and put them on a huge plate full of organic mixed greens. Add 2 fried organic, free range eggs & 1/4 avocado (if I have one). Drink a tall 20oz glass of lemon water & take all of my supplements.
Mid-morning: cup of green tea
Lunch: Hemp protein smoothie made with water, banana & berries. Bowl of some sort of vegetables - usually a cucumber, tomato, onion, pepper salad mixture (add avocado if I have some).
Afternoon snack (if I remember): strawberry infused water with basil & ACV, small bowl of berries.
Dinner: chicken saugsages, chicken tacos, hamburgers, pork, etc. This has been my biggest challenge because we didn't normally eat a lot of meat for dinners... but we're figuring it out. Served with vegetables - grilled or a salad.
Before bed: cup of herbal honey vanilla chamomile tea, sometimes with 2 pieces of dried mango.
I'm enjoying the food, a lot. It hasn't been as expensive as I anticipated. Although the supplements could get that way if I have to continue taking them or keep adding to them.
I have not worked out in probably 3 weeks because of my sleeping issues - that is incredibly bothersome to me, but that issue will get fixed in time, too. I need to do this one day at a time and have confidence that my health coach knows what she knows and can help me.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Monday July 15, 2013 - Day 1
I am a mess. I am not sleeping. Every night I fall asleep quite easily, but I wake up between 2:30-3:00 and am wide awake. I cannot fall back to sleep for 2-3 hours. This is not working well for me and I am miserable. Last night I woke up at 3:00 and didn't fall asleep again until 5:30 and then woke up at 7:00. This morning I am not functioning very well - very tired, impatient and intolerant and I want to cry. I cried all last night and again this morning when I woke up, I just don't understand why my body refuses to sleep and on a certain level, I don't understand why God won't do something about it.
Yesterday I had a consultation with a health coach and she assures me that she get get me healed. I think the issue is my adrenal glands... she has put me on a paleo diet: no grains, no dairy, no sugar. Mainly vegetables, meat & berries. She's suggested that I take L-glutamine which will heal my gut. Also Vit C & B and another supplement to support my adrenal glands. Magnesium for my liver.
Dave is doing the paleo diet along with me. Today is day 1. She told us to eat the cleanest (organic) we can reasonably afford - so grassfed, organic meat & eggs, organic fruit and vegetables.
For breakfast I had 2 grassfed, organic eggs fried in olive oil atop a bed of organic baby spinach, with chopped orange peppers, red onion, grape tomatoes, and 1/4 of an avocado.
Lunch will be a hemp protein shake made with spinach & berries.
Dinner will be taco chicken salad.
I will also be drinking green tea to replace my coffee, lemon water throughout the day, and strawberry basil infused water mixed with apple cider vinegar (which is much more delicious than it sounds).
I was excited about all of this yesterday, today I can't get excited about anything - I feel like I may never sleep normally again. And when I sleep like this, I can't get up in the morning to work out and can't find the energy to do it during the day. So my whole life is kind of thrown off balance by this sleeping situation.
One day at a time.
Yesterday I had a consultation with a health coach and she assures me that she get get me healed. I think the issue is my adrenal glands... she has put me on a paleo diet: no grains, no dairy, no sugar. Mainly vegetables, meat & berries. She's suggested that I take L-glutamine which will heal my gut. Also Vit C & B and another supplement to support my adrenal glands. Magnesium for my liver.
Dave is doing the paleo diet along with me. Today is day 1. She told us to eat the cleanest (organic) we can reasonably afford - so grassfed, organic meat & eggs, organic fruit and vegetables.
For breakfast I had 2 grassfed, organic eggs fried in olive oil atop a bed of organic baby spinach, with chopped orange peppers, red onion, grape tomatoes, and 1/4 of an avocado.
Lunch will be a hemp protein shake made with spinach & berries.
Dinner will be taco chicken salad.
I will also be drinking green tea to replace my coffee, lemon water throughout the day, and strawberry basil infused water mixed with apple cider vinegar (which is much more delicious than it sounds).
I was excited about all of this yesterday, today I can't get excited about anything - I feel like I may never sleep normally again. And when I sleep like this, I can't get up in the morning to work out and can't find the energy to do it during the day. So my whole life is kind of thrown off balance by this sleeping situation.
One day at a time.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Tuesday June 4, 2013 - CrossFit WOD - the ladder
Warm up -
3 sets of:
50 jumping jacks
10 pushups
10 air squats
30sec side lunge stretch each leg
60sec butterfly stretch
30sec dynamic arm circles
30sec wide arm circles front
30sec wide arm circles back
For time:
50 pushups
40 lunges (each leg)
30 crunches
20 air squats
10 squat thrusts
60 sec plank
10 squat thrusts
20 air squats
30 crunches
40 lunges (each leg)
50 push ups
18:28:11
first set of pushups I did 25, then sets of 5 until i got to 50 - all up on toes.
second set of pushups I did 25, then 10 on knees, 5 toes, 5 knees, 5 knees.
3 sets of:
50 jumping jacks
10 pushups
10 air squats
30sec side lunge stretch each leg
60sec butterfly stretch
30sec dynamic arm circles
30sec wide arm circles front
30sec wide arm circles back
For time:
50 pushups
40 lunges (each leg)
30 crunches
20 air squats
10 squat thrusts
60 sec plank
10 squat thrusts
20 air squats
30 crunches
40 lunges (each leg)
50 push ups
18:28:11
first set of pushups I did 25, then sets of 5 until i got to 50 - all up on toes.
second set of pushups I did 25, then 10 on knees, 5 toes, 5 knees, 5 knees.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Monday February 18, 2013
Workout: P90x chest/back
Weight: 129.4
I'm back to weighing myself everyday because the amount of water I'm retaining is driving me crazy. My weight fluctuates sometimes 4lbs over night. So I'm weighing and actually graphing it this time to watch for an overall trend.
I've been keeping up with my swimming 2-3x/week and some sort of resistance training 3x/week. Since being entirely gluten free, I've gone back to p90x and have done well with it - in terms of the pain issues I was having in my shoulder and elbow. My swimming has improved a lot. I feel much more comfortable with the front crawl and I'm more fluid and faster with it. Previous to last week, I was good if I did 1000yds in 35 minutes. I'm now doing 1000yds alternating breast 100yds & crawl 100yds in 30 minutes.
I've been almost completely gluten free now for a couple of weeks and I can tell. I have been sleeping much better and deeper at night, my aches are minimal and usually associated with the difficulty of my resistance workouts... therefore they are more muscle aches than joint aches. Last Monday was the first time I did p90x chest/back after a few weeks off from doing any kind of pushups, and I was SORE until at least Thursday. But my shoulder and elbow have calmed down a lot - my shoulder is still weak and still hurts a lot while doing pushups, but its not as debilitating.
However.
Last night we took the girls to Dairy Queen and had ice cream. I was not thinking. I have been so good with being gluten free - I've had GF pizza from aurelios, I've had GF pizza from Trader Joe's (better and cheaper than aurelios), I've been very careful and I've felt the difference. But I didn't think about it and the cone of my ice cream cone has resulted in a horrible night and day. Last night I woke up at 2:30 and if I slept at all between then and 6:00 when I finally got out of bed, it was very minimal or very restless because I felt like I was awake the entire time. Today, my shoulder and elbow are on fire again after my workout, my hips are terrible and my fingers are terrible. It is amazing to me how that little bit makes such a huge difference.
I am glad that it happened, though, because we are going on vacation next week and I've already been contemplating just giving in and dealing with the consequences of eating gluten while we're there. But this reminder is setting my mind straight. I will continue to be as careful as possible while there, because this is not worth it.
Weight: 129.4
I'm back to weighing myself everyday because the amount of water I'm retaining is driving me crazy. My weight fluctuates sometimes 4lbs over night. So I'm weighing and actually graphing it this time to watch for an overall trend.
I've been keeping up with my swimming 2-3x/week and some sort of resistance training 3x/week. Since being entirely gluten free, I've gone back to p90x and have done well with it - in terms of the pain issues I was having in my shoulder and elbow. My swimming has improved a lot. I feel much more comfortable with the front crawl and I'm more fluid and faster with it. Previous to last week, I was good if I did 1000yds in 35 minutes. I'm now doing 1000yds alternating breast 100yds & crawl 100yds in 30 minutes.
I've been almost completely gluten free now for a couple of weeks and I can tell. I have been sleeping much better and deeper at night, my aches are minimal and usually associated with the difficulty of my resistance workouts... therefore they are more muscle aches than joint aches. Last Monday was the first time I did p90x chest/back after a few weeks off from doing any kind of pushups, and I was SORE until at least Thursday. But my shoulder and elbow have calmed down a lot - my shoulder is still weak and still hurts a lot while doing pushups, but its not as debilitating.
However.
Last night we took the girls to Dairy Queen and had ice cream. I was not thinking. I have been so good with being gluten free - I've had GF pizza from aurelios, I've had GF pizza from Trader Joe's (better and cheaper than aurelios), I've been very careful and I've felt the difference. But I didn't think about it and the cone of my ice cream cone has resulted in a horrible night and day. Last night I woke up at 2:30 and if I slept at all between then and 6:00 when I finally got out of bed, it was very minimal or very restless because I felt like I was awake the entire time. Today, my shoulder and elbow are on fire again after my workout, my hips are terrible and my fingers are terrible. It is amazing to me how that little bit makes such a huge difference.
I am glad that it happened, though, because we are going on vacation next week and I've already been contemplating just giving in and dealing with the consequences of eating gluten while we're there. But this reminder is setting my mind straight. I will continue to be as careful as possible while there, because this is not worth it.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Thursday February 7, 2013
Workout: 1100 yds swim
weight: ?
Went to the gym this morning and swam. Alternated 100yds breast / 100yds crawl. It was enjoyable - I'm definitely getting faster and more fluid with my crawl stroke. I did 100yds backstroke (frog style) as a cool down, which is so relaxing.
I had a small square of ghiradelli dark chocolate yesterday. Before I bought it I looked at the ingredients and soy was bolded. I figured it wouldn't be an issue. But I did not sleep well again last night. And when I say that, I mean I sleep most of the night, but I can tell when I wake up (at 4:45 for no reason) that it was a restful sleep. Hard to describe, but I feel it in my eyes. Other than chocolate the only other thing that I ate that could perhaps be questioned was a corn tortilla. But I don't think that should be an issue.
My neck is also achier than it has been in the last couple of days.
Today I had half of a Corner Bakery salad with minimal dressing. The salad itself is fine - chopped salad: greens, bacon, bleu cheese, avocado, tomato. From what I read online, all of their salad dressings are GF, so hopefully (fingers crossed) i won't have a sleeping issue tonight. Hoping that whatever I had yesterday was not enough to have to work out of my system over several days.
weight: ?
Went to the gym this morning and swam. Alternated 100yds breast / 100yds crawl. It was enjoyable - I'm definitely getting faster and more fluid with my crawl stroke. I did 100yds backstroke (frog style) as a cool down, which is so relaxing.
I had a small square of ghiradelli dark chocolate yesterday. Before I bought it I looked at the ingredients and soy was bolded. I figured it wouldn't be an issue. But I did not sleep well again last night. And when I say that, I mean I sleep most of the night, but I can tell when I wake up (at 4:45 for no reason) that it was a restful sleep. Hard to describe, but I feel it in my eyes. Other than chocolate the only other thing that I ate that could perhaps be questioned was a corn tortilla. But I don't think that should be an issue.
My neck is also achier than it has been in the last couple of days.
Today I had half of a Corner Bakery salad with minimal dressing. The salad itself is fine - chopped salad: greens, bacon, bleu cheese, avocado, tomato. From what I read online, all of their salad dressings are GF, so hopefully (fingers crossed) i won't have a sleeping issue tonight. Hoping that whatever I had yesterday was not enough to have to work out of my system over several days.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Wednesday February 6, 2013
Catch up
Last week, I swam on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I did not workout on the other days as I was really trying to focus on eliminating gluten from my diet and sleeping. The last time I had gluten was Sunday January 27th and it has taken me this long to start sleeping better and feeling better. I could tell I was beginning to sleep better by the weekend, but last week I was still very achy in my neck, hands, fingers and hips.
Last night I slept really, really well - deep, restfully, only woken up briefly by the dog. Prior to the last 2 nights, my sleep was not that way - I felt like most of the night I was in that half sleep/half awake feeling. I didn't feel rested at all. I was waking up randomly every night once or twice and having a hard time getting back to sleep.
Over the last 2-3 days I've noticed my neck pain (arthritis) is gone. My fingers do not hurt, my hips do not hurt, my wrists do not hurt. My elbow and shoulder pain are less.
If this blood test does not show a sensitivity to gluten, I will be shocked. Shocked, I tell you. My food journal and observations seem pretty clear.
At the end of last week I pretty much felt sorry for myself and mourned the loss of gluten. No more pizza. No more granola (actually, Jan 27th wasn't my last gluten... I mistakenly had some in granola on Wed and then there must have been some in the salad dressing I had at the Karners on Saturday). Its going to be hard to eat out at a restaurant, etc. But based on the difference I feel in my body, I'm willing to give it up.
Over the weekend I decided I needed to get serious about actually TRYING to lose these 5-7 pounds that I gained over the summer (my beer weight). So I started counting calories again on Monday and have hit the workouts hard. I'm staying below 1500 cal/day and working out everyday.
Monday - deck of cards + 2 miles on the treadmill
tricep dips, burpees, weighted squats, super skaters (ran a mile before & after)
Tuesday - 1050 yds swimming (35:00): 500 breast, 500 crawl, 50 back
Today - deck of cards + 2 miles
tricep dips, weighted sumo squats, lunges and twisted mountain climbers
I've gotten better at the swimming. Prior to saturday I was consistently swimming 1000 yds in 35ish minutes. Saturday I swam 1000yds in 30 minutes so I did an extra 200 yds. I love it now and really look forward to it. Its great to see progress, too.
Starting weight (Monday February 4th): 131.2
Going to the Dominican Republic on February 23rd - hoping to be a lot closer to 125 by then!
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