The One with the Plan... sort of!

Okay, so about a week ago I posted my frustrations with the conventional medicine approach to treating Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Seriously. Paying top dollar to see a Specialist who refuses to listen to your legitimate and well-researched concerns? No thank you.

I've decided that -- SHOCKER! -- I won't be returning to my Endocrinologist for any further treatment. Their treatment plans may work for some, but certainly not for me. Whew! {sigh of relief}

So what's my plan? What is my plan? No really, y'all -- what is my plan?? I've made a few decisions lately but somehow I still find myself devoid of an actual plan. What decisions am I speaking of? How about these, for starters:

• Not returning to my Endocrinologist (duh)
• Making an appointment (end of May) with a new Internal Medicine practice -- just so I have someone who is deemed "suitable" for managing my Hashi's
• Making an appointment (this Wednesday!) with a Board-certified Chiropractic Neurologist and practitioner of functional medicine
• Eliminating gluten from my diet (as of March 16, 2016)
• Eliminating sugar from my diet (as of April 4, 2016)
• Eliminating dairy from my diet (as of April 4, 2016)
• Eliminating soy from my diet (as of April 4, 2016)
• Discontinuing my prescription thyroid medication Synthroid^® (as of April 5, 2016) - Note: This decision is sort of against medical advise. A bit risky, sure, but the right decision for me... at least for right now.

So lots of decisions, right?

Right. Basically I'm following a sort of gluten-free, sugar detox lifestyle of sorts. I see part of it as temporary, and part of it as permanent. Kind of an elimination diet where I eliminate several possible (and known) food sensitivities common in autoimmune disorders like Hashimoto's with the intent to eventually add them back (with the exception of gluten) over time  to see how my body responds. With all of the reading and researching I've done on Hashi's, it looks like a gluten-free diet is here to stay. Gluten just doesn't mesh well with thyroid disease. And the sugar detox? It hasn't been as bad as I expected. Side note: Thanks to this handy blog, I discovered I actually completed the 21 Day Sugar Detox (21DSD) back in 2014! Haha! Did I mention brain fog is a symptom of Hashi's? 'Cause it is. At least, if I remember correctly... ;)

I'm happy to say that I'm seeing a S-L-O-W decreasing trend in my weight since I eliminated the sugar. No surprise there, amiright? Slow and steady is nice. But weight loss isn't really my focus right now. I already know the thyroid gland controls our metabolism and that even a slight deficiency in thyroid hormones can slow down our metabolism (source). The weight is definitely on my radar, but right now I'm more interested in the underlying issues with the thyroid and -- more importantly -- my autoimmune system.

I picked up a great book last week that contains such an incredible wealth of information about Hashi's, including what can cause it, common symptoms, how to treat it, how to possibly reverse it, and basically how to address the underlying physiological issues that are the source of the disease.

I have been pouring through this book like a crazy person! And WOW has it been such an incredible resource! I feel prepared to speak on the conversion of Free T4 to active Free T3 when I see the functional medicine practitioner this week!

I think I'm ready for my medical degree, thankyouverymuch! haha! Let's just say I've been doing a LOT LOT LOT of research and am basically using myself as a bit of a guinea pig to figure out what will and will not work to adequately manage this autoimmune disease. What works for one person may not be the right fit for the next, so it's definitely going to take time and patience to get to the bottom of all of this. The good news is I'm more committed than ever to make the necessary lifestyle changes required to successfully live with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.

Game on!

My 21DSD Experience: Week 3 (The FINAL Week!)

The final week is here! Yay! I'm so proud of myself for following through with my commitment to the 21DSD and it turns out this was a very educational experience for me -- and hubs, too! Let's take a look!

Day 15 - Monday, February 3rd

Weight: + .8 lbs.

Physical: Ugh. Mondays, am I right? The day started out slowly but I eventually got moving and was able to knock out a fair share of housework today. I just KNOW I would be so much more successful and feel even better if I could add workouts to my clean eating!

Mental: Bummed about another gain, but I'm looking at the big picture, not that dumb number on the scale. I like that I'm learning how I have to be true to myself. Accountable to myself. No one will necessarily know if I sneak that Snickers bar in the car while running errands, but that's cheating and I want no part of it. I have to answer to myself here, and I'm learning I actually CAN be strong-willed and not allow myself to get away with such shenanigans. Who knew I could be so tough? :)

Day 16 - Tuesday, February 4th

Weight: - .3 lbs.

Physical:  So today's the dreaded day that I straight fell off the wagon head-first. Somehow I found myself eating a Pop-Tart for breakfast and 2 slices of frozen pizza for dinner. It was a bad, bad day.

Mental:  I'm not sure what caused my major flop today. Maybe the 2+ weeks of a restricted diet finally caught up to me and I wanted to eat "normal" for a day? I dunno. Regardless, it was just a slip and not me falling back into the old ways. I vow to make it to 21 days! And I'm proud of myself for learning that just because I slip up doesn't mean I have to completely give up and settle for an unhealthy lifestyle. One bad choice is just that -- one bad choice. It doesn't have to impact the rest of the choices I make. It's okay to start fresh and stay committed.

Day 17 - Wednesday, February 5th

Weight: + .1 lbs.

Physical: Tired today, which isn't super surprising considering my food choices yesterday. Perhaps the guilt overcame me because... hold onto your hats, folks! I FINALLY hit the gym!!! It's literally in a room right next to the living room where I spend most of my day -- haha! And I haven't been able to make it back upstairs since! I decided the quit the excuses and find something -- anything! -- that could be used as my exercise regimen. And I did! I found this beginner body weight workout from NerdFitness (an EXCELLENT website, I must say!) and it seriously rocked my world! I could barely get myself through the circuit once, let alone THREE TIMES, but I really pushed myself and made it happen. It's a super simple workout that anyone can do:

20 body weight squats

10 push ups

20 walking lunges

10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug)

15 second plank

30 Jumping Jacks

Repeat entire set 3x with a brief rest/water break in between each set.

Mental: So proud of myself for the exercising! Not so impressed with myself for eating almost an entire jar of dill pickles over the course of the day, but I guess it could've been something worse, right?

Day 18 - Thursday, February 6th

Weight: + 1.1 lbs.

Physical: So so so so so so so so so very sore from yesterday's beginner workout!!! It's crazy how much my legs hurt! It's obvious I put muscles to work that haven't seen the tiniest bit of exercise in YEARS. Wow. It hurts so good! I didn't want to let the excuse of physical pain prevent me from continuing with my exercise journey, so I found an interval training routine from NerdFitness to keep me moving. I definitely didn't give it 100% but at this early stage of the game, I'm counting every attempt at movement as a WIN.

Mental: A gain of 1.1 lbs.!? Not cool and slightly depressing following my first workout in literally years. But ultimately I told myself it was a gain of MUSCLE WEIGHT (lol.) and that helped me press on. Haha!

Day 19 - Friday, February 7th

Weight: + 2 lbs.

Physical: Well, I'm still feeling quite SORE from my Wednesday body weight workout, but I forced myself to push through and even hit the workout again today as scheduled! What a surprise! It was TOUGH, though. I couldn't bring myself to get through the 3rd set of 20 lunges and subbed it out with step ups onto my weight bench instead.

Mental: Another huge gain!? What the heck? Ugh. I wasn't happy to see that, but I know deep down that eating right and exercising are THE ONLY keys to getting and staying fit, so I'm refusing to let myself get discouraged and am doing my best to pump myself up! I truly am proud of myself for sticking to an exercise routine, even though it's only been 3 days! LOL!

Day 20 - Saturday, February 8th

Weight: - .6 lbs.

Physical: I stuck with the program and did the interval training today, including some additional upper arm work. It was a great workout and I'm so glad I did it! Of course, I'm also looking forward to tomorrow (Sunday) because it's my day off from workouts.

Mental: Finally! A tiny weight loss! That made me feel so much better. Nothing huge, but at least going in the right direction. My food choices have stayed on par with the 21DSD and I'm very happy that I've been so successful. And I must give MAJOR PROPS to hubs today. He popped open a soda that had been our fridge for weeks, which totally shocked me, only to see him stand at the sink and pour it down the drain!!! I was so terribly proud of him! We still have a little stash of Coke 12-packs in the garage that we'll be donating to our Sunday School class at church next week. :)

Day 21 - Sunday, February 9th

Weight: - 2.7 lbs.

Physical: Feeling great! It's the LAST DAY of my 21DSD and I've learned so much! I've lost a total of 7.4 lbs. over 21 days, which I consider to be a HUGE accomplishment. I was hoping for a bit more weight loss but since I didn't begin with the exercise effort in on Day 1, I'm not terribly surprised. I feel like I have more energy, though, and it seems I'm able to accomplish much more throughout the day than I had before. I'm very encouraged and hopeful that the weight will start to melt off with the combination of clean eating and daily exercise.

Mental: Whew! That was HARD. I honestly didn't think I had it in me to make it through 21 days of this! Seriously, people, think about it: no cookies, no soda, no cereal, no bread, no chips, no crackers, no sweetened drinks, no fruit (except green apples, bananas and grapefruit)... the list goes on and on and I SURVIVED!!! I'm so proud of myself and hubs for doing so great!

I'm seriously thinking about doing another 21DSD along with my exercise new regimen to see what kind of progress I can make! To be honest I think I'm enjoying this massive life distraction because it's keeping me from focusing too much on Chase's heart surgery in May. There's just too much going on there to get into it now, so let's just say that if I had to distract myself with something, getting healthier seems like a good way to go!

Thanks to those of you who followed along on my 21DSD journey!

My 21DSD Experience: Week 2

Okay, folks, week 2 of my 21DSD is complete and I've managed to stay (mostly) on track! I'm looking forward to making it to the end of the detox... I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to enjoy strawberries, grapes and Gala apples again! Haha!

Day 8 - Monday, January 27th

Weight: - .5 lbs.

Physical: I didn't have a hard time getting up this morning and was able to accomplish a lot around the house in my first couple of hours of the day. I haven't had a nap since I started the 21DSD except for Sunday afternoon when EVERYONE in my house was asleep. It was nice to recharge a bit before the busy week!

Mental: I'm still in a good place, which totally surprises me. I can see myself getting through the entire 21 days continuing to do what I've been doing. This is great! I've been changing up the kids' meals a bit as well with the hope to move them away from all processed food. I stopped sending a little "dessert" in their lunch every day and we're not eating desserts at home, so maybe their palate is changing at least a tiny bit (with the exception of LO's school who keeps using Skittles and Oreos for math lessons and the church who doses out chocolate pudding cupS (i.e. TWO!) or FOUR cookies for a morning snack!). Oh well. Ya win some, ya lose some, right? ;)

Day 9 - Tuesday, January 28th

Weight: 0 lbs.

Physical: I'm not sure whether it was me, hubs, or the kids who was shocked the most to see me up this morning BEFORE the rest of the house! Lots of prep last night meant breakfast was a quick fix and lunches were already packed. I was up to greet the day BEFORE 7am, which is completely unheard of. My energy level was great and stayed with me throughout most of the day. I woke very refreshed from a great night of sleep. I've always slept well but last night seemed extra good!

Mental: I'd be lying if I said I don't get excited to jump on the scale every morning for a quick peek at (one form of) my progress, but honestly I wasn't too concerned to see no change today. I'm just feeling too good to care, I guess! I'm hopeful I'll continue to see some weight loss, but it isn't my #1 priority of the 21DSD. I'm happy that I've basically eliminated sugary snacks/treats for the kids at home and in their school lunches. I'm happy that I've lost 6.5 lbs. I'm happy that I'm feeling better and sleeping better. And I'm super psyched to get my new 21DSD Cookbook tomorrow! I will add that by the end of the night, I did find myself eating a banana even though I know I wasn't feeling the slightest bit hungry. I can definitely see how food is a mental game and not just physical. I tried to talk myself out of the banana, but ultimately my craving/desire won out. Gotta work on this!

Day 10 - Wednesday, January 29th

Weight: - 1 lb.

Physical: Overall I've felt well but still want to get my lazy, oversized butt into our gym! Geez!

Mental: This is definitely a mental game and anyone that says otherwise is crazy!!! I made the choice this morning that I was NOT going to "cheat" with any of my little cheats today (i.e. more than one banana or apple in a day or a tiny square of 85% chocolate). I had to keep making that choice throughout the entire day, over and over again. As a reward for my good behavior (again, rewarding behavior is a mental thing... I still need to work on this!), I made doughnuts from the 21DSD Cookbook. Win!!! They were amazing and the perfect non sweet treat to make me feel like a cheater!!!

Day 11 - Thursday, January 30th

Weight: - .8 lbs.

Physical: It's been pretty lazy around the house with 2 snow days, 3 kids and both hubs and I all home since Tuesday afternoon. I hadn't so much as ventured out of the house until dinner tonight at a local Mexican restaurant. And just FYI... I did great! I made some paleo tortilla chips to bring along, which were awesome with salsa and helped me not feel like I was missing out on anything, and ordered some amazing steak and chicken fajitas (minus the tortillas, rice and sour cream). I did allow some cheese and beans tonight, which are essentially cheats, but it was still way better than my old usual!

Mental: I guess this is kind of the half-way point of the 21DSD, right? I'm proud of myself for making it this far, but honestly I haven't put a lot of thought into what I'm doing. It's becoming like second nature to me to make the food choices I'm making. I don't feel restricted by this lifestyle and certainly haven't been counting down the days 'til the end, which I think is a great thing!

Day 12 - Friday, January 31st

Weight: - 0 lbs.

Physical: I know it's getting old, but I'm still waiting for that burst of energy to get me onto the treadmill in our gym. I'm so lame!!!

Mental: Still feel great overall and overall very encouraged with my progress!

Day 13 - Saturday, February 1st

Weight: + .8 lbs.

Physical: A little gain today but that can totally be explained my the mini concrete mixer (chocolate peanut butter cup w/ M&Ms) I had Friday night from Culver's. It was a very calculated cheat rather than a spur of the moment kind, which is definitely considered progress in my book! I was having a rough day and hubs was feeling it too and we decided together to "reward" ourselves and It. Was. Awesome. I was surprised how much I tasted all of the flavors of my treat and, most notably, the fake chocolate flavor!! I was so surprised! It was so good and the only problem was that my body DIDN'T fight me on it. I was hoping for an upset stomach or something but my body embraced that frozen custard like it was its job! Guess I'll still need to be careful after the 21DSD!

Mental: See above. ;)

Day 14 - Sunday, February 2nd

Weight: - .3 lbs.

Physical: I might've ate a bit too much tonight with the exciting Super Bowl menu I created, but it was all 21DSD approved! The Pulled Pork Barbecue Waffle Sliders had to be my fave! And those waffles are savory and will be the perfect match for a bacon and egg sandwich tomorrow morning!

Mental: I've lost 7.8 lbs. in 14 days so how can I feel anything other than excited and proud of my accomplishments? And I've REALLY stuck with the 21DSD do much better than I ever dreamed! I consider the 0.1% of "cheats" completely negligible!

One more week to go!!!

My 21DSD Experience: Week 1

I embraced a Paleo diet several months ago, and found great success with how I was feeling along with several pounds of weight loss. It was awesome! But then the holidays hit and I fell off the wagon. Big time. And I felt it. The sluggish lack of energy, the bloating, the weight gain and just an overall sense of yucky blah. Not cool.

Then we had a long weekend mid-January. It involved a family road trip to Cincinnati, LOTS of fast food, ice cream sundaes, candy and junk food. While it all was, of course, incredibly delicious at the time, the immediate remorse and guilt I felt was overwhelming. Not to mention the increased weight gain, fatigue and overall dependency on cocaine sugar in any form I could get my hands on.

So with some thought and thorough research, I decided to do something I'd been considering for months but have been too afraid to do: embark upon the 21 Day Sugar Detox.

I started on Monday, January 20th. And sort of accidentally on Level 3 (the most strict of the 3 levels). This post is an ongoing log I've kept of my experience with the sugar detox for my own reference and also as (hopefully) a source of inspiration for others considering ending their sugar cravings, eliminating processed foods and returning their bodies to functioning the way they were intended. I had originally planned to publish my entire 21DSD as a single post, but I'm afraid it would just be too lengthy, so I've decided to break it down by week.

So without further ado, here we go!

NOTE: Although it's not necessarily recommended or encouraged, I have decided to weigh myself at the same time each morning throughout the 21DSD and track my weight changes. Obviously there are a ton of reasons for weight fluctuations and not necessarily just fat loss, so I'm not in any way going to judge my success on those numbers. Mostly I'm just curious.

Day 1 - Monday, January 20th

Weight: Initial starting weight logged. I may have cried a little lot.

Physical: Normal energy level (i.e. not a lot), feeling waaaaay uncomfortable overall from the poor eating and its effect on my body.

Mental: Tired of the excuses and the dependency on sugar. Tired of the fatigue. FINALLY ready to make a change!!!

Day 2 - Tuesday, January 21st

Weight: - 4 lbs.

Physical: Normal energy level, still feeling bloated and can feel those extra pounds of yuck I'm carrying around with me -- especially around my belly.

Mental: I was pleased to see the loss of 4 pounds after one day of clean eating on the 21DSD! I know this isn't typical weight loss but I also know my body was in BAD SHAPE with my horrible eating the weekend leading up to it. So it was a pleasant surprise and a definite encouragement to keep at it! And WHOA!!! Hubs is jumping on board with me! I'm so excited to have someone to suffer through this with! Yay!!!

Day 3 - Wednesday, January 22nd

Weight: - .3 lbs.

Physical: CARB FLU!!!? OMG I don't know if that's really a thing, but I woke up this morning feeling HORRIBLE!!! I was sweating and achy all over. The mere thought of removing myself from my bed was overwhelming! I checked my blood sugar (which I haven't done since my days of gestational diabetes while pregnant with E) and it was 71, which is pretty low for me. I went ahead and ate an egg/sausage cup and a green apple, but it took a while before I felt capable of functioning. A hot shower was a big help! Once I got going for the day, my energy level seemed to keep up and I felt good! I think it was all about the low blood sugar that caused the issues this morning and not necessarily anything relating to the 21DSD.

Mental: Today ended up pretty good overall. I was majorly bummed about the episode this morning, but once I attributed it to my blood sugar, it made sense. I powered through it without any thought of giving up. If anything, I feel more encouraged than ever to keep at this! I've had almost no cravings for sweets and even the little ones I've had, it was super easy to talk myself out of them. I've been super proud of hubs for now going TWO DAYS without a single COKE (or any other soda/caffeine)!!! I'm shocked and so proud and hope he keeps it up!

Day 4 - Thursday, January 23rd

Weight: + .1 lbs.

Physical: Woke up refreshed and feeling good this morning! I checked my blood sugar to see what my "norm" should look like and it was 83. Nice!

Mental: I won't lie -- I was a bit depressed to see that teeny tiny GAIN today, but the fact that I'm feeling good physically and know I'm doing the right thing for my body made it easy to deal with. Also, I realized today that there's a "Non Sweet Treats" section of recipes in the 21DSD book! Granted, they're nothing like what I was used to, but I did make a green apple crumble that was quite delish! I also tried the Chocolate Almond Butter Cups, which (sorry, Diane Sanfilippo) were HORRIBLE. My kids clearly weren't fans either... LOL!!!

Day 5 - Friday, January 24th

Weight: - .8 lbs.

Physical: Still not jumping out of bed in the mornings to welcome a new day, but honestly that's no surprise. I feel good once I'm up and functioning for the day. My hunger levels are SO under control and SO manageable -- what a shock! And it feels good to want to make good food choices and not feel in any way that I'm forced to. I'm excited about new recipes to try and haven't felt restricted with food hardly at all! I will note that I had some hardcore cravings after dinner tonight but was able to control them. Still no cheats! Oh, I also made zucchini noodles using my new spiral vegetable slicer. I simply sautéed them with a bit of oil and fresh basil and they turned out amazing! I made a bolognese sauce and seriously it was exactly like eating spaghetti!! What a WIN!

Mental: Happy to see another loss on the scale this morning! Honestly I'm still in an excellent frame of mind and am happy with what I'm doing. Last night we dined out for the first time and did GREAT -- even with several temptations all around. I'm so proud of the progress, but I'm also a bit skeptical on how we'll keep this up longterm after the 21 days. I mean, we definitely won't have to be as restrictive when we finish the 21DSD, but I'm afraid one bite of cake will send me spiraling back into my old ways and I just don't know how I'll handle it. But I guess I can worry about that later... ;)

Day 6 - Saturday, January 25th

Weight: + .3 lbs.

Physical: No real changes, improvements or anything. Kind of bummed but glad I'm not in a major slump.

Mental: Another little gain this morning. No big. This isn't about weight loss. Although I was super discouraged this evening after spending almost 2 hours in the kitchen making homemade broccoli-cauliflower soup and Paleo "fried" chicken for dinner. Both turned out AWFUL. It was such a punch in the face! I left the table feeling disappointed and gross. The food was terrible. I was just mad and this dumb 21DSD and made the CHOICE to cheat. Two little Reese's valentine hearts later I still felt disappointed and it was all I could do not to get in the car and drive to Culver's for an ice cream treat. Have I mentioned how much this SUCKS!??

Day 7 - Sunday, January 26th

Weight: - 1.3 lbs.

Physical: I still feel more "puffy" and bloated in the belly than I did after my 4-day junk food binge weekend leading up to my 21DSD. UGH! I know I need to start working in an exercise routine if I want to see more success, but it's so hard to find the time and not be so lazy that I actually do it! Overall it was a great day today. I feel like my energy level should be adequate enough to see me through beginning workouts of some sort, but I have no idea where to start!

Mental: Mentally I did really great today! The added weight loss is always a plus... I'm down almost 6 lbs. in 7 days! That's a win! And I have renewed my commitment to the 21DSD after the horrible night last night. I ordered the 21DSD Cookbook from Amazon so I'll be excited to try some new recipes later this week! I just wish there was someone to take care all of those dirty dishes! I've honestly been unloading, loading, running, unloading, and loading the dishwasher EVERY DAY since I started. It's insane!

Summary - Week 1

Overall I'm pleased with the fact that I've stuck with the 21DSD this far! That feels like such an accomplishment in and of itself! And the fact that hubs is on this journey with me is absolutely priceless! I can already see where this different way of looking at food is already impacting the choices I make for the whole family -- picky kids included! I can't wait to see how we do with week 2 and how great it'll feel to COMPLETE this journey! Woot!