It is crazy to think that this is my last full week of summer break. I have a ton on my mind and a lot of things that need to get done before moving back to school, but I also have a lot of things that I want to do before moving back. I know that once I go back to school, I will have a lot less free time between classes, assignments, and extra curriculars, so I am trying to get as much done this week as possible. I started this health journey in the beginning of July and I am impressed with how much improvement I have seen in only two short months!
The Start of My Health Journey
This post is one that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Since January (2022), I have been a lot more in tune with my body. From January to March I really realized how much gluten negatively impacts my mind and body. Gluten makes my brain foggy, gives me headaches, makes me feel gross, and makes my body ache. Since cutting gluten out of my diet, I feel like a whole new person!
Sure, there have been things that I have missed but I don’t miss feeling sick and gross. Cutting gluten out of my life was worth the sacrifices. I feel like I have been able to take ownership of my life again. This realization was only the beginning to my whole health journey. It really helped me open my eyes to the fact that food has a direct impact on the way I feel. I’ve learned that I shouldn’t be constantly tired or have body aches.
I had routine blood work done in January with my primary care doctor. It turns out that I have hypothyroidism (an elevated thyroid). So my doctor referred me to an endocrinologist. However, I wasn’t able to see this new doctor until May (a five month wait). After getting in to see the endocrinologist, she prescribed me a medication to help lower my thyroid. However, after taking this medication for several months, I hadn’t noticed much of a difference.
The Catalyst to My Health Journey
At the beginning of May, I got COVID and was really sick for about a week. However, even after being out of isolation and beginning to live my life again, I still didn’t feel 100%. Getting COVID was the catalyst that really started me on this health journey of taking better care of my body. I am eating healthier, drinking more water, getting enough sleep and getting quality sleep, and exercising more.
I was able to get into a new practice with physicians that see their patients as a whole rather than just a set of symptoms. They work to get to the root cause of issues instead of just putting a band aid over it. This whole experience has been really eye opening.
Even More Bloodwork
This new practice did a lot more bloodwork. Even though my thyroid numbers dropped, I was still super tired and didn’t feel any different. Come to find out, my adrenals were the root cause of my issues. Adrenals are responsible for the thyroid 65% of the time, which likely explains why my thyroid was out of whack.
This practice gave me a supplement (ashwagandha) to help my adrenals. And even though I am still tired, I do feel like it has been helping. There are times where I have more energy and am more alert. It’s frustrating that my primary care doctor and the endocrinologist didn’t find this issue out in the first place and it took going to a new practice to get the answers I needed to living a healthier lifestyle.
Food Eliminations
I have been completing a six-month program with this new doctor’s office. The first four weeks were eliminating certain foods from my diet. These were foods that are unhealthy for you, or cause inflammation or other issues in the body. Foods I eliminated included sugar, eggs, dairy, white potatoes, legumes, soy, shellfish, caffeine, alcohol, gluten, grains, corn, and a few other things.
As hard as I thought it would be to eliminate sugar, it actually wasn’t that bad. Because my adrenals were so off, this is likely the main cause of why I have always craved sugar. Most foods I eliminated, I don’t eat very often anyways. For intance, I don’t have anything with caffeine or alcohol in it, I had already given up gluten, and then everything else I don’t really like, such as shellfish and we rarely eat corn.
Noticing the Changes
After the first few weeks, the biggest change I noticed was that I began to lose weight. This is likely because I stopped eating sugar and other heavily processed foods. And all around, my body just began to feel better and healthier again.
The hardest part about the program was the two-week detox which followed the four weeks of food eliminations. They gave me these detox shakes that were full of supplements, and they help the body to detox. I did not like the flavor or texture of these and had a really hard time getting them in. Also, at this point in the program, I felt like I was primarily eating white meat and vegetables. I was getting really sick and bored of food.
Food Reintroduction
Finally, after six weeks, I was able to begin reintroducing foods. I have been able to reintroduce most foods at this point. Even though I still feel a bit sick of food, I am doing better, especially by having peanut butter back in my rotation of foods. During the reintroduction phase, I am looking for foods that my body may be sensitive to. I am doing this by watching out for any reactions in my body after reintroducing a food.
Throughout this process, I have learned that my body is likely sensitive to eggs. After having a gluten free english muffin (which has egg in it), my body got super itchy. There was nothing visible on my skin, but it still felt super irritated and itchy. This also likely explains why eggs never sit well in my stomach. As much as I don’t want this to be the case, I also want to feel my best. I am willing to sacrifice certain foods to take care of myself and my body.
This has been an incredibly eye opening experience. The knowledge that I have gained from completing this program will last me a lifetime from getting proper exercise to finding the best foods to support my body and health. If you’re local to Plymouth County, visit Waves of Awakening, to see if they can help you too! I would love to know what you think and if you have questions! Let me know by leaving me a comment or sending me an email!