Endo report/new word

It is funny to see how much of a 180 I have down in the past 2 years. Two years ago, I was becoming very anti-medicine. Today I feel like a walking pharmacy. The biggest thing for me was to accept that the medicine is really making a difference in my quality of life where the naturopathic way did not. I still believe in naturopathy for many conditions. For myself, my allergies were never relieved with Western medicine. I even had sinus surgery. It wasn't until I did accupuncture, Chinese herbs, and had better nutrition that I saw a difference. It is an entirely different story with my endocrine system.

I think now that I know the symptoms of diabetes and hypothyroidism, I always had them on some level. I really did try naturopathy for them and went as far as a raw foods diet for a while. I never found the amazing health benefits of a raw food diet that a lot of people do. Since going on medicine, I feel tons better. I have so much more energy and I have the desire to eat healthier. My food obsession has left me and I am exercising more.

I went to the endoconoligist this week and things look pretty good. My sugar levels are almost normal but still slightly high. She wanted me to slightly increase my dosage. I told her that I have been tired lately so she added another thyroid medicine. This is supposed to give me increased energy (and possibly weight loss). The main down side is that it makes some people jittery. I haven't experienced that yet but I kind of like that feeling anyway.

I also changed my word this week to "achieve". I am hoping this will help with procrastination.

Word of the year

Someone sent me a link to a great article talking about resolutions. It was interesting because it said that when we make a resolution, we are only addressing the problem and not the root cause. They had a list of words to choose from. Instead of making a resolution, you choose your word and use it to help you stay focused. For example, instead of saying you want to get more organized or lose weight, the word release may apply. If you focus on that word, you may be able to get rid of your clutter or figure out why you over eat. Here is a link to the website, http://christinekane.com/blog/resolution-revolution-a-better-way-to-start-your-year/. I am still trying out my word, but I think it will be "effortlessness". All my life, I've taken the hard way or at least imagined I did. Maybe some of this can be easy.

I have been doing well with eating what I want, but in smaller portions and adding more veggies. It was amazing because I had such a great feeling going into the weekend. There was none of the turmoil of transistioning from a dieting week to a fun weekend. I didn't have to feel guilty about anything I ate and therefore I made better choices when I was out instead of splurging. It was really pretty cool.

New Year Resolution - to NOT diet

First off to my friend Wendy, Oh my God! I am so excited to hear from you. How did you find my blog? I have thought of you so much over the years. I don't think I have many readers so I am going to post my email so you can contact me at charela@msn.com.

Nutrisystem worked great for me for about 3 weeks. It really did give me a basis for an eating plan. I lost almost 10 pounds on it. I gained about 4 pounds over the holidays but that was with weighing on New Year's day after eating and drinking all night. I feel confident that I can take that off with going back to exercise (nearly 3 weeks off) and drinking my water. I've been thinking a lot about dieting lately and sent this email to a friend today. I wanted to copy it here so I can remember my moment of wisdom.

Thanks for sharing this link with me. I am excited to see the show. It goes well with my resolution to NOT diet this year. I think that all the work I have done the last year with food addiction and dieting has finally sunk in. I am going to have a goal of drinking some water before I eat, eating a fruit or vegetable and some protein (to even blood sugar) every time I eat, eat 5 times a day and other than that, just try to make better choices and watch portion sizes. There will be times when my choice isn’t the best possible and that is okay. I recognize that for me, sometimes eating isn’t just fuel. As long as I make good choices when I don’t really WANT the highest calorie option, it is okay to choose the burger or cake sometimes. I am hoping that this approach along with exercising will help me be healthier. Maybe if I am healthy, I can accept my weight one day.

I watched a show on BBC last night that had two girls that were about a size 10 trying to get down to a size 00 In 5 weeks. The study was to see the effects of dieting of healthy people. The results were interesting. They talked about how horrible they felt while dieting and how they ate everything in sight afterwards. One girl said that she would never diet and wouldn’t ever care about being thin again. She said that it became an obsession. She knows that she could stay that thin if she chooses to have diet be her focus. She said that she missed her life too much when she was dieting. The other woman had to stop the study because it threw her into an eating disorder. At the end, the doctor said it was amazing because here were two intelligent, healthy women who recognized the damage dieting did to them and yet they were both still disappointed because they hadn’t lost more weight. It is really scary what we do to ourselves emotionally.

I hope you are well.

Elaina


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