It seems that the weeks I don't have the time needed to write a decent blog post are the weeks I have the most to say! Like the past few. Hence the no new blog posts in a long time! And it's too bad. Because blogging is one of my favorite things. Besides swing dancing, teaching Zumba, being with my family, and hanging (or even just phone chatting) with my boy Michael. And so I can't believe I haven't written in so long.
I can't write long given that I just spent at least 4 hours cooking food for the week and now it's almost Monday, but I really want to share a little about what's new in life.
Well, lots of things are new in life.
Like that new iPhone update that most people hate and I thus far have refused to get.
Like the fact that it's weirdly still summer weather and yet time has determined that it needs to be October already.
Like the new Arcade Fire song that is super long and yet the radio station I listen to feels the need to play it multiple times per day (which is fine, because it's awesome!).
But in MY life, what's new is that I'm finally figuring out some of my unsolved weird/annoying/frustrating health symptoms. About 10 months ago I decided I needed to give up coffee. I was having pretty bad acid reflux and also stomaches later in the day after drinking a latte or espresso in the morning. I was also having a lot of trouble swallowing food and pills. Not drinking coffee seemed to help some with my stomach but I was still drinking at least 3 cups of caffeinated tea per day just because I felt like I needed it. Without it, I would fall asleep at my desk multiple times throughout the day. I was feeling like a terrible grad student and I thought I just wasn't very good at this "real job" thing. I felt foggy most days and still got stomaches nearly every night.
I did get my swallowing problems figured out and "fixed"as I was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis in May, meaning I have an abnormally large autoimmune (allergic) reaction to....we don't know. Some foods. Maybe alcohol. It's hard to tell. But basically, over time I have had eosinophils (a specific type of white blood cell) building up in my esophagus, making it very narrow, which in turn made swallowing very difficult. Thankfully, I was able to have a endoscopy done where they put a camera down my esophagus to look at it, and the camera ended up breaking apart one of these so-called "strictures", where the eosinophils had made it very narrow. And lo and behold, swallowing became much easier! So that's the story of why I've choked so many times in the past, and why I still have to be careful with certain foods and with how much I bite at one time. This also solves the mystery of why I'm such a slow eater!!
But as of a few weeks ago, I hadn't yet solved the mystery of why I couldn't stay awake in class or at work, why I have terrible eczema that my steroid cream doesn't even seem to help, and why my stomach was so uncomfortable almost every night.
For the past few years I've been subscribed to an email newsletter written by a health coach. I don't even know how I first found this newsletter but I've enjoyed it since and a few times I've seen her promoting her "21 day detox." I didn't think much of this in previous years besides "Oh, I don't need to think about that. That's probably for health nuts or old people." (Admittedly, my rationale was a wee bit...unreasonable)
Anyway, sometime around the end of August, I read again that she was doing this detox from Sept. 15 to Oct. 6th. I couldn't tell exactly what it entailed but the testimonies were so good that I couldn't quite get it off my mind. "Better energy...more alert...better skin...I never knew I was allergic to gluten!...ect, ect" I started to wonder if going on a super-well-controlled diet would teach my anything about my own system. Not wanting to make a big decision like this on my own, I talked to all the important people in my life about potentially doing this. I was met by some skepticism from both my mom and Michael, but that was totally fine- because I was skeptical too. But one day, about 2 weeks before the detox was scheduled to begin, I decided that if there was even a chance it would help some of my issues, it was worth a try!
Long story short- it really, truly has been worth it. It hasn't been easy, but its a different type of "not easy" than I expected. Yes, I miss cheese. Yes, I kind of crave some chicken every once in awhile. Yes, I really miss chocolate. But honestly, I'm loving the kind of food I am eating now.
The hard part, really, is how much I have to THINK about what I'm eating. I know I know, I'm studying to get my PhD, you think I'd be okay with thinking. But it takes time. Time to plan all the meals. Time to prep meals ahead of the week so I don't end up eating out at all. Time (and hassle) to take my food for a whole day with me because I often don't go home at all between 7:30 am and 10:00 pm.
But like I said, it's all been worth it. In the last 14 days (I have 7 days left to go in the detox) I realized that a combination of caffeine, sugar, gluten, dairy and/or meat (at this point I can't exclude anything or really point fingers) was making me tired, bloated, itchy and acne-y. Obviously not everything has just cleared up and become wonderful in the past 14 days. But I feel so much better after eating my food now. I feel full and satisfied...and then I'm able to wait until the next meal without feeling desperate or cranky about being hungry. After a few initial "getting used to the detox" kind of sleepy, foggy days, I have had so much energy all day long. I actually know what it feels like now to sit and read a paper at my desk without realizing halfway through that my eyes are closed. Some of my sleepiness is definitely due to the "not large" amounts of sleep I get. But I honestly think a lot of it was due to the food I was eating!!
This is a crazy concept to me. And it's crazy because it really shouldn't be crazy. Not at all. It makes complete sense that what we put in our body directly affects how we feel. But I guess I've never experienced such a change in how I feel based on a change in what I've eaten. So I'm still ridiculously impressed with it.
Ok, I gotta get to bed. I'll write more about the detox again I'm sure. It wraps up in 7 days but honestly, I really want to keep eating like this so I kind of wish it were longer! I think I will stay largely gluten-free and continue avoiding processed "food" in favor of all the delicious fruits and vegetables I've been treating myself to.
Hopefully this was interesting to anyone who has made it this far with me :) Please let me know if you are curious about this type of detox- I promise it's not a juice cleanse or low-carb diet or any "fad" type of thing like that. It's all about eating real food! Before this, I would've said "Oh, I eat healthy. I eat lots of "real" foods." And I would have been wrong. This has been a huge learning experience. More later :)
Happy almost-October!
