One of my New Years Resolutions is to blog weekly. I can't find the first post I made and I missed posting last week, so let me try again! LOL. I have wanted to blog for some time now, have been asked to blog by friends and haven't ever stuck to it. I suck at it. I don't suck at resolutions, so I am going to be bugging you all weekly;)
Let's look at past and present resolutions. Quitting smoking. check. Quitting drinking. Check. Hula Hooping 20 minutes per day. Check. Hula hooping 30 minutes per day. Check. This year I am challenging myself to both work at getting healthier by biking/walking/elliptical 2000 miles and eating healthier, writing in my blog once a week, and drinking half my weight in water! Plus we are back at using the gratitude jar more frequently this year.
This week I am taking some PTO. I plan on killing it in the workout department. As much as I can with my stupid knee, anyways;) Colin and daddy have joined me in the push up challenge and we are planking 3:00 minutes per day this month. I love that we are getting stronger together.
Time to roll out of bed and workout before I head to Gap for the day. Happy Sunday friends.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Saturday, February 22, 2014
My First Nugget of Healing Through Food
I mentioned the Richfield Pool in the last post for a reason. It is where I sat most of the summer. I felt extremely uncomfortable in my skin because I felt big and was in excruciating pain, but was surrounded by so much laughter! My pool friends are the best! We met th a few years ago. each summer we pock up where we left off the fall before:). Thank goodness for those long days in the sun hanging out, my leg elevated and icing in the hot sun.
I started to share my woes with my pool friends. I'm sure they loved hearing the same thing over and over and over again. The one thing that kept coming up was the fact that my leg was so swollen with inflammation. At the time, I had no clue how the body worked. Kelly mentioned that wheat can cause inflammation. We probably talked about this for a few weeks before I started to google and it really sunk in. Kelly wasn't pushy sharing the information. I joked about what she shared with me. How could going GF help anything? At the time I thought it was a silly idea, until I started reading up on it. Wheat can cause inflammation. I stopped eating wheat the first week in August. It wasn't all that hard. I was buying and eating the GF products sold in the stores. I found it super easy to give up gluten. I started to read the Wheat Belly book and loved learning what wheat can do to a body.
Unfortunately for me, the inflammation did not change one bit being gluten free. I did start to feel more relaxed and was sleeping better, but my knee was still considerably inflamed. The physical therapist would measure how big it was. The surgeon told me I needed to lose weight. He also told me I had Rheumatoid Arthritis, although that was a diagnosis by what he saw during surgery and no blood work was performed. At my post op, post op, post op visit Dr. Asp was very pleased with all the work I was putting into recovering and even called me a "Trooper", which made me feel good because I know I was working hard, but I was frustrated because the pain was still so horrific.
I continued to stay Gluten free even though it didn't seem to have an immediate impact on my inflammation. It was now the end of October. The weather was extremely gloomy. I had a sarcastic face book status regarding the need for a case of vitamin D and a light box (for SADD). One of my friends saw it and offered me her light box. The light box is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received! It has done amazing things for my sleep cycle.
Still, the inflammation continued. I really started to read the Wheat Belly Book and decided to give up sugar and processed foods the week before Halloween. I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was nuts!!!! Guess what? The inflammation was completely gone within 36 hours! GONE! I was in total shock. This was not an easy step, nor was it hard either because the results were so shocking.
I had to turn to some serious cooking when I took processed foods out of the equation:). I will share more about this when I return to my blog in a few days:)
P.S. I have had several health improvements due to being gluten free, just not infammation reduction. I will need to devote an entire post to the benefits. It has been LIFE CHANGING!
I started to share my woes with my pool friends. I'm sure they loved hearing the same thing over and over and over again. The one thing that kept coming up was the fact that my leg was so swollen with inflammation. At the time, I had no clue how the body worked. Kelly mentioned that wheat can cause inflammation. We probably talked about this for a few weeks before I started to google and it really sunk in. Kelly wasn't pushy sharing the information. I joked about what she shared with me. How could going GF help anything? At the time I thought it was a silly idea, until I started reading up on it. Wheat can cause inflammation. I stopped eating wheat the first week in August. It wasn't all that hard. I was buying and eating the GF products sold in the stores. I found it super easy to give up gluten. I started to read the Wheat Belly book and loved learning what wheat can do to a body.
Unfortunately for me, the inflammation did not change one bit being gluten free. I did start to feel more relaxed and was sleeping better, but my knee was still considerably inflamed. The physical therapist would measure how big it was. The surgeon told me I needed to lose weight. He also told me I had Rheumatoid Arthritis, although that was a diagnosis by what he saw during surgery and no blood work was performed. At my post op, post op, post op visit Dr. Asp was very pleased with all the work I was putting into recovering and even called me a "Trooper", which made me feel good because I know I was working hard, but I was frustrated because the pain was still so horrific.
I continued to stay Gluten free even though it didn't seem to have an immediate impact on my inflammation. It was now the end of October. The weather was extremely gloomy. I had a sarcastic face book status regarding the need for a case of vitamin D and a light box (for SADD). One of my friends saw it and offered me her light box. The light box is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received! It has done amazing things for my sleep cycle.
Still, the inflammation continued. I really started to read the Wheat Belly Book and decided to give up sugar and processed foods the week before Halloween. I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was nuts!!!! Guess what? The inflammation was completely gone within 36 hours! GONE! I was in total shock. This was not an easy step, nor was it hard either because the results were so shocking.
I had to turn to some serious cooking when I took processed foods out of the equation:). I will share more about this when I return to my blog in a few days:)
P.S. I have had several health improvements due to being gluten free, just not infammation reduction. I will need to devote an entire post to the benefits. It has been LIFE CHANGING!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Not Even Sure Where to Start!
Today a friend mentioned that if I ever blogged, he'd share it with others. It's that moment when you realize you may have something to share with the world. Honestly, if I can help change one life from what I have learned in the past year, then all this over sharing will be worth it:)
Last summer I was in the worst shape I've been in since I quit drinking in 2009. From fall of 2012 on I was plagued by bursitis in my hips and near constant knee pain. I'd try and workout, get hurt and eat crappy. We drove to Florida for Spring break 2013. One day I could barely walk off the beach I was in so much back pain. My sciatic nerve was really bothering me, as was my knee and I was living on painkillers and candy! I started researching chiropractors. I made an appointment and started seeing one the day we returned from Florida. The chiropractor brought some relief, but not for long enough!
Fast forward to June 6, 2013. I was at Target with the kids and we were running through the parking lot to our car when my meniscus popped. It literally popped and was super painful! A month later, I got the tear repaired. There was bone build up on my knee and the surgeon scraped that off my knee when he was in there fixing the tear.
Two weeks later I returned to my retail job. I could hardly walk. The pain was horrific. I could barely walk from my parking spot to work, let alone work. The energetic person was gone and I was doing everything I could do to manage the pain. I timed my pain meds for work, I iced before work, on every break, after work and anytime I was sitting on the couch or laying in bed. I batched every task at work. I didn't walk to the front of the store unless I had everything I needed and I brought a rubber matt to stand on. To say I was in major pain every step I took, would be an understatement. I was near tears most days. I have always worked retail and at this point, I wasn't sure if I'd ever recover and the pain was consuming me. At one point a friend at work looked at me and said, "What are you going to do?" As in how can you go on like this? What's your plan? Um, hello! I was trying. I was stringing minutes together to make hours, to get to a break, to work some more to get to the end of my shift. To say I wasn't sure of I'd make it would be quite the understatement. At one point even Logan wasn't sure. Even typing this seven months later brings tears to my eyes. It was BAD. Walking slowly to the parking lot after work was extremely painful. I would cry when I got to my car. Tears because I made it through work, tears because I was in so much pain, tears because I was pushing through the pain.
I spent all my waking free time between my injury and surgery, during recovery and after returning to work at the Richfield pool. I sat there most of the summer with my leg elevated with a huge bag of ice on my knee. I was eating licorice by the bag. We were ordering pizza and eating crappy food most of the time. The inflammation around my knee was horrible. It would not leave my body. This is the start of my journey. The point where I look back and am thankful for the injury because this becomes my aha moment, even though I had no idea at the time! Hand me a Kleenex. I literally bawled writing this! To be continued...
Last summer I was in the worst shape I've been in since I quit drinking in 2009. From fall of 2012 on I was plagued by bursitis in my hips and near constant knee pain. I'd try and workout, get hurt and eat crappy. We drove to Florida for Spring break 2013. One day I could barely walk off the beach I was in so much back pain. My sciatic nerve was really bothering me, as was my knee and I was living on painkillers and candy! I started researching chiropractors. I made an appointment and started seeing one the day we returned from Florida. The chiropractor brought some relief, but not for long enough!
Fast forward to June 6, 2013. I was at Target with the kids and we were running through the parking lot to our car when my meniscus popped. It literally popped and was super painful! A month later, I got the tear repaired. There was bone build up on my knee and the surgeon scraped that off my knee when he was in there fixing the tear.
Two weeks later I returned to my retail job. I could hardly walk. The pain was horrific. I could barely walk from my parking spot to work, let alone work. The energetic person was gone and I was doing everything I could do to manage the pain. I timed my pain meds for work, I iced before work, on every break, after work and anytime I was sitting on the couch or laying in bed. I batched every task at work. I didn't walk to the front of the store unless I had everything I needed and I brought a rubber matt to stand on. To say I was in major pain every step I took, would be an understatement. I was near tears most days. I have always worked retail and at this point, I wasn't sure if I'd ever recover and the pain was consuming me. At one point a friend at work looked at me and said, "What are you going to do?" As in how can you go on like this? What's your plan? Um, hello! I was trying. I was stringing minutes together to make hours, to get to a break, to work some more to get to the end of my shift. To say I wasn't sure of I'd make it would be quite the understatement. At one point even Logan wasn't sure. Even typing this seven months later brings tears to my eyes. It was BAD. Walking slowly to the parking lot after work was extremely painful. I would cry when I got to my car. Tears because I made it through work, tears because I was in so much pain, tears because I was pushing through the pain.
I spent all my waking free time between my injury and surgery, during recovery and after returning to work at the Richfield pool. I sat there most of the summer with my leg elevated with a huge bag of ice on my knee. I was eating licorice by the bag. We were ordering pizza and eating crappy food most of the time. The inflammation around my knee was horrible. It would not leave my body. This is the start of my journey. The point where I look back and am thankful for the injury because this becomes my aha moment, even though I had no idea at the time! Hand me a Kleenex. I literally bawled writing this! To be continued...
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Time to get Back to Blogging!
I'm back and I'm not going anywhere this time! I have had quite the year. I've learned so much about myself and I've made some huge changes in the past several months. I'm ready to keep working hard at eating healthy! That doesn't mean eating lowfat and whole grains. That means not eating gluten, most sugars and GMOs. I have so much to share, but right now I need to get ready for Trick or Treating with the kids!
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