I have promised much blogging I have not delivered on. I have pics and ideas ready for a post on how to cook and use an entire chicken, recipes I've created out of necessity, and gluten free news I've discovered. I have not forgotten, and I have plenty more food and nutrition information to share. But....
Right now, I'm trying to figure out why I feel like crap. I have taken all of my regular supplements. I have had plenty of sleep... In fact, I have been so fatigued and exhausted that I have been sleeping almost 15 hours a day. For a week. I ate some food I shouldn't have (aka doughnuts and too much yummy Starbucks), but I have gained 8 pounds in 10 days. That is 10% of the weight I have lost since my surgery!! I'm foggy headed, no concentration to study, no attention span, and zero energy. I am usually pretty in tune with my body, but I don't know what it's trying to tell me. (Unfortunately, it doesn't talk as much as my mouth... lol!)
At first, I thought I was hungry again, which is weird since the part of my stomach that produces ghrelin, the hunger hormone, is no longer there. So, I ate some bad for me shit because I was lazy. In the last few days, I've deciphered that it's not hunger. It's a craving. But I can't figure out for what. Nothing has worked yet, but clearly my body has been trying to tell me what it's missing.
I think I have narrowed it down to two possible deficiencies. (By the way, all of my labs were normal 3 months ago, so anything abnormal would be new...). My problem could be one or both of these, and possibly more I haven't thought of. (Don't suggest to eat bananas... Lol... They make me sick...)
First, an iron deficiency. I was anemic a lot as a kid, and none of my supplements have iron (my old crappy Centrum did), so I began taking an iron supplement tonight. I can't eat red meat well, I don't have room in my tiny tummy for dark leafy greens, and I haven't eaten many eggs lately.... So I'm sure my iron is probably low.
Secondly, I think I am lacking in Vitamin D. My It's Vital has vitamin D, but I can't drink milk and with being gluten free, I don't generally have fortified grains and cereals. Plus those same leafy dark greens are good for calcium and Vitamin D... So the spinach, kale, and broccoli I've been missing are a double whammy! I've been bad about my Greens, so I am going to add that to the extreme priority list, and I am going to go tanning for a few days and see if that helps....
Alright, before the indoor tanning attacks begin: from age 16 to 21, I tanned 5 days a week. I went to a tanning salon, tanned and then ran on the treadmill they had. I was healthy and thin, and in excellent shape. I don't burn with "normal" sun exposure, and I wear sunscreen if I'm going to be outside for a length of time when burning could be possible. I have a lot of melanin which, statistically speaking, makes my risk of melanoma minimal. (Notice that melanoma rates aren't higher in Africa and other equatorial societies?) I do skin checks, so I am always on the look out for basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma, both of which won't kill you if caught early, and many times they are. During the winter in the northern states even a blue sky day doesn't yield strong enough sun to make our bodies produce Vitamin D and increase serotonin production. This is the first winter in yeeeeeeears I haven't tanned at least once a week. So, I'm going to go for a few days and see if it helps... If it does, I will tan until the year I can move south. I just can't hang with this lack of energy and low brain capacity.
So hang in there with me, guys. I'll let you know what I figure out and get to those blog posts. I promise :)
Hasta luego!
Michelle
