The self care project

[jennor]

"Self care refers to actions and attitudes which contribute to the maintenance of well-being and personal health and promote human development." (Wikipedia)

Feel free to join in, comment or just read. Let's do this!

[jennor]

This will be a Whole 27 for me. I plan on running the Copenhagen marathon on May 18th, and I will want to use gel and sports drink for that. At the moment I am not sure I'll be able to run it though. I have been sick pretty much non-stop since February. A toddler in day care, plus that I am on immunosuppressants is not the best combination. I am to blame too, I have been working way too much and not allowed myself the rest I needed. I have not been sleeping enough. I have this tendency to push, push, push until I almost break myself. A bit of a stress junky, I guess. I have been pretty much sticking to the meal template, except for eating too much chocolate. That stops today. I know it is not good for my ulcerative colitis. This is an attempt to rein myself in, to allow myself to rest, to eat good food, and to practice self care.

I have set a few goals for this round:

Sleep. Aim for 8 hours a night.

Eat three meals per day, plus pre- and post-WO meals. No snacking.

Two servings of fruit per day.

No caffeine after noon.

Make time for my daily exercise. It makes me so much happier!

Anyway, let's look at Day 1 20140420

Sleep: I think 7-8 hours. I didn't have my phone, so I don't know at what time the kids woke us.

Food:

Meal1: 2 eggs (I boiled 3, but boiled them for too long, so they were not very good. Otherwise I would have had 3.) Aubergine/sweet potato/onion/apple hash. Grilled tomato. Coffee.

Meal2: Pan seared salmon, the same veggie hash, mango/avocado/onion/lemon/chili salsa, salad of flat leaved parsley, red bell pepper, olive oil and lemon juice.

Meal3: A tiny piece of chicken on top of a sad salad, no dressing. Baby carrots. (Out at a restaurant) once home I promptly fried two eggs, heated some veggie hash and threw on top of a pile of spinach leaves. I topped that beauty with spicy dipping sauce and inhaled it in two minutes. Added a handful nuts and an orange for good measure.

Exercise: finally I made it out for a 6.7 km (4.2 mi) very easy run. I still have a cold, so I took it nice and easy. It was lovely! Finally spring - flowers, sunshine, shorts!

[Peg541]

Good luck with your efforts. I'm on day 13 of my first Whole 30 and I'm an instant convert. I eat pretty clean anyway so this was not that hard for me. I'm aiming at continued good health and to lose a few pounds I let creep back on. I feel like I could do this forever.

[jennor]

Thank you, Peg. I love this food. I look at my plate sometimes and I can't believe how much more nutrient dense it is, compared to what my friends and relatives are eating. And so delicious too!

[Peg541]

I'm also looking back at what I used to eat and shaking my head. Some of those foods were real triggers for me. They opened the door for more. I'm glad to be rid of them. I'm hoping I keep this up but since it's not that hard......

I've gotten my first "unhealthy diet" comment. Funny it's NOT a diet but a lifestyle choice isn't it?

My comment was I enjoy what I am eating period.

Continued good luck to both of us.

[almcc]

Hi all.

Day 1 for me. I think it's a Whole 20. I should count again.

I ate a cupcake last night - feel horrible today. It's amazing to me that only a few bad choices can make such a difference. Glad to be back at it.

My goals: 3 meals. Limit to 1 serv of fruit and nuts. If I need a snack it must be a mini meal!! Water!!! Log everyday. Lots of shopping to do today.

Happy eating.

[jennor]

Hi all!

Pam, isn't it absurd that real food is "strange" these days? I think you responded well though.

Ashley, I have noticed that I get a bit of a stomach ache from gluten, and the combination of gluten rich high carb foods with sugar and fat makes it worse. I used to have a problem eating fat, but once I cut out the grains I tolerate fat much better.

Yesterday was The Perfect Day, I think. I felt like I would be able to finally kick my cold, I had the energy to play outside, even go for a short run. We got lots of work done in the garden, chilled during nap time and finished the day off with a nice walk along the beach. After spending several days holed up inside it was paradise to me!

Today:

Day 2 20140421

Sleep: 8-ish hours? I love waking up with the rest of the family and not 1 1/2 hour before everyone else. Morning cuddles are the best!

Food:

1) veggie hash, bacon, 2 fried eggs, spinach, spicy dipping sauce. Coffee.

2) Smoked salmon, veggie hash, spinach. More spicy dipping sauce. Dried mango. De-caf w/ coconut milk.

3) Hungry! Some more dried mango, handful nuts.

4) Lamb steak, grilled aubergine with olives and sun dried tomatoes, sweet potato wedges, tomato salad. A few pieces dried mango, de-caf.

Exercise: "Running errands" That was 10 km (6.2 mi) along the sea and to the grocery store. Bought dried mango. Ran 2.4 km home for a total of 12.4 km (7.7 mi). Took it nice and slow since I am still congested and coughing a bit.

The youngest one is napping and I will sit down with a de-caf and relax a bit. Lovely! This is the last day of holiday here, so I'd better soak it in!

Happy eating to you all!

[jennor]

Day 3 2014 04 22

 

Sleep: 7 hours. I had to make myself go to bed, knowing that today was an early wake-up. Slept well, feel rested.

 

Food:

Meal 1: 3 eggs, veggie hash, a few nuts and grapes, coffee, peppermint tea

Meal 2: Two beef patties, mixed greens and roasted cauliflower, coconut chips.

Meal 3: Smoked salmon and a fried egg over spinach and veggie hash. Lots of spicy dipping sauce.

Then it went down hill with chocolates from easter.

 

Exercise: 7.4 km (4.6 mi) run to the car pool. I had to run with my laptop, so it was, ehh, slow and steady. With the pick-up from preschool it will be 12.8 km (8 mi) in total for today.

 

I was hungry after lunch yesterday and couldn't go all the way until dinner. I grabbed a handful of nuts and a few slices dried mango as we headed out the door. A mini meal would have been better, but we were heading out to the playground. I have boiled a few eggs now to keep in the fridge if/when that happens again. I need to bring some eggs to work too.

I think part of it is that I was not able to my pre-and post- WO meals. I had breakfast, then went for my run an hour after that. When I came home I immediately started on our lunches, and ate about 40 min post-WO. But when my regular meals are my post/preWO meals I don't get the extra calories, so I get hungry later in the day. Then an extra mini meal later in the day should be ok, right? 

[jennor]

I am re-reading the blog posts about stress addiction. http://whole9life.com/2011/11/stress-addiction-1/ and http://whole9life.com/2011/11/stress-addiction-2/. Good reading for people like me.

 

The problem is it made me want to order three new books to read. And sign up for yoga classes. And get 9 hours of sleep every night. And get up even earlier to sit quietly with a cup of tea at the start of my day.

[almcc]

Hi,

 

jennor looks like you did have the perfect day!!  And I laughed and commiserated about your response to stress addiction posts. I am that way as well. 

 

Today is day 1. Yesterday was not a good day.  I cooked a lovely 1st meal - eggs, homemade sausage, sp plus a  nice cup of coffee.  I had a terrible reaction - meaning my salivary gland got very swollen and hurt worse than ever.  I took a pain pill (never a good choice) and sleeping for 4 hours. I ate almond butter and banana 2 times - doesn't require chewing.  Then by 8 I felt up to cooking again and heated some pulled pork from the freezer and roasted cauliflower and carrots. 4/30 cannot come soon enough.

 

I am off to the stores to buy supplies for the week.  I haven't eaten yet - it's 11am - I'm a little afraid since I don't know what sets it off. I'm feeling sorry for myself also.  Sorry to be a downer.

 

Happy taking care of ourselves.

[jennor]

Oh, Ashley, that sucks! I read that the pain comes on when one eats or is about to eat. That sounds like torture to me! You have very right to feel sorry for yourself, I feel sorry for you too. I hope today is at least a slightly better day!

[jennor]

Well, I will have to confess to failing having a set back with the project yesterday.

The scene: Early evening, alone with the kids for the night. Oldest daughter comes down with a high fever and is put to bed. Feeling tired, headach-y and like I just need to have chocolate.

And I did, and it wasn't a good idea. I feel embarrassed now. Not like I failed, but like I let myself down. Took the easy way out. My neuronal pathway was set: tired -> eat sugar and chocolate -> feel better.

 

But I am doing this to learn ways to change that. To learn how to relax in ways that are not causing my gut flora to run amok, causing intestinal cramping and inflammation. So today I pull myself up, remind myself of a couple of other things to do when stress is setting in.

 

Make a cup of tea. (Avoid de-caf in these situations, I associate it with chocolate)

Stretch on my yoga mat

Read "The power of habit"

Eat an egg and some veggies (if hungry)

Cuddle the kids or my husband

[jennor]

Day 1 2014 04 23

 

Sleep: Less than 7 hours. I went to bed on time to get 7.5, but had a nightly disagreement with my youngest about whether to sleep ot not at 3 am. I finally convinced her to see my point, but it took a while.

 

I remember when I was a PhD student without kids. I would sleep between 8-9 hours every night. Oh, glory days. But I wouldn't want to be without my kids for every golden hour of sleep in the world.

 

Food:

Meal 1: 3 eggs, veggie hash. A few grapes, handful nuts. Coffee. Green tea and licorice root tea.

Meal 2: Baked cod w/ carrot and seaweed "pestos", grilled zucchini and semi-dried tomatoes w/ olive oil, load of mixed salad veggies. Pineapple and grapes.

Snack/Pre-WO: Orange, pear and nuts/seeds (I totally forgot about my egg in the fridge!)

Meal 3: Smoked salmon, sweet potato wedges, spinach salad w/ spicy dipping sauce. Dried mango. Banana.

 

I have cut my caffein consumption down to only one cup in the morning. I think it is giving me a headache, which is part of my falling off the wagon yesterday. I will stick with it, though. I have been totally caffeine free before, and I know the headaches subside after a few days. Less caffeine makes it easier for me to listen to my signals - am I tired? Caffeine keeps me in my stress zone. And we all know I ride that high way too much. This is the new, herbal tea-fuelled Jenny!

 

Exercise: 7.4 km to the car pool meet-up this morning. Will probably add the run to pre-school for a total of 13-ish kilometers (8-ish miles).

 

Today is my youngest daughters birthday. I can't believe it was only two years ago that I was walking around our then-appartment in the early morning hours with contractions, knowing we would have a baby that day. Since then she has become such a little person! So sweet, loving, meticulous and patient as she is learning to dress herself, go potty, even ride the tricycle and the kick-bike. Since then we have also moved across the country and made a life for us in the south of Sweden, including buying a house, renovating (still on-going!), started new jobs and made new friends. So much has happened in two short years! Tonigh we will celebrate her. She has asked for pizza and ice cream and she will get that.  

[almcc]

Happy 2!!! I love that age. I loved all the ages really. Each sweet in their own way. It won't be long and my baby will be 20. Every now and then the little girl peaks out of the grown up girl and all these memories come back. Makes me sad and happy at the same time.

I'm sorry you gave another sick one. Dont beat yourself up over the chocolate. This is a process.

So I am calling this day 1 too. I only had 2 meals yesterday. And in an effort not to create pain, I ate mush. Eggs and avo. And pulled pork and sp. neither one followed the template.

This morning I had eggs, sp, kale, sausage and coffee. I still love that for breakfast.

Here's to taking care of ourselves.

[jennor]

Ugh, I just deleted my post by mistake!

 

 

Day 2 2014 04 24

 

Sleep: 8 hours? I was so tired I fell asleep when putting the kids to bed but had to get back up to pack my stuff for today. Then the little one was coughing a lot, so we were up for a while.

 

Food:

Pre-WO: Coconut milk latte, fish oil

Breakfast: 2 eggs, veggie hash, a few grapes, de-caf

Lunch: Chicken, grilled mushrooms and bell peppers, mixed salad, few grapes, dressing w/ canola oil. Orange.

Later I had another orange at a 40th birthday celebration at work. Just because everyone was eating, I think.

Dinner: Chicken thighs, veggie hash, spicy sauce, spinach. Dried mango and cashews, de-caf.

 

Exercise: Just "running an errand" - ran to the bank to withdraw some Danish currency. 3.2 km (2 mi).

 

Ashley, you are so right. Here's to taking care of ourselves! *raises de-caf*

[almcc]

jennor - I raise my coffee to self care!!

Yesterday was ok.

M1: eggs, kale, sp, compliant sausage, coffee

M2: oysters

M3: eggs, kale, sp, compliant sausage, 3 dates

Snack: banana and almond butter

Still snacking. Today no snacks. And 3 full meals.

Worked out - I'm stiff today.

I'll be driving to do my errands today!!!

Happy self care!

[jennor]

Ashley, mmm, oysters! I have never had that for a real meal, just a few as an apppetizer.

My husband has a rare, genetic diabetes variant (MODY) causing a high basal blood glucose. He is on board with the way we eat at home, but he does cheat in social situations. Now he is testing a 24h continous blood glucose measuring device for a few days and WOW the effect of a paleo meal versus a regular meal is striking! After our dinner yesterday his glucose went from about 150 to 170 (I am converting it from the European to American system, so just a rough calculation). Later he had two apples and it rose much higher from that! I think he will cut down on the fruits a bit after seeing that. And I know it will reaffirm to him that he needs to stick with this "diet". Today he is having the weekly breakfast at the office with bread and juice. I can't wait to hear how that affected his glucose! Speaking of sugar, my sugar dragon is seriously out of control. Yesterday I went berserk with the dried mango. I will work harder on the no-snacking. Come on, JUST DO IT Jenny!

Day 3 2014 04 25

Sleep: 8.5 hours! Glorious, glorious!

Food:

Meal 1: 2 eggs, veggie hash, dried mango, cashews, a small coffee w/ coconut milk. De-caf.

Meal 2: 4 eggs, piece of chicken, veggie hash, dipping sauce, spinach. Mango and cashew.

Meal 3: lamb steak, roasted sweet potato, olive oil and lemon juice, spinach salad. More cashews and dried mango, de-caf. Antibiotics containing lactose!

Exercise: No, I felt sick and my coughing has been getting worse again. I went to the doctor and it turns out I have pneumonia.

[almcc]

jennor - yay sleep!!!

Short note - as I am not sleeping - when I should be. I had 2 great meals and then I blew it last night. I chose to go off - not too bad and I'll be back at it today. I am not fully focused on this whole whatever and so am not well prepared. No excuses! I'm thinking I'll wait until after NY when I can be focused and committed for a long stretch. I don't know tho. I'd like to hang out here but no logging.

Happy day!!!

[jennor]

Ashley, stay here anyway! I like to have you here to keep me accountable! Plus, a little is better than nothing, so two out of three meals is still better than just quitting. I know you are struggling with the salivary gland stone also, so just do as much as you feel you are up to.

I have run into some problems myself. My cough was getting worse (again!) so I went to the doctor. As it turns out I have pneumonia. My youngest as well, but it is "silent pneumonia" caused mycoplasma, so the doctor didn't prescribe anything for her. (She doesn't have a fever, and if she gets one we will come back and she'll get antibiotics as well.) For me, since I am on immunosuppressants and my immune system can't seem to kill it off, she prescribed 9 days of doxycycline. I read on the package, and they contain lactose. Bo ho, I guess that means I need to do an additional 30 days once I am off the antibiotics.

I don't know really how I feel about that. But, I also talked to my nurse at the Gastro clinic, and she said that I am being sick so much, getting weird infections and opportunistic pneumonia, plus my white blood cell count is below what they like to see. She thinks they might need to ease up a little on the immuno suppression. I'll talk with my doctor next week about lowering the dose. And the possibility of doing that makes me VERY motivated to take optimal care of myself. It would be AMAZING to be able to have a slightly more normal immune system, not be sick all the time and to still keep colitis inflammation low by eating well!

So I guess I am pretty motivated to stick with it, despite this set back.

Day 5 (or -7) 20140426

Sleep: 6-ish hours? I woke up by myself at 5 am, feeling like I had slept enough. Very strange. But I am a morning person, so I tend to always have a lot of energy in the mornings and can hardly ever go back to sleep if I wake up early. I guess I'll be tired tonight.

Food:

Meal 1: 2 eggs, sweet potato hash, bacon and mushrooms. Coffee with coconut milk. Later, a black coffee at the hairdresser.

Meal 2: Smoked salmon, sweet potato, big spinach salad. Dipping sauce.

Meal 3: lamb, sweet potato wedges, big salad. Lara bar and de-caf (swypo-ing at my youngest daughters birthday party. Yes, I admit!)

Exercise: No, my lung hurts.

[almcc]

Hi jennor! How is your Saturday going? I have a commission meeting this afternoon and a market tomorrow. Busy weekend plus my dd came home for a quick visit. Had some good sleep last night which will make the weekend go better. And I got a massage. A little pampering in the name of self care.

Hope everyone is well in your house.

[jennor]

Oh, massage, what a great idea! I went to get my hair cut and really reveled in the feeling of being pampered too. I think this self care project is eye opening to me in many ways. It goes beyond food.

I posted above about being diagnosed with pneumonia. The good part of that is that I am being treated and can expect to feel better in a few days.

Have a great weekend with your dd!

[almcc]

jennor - looks like we were typing at the same time -so I missed your post about pneumonia. Ack. I'm so sorry. But I am glad you are taking care by seeing someone!!!

Easing up on the immunosuppressants sounds like a great idea. You are certainly taking good care by eating well. Is it possible to control the colitis (?) by diet alone and not use immunosuppressants at all? I cannot remember if you've talked about that. I know so little about all of this. My mom has rheumatoid arthritis and was on immunosuppressant meds for ~30 years. Of course no one ever spoke to her about diet.

Take good care.

[jennor]

Ashley, at first I was on just asacol, which acts more locally in the colon. But I was flaring non-stop, so it wasn't enough. I was put on general immuno suppressants (azathioprine) and got slightly better, but still mini-flaring most of the time. They elevated the dose and then I was ok, but my white blood cells have been on the low side since then. I dream about maybe, maybe, maybe being to control it by just diet and asacol one day, but honestly I don't think it will be possible. I have quite severe UC. But just being able to cut down on the immuno suppressants would be wonderful. It might take a few years of eating well, though.

[jennor]

Yesterday was so nice! We had two families with kids the same ages as our over to celebrate my youngest dd's birthday. The weather was perfect, so we played outside and had dinner in the garden. It was great to just hang out and gave fun with friends. We ordered pizza from a really good Italian pizzeria and I had made an ice cream cake. I stuck to the protocol, but I think the fact that I had a Lara bar type dessert with coffe after dinner counts as swypo. I am fine with that. It is not a habit, nor should it be. But it was lovely to be able to be part of the party and not feel deprived as the others were eating ice cream.

My antibiotics contain lactose. I wrote a question about how to count my Whole30 days in the Trouble shoot-thread but haven't had any replies yet. My take on it is that I will keep sticking to the protocol while I eat them. But that my system will probably need another 30 days after to normalize the gut flora and intestinal lining.

Day 5 or -7 20140427

Sleep: around 7 hours. Slept well. Took cough medicine, so maybe that helped.

Food:

Breakfast: 3 fried eggs, veggie hash, bacon, coffee w coconut milk

Lunch: lamb and veggie hash on top of a huge salad. Olive oil, lemon juice, roasted garlic. Espresso.

Snack: ok, I stole my children's dried mango. Iced coconut latte.

Dinner: BBQ! Chicken and pork chop, sweet potato, home made BBQ sauce, grilled vegetables in olive oil, salad. 1/2 grilled apple.

De-caf.

Exercise: No, feeling better but still not well enough.

[mangio_bene]

I believe somewhere on the forum a mod stated that prescribed medications were ok.  Unfortunately, many prescribed drugs probably have non-compliant filler ingredients. Since there is some chance you could have dairy allergies you might consider getting a different antibiotic.