Post-surgery affecting Whole30 effectiveness?

[Amanda Vanecko]

I had an ileostomy reversal surgery on May 28th and started Whole30 on June 7th, a little over a week later (so I just finished Day 14). The surgery wound is healing very well but I am not supposed to stress myself for the next three months, which means no lifting anything over 5 lbs and no exercise beyond just walking. I'm also very busy right now because I'm working during the day and taking online classes in the evenings. Consequently, I'm not getting as much sleep as I normally would because I'm doing more cooking and food-prep in the early evening and studying into the night.

 

I'm concerned that this lack of exercise and sleep is having a significant impact on the effectiveness of Whole30. I've seen no improvement in mood, sleep quality, energy, or really any other of the usual positive effects. I also went to the doctor the other day for a post-op visit and discovered that I'm up several pounds. I can certainly feel it; I feel like I'm bloated and occasionally feel nausea. I have Crohn's but these are not my normal symptoms (constipation and gas are, and my last visit report is that everything looks healthy). I've also had either a very bad cold or seasonal allergies this entire time. Usually I drink cold care tea with local honey to help, but now I'm just drinking cold care, which isn't as effective (not a sugar thing, I only sweeten hot tea if I'm using local honey to combat allergies or soothe a sore throat). 

Overall, the only positive effect I've seen as that I don't have any cravings anymore. It wasn't too hard to give up extra things because my Crohn's diet is already so restricted, but now, at least, I don't feel the strong call of Oreo ice cream anymore.

 

Is there a way I can still reap the better effects of Whole30 despite my restrictions? I have a desk job but I try to get up and walk frequently, and I take a 1-mile circuit around the building during lunch. I'm doing the best I can for sleep but most of my homework takes several hours and needs to be turned in at 11pm, and I wake up at 6:30am for work so I don't have much flexibility there.

 

I'd really appreciate suggestions. Or just support, if you've been in a similar situation and know that it gets better. I'm sticking to this because I'm stubborn but I'm really starting to doubt how much good it's doing for me given my limitations.

[ShannonM816]

Right now, your body is definitely putting all its resources toward healing from your surgery. You're asking it to do that with less sleep than normal, and probably with more stress than normal, and while you have a cold. It's not really surprising that you're tired, and I have a feeling that whole30 eating is just not going to fix it all. That doesn't mean that eating this way isn't helping, it's still going to be better for you than giving in to cravings for ice cream. All it means is that while food is important, it's not the whole story.

There are a couple of recent articles about dealing with stressful times here: http://whole9life.com/category/stress-management/ Maybe something in them will be helpful for you.

As far as food, stick to the meal template and be sure you have at least one serving of starchy vegetables each day. You might try to include some homemade broth each day.

I hope you feel better soon.

[Tom Denham]

You might be keeping the cold because of being worn down/stressed from surgery and not getting enough sleep. All these things do have consequences. Is there an end point where you can begin to sleep more? Sleep really is critically important.

 

Getting exercise is not critical and not something for you to try to add at this time. Your walking is plenty for now.

 

It may help if you post a few days of the food you have been eating for feedback. We meet lots of people who need to make adjustments in how they are composing meals.