Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pizza experiment....

We've been eating primal (no grains or legumes) for 30 days as of October 30.  Part of us trying the primal eating for 30 days, was to experiment once the 30 days were over with a grain based meal to see how it made us feel. 

We brought home a Cozzola's take and bake pizza, cooked it up after chores... consumed it..... felt fine.  The world did not crash around us.  We were not ill.  We felt perfectly fine.....

UNTIL 2:00AM rolled around.

We were both wide awake, tossing and turning, and could NOT for the life of us get any sleep.  We finally gave up the fight and got up at 5:00 to go walking with the dogs under the stars...

Doesn't really make me want to try grains again any time soon.  Since eating primally, I have slept soundly, all night, every night vs. waking up at 2 or 3 AM probably 4 nights out of 7.  And the nights I did sleep were Tylenol PM induced.  I very rarely slept a night without something to keep me knocked out.

I'd gone to the Dr. for some pretty severe depression this summer along with the sleep deprivation to have my hormone levels checked out.  My hormones were ok but my my adrenals were high (why I was waking up in the middle of the night unable to sleep) and my B vitamins super, super low (why I felt so terrible all summer).  

I go to a more wholistic Dr., and they offer the option of working with herbal supplements if you want to go that route via diving right into Western meds.  Tho they offer the Western meds if you want them. 

I started taking an herbal supplement to calm my adrenals... and I got a B vitamin shot once a week for a month to get my B levels back up.  After that, I took a sub-lingual B supplement.

I haven't taken either supplement for a couple weeks.  I stopped the adrenal supplement right around the time we started eating primal.... and I sleep.  Oh how I sleep! I sleep sound and it is THE most glorious feeling to get sleep all night, every night.

I'm really liking the variety of veggies, fruits and proteins from fish, meat, chicken, eggs.   Yum!  We've tried brussel sprouts, rutabagas, turnips, mashed cauliflower... all sorts of good things. 

I'm never hungry, I don't count calories, I don't watch my portions... I eat full fat dairy, cook in butter, use olive oil and coconut oil vs. man made or grain/legume oils like corn, canola, peanut or vegetable oils.   I have even energy all day long, no lulls or tired afternoons for me any more....

It's been a pretty interesting 30 days.  I feel GOOD.  I feel HAPPY.  I feel AWAKE. 

I'm going to start with some exercise body movements to give me functional strength... I don't have goals to be amazingly ripped like Linda Hamilton from the Terminator movie... however, I'd like to be able to do the stuff I want to do easily and handily without much of a struggle.

I started today with some squats, plank and girlie knee pushups.  I'm so weak it's a little sad.  But hey, we all gots to start somewhere. 

We'll see how things progress...

Besides it's been so muddy, mucky, snowy, icy with the 2 storms we've gotten, I've got some extra time for evaluating how weak I am and trying to fix it.  grin.

I go to the Dr. for another blood draw to evaluate B levels... I'm guessing they are gonna be pretty good based on how great I feel.



5 comments:

Funder said...

Hifive! I'm so glad you feel awesome. I know what you mean about good sleep, too.

Get your vitamin D levels checked, too. I'm gonna keep evaluating how I feel for a couple more weeks, but I really think the D I started taking last week is really helping. I am more cheerful and I sleep better at night.

Shanster said...

Hey Funder! High 5 right back atcha! D levels were fine and thyroid was good...they checked a bunch o' stuff.

I take some D supplement along with fish oil... but yeah, feels GREAT to feel GREAT!

Boy, don't EVER wanna have a summer where I feel like that again. Did it suck, suck, suck....

DebH said...

what a good post! My sister has celiac disease...(self diagnosed) but hey...if it makes her feel better to be without wheat GOOD!. I have done a diet lately that is primarily green veggies with lots protein along with NO refined sugar..and that is the one thing I noticed was I slept better. I even feel lots better...but I always beat myself up for no control with my sweets. When I manage my diet forcefully I just feel more confident all around. I got a little voice on my shoulder that convince me almost anything, but when I am in control..just THAT makes me feel better!!

Teresa said...

I want it!! Got leads for the best resources to get going on this eating primal thing? Your summer sounds like my past 5 years. LOL Seriously!! This might help Dwayne get sleep, too. And then, I might get more sleep. ;P

Shanster said...

Teresa - It's the Primal Bluprint by Mark Sisson, good, easy read. Or go to www.MarksDailyApple.com, lots of good, free info there too!