Weeks 6 & 7: The Final Piece of the Puzzle

I am almost back to my old self. Except that my blood pressure is way too low.

The blood pressure issue has been the last - and the most puzzling - piece of the endocrine puzzle and I think I'm finally on my way to a completed picture.

Meanwhile, the nutrition program is going forward without any glitches and I'm feeling sooooooooo great! It's a whole new mindset for me; this eating with a very structured plan. I like it. My body likes it.

I've been on the list to see a specialist here in Sacramento for a long time. One of the best docs in the area - who happens to be on my PPO plan - agreed to see me months ago and our appointment was today. What I am about to share next is truly unbelievable: he spent an hour and forty-five minutes with me. He is, in a word, unbelievable.

He is also very perplexed by my blood pressure and thinks that it is somehow tied in to the entire endocrine shut-down. He even thinks that I could give up the endocrine meds, and that I could sleep better and that I would be much more energetic during the day. All this is possible: my heart just needs to beat faster!

While I was in the office, the doctor did an EKG and the nurse took my blood pressure no less than eight times. It almost became comical: "Stand up, sit down, lie down, do a back flip." You get the point.

The doctor got the point too and he is ON IT. I feel completely confident in his ability to figure this all out. He's even going to send me for a sleep study to see how my heart does during rest.

On the nutrition side, I feel like there's been a complete shift in my mindset about food and eating. Structure works for me; handfuls of convenience foods - always on the go - do not. I'm planning out meals now and selecting my favorite sources of protein. Sitting down with a meal that I've put the time and effort into creating is really, really rewarding.

My willpower was truly put to the test this last weekend when I joined a group of friends in Lake Tahoe. The kitchen was loaded with every type of junk food that you can imagine. I had volunteered to do most of the cooking so it was easy to put together meals that were friendly to my program. It wasn't even that hard to make my favorites, polenta and bruschetta for everyone else.

However.

Some of the girls spent an afternoon baking cookies and cakes. The kitchen smelled delicious. In the afternoons, everyone would gather on one of the decks and enjoy wine and cheese. And crackers. And chips. And beer. Those occasions were hard. It was also difficult to make banana bread for the group on the second morning and not have any.

Going into the trip, I vowed to myself that I would not be high maintenance about the food; I would not be that girl. But that commitment required a stash of Atkins bars and a carton of eggs. It worked. Despite having a few vodka/diet 7up concoctions each day, I stayed in the ketotis zone and ate as much protein as I could.

Coming into Week 8 feels like a major accomplishment. I can't believe that I've reached the halfway point of the program and the thing is, I think that this way of eating is going to be with me for life.

I am happy to share information about my new doctor and/or ideas for low carb meals. Please find me at the gym or email me directly.

And do come join our Wednesday night yoga group! We're back; stronger than ever:
Del Norte Club, 7pm.

Best of health,
janeen.