September 25th 2013

So i don't even know where to being without ranting. Its been a long month full of lots of changes and new beginnings. 

So the good, the bad and the nasty.

The Good:

I have been seeing an amazing guy for a little while now who i can officially call my boyfriend. We'll call him "C" (out of respect for his privacy and i'm pretty sure he doesn't even read this blog...). He is amazingly supportive, a genuinely good guy and for some reason or another can put up with me and all of my health woes. FINALLY NOT SINGLE. Better yet that feeling of being 100% comfortable with someone and knowing that you completely support you. Nothing can really touch that feeling right now.

Oh and remember back when i got glutened in Hampton? Oh ya that was C in the car driving. That was 90 minutes of pure horror on my behalf sitting in that car mortified of having that episode with him being around. Well at the very least he knows full willingly what he got himself into haha. 

C and i got to spend a nice weekend up in Vermont at the Spartan race at Killington Mountain. I was so happy to have a stress free weekend away. I was really proud of my progress with my arm strength because for the first time i was able to do the monkey bars all by myself (saving my 30 burpees! yay!!) 

I have become an unstoppable trivia force and am seriously considering packing my bags and traveling around winning trivia everywhere i go. Just kidding. But seriously i have been winning trivia every tuesday for a while now and finally won some money on scratch tickets ($105 total!) plus i won a winter classic hoodie and tee shirt last week. winner winner.

I have stopped losing weight but i am super happy with the visual progress i have seen in my body from continuing to work out. (far left early Sept, middle is two weeks ago and far right is the day after the spartan race)


Lastly finally getting a grip on what foods i can have without dying. Close to coming to a point where i get what my diet is. Dessert hacks! I attempted to make "ice cream" from bananas. Well it didn't blend as well as i hoped and i added some almond milk and soon enough it ended up looking more like a frosty from wendy's than ice cream. Either way it was delicious and totally agreed with my tummy!

Frozen bananas, nutella, non dairy enjoy life chocolate chips and slivered almonds!

The Bad:

My stomach problems have only been getting worse. With every weekly trip to the doctors comes more medications, more diagnosis, more bills, more tests..more more more.

After seeing Karen (my naturopath) this past week i actually took a day off work today because i was sick. Sometimes after she does the manual lymph node drainage a day or two later i feel like death. Correction every time she does it this happens. It just gets worse like it is today when there are bugs going around. 

The Ugly:

As of this past week i was officially diagnosed as having celiac disease. Now this is a bittersweet diagnosis because i'm very glad to know whats wrong so i can make corrective changes to my life to get better. But on the other hand my tests for sensitivities and allergies are getting worse. Either that or i had an incorrect reading previously. Either way it makes me pretty concerned. 

Sick girl supplies at it finest 

After i get the lymph node drainage massage from Karen i get pretty sick unfortunately. Whats happening is that my body is physically releasing all of the toxins and sickness that was being held into my system. So basically it sucks more times than others when its flu season because otherwise i don't get sick it just comes full force all at once. So here i am home sick from work today writing this post. At least i'm being productive?.. ish?

Silly faces can heal your soul sometimes..maybe not but i enjoy making a goofy face anyways

Now don't get me wrong  over the past few months my attitude towards my health issues have greatly changed. I feel as if i have become more positive and confident in my decisions regarding my health. I have a great support system of friends who unfortunately share similar issues, a great boyfriend and a mom who is trying to understand. Surrounding yourself with good and understanding people is really the best advice i can give to anyone in a similar position.                                                                         

 I feel very optimistic for the future and even with my new diagnosis comes more life changes. This is all a process of learning and growing and i am more than thankful for everyday and for the people who are in my life. 

Nothing but love love love.

Until next time....
  

That last post was me being a negative Nancy so i'm going to try and pull things around this time haha. So things sadly have not improved much since i last wrote. 

I spoke to a few of my friends regarding my new symptoms (in which all either have AI disorders or stomach issues unknown). Recently i find that there is a disconnect from my head and my body. I know this sounds weird and bare with me while i try to explain myself the best i can. I feel as if there is no connection between the two. Any incident that happens with one does not effect the other as if they are two separate entities. Another new thing thats been happening is i feel an out of body experience and almost feel like i'm watching things happen as if i'm on auto-pilot. Anyone else out there feel that way? Not that i don't feel like i can control what i am doing in the moment just that i'm removed from the situation.

Anyways i am slowly working down my list of foods to something a bit more concrete. One saving grace is that my organic lemonade from whole foods and espalon blanco tequila makes me very happy!

I recently tried out this margarita mix with the lemonade and tequila and it was quite delicious!

So i think i am FINALLY over the carbs "hump". I feel like i no longer crave that entenmanns raspberry danish or those coffee cake slices when i go to Panera. I means its really all about the small victories anyways right?

But i do find that because of the allergies and diet that its been hard to regulate my blood sugar and i find myself crashing. For the time being there is no developments in that area sadly. So i carry about little unjunked candy bars and jolly ranchers for when i start to dip a little too low. 

So i think i am finally over losing weight now too. Its been a month and my weight is slowly creeping up. For the first time in a long time i am totally okay with this. I started to take my weight lifting a little less intense and eat more protein immediately after i work out so i don't miss the anabolic window. Theres no complaints on that because i found a Luna protein bar thats GLUTEN FREE and not to mention freakin delicious!

Lastly i went on a spur of the moment adventure with a friend to Mystic Seaport last week and got the chance to spend a day outside kayaking and checking out some cool old building in the sea port. 

We went out to eat at this amazing Vegan/Vegetarian restaurant called Kate's Cafe. I literally can't say enough. I spent the whole meal freaking out that i could literally have anything on their menu. All dairy/gluten free and whatever was made with soy was clearly labeled  I don't think people really understand how amazing it is when i go somewhere and this happened. But i seriously ate like it was my last meal. It was gluten free foccia bread, sweet potato fries, roasted red peppers and portabello mushrooms. 

PHENOMENAL. 

Oh and lastly how could i have forgotten? I signed up for a 100 mile virtual race challenge from Dirt in Your Skirt a while back. You run 100 miles from Memorial day to Labor Day. Well i did it and got a fancy belt buckle/medal to add to my growing pile!

Till next time :)

Not so Happy Birthday to Me :(

Hello everyone! First off today is my birthday and i wish i had better news to share about whats been going on. I wish i could say that i haven't been writing was because i've been so busy being happy and healthy elsewhere but sadly that is not the truth. 

All my AIP/Paleo peeps can feel me on this one..

The past couple months i have been getting worse. I gained a few pounds (165 to 168) and my health seems to be drastically declining. My sleeping patterns have become really erratic or non existent. My adrenal glands are way overactive and stressed and my thyroid is being lethargic. My sugar levels have been insanely low, along with my magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc all being in a funk. She also thinks that i may have a gene mutation called MTHFR (Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase) that would account for my thyroid being funky and having serious adrenal gland issues. I have been to two of my doctors over the past week and lets just say i'm tired of hearing bad news. I was in such a good mood for a long time. Happy with the insane progress i have made and the changes seemed to really be paying off in all aspects of my life.  

About three weeks ago i started to notice my sleep was getting really bad. I was consistently waking up late for work and it was clearly impacting my energy levels throughout the day when i was sleeping a shoddy four hours a night (more if i was lucky). I was going to the gym every day after work after working 12 hours three days a week and two four hour days. I feel like any time i find things start to go well my body has other plans. Can we all remember that like two seconds i had abs? That was pretty cool..

The apple cider vinegar that i was taking (which is UH-mazing for de-bloating) was now giving me sever migraines  I am now on all sorts of new medications! YAY. (i will post names and pictures later i just don't have them on me right now). Lastly i have upped my medications for the enzymes and probiotics to double aka (3 or 4 pills of enzymes every time i eat-depending on how heavy or large my meal is; 1/2 tsp probiotics twice a day).

So now here i am. On my 22nd birthday, slowly slipping back from all the progress i worked so hard for. So forgive me for bitching a bit because i am pissed. It has taken me a very long time to "come to terms" with the fact that my body does whatever it wants, whenever it wants without consulting me...and it sucks. So i'm a little bitter and pissed off today. And god forbid i actually would be able to drown my sorrows in some german chocolate cake or half baked froyo because we all know that would end in me rolling around on the ground swearing and crying.

Thank you Leaky Gut for proving that i am your bitch.

Happy birthday right?

7.29.13

FINALLY DOWN 30 Pounds! (technically its now 30.8 pounds down).


And if you are paying attention yes i did get my belly button pierced. I told myself that once i lost 30 pounds i would get it done. When i was bigger i never wanted anything to draw attention and now i have a reason to show it off!

It amazing to see the results. The past few months i stopped working out for the most part and just continued with hiking and walking with the dogs outside. This week i decided its a good time to start going back to the gym and hitting it hard. Since the weight i find certain activities have gotten easier. Like running! Which was previously the bane of my existence, now all of a sudden feels easier. Not completely though i still am not a fan haha. I went to the gym tonight with 0% motivation and managed to do some pushups, run a little bit, do some woodchops/upper trunk rotations and then try out the assisted pull-up machine. So i at least got myself moving a bit. Tomorrow i am meeting up with a friend and we are actually going to work out. Seems that this week will be a bit rough :/ 

In the past i have followed the Jamie Eason's 12 week fit trainer with no success. Unfortunately i feel that was due to me being sick. So here i am round 2 and *hopefully* will be seeing better results. 

In the meantime i am looking forward to this week filled with some fun outdoor activities. Stand up paddle boarding on Tuesday, hiking on Friday and kayaking on Sunday! 

As always i want to thank everyone for all the support on instagram, facebook and in person. Its been really nice to get to know other people with similar issues and to share my experiences with all of you is amazing. 

As always. Positive thoughts and wishes :)

Medicine Galore!

So i have been asked by many people about the specifics of my medications on a daily basis so i figured i would write you all a post!

So this is my current medication routine. I have previously been on other antibiotics, l-glutamine, and other enzymes and juices that are suppose to sooth my stomach. I just found this to be the best combination for me.

FIRST

So first thing in the morning when i wake up i take a probiotic. 

This medicine needs to stay refrigerated (as you can see in the picture i keep it in my guacamole drawer.. and yes i have a whole drawer of guacamole.) I take 1/4  teaspoon per day and it is in a powder form (i'll do this twice a day if i am feeling sick to boost my immune system). I have a starbucks cup i got for christmas that i use to drink it all out of since its a larger glass. I have found that sometimes the taste can be a tad weird so you just have to grin and bear it and add more water if you need to. Although this comes out more like little granules and doesn't really mix too well and DO NOT MIX WITH HOT WATER. The Ultraflora was made to break down in your warm belly so it gets really gross in your cup when you do that. If you can wait like 30mins before eating anything after taking this. Although in all reality i don't follow that because i wake up way too late all the time.. I take this and then get started on making breakfast which usually gives me about 15/20 minutes. 

Buy here

NEXT

I take digestive enzymes WITH my food. 

I take two of these pills every time i eat. I find that for me if i stop taking them or lower the dosage then i don't find it to be as effective. Now when i first started taking these i was advised to take 1/2 a capsule per meal (3x a day) to start then up them by 1/2 a capsule until i get to 2 per meal a day. I've heard from other people who tried diving right in that it bothered their stomachs especially if you already have a sensitive stomach. This i do like to mix with warm water because i find that the powder mixes easier. Now you can always swallow the capsules as well but i personally like drinking them better because i feel it working faster. Now if i was smart i would take it like 15 minutes before eating but again time management isn't really my strong suite. 

Buy here

LASTLY

I take apple cider vinegar WITH my meal. 

Sometimes i don't have the stomach to finish it before i eat so it does the same thing if you sip and eat. I do 2 tsp with about 16 oz of water before every time i eat. Now i personally like Bragg's vinegar because i'm all about it being organic and gfree and cheap. Just makes sure you mix well before putting this in your drink. Now i like to mix this in my big cup with my straw and just suck the whole thing down. I'm going to warn you.. This is for sure a taste you need to get use to. Because well.. its vinegar and not so tasty at first. I feel a huge difference when i skip the vinegar when i eat though so its 100% worth the temporary yuckness. I have heard from other people that cutting it with some organic apple juice or pineapple juice can help with the taste and make it more bearable but i would rather just water it down a ton. 

Buy here

TIPS

So i like to drink from a cup with a big straw for these (especially the probiotics) because #1 when you're chugging it down there is nothing splashing on your face and i find hat you get more of the probiotics when you use the straw instead of chugging it because it won't stick all over the walls of the glass. 

Gfree people- ALL OF THESE ARE VEGAN AND GFREE. I personally forget that certain medications have gluten in them and i love these ones

I do NOT recommend buying any medications from third party sites. Metagenics i purchase straight through my doctor's office but you can purchase it straight off their website. Digest Basic i buy from amazon and they have super fast shipping usually 2 days and i would only buy from amazon directly not another dealer through the site. 

And as always if you have any questions or post ideas send them to my email :)

Phillips.katie@live.com

7.1.13

HAPPY JULY!

Hello Everyone! 

So we are now officially in the summer and with only a few days before the 4th of July its pretty cool to see the progress over the past weeks. So above is a photo i took of myself the other day when i was bored on the train. I realized that this whole process has made me completely obsessed with taking selfies. Obnoxious i know.. but it is all for a purpose! Like i mentioned earlier my face shows my weight a ton so its cool to see how that among other things in and on my body are changing! So i know lately i've been in a little bit of a slump and i'm not really sure what to attribute that to but i'm feeling a little bit more optimistic now and excited to be able to look back on this from the end of the summer and just be happy.

So officially 172 now WHICH IS CRAZZAAYYY. That's only one pound off of being 25 pounds down and two pounds away from my goal of being 170 for the 4th of July. 

So with the summer months upon us i find that my hankering for ice cream has sadly not gotten any easier BUT i did find a pretty cool alternative! So i read from some paleo sites that they like to make "ice cream" from pulverizing frozen bananas and putting in add ins like walnuts, dairy free chocolate chips, peanut butter or shredded coconut! Yumm. I am yet to take a picture of when i make it because it eat it so darn fast but i will soon.

In the mean time check out this blog for yummy paleo recipes to keep your tummy and body happy and healthy!

Obnoxious selfie for you to enjoy until my next post :)

Balance

More and more i am realizing that there is a theme in my life. 

Balance. 

Its all about Balance. 

I find that this time of the year is when i struggle the most with finding a perfect middle in all aspects of my life. 

love

family

friends

work

education

health

happiness

I find the delicate scale tip to one extreme or another and i'm constantly trying to pick things up.

See that list? Rule of thumb pick two or three that will go great and the rest will go to shit.

Mark Twain once said 

"What is joy without sorrow? What is success without failure? What is a win without a loss? What is health without illness? You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other. There is always going to be suffering. It's how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, that will define you."

Or more simply put by the swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung: 

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Changing who you learned to be is very difficult. Every night i reflect on my days events and wake up trying to be a better person, to do better things and to try and help others along the way. Trying to become a more conscientious, aware and understanding person takes a lot of work when you are raised by someone so selfish and arrogant. I just hope that i can use my life that was given to me to give back to others and to not judge while i'm here on earth but to help others who need it. 

Recently i have had to deal with events that have happened in my past. Probing through your experiences from the worst times of your life doesn't really put you in the best mindset and just really makes you think about how you live your life. It makes me think a lot about the time i have left and if i'm using my time wisely. 

A few weeks ago a dear friend of mine committed suicide. He was an extremely gifted and talented musician who suffered from schizoaffective disorders as well as bipolar disorder. His death has weighed heavy on my mind and is a constant reminder of how delicate and precious life is. Although i hadn't talked to him in the months before his passing i did consider him a good friend. It just reminds me that there are people suffering and battling wars in their lives that you may not see or even hear about until its too late. This serves to me as a reminder to keep the people who have been supportive and kind to me close in my life. Life is too short to worry about the what ifs or what should have beens. 

It has been a rough couple of months with constant set backs and loads of stress but things can always be worse and i am very grateful to be able to have another day above the ground. 

Be thankful for who you have in your life. 
Hug those who are close to you.
Say whats on your mind.
Spread love and forgiveness.

Just working through everything day by day. Hoping things get better.

Hot sweaty hot yoga

So with the diagnosis of Leaky Gut also comes with restrictions on types of exercise. Because i have an overactive adrenal gland i need to focus on more low-key exercise like yoga, walking and hiking. So it turns out that there is a yoga studio that does hot yoga near my house, so i figured i would give it a try tonight!

So being so SUPAH SMAHHT i decided to google some tips on things to do before/after or bring with me to the class. The interwebs people recommended that i bring a small towel, lots of water and to not eat before class.

"Power Vinyasa Yoga is a dynamic combination of strength, sweat and spirituality. It detoxifies, heals and electrifies. This accessible, challenging and flowing form of yoga will lead you to a state of transformation. It will sculpt, tone and hone the muscles of your body and your mind."

Well let me tell you something. I have seriously never sweat that much in my life.95 Degrees in a room with twenty other people. Literally sweat dripping off of my everything. And of course trusting the internet led me to some inconveniences.. Well next time i will bring a full size beach towel to go over my yoga mat. It was like a slip and slide except instead of landing in a nice pool at the end my foot would end up in some girl's face. No bueno. 

Mhhhmmm sweatyy

My instructor was really cool and we started off our 90 minute class with some breathing and light stretching then moving into some power vinyasa. Somewhere in between there we did some funky handstand things and then my favorite part was when we ended (but seriously) because we had a nice few minutes of meditating and laying down relaxed. The ending makes you forget all about that hour and half of slipping all over the mat, sweating your ass off...literally, and my personal favorite my clothes being soaked in sweat falling off of myself. So naturally i signed up for an unlimited month... :X

In the end i felt amazing after i left class.


And on another note i am officially under 175 and have lost 21 pounds! Stoked!!

Help me! I've been glutened and can't get up!

"I've been glutened"

For anyone living with celiac, gluten sensitivities or allergies i am pretty sure you are about to sit back and agree with everything i am about to say...

I have always had a love/hate relationship with any season that involves large family gatherings and parties because of my mucho complicated and ongoing issues with food. So naturally as we approach the end of spring and the beginning of summer it seems that my calendar is booked with graduation parties, weddings and baby showers every weekend.

So since this is the first year that i actually have a clue of what to avoid i feel a bit more prepared. As always friendly reminder ringing in the back of my head is constantly doing its job of showing me what horrors would happen if i eat any of my no-no foods.

Here's the usual set up: 

usually is a mis-mash of delicious looking and smelling "who-who-know-whats"in large pans with mystery sauces. And my even more favorite part of this whole event is the completely ignorant event staff or that uncle who has been grazing the table for the past hour and is telling you what everything is. Because we all know both are DEFINITELY reliable sources of information for those of us with allergies... NOT.

So i personally am yet to master the beast i call my hungry stomach and stick to what i know are more times than not safe foods.

Safe foods:

-Salad (usually dry with dressings on side)* Jackpot if the bottles are there to read!*

- I am still yet to find another solid option to put here... sometimes if you are lucky they will have burgers and other meats for the grill made to order. But for all my GFFs* you're out of luck :(

(GFF=gluten free fiends)

Iffy Foods:

-Potatoes. 

          I find that these are usually cooked in either butter or some sort of oil (vegetable/olive) with seasoning.            usually no obvious signs of wheat or gluten. I say this is IFFY because we all know gluten likes to surprise us sometimes..

DO NOT EAT:

-Chicken ... anything. Hidden in that sauce is only lord knows what.

- Any food with any sort of sauce.. 

So basically my best advice is to try to load up on goodies before you go somewhere with uncertain food choices. 

King Arthur GF cookie mix with Enjoy life non-dairy choco chips! Made by yours truly.

OR if possible bring a dish to share that is friendly to your dietary restrictions. I tend to always bring GF "chocolate chip" cookies because i LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate. 

And then this brings me to my recent experience with these parties...

The past two graduation parties i got a little cocky and thought that since i asked what was in my mystery chicken dishes that that means that it was gospel knowledge at that point... Which as we have all learned the hard way is not true.

So i had to leave early those two times. Once because of some BBQ chicken deal (which in their defense was quite tasty until it settled) and some chicken in red sauce. 

And in case anyone wanted to know how i spent the rest of my afternoon...well i think you can get what happened there...

So lessons learned.

Don't get cocky

Stick to your safe foods (we all remember what happens if you don't..)

Bring appropriate back up food/snacks

Lastly in case you haven't seen this site yet: When i went gluten free Gifs

And yes we are all making those same faces as you are right now.

:)

live and die by the scale

So i've had a lot of people ask me about how often i weigh myself. If this were a normal circumstance of trying to lose weight and i was on (insert diet method here) and had no issues i would say any more than once a week is excessive.  In my particular case i use my weight as a health tool. I use it to track my body's response to foods, drinks or new exercises that i try to incorporate. I know that there are factors that determine your weight more than just body fat i.e.: when you last used the bathroom (1 & 2), what you recently ate, how much water you drank etc.

For me i personally go by the same rules for when i weigh myself. Right after i wake up in the morning i us the restroom and make sure that i am wearing light clothing (obviously if you are wearing a sweatshirt or other heavy clothing it will how on the scale) and then i step on the scale. I do this before eating or having any medications to try to get the most accurate reading.

Personally for a person having leaky gut i found this to be a helpful tool for incorporating new foods into my diet. I know that tomatoes and salsa aren't on my okay to eat foods list after having salsa one day. I found that i was bloated after i ate and the next day my weight went up half a pound. Although this is not the most scientific way of proving that i just know this method works for me.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at phillips.katie@live.com

:)

Progress Photos!

So its now June and after hitting my 15 pound weight loss mark i thought it would be a good time to make some photos showing my progress.

So this top one was cool for me to see because i can remember how i felt before and after that picture at the beach was taken. I was close to being at my heaviest weight and i was feeling pretty confident in myself until i saw the photo after it was taken. I just remember feeling shamed about how i looked and hoped that no photos would end up online. Now the difference in attitude between then and now is incredible. Although i am still not where i would ideally like to be, i do think that the change is pretty cool to see. So below are a few more pictures with the weight and dates from the past couple months to see the changes.

And yes i did YOYO in my weight between these two pictures. I went to a graduation party and i got GLUTENED! And yes i gained like three pounds the day after i ate (even after double checking with catering that it was GF and wheat free) its sort of neat to see what physical things happen after. 

And Lastly the below photos are my most current. 

 To be honest i was hoping to be a lot skinnier and back to my "normal" weight by now before summer hit. But i know its unrealistic. I have Leaky Gut and the weightloss is just showing me that i'm getting healthier. Its not like other people loosing weight and i know i shouldn't compare myself to anyone else but its hard sometimes. I just hope that i can say by this time next year that i am happy, healthy and that i accept my body however it looks as long as i'm no longer sick!