Tuesday, December 11, 2007

"See ya!" to hachiyas

I have had it up to here -- quite literally -- with hachiya persimmons. They have taken over my entire living room, and, quite frankly, they're irritating. Can you believe I'm still waiting for some of those to ripen that I blogged about almost a month ago??? Now, I'm sorry, but that's wearing out your welcome!

Hachiyas, when I met my first group of persimmons a few years ago, were my definite favorites. I must have had a string of good luck with them though, because this year is another story entirely. I went to Berkeley Bowl the other day to get a bunch of bananas (my staple of late), and saw that they had boxes of five ripe hachiyas on sale for $.49. I bought four boxes, and came home thinking I got a killer deal. Opened an entire box up the other night and they all -- every single one -- was overripe and disgusting, although they looked and felt perfect on the outside. I basically threw out all but about three persimmons out of 20. I give up on that fruit!

How I'm feeling after a week of really solid 80/10/10
Energy: The first six days I was sooooo tired in the evenings, going to bed no later than 8:30, or 8:45, with the kids. Meanwhile, my energy during the day kept getting better and better, and more and more constant. During my 811rv hiatus, I was needing naps in the afternoon, and it's not natural for me to nap (even as a very young child, I boycotted naps). But this week, I don't think I had even one nap.

The other thing that absolutely delights me is that I have WAY more energy for my kids. I took them to a park the other day and we actually raced across a baseball field, back and forth, and back and forth, and rolled in the grass; then I chased them up and down this play structure until my 4-year-old got tired and bumped his head on something (Game Over). We were all breathing really hard, and I could have played more. Back in my supposedly-hormonally-normalized-but-not-feeling-normal days it was hard enough just to get to the park, let alone chase them around, so this is a milestone for me, and I didn't feel this good last week.

Last night I actually felt like staying up past the kids' bedtime, for the first time in a week. I put them to bed, ran myself a nice hot bath, sank into it ... aaaaah! ... then, seven minutes later "Waaaaa, waaaaaa, waaaaaaaa!" coming from upstairs. I think my two-year-old had a nightmare or something. So much for that bath! So I ended up going to bed fairly early anyway (9:30), but later than I had all week.

Appetite and Cravings:
Over this last week I have had a very few bouts of cravings, but they have been very short-lived, and I've made sure to eat something large as soon as they have hit. To say this lack of cravings is highly unusual for me is a major understatement. I have really, really tried to eat as much as possible, heeding Doug Graham's advice, and have diligently tried to stretch my stomach a bit, and I think it has really helped. I think I've managed to get an extra 200-300 calories a day over what I was getting a few weeks back through this attention to detail. It may not sound like much, but that's about 10-15% more than what I was eating, and it's made all the difference. It also helps that I'm alone this week (Gary not here cooking all kinds of yummy smelling things) so I have remained very focused on my own path.

Detox Symptoms:
  • Besides the tiredness, I had a few headaches in the late afternoons. The first one, on day three, was the killer one that required Big Pharma's help (due to childcare considerations). Besides that one I think I've had two minor ones that were barely something I noticed.
  • My skin, although maybe not overly noticeable to anyone but me, is definitely a bit redder, rougher, and changing every day.
  • My tongue has a bit of white coating on it, and my mouth tastes slightly bad sometimes between meals.
Digestion: well, it had totally sorted itself out, and I was completely regular, and now I might be becoming a bit too regular (5x per day!), which is fine with me since it may indicate hyperthyroidism, which necessitates a drop in dosage. I'm not overly comfortable talking about this aspect, but I think it's important to report for all those with thyroid issues. I know I certainly have been unable to find much information about the long process of getting of thyroid medication, for the main reason that very few people go succeed at it, especially when it comes to longstanding Hashimoto's thyroiditis. All I can do is cross my fingers at this point, and hope that someday I will be totally off the meds.

Sensation of Temperature: This is a weird thing. Even when I was supposedly more on the hyperthyroid side a few weeks ago, my feet and hands were freezing (ok, we were in stormy, rainy Portland for a few days) all the time. And they are still pretty cold, although not freezing. So this is one thing I can't really make any sense of. Hypothyroidism makes your extremities cold. Why are mine still cold when I'm not hypo anymore? No clue. Just something I've noticed.

Indications that I'm going in the right direction

  • Energy, when I do have it, is WAY up (like 50% increase).
  • Energy levels stabilizing, rather than the roller coaster AWAKE ... tired ... AWAKE ... tired thing.
  • Waking up earlier and earlier (5:30 today with no alarm: That definitely ain't normal for me).
  • Wanting to exercise (but not really getting a huge chance, with the kids. I have done a few strength training exercises each day, but very little cardio this week).
  • Feeling very satiated most of the time.
  • Marked decrease in cravings.
Weight: 113.8 (-5.2)
Body fat: 23.6% (+.1)
Hydration level: (-.3)

Note: Those numbers seem very strange to me, but judging by how good I feel I can only conclude that my body knows what it's doing, in the order it wants to do it. :-)

Food:
  • 4 cups orange juice (10 oranges)
  • 8 red bananas
  • 6 red bananas
  • 2 mangoes, 2 stupid hachiya persimmons
  • 6 blended clementines, which I drank and also used for salad dressing on my salad of 1 romaine heart, 2/3 roma tomato, 2/3 red bell pepper
Calories: 2281
Calonutrient ratio: 91/5/4

7 comments:

Swayze said...

I'm so glad you are doing well! As simple as it is, eating more fruit really is the answer to cravings. I don't why it is so hard for me to just eat another apple, banana, whatever, but it is. I am doing better and have increased the amount I eat in a day by about 400 calories since first starting early November. Good luck!

Carol H. said...

Congratulations on doing so well! I for one am really glad that you talk about the thyroid issues because I'm really interested in that. I don't think I'd be brave enough to go off my medications like you did.

Stacy said...

Thanks, Swayze and Carol.

I need to clarify though Carol: I'm not off thyroid meds, not by a longshot. I'm still on 100 mcg of levothyroxine every day. What I meant to say is that there's no information about what it feels like to need to lower your dosage, because people very rarely have their dosage lowered. That's why I didn't even recognize it for what it was a few weeks ago when I was having palpitations at bedtime. My dosage was too high (although I still felt crappy due to my adrenal issues). Does this make sense now? I'll try to clear it up on the blog; sorry 'bout my poor writing! :-)

greenmama! said...

Hi Stacy,

The cold hands thing is soooo totally normal when you are first starting out on this way of eating. Many people report it.

Normal human body temperature is much lower than most people who eat SAD experience. Basically, they are walking around with a fever.

When you change your diet, your body is not used to the sudden shift in temp. A raw "expert" once suggested to me that it can take up to a year for your body to work out the temp. regulation thing.

Also, the weight drop/ slight body fat % increase is totally normal, too. Remember, most of that 5 lbs. was water weight, mainly b/c you stopped consuming salt. So, if your weight goes down, but your body fat remains constant, then the percentage of your weight that is body fat rises slightly. Get it?

You're doing great. I enjoy coming here and reading!

Thanks,

Marjorie

Stacy said...

Thanks for the explanation. Yes, I know the weight loss is obviously water, but what I don't understand is why you lose so much water weight when you're rehydrating yourself. Doesn't make total sense to me, even if it is true. But obviously I couldn't lose 5 pounds in a week of fat! I definitely appreciate what you said about the body temperature issues, because I didn't know that people experience cold in their extremities, but rather just that raw fooders often tend to feel colder. I always assumed this was due to just thyroid issues, as I never noticed it when I was (higher fat) raw without a thyroid problem.

Cheers!

~eve~ said...

Hi Stacy,

I am really enjoying reading your blog over the last couple of days.

Especially the journal of how you feel is extremely interesting for people like me who are still transitioning into 80/10/10.

You are doing so well!! Congratulations.

Love Eve

Sarah said...

WOW look at you go! I am so encouraged to hear this. :) Thank you for sharing your journey with us!