"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