Sugar Struggles and The Supplement Saga

I have a quote on my Facebook page, "Wisdom is doing now what you are going to be happy with later on." Genius. I didn't come up with it, Joyce Meyer did. Well, lately, I haven't used much wisdom. This is apparent because I have been unhappy with the results of my recent poor decisions.

See, one bad choice leads to others if you: a) have little self control, b) don't care what the future holds, or c) are surrounded by Hershey Kisses at work. What?! I swear! They kept jumping out at me, unwraping their little selves (they can be less than modest, you know), and pleading with me to fulfill their destiny in my digestive system. I wish I never found out they were gluten-free. I wish I was as strong against milk chocolate as I am against gluten.

Speaking about gluten, I got a T-shirt for Christmas. It rocks. I got a medium- not tight, and nice long sleeves. (I hate "long" sleeves that ride up on me.) "Bacon is rad. gluten is bad" A cooler shirt does not exist.

Want one? I don't blame you. http://www.balancedbites.com/ 

Since my last post I have made it through the holidays. Not unscathed, though. My gluten-free diet has stayed stable, but my sugar intake is at an all-time high (since August 2010).

<Oh! And I must tell you! I have been purchasing Harris Teeter Rotisserie Chickens on a fairly regular basis for an easy dinner. Well, I made a few phone calls...all to find out that the "Modified Food Starch" they use in their basting is wheat based!! WHY HT, WHY?!? Now there are even less reasons for me to shop there. Boo. Boston Market has just scored another customer.>

I am not sure why I have fallen from my high horse and into candyland, but happen it did.

Score: Wendy-0, Hershey Kisses at work- 20.

Score: Wendy-0, M&Ms at work- 4 (Handfulls, that is. Big ones.) 

Then, I come home, and I am scouring the pantry for something sweet, because I have re-entered my old obsession-land. Alas, 85% dark chocolate does NOT have the same effect, but I keep taking more bites to see if I just needed another taste. Nope. So, I move on to the gingersnaps I love so much.

I make little cookie sandwiches out of them (that's Kerrygold salted butter inside). I could eat these all day long. Somebody STOP me!!!

Maybe tonight I will finally watch "Sugar: The Bitter Truth." It's on YouTube and I've been meaning to watch it for a long time. Maybe that will help me improve my mindset. Everytime I justify screwing up my body's attempts to heal, I am really only hurting myself. But that's just it. Am I? Sure I have my own consequences to deal with, like some extra flab around my belly that just "appeared" after I started eating the holiday chocolate and almond covered buttery toffee from TJ's (it was gluten free, you know...)...but what about my outbursts of frustration where I feel out of control? My poor sleep patterns are not being helped with adding more sugar back into my routine. When I wake up tired it certainly isn't helping my homeschooling abilities. When I want to fall asleep during the day because I just could not fall asleep the night before at a decent hour doesn't help me make lunch with a happy heart. I am hurting myself, yes...but I also am hurting my loved ones. *sigh* I am a sugar addict. And it must stop.

What's even worse, is since the 1st Monday in January, I have been pretty adherent to Robb Wolf's 30 day menu plan in his book, The Paleo Solution. It's the snacks I've been eating in addition to his menu that's ruining this whole experience. PLUS, my fellow carb loving BFF is doing it with me. It took what seemed like forever for her to agree to try this whole gluten/dairy/sugar free thing out, and now she is more adherent than I have been! It is shameful...for me, that is. For her- Rock on, sister!

Let's move on to another subsection of my life: Supplements. I am overwhelmed with supplements. Here's why:

This is crazy, right?!
The things to the left and on top of the big white bottle are old news. The GTA for thyroid assistance, Adaptocrine and AdrenaCalm for my adrenals, Glutathione Recycler as an aid to the antioxidant glutathione in the OxiCell Cream, and the big bottle of Nitric Balance...Um, I don't remember why I'm on that. There you go- Proof that I'm on too many things. The big bottle in the center is the 2nd phase of the parasite killing action. They are 6 horrible garlic-y tasting capsules that I take in the morning. (They are pictured in the little small packet to your left.) If the natural world could learn something from Big Pharma, it's how to coat nasty tasting caps with some sort of taste bud buffer.
There are also some new ones here that were started 2 appointments ago. They are stacked on the right.
On top of the stack: B-12 drops. 5 drops twice a day. Tastes like cinnamon. (I take this AFTER the garlic-y caps to remove the taste as fast as possible....smart, right?) He has me taking these for one of my blood tests (MCV) which showed I have some macrocytic anemia going on. It wasn't addressed during the initial set of labs, so I was surprised to learn this now. I will now go add my past and present MCV results to my lab chart. Done. What's funny, is a nurse at work saw my labs, and told me about this type of anemia and I blew it off. She was right. Kudos, if you read this. You know who you are.

Under that bottle is my ProGlyco SP. This is for my blood sugar. "ProGlyco-SP provides a broad spectrum of glandulars and minerals to improve the nutritive and biological conditions for a better control of blood sugar. Powerful antioxidants have been included in this formula to help minimize the biological damages produced by oxidized blood glucose." ... He still thought my blood glucoses were too low. Well! He doesn't have to worry about that anymore, does he?!? My next Hgb A1c will be higher, I'm sure. He even wanted me to keep a food log, and told me we may have to think about adding in more sugars than I was eating. Ha! Not so much a problem now, eh? The trouble is, is what I'm currently doing is NOT helping my situation AT ALL. Eating simple sugars most assuredly will not help keep my blood sugar within optimal ranges. That just spikes me and drops me. Flat. I really don't think I would need support from this supplement if I was doing my part in choosing the right foods. According to the description, it almost seems like this is one of those "bandaid" supplements. However, I could be wrong. Got nothing but an assumption here.

Next: Vitamin D drops, 2000 IU per drop. (No longer on the yellow fish juice!) I take 1or 2 drops, twice a day. Looks like elmers glue. Better than the ol' fish juice, but still not as benign as the Carlson's drops the rest of the family get.

Last: HCL Prozyme. This helps in digestion, and in my case, absorption of protein. I had told him that ever since I had kids (10 years ago) my legs swell after a weekend of working as a nurse. I always thought it was my salt intake...even though I am not a salt-aholic. They were recently getting worse... wearing socks made a real uncomfortable ring either below my knee or at my ankle. I didn't put my low albumin and total protein together with this until the addition of this product. (See, back then, in my mind, my protein was within average "normal" limits. But now we know for me, it was actually low). I think I noticed an improvement in the swelling this past weekend, but not drastic. We shall see.

So. To put it into perspective, This is my day:

Morning

Noon

Night

I always get the morning and night doses, it's the middle ones that elude me at times. With taking all of this, I tend to forget my Omega 3 fish oils from Stronger Faster Healthier. How many things can a person take in a day? If I could tell someone to take 2 things, it would be Omega 3 fish oil from SFH, and Carlson's Vitamin D drops, 2000 or 4000 units per day. I hope to get to that point myself, but I may likely need some of these thyroid supplements even when this is all over. But there is no way in the world I will continue ALL of this! (Even though I know I shouldn't say "never"...)

I continue to take what he tells me to, because we are following my biomarkers (blood work and such). But I feel like an old granny sometimes with all these pills. And there are other negative feelings I have toward over-supplementing, too...but that should be another post.

Last Wednesday (January 5th) I did a repeat saliva test to monitor my adrenals/cortisol levels. I was given the test kit 2 weeks prior, but I kept putting it off because of the rules that go with it (i.e. no coffee or cruciferous veggies, etc...), and because I don't really feel like any progress has been made there. I still have a crazy wake/sleep cycle, and still feel stressed out to the max...but it comes and goes, much like my more rare peaceful states. Comes and goes, comes and goes...  

Sidebar- I have a little CrossFit log book called a "WOD Book." I log all my workouts in it. In each days slot, I am supposed to circle the amount of stress I feel. I am almost always above a 7. -end sidebar.

That same day, I went to LabCorp for another blood test. They took 7 or 8 (GIANT) tubes of blood from me for the test to see if I was TH-1 or TH-2 dominant. I am SO happy I may not need to "test" those sample capsules to see if I react negatively again. I hated the feeling that I was purposefully doing my body wrong, and trying to stir up a reaction. (I know, I know! This coming from the same person who eats Hershey's Kisses and M&Ms!) For shame!

Hope you all are starting out the new year better than me!

Cheers!



Nom nom nom
Wendy- Back away from the gingersnap.