Today marks week one of my battle against the cortisol monster. So far, I am not AS constantly hungry, I have successfully avoided sweets (other than chocolate, mainly dark, which has a low glycemic index and a calming effect on me), caffeine (other than the aforementioned chocolate) and junk food. So yay for me. And the longer I go without the crap, the easier it will be. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've never been a junk food kind of gal.
Sure, I like ice cream, cake, cookies or chips every now and then as well as a good burger and fries or pizza. But I usually stick to indulging things like that once every month or every couple of months because I prefer how healthier food tastes and makes me feel. And I had cut out sodas (and all caffeine) completely. Then I was drinking them once a week, then every day. And I couldn't get enough salty and sweet foods. The cravings were insatiable and no healthy substitute was working. I was consuming processed foods like a maniac, and I'm completely anti-processed foods. As a kid my mom would give me a choice between candy and fruit and fruit always won. Sure, I at snack cakes and candy now and then and my mom bought me the occasional Happy Meal. But overall my diet has always been pretty healthy.
Luckily I now realize that I was not on the road to becoming a typical fat American who lives on garbage (I mean... that stuff should literally just go straight to the trash can and never enter people's bodies). I have noticed a clear difference in my cravings, probably because there's this switch in my head that I'm pretty good at controlling. Instead of on/off it says healthy/unhealthy. Now that I've switched it to healthy, I've been craving fruits, vegetables, fish and grains. I've done research on the foods I know will help me (low-glycemic foods mainly) and have read and re-read the literature my doctor gave me. So now my brain knows the foods my body needs right now. For the most part it’s all food I know is healthy anyway. But there are certain foods, like oranges and bananas (too much potassium which will make my already overworked adrenal gland work harder) that I love but need to avoid.
As far as the way I feel, today is better than the past few days but still not excellent. I have been extremely weak and dizzy (though much stronger today) but a lot of that is due to my period (which is a natural process and therefore I chose to include it in this blog about my health). I’ve decided I’m going to go for a short walk outside, with a friend in case I have any problems, because exercise is important. And I have been feeling so lousy that even a little walk or a short yoga session can wear me out, so I try to take advantage of any day that I feel decent. Hopefully tomorrow will be even better and next week I will see a huge difference in my health. For now, I’m just happy to be back on track with healthy eating.
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