So, I'm Trying a Thing...

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions--I really do believe that any time is a good time to make a positive change for yourself.  However, the start of the new year is conveniently placed after all of that holiday gorging and otherwise disruptions to the typical routine, so I have marked the beginning of the year as a start of some change for myself.  While the timing is the same, I don't have a year as my deadline or as my goal.  

That aside, I've made a change in my lifestyle.  You can probably tell by my recent drop in blog posts that it has taken some of my attention.  

Enough with the vagaries:  I'm on a ketogenic diet.  Basically, this is counter-intuitive to most healthy diet advice I've heard out there.  I mean, I'm encouraged to have extra butter.  One of the recipes in the starter plan I have had jalapeno poppers for supper one night, as in stuffed with cream cheese and mozzarella then wrapped in bacon.

Andy has not minded some of these new recipes, particularly those involving bacon.

The jist of it is high fat and low carb, like the Atkins diet only more extreme.  On average, people tend to eat between 150-200g of carbohydrates a day.  I'm aiming for around 20g.  Considering that I had been eating a Clif Bar for breakfast a few days a week that had about 44g all told, it has been a bit of a shift.  This has meant a great purging of the pantry because, truly, carbs were not only my comfort food, but they were also my safe foods for those days when I was not feeling well.  Effectively, I was taking away my own security blanket.  

Out are the pastas, breads, and potatoes; in are coconut oil, bacon, and butter.  Out with the apples and bananas; in with the avocados and cashews.  Out with the sugary treats as rewards; in with...okay, when I cheat that's still what it tends to be, but less of it, so far.  I think I miss potatoes the most.  

Otherwise, it's going well so far, actually.  With less carbohydrates in my system, my body is forced to generate energy through ketosis rather than glycolysis, breaking down fats instead of complex and simple sugars.  Originally, it was created to potentially help with epilepsy.  Along the way, I've read that it's supposed to help with inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases (of which Crohn's falls into both), but all that I've been able to find to support that claim has been anecdotal evidence.  However, there has been a good bit more research in terms of this diet as a weight loss kind of diet with better studies.  Some people get some flu-like symptoms in this change.  I had some nausea, but that's a symptom I've had a lot of experience working with at this point in my life.  But so far, I've actually lost about 5 lbs, but more importantly my energy levels have been more consistent--less fluctuating and crashing--and some of the rather annoying fistula activity I've put up with seems to have calmed down a bit.  

I've still got quite a few things to figure out.  I can eat out in places that predominantly serve meat, but I still need to make adjustments and do a good bit of research yet before I try anything but American fare.  This has meant a lot of new recipes to work through, too, meaning that my evenings have been taken up by either preparing for that night or for the next day.  For the most part, I don't really feel like I'm missing out on much.  I've allowed myself one cheat a week, where I can go over my carb limit intentionally (but not too much) or accidentally, if I need to use that cushion.  Planning that cheat in also seems to help with any guilt I have in not meeting my goals successfully because I'm already planning on bending the rules.  

And now the exercise that I've been trying to fit into my schedule feels at least a little more productive, too.  I can see small pieces of improvement, be it with the work I've started three months ago that I'm only seeing now, or if it is happening more recently.  In any case, I'm encouraged.  I'm going to see my main doctor in another couple weeks and will weigh his opinion into the matter, most certainly.  At the moment, though, I'm inclined to continue this path, give it a while longer yet certainly before I officially decide one direction or another.  But I am encouraged, and that is exciting.

Mandatory New Year Reflection

Well, here we are starting out a new year.    

Frankly, I'm still reeling from seeing a good chunk of my family, the travel, and all of the other events and aspects of the season that demand a part of my time.  I've taken to saying that Andy and I are very blessed that there are quite a few people that want to spend time with us.  Sure, I enjoy it, but it is unequivocally exhausting.  As ever, lots of things have happened and lots of things have changed, and yet the world keeps turning.  

My brother and I have a superstition, one that was bought to our attention by my cousin Andrew.  I don't much buy into superstition, but there are a few that I cannot shake.  For example, when someone dies, I'm wondering where the next two are--funerals seem to come in threes.  Noticed that especially when I lived at home, since Dad was officiating at least some of them.  This one, though, might be a little less common:  the way that you spend your New Year's Eve, how it goes, how much you enjoy it, etc. reflects to the rest of your year.  

Last year, for example (New Year's Eve turning into 2015), I spent it with my family in the Wisconsin Dells.  I was frustrated with some of the stuff my body was doing and otherwise tired out, but it was overall a good time.  Of course, when I look at things, I will find a way to apply them, but I went through a serious part of this year pretty certain that I was going to sign on for a proctectomy, meaning that I would be pooping in a bag for the rest of my life.  A lot of that was sheer frustration, in how slow my body seemed to be responding to anything.  And I was feeling low, in well-being and in body.  It was also something that I could do, a step that I could take, and that was much more tempting than waiting.

But a few pieces of good news had me wait.  And I'm very glad to report that things are moving in the right directions.  A year and a couple months worth on some new medications and things are at a state that I will officially call "better."  My energy lasts longer, the bad days aren't quite as terrible, and the general average of blah is less than it has been in quite some time.  Not that I will be climbing Mt. Everest any time soon, mind you, but I am able to fill a few more things into my schedule or at least move about my full schedule in a better state of comfort and more present in the moment for worrying just a little less.  

So there were worries, but overall good.

How did I spend this year's New Year's Eve?  Andy and I were relieved to have a night in to ourselves.  We could relax, pop in a movie, and I opted to go to bed after the Eastern Countdown because Andy was still going to be my first kiss of the New Year, even if it wasn't going to be technically midnight in our time zone.  Well, that, and I was tired and Andy wanted to play World of Tanks.  So we had the time to be together and we also could make our independent decisions.  I was feeling more optimistic about my health than I had in a long time, too.

What does this mean for the new year?  I think that we will continue to see progress in the health spectrum, if only because I'm an optimist.  I think Andy and I will be exhausted for wanting to spend so much time with other people that we forget to rest.  Other than that, I'm content to let things happen as they will.