I’ve got a different perspective on my current health and I’m trying something different. I’ll be posting AAAALLLLL the foods I’m eating for the next 6 weeks on my Facebook page for 2 reasons: 1) I want a record of what I’m doing, 2) I want to keep myself accountable and motivated. I am thinking about doing a weekly collective thingy to post here as well.

A little backstory: I will be 55 in 2 months and I will finally enter the Golden Age category (55+ years) at powwows. I wanted to hit my new age category running, so to speak. I want to be in good shape and I want to be shawl dancing. I’ve been walking, started running some intervals (restarted my CouchTo5K program), and hit the weights a few times. I even got a $10 monthly membership to Planet Fitness so I’ll always have a place to walk or lift. I walked/ran my first 5K on Thanksgiving Day, got all motivated to get back into 5K races, and then tested positive for Covid for the 2nd time (1st go-round was January 2022) two days after that run. The second round with Covid was much harder than the 1st. I took Paxlovid to lower my chances of long-Covid and I hope that works. I gained 10lbs in the weeks following my Covid bout with not much of a change in my eating habits. The weight gain went all to my belly and my neck. I feel anxious when I wake up. My blood glucose is still elevated. My energy crashes mid afternoon. And when my energy crashes all I want to do is eat. My muscles and joints are sore most of the time and I have headaches and have to take Advil every night just to be able to sleep. And the daily life of being a middle-school therapist and a mom to 3 adolescent girls (we added one this summer, retained guardianship of my youngest’s best friend), is mentally and emotionally stressful. I didn’t think adding one more kid would make that big of a difference in how busy we are. But we learned quickly that it makes a significant difference. I joined Noom to get some structure back into my everyday life and started a wellness journal. However, nothing really helped. The scale moved 3 lbs in a month with some diligent effort on my part.

I’m so thankful for the knowledge and insight I received over the weekend from my sister’s personal trainer Lisa Allen. I’m also glad I had the courage to be transparent with her and tell her everything that has been going on with my health since my Covid bout, the weight gain, and how I feel from day to day. With her experience and education, she believes that my cortisol levels are high from being sick, from stress (it’s been a very rough time the last 2 years). And that those two factors are contributing to my body holding onto inflammation. She thinks my weight gain looks more like inflammation than body fat, especially where I’m holding on to the weight. She explained how cortisol works, what contributes to high levels and inflammation, and she recommended a very doable plan to help myself feel better, to bring down the inflammation that my body is holding onto. She really believes that I’ll notice a difference in how I feel within 6 weeks.

I started Sunday with this regimen but didn’t think to start documenting until today. I’m committing to 6 weeks of changes in my day-to-day living in hopes that I’ll feel better and my systems will start to heal. The changes involve refraining from doing things that my body will read as “stress”. That means I’m not doing keto, and no intermittent fasting. My body can produce more cortisol if I’m in ketosis or fasting because it signals stress in response to hunger. No intense workouts (just walking, light weight training), and jealousy guarding my sleep schedule. No all-night or even late-night binge sewing or beading for the next 6 weeks. I will be drinking all the water, and taking magnesium glycinate, Vitamin D, Omega-3 and Vitamin B complex supplements. My goal is to work up to eating 130g of protein each day from real food. Eating at regular intervals, all of this so my body doesn’t feel stress from workouts, hunger, or sleep deprivation. And saving my carbs for later in the day (I heard that referred to as “back-loading my carbs”). I’m going to watch my intake of processed carbs and bread, and keep my sugar intake low. I’m thinking this 6 weeks would be a good time to try regular/consistent yoga.

And this….yes, I’m actually saying this….I’m cutting down on my beloved COFFEE!!!!!

For years I’ve woken up and dove into my bucket of coffee. On an empty stomach, and then didn’t eat until anywhere between 10am-Noon. I didn’t realize that coffee first thing in the morning on an empty stomach was driving up my cortisol levels, which are already naturally high first thing in the morning. I did the coffee on an empty stomach and waited to eat because I thought that extended my overnight fast was good for my blood glucose. However, that habit is actually working against my health goals. I have a continuous glucose monitor and I noticed that my blood sugar is all over the place while I’m sleeping. That’s the cortisol and inflammation.

So, here we go with the first of the food pictures.

My breakfast today: 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 1 cup of spinach, 1/2 cup mushrooms, and about 1.5-2 oz of leftover baked salmon, with a cup of green tea. I’m cutting down my coffee gradually to avoid caffeine withdrawals, so I had 1 cup of coffee after I ate. It’s a big change from the 2 huge mugs of coffee I would have every morning, plus another from my office Keurig once I got to work. I actually felt good yesterday and today with just green tea and a little coffee. Maybe I just need a hot drink in the morning and it doesn’t necessarily have to be caffeinated. Until then, I will be saving my coffee to drink after my breakfast.

This was really filling, so I ate half and I was full, packed up the rest for a mid-morning snack. My lunch is a 5 ounce piece of leftover baked salmon, and some leftover roasted asparagus. My afternoon snack is blueberries, walnuts and yogurt. My plan for dinner is Rao marinara sauce with grass-fed beef, with chickpea pasta, and a salad with my homemade vinaigrette.

I’m looking forward to this, and really looking forward to feeling better.