Dynatherms Connected

Today marks two weeks since I've started thyroid medication, which means it's time to up the dose. I'd like to see where this takes me because so far, I haven't felt much different... except in one key area.

I do feel a little more rational around food. Before taking the meds, if thoughts of a chocolate chip cookie entered my head, that would quickly turn into MUST. EAT. ALL. COOKIES.

But in the last two weeks, I find myself thinking "Do I really want a cookie?" Sometimes the answer is "Damn straight I want a cookie!" But sometimes it's "No, I really could use some water though." Or "Maybe I need to just snuggle with the dog."

Nothing else has really changed for me, though. Still kind of low energy. Still low body temps, which means crappy metabolism. Is it just the psychological effect of starting something new that has me thinking more clearly about food right now? Too soon to tell. Maybe some of these other things will improve after I up the dose.

In the meantime, I've decided to stop taking all of the other supplements I was taking because I'm not experiencing all of the amazing benefits they typically promise*.

• Apple Cider Vinegar - keeps blood sugar spikes at bay.
• Gymnema - controls sugar cravings.
• Fermented cod liver oil - reduce inflammation, pain, etc, improve skin, the list goes on...

Here's the thing - I've done my homework and I still believe that these things work. But only for those who otherwise eat normally. Trying to get myself ready to run a sub 2 half marathon by relying on supplements is like trying to form Voltron with just the green lion.

The green lion is great and all, but I need 4 more lions before I can do anything awesome.

So I'd like to see where I'm at after my next blood test (probably will be mid to late July) and how I continue to feel around food before I start introducing other things to help out again.

*Amazon Affiliate Link. This means that if you click any of the links to Amazon through my site and buy something, I may earn a commission. Much obliged.

The Non-Running Trifecta

I have had some trouble sleeping over the last few nights. Despite being wide awake until the wee hours of the evening, I'd still wake up ready to run at 5:30 am... no alarm clock needed. However, I had to commute to work over the last two days, and there just wasn't enough time for a morning run.


I didn't have to commute today, so I planned to run. But the early sunrise and birds chirping didn't wake me up like they've done the last two days. Nope, I was jolted out of blissful sleep by my alarm clock. I was exhausted.


It was also only 50 degrees here this morning, not nearly as pleasant as it was on Monday. A large storm yesterday brought in a cold front, and I left all of my warmer running gear behind in Florida.


Irony.


And - to complete the non-running trifecta - I just wasn't feeling very good. Once again, my eating while here in NJ has been abysmal.


I tried my best to plan for this trip north. My father and I have very different ideas about food, but I don't try to force my preferred way of eating upon him. And that usually means I eat pretty terribly while I'm here.


This time, as soon as I stepped off the plane, I called my dad and explained I needed to run to the grocery store to pick up some things for myself and that I'd be happy to cook him meals he enjoys this week - but we'd be using my own special ingredients. Chili. Stew. Tacos. I told him I didn't want to eat anything with gluten, soy, and sugar, because these things just don't make me feel my best.


And that's worked out really well for the most part, except there are still things here in his kitchen that I can not resist. Like cookies.

I haven't been taking the gymnema as religiously as I should be. This visit to my father's house would have been a perfect scenario to see if it actually works or not to truly eliminate sugar cravings. I'll get back on it tomorrow.


Really, the best thing for me is to get back home where I have a little more control over what food is allowed in my house. Complete abstinence is going to be the only thing that gets me off of this sugar problem. I've read a million and one articles like this one that reinforce this is the right path for me, but none of these articles ever give solid advice as to how to say "no."


I'd really like to be completely free of sugar by the time my next visit to NJ rolls around.

Supplements

My eating has been pretty terrible since I finished the Star Wars Half marathon and went on the Disney Cruise. I meant to get right back into healthy habits right after the cruise, but then my stepmom died and I was away from home for a while and I forgot to care about being healthy.

I go on these wild pendulum swings - able to commit to hardcore healthy eating like doing the Whole 30, only to go in the complete opposite direction for another month (or longer...). I keep thinking I have binge eating beat, but I don't think I'm truly ever going to kill this monster.

I can only hope to prevent him from making recurring daily appearances.

Anyway, I've been back home for a few weeks, but still can't seem to get on track. Especially when my husband makes Inception Cookies:

That's an oreo baked into a chocolate chip cookie-cupcake. If you've seen the movie Inception, you get the reference.

I was once told a few years ago about the Diet Cure. The theory goes that all of the diets I've been on and the stress I've endured has caused my brain to be deficient in certain chemicals it needs to feel good, so the urge to eat something that makes me feel good overpowers my will to not eat stuff that's bad for me. The solution is to supplement with those missing compounds - amino acids - so that I feel better and don't succumb to cravings. I read the book and stocked up on everything I thought I needed - glutamine, 5-htp, GABA, and DLPA.

I tried it for 4 or 5 months to no avail. Maybe it's because I was still overtraining and underfeeding myself, but who knows for sure?

I'm a skeptic when it comes to most supplements. So I was hesitant when someone emailed me that I should consider using this:

Gymnema is an herbal supplement that - so they say - supports elimination of sugar cravings. This particular brand gets mixed reviews on Amazon, but it's what my local health foods store carried, so I figured I'd give it a try. Everything I read about it online says there's really no risk in giving it a shot. I started taking it earlier this week and so far feel pretty good, but the true test will come next week when I'm travelling back to New Jersey for work again. That's another week away from home, and it's so much harder to stay on track when I've got family and friends to see who want to socialize over food.

I'll report back next week to let you know if it's still having an impact, as well as share some of the other supplements I'm currently taking.

Today's exercise: No CrossFit... my shoulder was too angry at me. But I did get a 3ish mile treadmill run in with only a little bit of grumbling from my foot.

Progress

I knew today was going to be good when I woke up for the first time in three days without a migraine.

I'm loath to pop pills unless I'm close to dying. I managed to sleep off yesterday's headache before needing to get up for work.

But on Tuesday, I woke up at 3am in agony. I knew I wanted to run before work on Tuesday, and migraines of that particular magnitude don't usually go away on their own for me. So I took an Aleve and tried to go back to sleep... but it didn't work. I was in a bad way until late in the morning and was most disappointed about possibly missing a planned run. Fortunately, I was feeling better by the afternoon to work in my missed run.

So yeah... no headache today! I read up on headache triggers, but the only one that really applies in this list is staring at computer screens too much. Or possibly stress. But given these two things are daily occurrences - and migraines aren't - I don't think either are the culprit.

For now, I'm just happy to be back to normal today.

Since I was feeling better, I figured it was time to start introducing what I'm going to be using for race day fuel, just to make sure I have no negative reactions to it:*

UCAN powder: a good dose of carbs without the insulin spikes. I dumped a scoop into my blender bottle, shook it up, and tossed it back.

It was like drinking chalk.

Ah well. I have an excellent track record of eating/drinking lots of gross things, all for the sake of getting healthier. Why not this too?

Nom Nom Nom

UCAN does come in sexier flavors, mind you, but given my history with going overboard on hyperpalatable foods, unflavored was the right choice for me.

I can report that I had no physical reactions and a fairly improved run at MAF today compared to Tuesday. So I think this will be fine fuel for race day.

*Amazon Affiliate Link. This means that if you click a link to Amazon through my site and buy something, I may earn a commission. Much obliged.

Today's exercise: 6ish mile run:

M1: 15:39
M2: 15:56
M3: 16:15
M4: 16:28
M5: 15:37
M6: 16:14