Witnessing Thyroid Dysfunction in my Children

"To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power." ~ Maya Angelou

I write today from a mother's perspective. As I feel I'm twirling into an angry hurricane with a calm as blue blazes center...as I go to battle for my children's educational welfare, I hope one day my children think of me in this light, that I was a perfectly powerful hurricane working on their behalf. They are my babies and no matter how old they get, I will fight until my dying breath for their well-being.

Within all three of my children, I see the emotional backlash from the consumption of certain foods. If anyone tries telling you that food sensitivities had no effect on thyroid health, I hope you laugh in their face. Nutrition most certainly does affect thyroid well-being. As of yesterday, I requested that spaghetti-o's no longer show up in our household. While my family unit adjusts to my new work schedule, one where I am not available to cook meals, we all recognize that speedy food choices produce negative effects on our emotional well-being. They are banned.

Case in point: after collecting my children from my mother's yesterday, we got home and I started giving directions about household chores. As I am cooking dinner, I needed someone to work on dishes...and my eldest practically imploded. She was rubbing at her hair and face and was quite overwhelmed. That's one of those fascinating attributes of anxiety...there is nothing going on in the environment to cause you to be that overwhelmed. The dishes weren't in excess of numbers. I wasn't yelling or mad about it. I had agreed that she could plug herself into headphones because music always calms her, but to no avail. She abandoned her post several times where I had to coax her back out. She didn't really feel like eating dinner, either. It took her some hours before she was herself. She has been testing for thyroid health and her numbers are "good" but I witness that food affects her all the same.

When I questioned my little bird on what she ate for lunch, she explained the usual, a sandwich. That didn't add up because I hadn't hit the store for bread yet and we were out of bread the day before. So, she was a tad disoriented and I questioned again a little later and she stood there puzzling before answering spaghetti-o's. Ok, no more. I had a Big Red zero the other day that someone had bought me and I was a crying mess...there IS something in the red food dye that the body cannot deal with, even in one meal.

I witness thyroid health issues with my middle child as well. Her condition is more severe and it took me awhile to even locate a pediatrician who would run the gamut of tests to honestly verify the root issue. While my mother's instinct screamed thyroid, the first pediatrician told me she just needed a psychiatrist. Oh, gloves on. I've been told that and I knew my symptoms weren't all in my head.

I got a letter from the school yesterday saying that my daughter's eyesight is 100/100. I had a similar letter the previous year with 100/40. In second grade, at the school's behest, I took my daughter to an ophthalmologist and she was tested with the results of 20/20 vision. Same conversation occurred with the third grade teacher and the same results were produced at the doctor's office. Another letter came in fourth, which I ignored because I'm spending almost $90 to run these tests that go nowhere and have no credence. I got another now that she's in 5th and I've scheduled yet another appointment (first available is December, of course). 

My message isn't that I don't believe the school. My message is that I know how my thyroid loves to toy with my vision. If my thyroid isn't properly taken care of, I have night-blindness and driving at night is a nightmare...but then at other times, I see perfectly at night. It comes and goes depending on certain factors. During this transitional time where I'm embarking on a new career, I have learned (after the fact) that my daughter hasn't always taken her thyroid vitamins and I learned from a teacher she ate a full-sugar cupcake at a party. 

She is of an age to make decisions on her own and I'm not around as much to nag her into submission. She has to made choices on her own, and since she has the power to do so, she will give into temptation like any of us would, like not taking her vitamins because there's an aftertaste. She hasn't learned that vital lesson yet that your mother will eventually find out...and when I get home, I can tell she did not take her vitamins because she's a raging emotional mess that is difficult to communicate with. The more important I lesson I want for my daughter is that your body is with you all of your days; you must take care of it so that you can make sure you have a life you can enjoy. Was the taste of that cupcake worth the hours you cried the rest of the day?

Apparently the school doesn't have to share the letter I gave both the principal and the special ed department (before school began) with the teachers (her homeroom teacher was unaware of the no-sugar dietary needs), nor does anyone besides the cafeteria have to read the documents I filled out at the beginning of the year detailing food sensitivities. Why did I write those things out? Why did I get a letter from the doctor with the new diagnosis to provide the school and my daughter's therapist? For fun? Here's where the perfect storm of a hurricane mother comes in. 

My message is that I'm questioning whether not my daughter's nutrition was where it was supposed to be the day of that eye test. With last year's test, I took that information as a sign that more was amiss. I added it to my arsenal to push for a new diagnosis, that my daughter is not ADHD but rather fighting thyroid dysfunction. Since the first pediatrician did not see symptoms of a thyroid storm, we were basically sent on our way with no help. I've spent way too many years of my life in thyroid hell to allow my child to continue walking through it herself. So what if it's not a thyroid storm...if it were, it would mean we missed the boat and didn't do something before the thyroid started dying. That's what a thyroid storm is, the thyroid giving its last stand before dying.

I spent too much time and energy locating a diagnosis to not have the school do their part for her. I will fight for my little girl's well-being. I do not care if others understand thyroid health. What matters is that I do. It's not a well-known health condition. Most doctors haven't the foggiest clue about thyroid dysfunction and refer to antiquated and limited requirements. Thank heavens my thyroid doctor does not follow the traditional medical community's approach to thyroid health. Thank heavens I located a pediatrician who keeps himself well informed with up-to-date thyroid research.

Easily, thyroid dysfunction in it's myriad of forms can produce over 300 symptoms, which means no two thyroid patients are going to be identical. That is quite apparent within my family. We have similar thyroid symptoms, but in other areas, we don't. I've had doctors inform me, "Thyroid problems don't cause hypoglycemia or vertigo." Bet you they do. They're some my symptoms, but no one else but me experiences vertigo. I just need one more physician to tell me my thyroid symptoms are not my symptoms. All they do is show me that I'm firing them as my physician or my child's physician and I will locate a professional who is knowledgeable in thyroid health. 

It's disheartening knowing that I have to maintain this hurricane within. It can be exhausting. Just when you think you can rest, the storm must rise again. You have to fight for yourself or for your family member's health. It is NOT okay to suffer or to allow another to suffer. It does not matter who understands. The fact remains that if YOU understand why these problems occur, you know what to do to help remedy the situation. I am quite thankful to have the support team I have for myself and for my daughter. There are doctors out there who are knowledgeable about thyroid health. Be okay with firing a doctor who isn't helping you. There are so many books and websites with quality information on thyroid health. Inform yourself and therefore empower yourself.

I hope that whoever is reading this, you are able to harness that perfect hurricane inside and fight for your health and the health of those you love.

The Comeback Kid ~ Childhood Thyroid

It has been a ridiculously long time since I last posted anything on this blog. Of course, I automatically extend my apologies. Life happens.

That being said, my lack of new posts isn't due to the fact that I don't care about thyroid health anymore. On the contrary, I've been fighting a completely different thyroid battle than you'd normally expect.

I was battling for my child's thyroid health. 

If I were to go back and pinpoint the date in which this story begins with my child...well, it'd be her entire life story. I can see back, now, certain events and reactions that make complete sense now. I realized what the problem was because of a certain series of events that I will now share.

Once a month, I visit my thyroid doctor. It's been an overly stressful school year, so I know I was addressing that at each appointment. He's a wonderful doctor with excellent bedside manner. Anyone with a malfunctioning thyroid knows full-well that the thyroid gland does not handle stress well. Shoot, running is considered stress. A wonky thyroid's reaction is to stress are troubles like gain weight, ravenous hungry from running a block or two (no joke) or ridiculously exhausted (or all three). I digress, but those are some issues we discuss, naturally.

Apparently, I was bringing up my 10 year old quite often during our monthly rendezvous. I share how the meals I mass-produced each weekend had to be tripled because two of my children gladly took the meals as their school lunches. I could tell it helped curb some of the emotional outbursts I saw with this one child of mine. It was this past March's appointment when his bald head went from writing in my medical folder to looking at me with his gentle eyes as if he had a sudden epiphany.

"She has the same food sensitivities as you do? Wheat? Sugar?" he asked. I reiterated that the diet I follow has improved her anxiety and behavioral outbursts - the very behaviors the school psychologist diagnosed as ADHD. My doctor continued, asking, "Is she prepubescent?" Yes, she shows those signs as well (how cruel our world of hormone additives are on our children's bodies! She's 10!).

His reply was, "Any child you have has a 90% change of dealing with a thyroid issue at some point in their life. It sounds as if your daughter may be having some trouble with her thyroid."

That did it. I was properly schooled. I had the answer I've been needing to a question I didn't know I needed to ask: Does my child have a thyroid problem?

Does my child have a thyroid problem?

Beyond being the most significant epiphany I could have regarding my child, my doctor wasn't done with his lesson yet. He wrote down on a prescription slip - with his name on it, mind you - the very formula that figures out reverse T3. He says, "Take this to her pediatrician. I wrote down the formula and make sure it's that test."

I recognize that formula because that's how you locate my thyroid malfunction. My liver over-produces reverse T3. Whatever little guys in thyroid headquarters send out jobs to the rest of my body, they send the wrong job orders to my liver. My liver thinks my blood has pooling amount of T3, so it's doing what it should in that situation by sending out reverse T3 to counter-act it. It debilitates me, gives me daily pain, ridiculous fatigue, vertigo, weight gain (no matter how much I diet), passing out after aerobic exercise like zumba (every time), and hypoglycemia (to name a few).

My body does not produce excessive amounts of T3, so if a doctor runs traditional thyroid tests, my T3 levels are always in range. However, my liver and thyroid are playing this lovely game and I don't appreciate it. My doctor and I have this fantastic formula for my health and we're keeping it that way. In fact, this spring I did blood work to see if my reverse T3 levels were alright. When the nurse called with the results (it was a recording), the stated, "It's in range, but it's on the low side. It's okay unless you're feeling fatigued." Funny, in the week or so prior, I had been getting more and more exhausted and I was just thinking I needed a day off to sleep and recuperate. No, it was my thyroid putting me in shut-down mode like it likes to do.

So, I take this prescription slip to the pediatrician. An intern walks in and I can see I have this poor guy quite flummoxed, but he's listening to me. He says, "It sounds like anxiety." I explain that when my thyroid was misbehaving and I had no meds and no diagnosis, I had anxiety so badly that I was on prescription meds to control it. I didn't stop flummoxing the poor young man. When I explained that my untreated thyroid gives me hypoglycemia, vertigo, depression, and anxiety, he would say "Hypoglycemia isn't a thyroid symptom," or "Vertigo isn't a thyroid symptom." In all honesty, he wasn't saying it as if he was discrediting me. He was incredulously believing every word, but he was there to give me a solution and he was lost.

I still feel sorry for the intern because he was barely learning the fine art of dealing with patients, and here I am...playing hard ball. I countered every remark he made. I was quoting books - books written by reputable doctors on the subject. Bet me that hypoglycemia and vertigo aren't symptoms. They're some of mine. I have a ridiculously long list of symptoms.

The intern didn't discredit me, but he did what he should do. He went for the general practitioner whose name is on the sign outside the office. This is where things went left. The following happened:

• That doctor said she does not have thyroid symptoms to indicate thyroid issue.
• She does not have anxiety. She has ADHD (and he started to hangle with me about not increasing her dose. I explained I didn't want an increase in ADHD prescription dosage; there is something else affecting my child).
• He strongly suggested that what she really needed was to see a psychiatrist on a regular basis.
• He agreed to run the thyroid test and he wrote down the blood work from the prescription slip my thyroid doctor gave me to hand him. My daughter had the blood work done that day.
• When the nurse called about the results, I was told, "She has no thyroid issue. We ruled out one thing!"
• I asked my husband to pick up the lab results so I could see them myself. The reverse T3 lab work I requested? It wasn't on there, just the traditional TSH and T3, and T4. 

I felt lost. I had researched childhood thyroid issues and she exhibited countless symptoms! I shared this information with her teachers and they agreed. One told me, "I'm so glad she's your child. If she were mind, I'd have no clue to look at thyroid. You found it. You'll be able to help her, girl!"

But, that doctor's appointment was a bust. I didn't get help for my daughter. I heard several statements I had heard over the course of my own Alice in Wonderland search before finding a doctor who'd diagnose my health issues and save my life. The one statement by a medical professional (in this case, I use that term lightly) that sent me over edge (and into researching for my own well-being) was, "You just need to see a psychiatrist for depression." It was the catalyst I had needed to be the hero to my own story. Hearing it again with regards to my child? I'm not that kind of mom who'll say, "Oh, you just have to deal with the cards life dealt you, my child." Oh, no, I strapped some gloves on. I wasn't done with this fight.

I took the lab results to my thyroid doc during my April appointment. When I broached the topic of the unsuccessful and thoroughly depressing manner in which my child wasn't properly tested and, therefore, helped, that doctor of mine took the lab results I had brought with me. He looked at my daughter's lab results and he saw something in there. He didn't have to. She's not his patient. He's an OBGYN and she's too young to see him...but he looked at her blood work results anyway. There he goes again, healing another soul (I admire this doctor so much; he is my hero).

"In my history as a medical doctor, women who are having miscarriages have a TSH level between 2.4 and 2.9," and he's pointing to my daughter's TSH levels. It was 2.4. "Her levels are within this range and I've never seen that have good results in my patience. That illustrious healer suggested, "You could give her a thyroid supplement. Do a trial run for 2 to 3 months and see how it goes. It won't hurt her if it doesn't help."

What's the supplement he suggested? The one I take. The one I already had stored in my home. The secret was in my home the entire time and I didn't know it?

What's that supplement? ThyroCare

At that moment, I decided that old pediatrician was FIRED. I refuse to take any of my children to see him. I immediately threw away my child's ADHD medication. I vowed she'd never take them again. She was going to take two ThyroCare tablets each day instead. We started the very next morning (and I started keeping an eye out for a new pediatrician).

The results? Well, let's start with how my daughter suddenly didn't complain about concentration problems anymore. Mind you, I was one of the teachers she rotated through, so I witnessed her behavior every day. She'd shush the other students and I'd witness that they weren't being disruptive or noisy in the slightest, and yet she was highly frustrated with concentrating on her work. She was being disruptive with her complaints and demands for everyone to be quiet, if anything. Suddenly, she was calmly getting her work done and not upset about concentration troubles.

Let's talk about grades because within the first five school days of taking ThyroCare instead of ADHD medicine, she had made two 100s on two Reading tests. In fact, she made a 100 on a novel test (The Boundless) that none of the GT students made a 100 on. My child - in a day or two after taking this supplement - was performing academically better? No, not just better, in a superior fashion compared to other students.

Her behavior was remarkably better. Those moments where her anxiety was off the charts and she couldn't hear you (or your solution) through the scene she was making...she was pausing, listening, and calmly responding to the situation. Her emotions no longer control her. She controlled them.

We still control her diet because it has an affect on her behaviors and emotional well-being. Her reactions to every situation have calmed down significantly. Family members who haven't seen us in awhile will sit back and quietly tell me, "I've noticed your daughter is so much more calmer than before." I'll look at them and they'll smile, knowing how much of a trial it's been all these years. They genuinely love seeing this situation so incredibly improved. With one supplement.

Before, there were so many emotional outbursts that she had begun to say horrible things like, "I wish I was a better daughter," and, "I wish I were dead." She'd be crying and inconsolable in these moments....and they are now a chapter in our life we have closed. We're in a new chapter, one of thyroid balance, emotional balance, and...simply, healthier in every way.

The Fairy Tale Ending

Now, the story isn't quite over yet. I have a fairy tale ending for you, though it's non-fiction. I happened upon a pediatrician who knows about thyroid health in children. He's new to the area and, in the very first appointment, I trepidatiously told him my thyroid theory for my child, my conversation with my thyroid doctor, the debacle with the former pediatrician, and our family history. This doctor's first response was, "Whenever I hear a child has been diagnosed ADHD/ADD, the first thing I do is run blood work because something else often triggers the behaviors. I already run three thyroid tests in the blood work I request in this situations, but because of your family history, I will add two more."

He included the reverse T3 test. 

When we saw him at the follow-up appointment this summer, he shared with me that my daughter's TSH was spiking and her reverse T3 was low. In the most recent thyroid research that he's been reading, TSH spikes before hypothyroidism sets in. His diagnosis is that she will one day be hypothyroid and it'd be best if we run these thyroid tests annually if not biannually. He handed me a copy of the blood work knowing I keep documents like that in a folder.

My response was, "Where have you been?" This man just barely started his practice and his front lobby was empty the entire time I filled out my children's documents. He even thanked me for choosing his services, quite grateful for the clients - his practice is that new. I continued on, "How do you know these things? Yes, I know them because I read about thyroid health, but it's so rare to find a doctor who knows it. How do you know these things?"

His response was beautiful, "I believe that no matter what station you are at in life, you must always be the very best version of it."

Thus, my fairy tale ends with an actual solution for my child who has been struggling for years. Life has recently calmed down and the daily emotional outbursts and meltdowns (and my skyrocketing stress levels dealing with them) have disappeared altogether. It's why you are seeing a new post written as of today. I have some of my life happily returned to me. I hope someone out there in this world, someone who needs this, will get this information and not give up hope for themselves or their child. I hope they have the strength to fire a doctor, or a few doctors, until they find one who is a gifted healer (not just a person who completed the required degrees and tests). May you find the help you seek.

~Rebecca

How to Make a Healthy Resolution Happen

For teachers, there is a phenomenon from Thanksgiving to Christmas that is best titled "Survival Mode" and I suppose that's exactly where I've been. The first week I had off for holiday vacation, I succumb to a new level of sinus issues that had me giving Aurora some serious competition. Thus, I am asking for pardons in my lack of activity on this blog in the past month. This hasn't been the easiest of school years.

About this time of year, I start hearing folks share their New Year's resolutions. I'm not one to conform to traditions (the eternal teenager here), but I do like making resolutions at any ol' time of year. I'm a stubborn little Virgo and if I want to change something, I hardly have the patience to wait.

Change is a constant companion in our lives. Often we are scared of change or worry about failure, especially when it comes to resolutions. We sometimes have moments of grandiose and decide we're losing those 50 pounds this year or we're getting to the gym five times a week or training for that 10K. Then it falls short before President's Day. Why does that happen? We were gung ho and ready to go!

A plethora of articles will permeate our senses with advice and over time, I've procured my own sensible rules to making healthy resolutions. I've been on a very long road to health and for approximately nine years of that time, I had zero thyroid help. I was searching for an answer and trying a variety of health strategies to achieve optimal health. One by one, I removed habits from my life that weren't helping me. It started with zero McDonald's breakfasts before work and if I wanted ice cream, I had to go to DQ because I wouldn't allow it in the house (now I have sugar-free ice cream in the house on occasion and my children eat it all so I'm already limited!). Then I swapped out sodas for diet and traded out my AM Dr Pepper for black coffee (which now I don't drink at all). It was a step by step process. If I had done all of it at once, nothing would have come of it. I've made many more choices since I started being a health freak 11 years ago, but the point is to choose one thing and work on that before moving onto a new change. If anyone chooses too many changes to implement at once, it's often going to end up to be too much to handle.

The best resolutions are simple, measurable, and doable. A strong resolution has a contingency plan for certain circumstances so that the positive change you're implementing has a chance to grow into a habit.

Simple, Measurable, and Doable in Action
As a teacher, I hear random facts like it takes seven experiences with a new word or concept before your brain has it ingrained. I've also heard it takes 21 days to retrain our brains with a new habit. I believe that mindset helped me start the Sugar Detox diet. I started the Sugar Detox a month or so before finding my miracle thyroid doctor and I had to start somewhere because the experts I sought out had no answer or no clue as how to help me. The one quack who told me to seek out a psychiatrist fueled my anger enough to research similar stories (there had to be people like me out there!) and my research kept returning to sugar as the weakened thyroid's demon.

I figured I could try something for 21 days - that's three weeks! It's not even a full month. It's not forever and I could experiment for myself how easy or difficult the task would be and then throw it away after 21 days if I found it didn't help. I wasn't alone in my endeavor. My mother made meals for me on tutorial days (it was February/March of 2014, so the 4th Writing STAAR is at the end of every March or early April). It didn't take the full three weeks to find out that it really helped me feel better. I wasn't 100%, but I wasn't experiencing all those symptoms in all their severity. I still had them (course, when I found doc, I found out that fruit was also a demon; my body can't handle even natural sugar!)

See what I mean about resolutions don't have to wait? It was the spring of 2014 and March 2nd, I went on a Sugar Detox. We had a simple plan that we could measure. By late April/early May, I had students remarking on my weight loss (but the scale hadn't moved much, but it was showing). Because it was simple, it was doable day in and day out. Mom and I started learning how to read labels for sugar in all it's forms - glucose, high fructose corn syrup, etc.  We figured out that 3g of sugar or less per serving was our goal. One of the first meals that stood out in its simplicity was when Mom located a can of beans and white corn tortillas each with 0g of sugar and we were making cheesy quesadillas for dinner. A little PAM in the pan and we were flipping awesome.

When it's a simple plan, it's doable and we are more likely to stick with any plan that is doable. The plan was limiting sugar. We were able to measuring our meals' sugar amounts by reading labels and combining key ingredients. We were savvy in finding simple meals that we'd cook in duplicate or triplicate amounts for lunch leftovers. We had to do a bit of research and reteach ourselves what was acceptable and unacceptable, but it was very doable. The longer part was reading labels in the grocery store the first few trips and it got faster and easier after that as we memorized quality products.

A Contingency Plan: Parts A though G
As this resolution developed, I had to come up with a contingency plan. What would I eat at a given restaurant? What restaurants could I even dine at? What about work luncheons? What about when I'm traveling on the road? Who are my support system that actively assist me in maintaining my healthy eating? I came up with seven areas where I might meet up against a problem and had a ready solution for it.

Part A: Restaurants
Answering those questions required some research, too, but for the most part, I can eat at practically any restaurant. I don't care to deconstruct a hamburger because I might smell like onions the rest of the day (when I forget to ask for no onions, though I like eating onions, the scent does not leave your fingers easily), but is it a doable restaurant choice? Yes. Most restaurants have online nutritional information for their menu items, so if I know where we're heading beforehand, I'm on my phone searching for the best choices. Over time, you have certain items memorized and you learn to not look at the menu for tempting choices that may make you change your mind. You stick to your choices.

Part B: Know Universal Yes! Items
One of my top choices is always a Mexican restaurant because I can find many choices that are on my diet. For one, corn tortillas do not affect me like wheat does (yes, that means no pasta joints like Olive Garden or Italian restaurants unless they're big city because big city restaurants typically include gluten free pasta as an option). For me, it's easy to choose between enchiladas or a low-carb Padron plate smothering in melty creamy cheese. Plus, our area Mexican restaurants offer pancakes and chicken strips that make my children happy. Win-win.

Part C: Know Universal No! Items
Breaded food items are a no-go. My husband and I stopped with our girls in Fredericksberg and the menu looked like it had options (and my husband was salivating at the thought, he really likes German food) and I ordered the only non-breaded item on the menu: the only salad on the menu was chicken salad. I took a bite and was sickened. Over time, without sugar, you taste it and it makes you nauseous. Not everyone knows that some chicken salad recipes include sugar. So, basically, I didn't eat lunch. I would pay for the experience in passing out (no thanks!). I got a snack later on to hold me over as we finished out trip. There were no other items on the menu for me since it was all beer-battered items (yeast plus wheat? Just knock me out with a hammer).

We already know that pasta joints are not a option. If we want pasta, Momma or Daddy is making it at home for dinner, which is often a very popular meal in our household.

Part D: Snacks and Travel
One of the trickiest areas I've had to tackle is snacks, especially snacks for traveling. Some snacks are easy, like low-sugar yogurt, but they require refrigeration or a short-term ice pack. What about when you're traveling for a much longer period of time?

Traveling or family trips taught me a few things about on-the-go bars. I started with Atkins bars because of the low sugar. I learned, in time, that the peanut choices were giving me issue (as in a swollen thyroid issue) and then the soy in the non-peanut choices. I've since moved onto OATmega bars and Quest bars. There are a handful of NICE! bars that are made with sunflower lecithin and not soy lecithin, but I can only find them at Sprouts (i.e. another city).

Cashews and peanuts are goitrogens meaning they cause stress on the thyroid in some form or fashion (i.e. I could bather on about the science behind how they confuse your thyroid's production), but a swollen thyroid means you have a goiter. A goiter means your thyroid is over-compensating because it's still trying to do it's job, but it's limited. During these times, I had difficulty talking and swallowing (and therefore eating), and in general, it was uncomfortable. So, those items left my diet.

I'll grab the individual almond butter to-go packs from Walmart. They can go on toasted Ezekiel bread, but I've also eaten them like an astronaut would eat their meals in space - straight out of the little bag (it's portion control!). I like almonds and pistachios as a nut snack. I have to be careful because most nut mixes have sugar. Pecans and walnuts tend to have higher sugar amounts, so you just learn what is acceptable.

I traded out chips with Veggie Crisps or Wasabi Snap peas, though I sometimes still have a few potato chips. I limit potato chips more so when I'm counting carbs because it's technically not a thyroid allergen.

Bacon! I read one site where a woman would pack zip lock baggies of cooked bacon for the road. I've done it. I love it. Homemade beef jerky is also a great option since commercialized jerky has soy and sugar (and Texas has its fair share of small businesses or family/friends that just like making jerky). Once, I took cooked pieces of roasted chicken from my sister's house for my road trip and thoroughly enjoyed nibbling on the leftovers from the ziploc bag. Hey! You get creative and you save money.

Cheese sticks are one choice that over time I gave up. I prefer "real" cheese cubes from the deli because I can taste the salt cheese-sticks now (I know, it just gets more and more limiting these days), but the point is to keep trying and finding new options. It's an evolution and my children still love cheese sticks (though it doesn't prevent them from stealing my real cheese and pepperoni slices make any of us happy).

It's been a learning curve. I used to pack sliced bell pepper until I realized it was giving me some issue, too. It's a trial and error kind of thing. Over time, I've come up with an easy plan. On family day trips, I'll pack sandwiches and my sandwich is made with toasted Ezekiel bread. If you have a plan for different events, you can master any health goal.

Part E: Know Favorite Recipe Ingredients
It pays to know ingredients that go into recipes. No two recipes are ever the same. My school cafeteria's chicken salad does not have sugar in its recipe (they also follow government guidelines for fat and sugar content), but that chicken salad in Fredericksberg was loaded with sugar, so it all depends. If you know that Sesame Chicken's recipe includes an entire cup of sugar in a homemade version, you can only imagine how much will be served up in the Chinese buffet dish. Course, once I figured out soy is another of the devils attacking my weakened thyroid, we limit our trips to ethnic restaurants anyway (but you can find options for making soy-free coconut curry chicken which is so sweet and delicious).

Part F: How to Please the Masses
The contingency plan for not always denying my family members is rather simple. The girls go on a date with their daddy to a Chinese restaurant or to McDonald's on an evening when I have a school event or when I'm away for a convention. On the rare occasion that I eat sushi or Chinese, I know it can't be for several more weeks and that I need to take extra thyroid supplements (ThyroCare) that day. I'd be in bad shape if I ate it twice in one week - I did it one of my children's birthday weeks. Ouch!

Part G: A Support System
One of the most important aspects of any contingency plan is a support system. I firmly believe in the chaos theory: what could go wrong will go wrong. What do you do in those moments? Who has your back? My mother and my husband are my top support members because of their activity level. I'm sure Mom was going off instinct when she started helping me make sugar-free meals, but once my husband saw the huge difference in me once I received proper thyroid care through medicine and diet, he's been on board with meal prep and grocery shopping. When he comes home with a can of low-sugar fruit, my heart soars. He's reading labels for me? He doesn't read labels, he reads price amounts!

It means a lot when the assistant who makes copies for our grade level keeps out regular and sugar-free candy and never offers me a donut. Ms. Lois remembers my health restrictions and most people forget (and that's okay if they forget, they don't live with me day in and day out) but it means a lot when people remember. When the business office was hosting a luncheon for the rest of us, she came to me and asked if there was anything on the menu list I could eat. She was preparing me! I figured I'd have a backup lunch just in case, but it was awesome to have someone think of me like that.

If you have diet saboteurs around you, it's rather difficult to maintain any health resolutions. When it's a late day and you're exhausted and cooking just is not going to happen...you come home and find your mate has cooked a meal of spaghetti with traditional wheat noodles and garlic bread. Would you eat it? Yes. At the end of a long day, who isn't starving and who isn't going to do what they can to not hurt their mate's feelings? If your team is on board with your health choices, you'll come home to meatless spaghetti (my vegetarian Daddy) or gluten-free noodles with low-sugar spaghetti sauce (me!). There is no internal dilemma and face it, you feel loved. If your loved ones care about your health, they care about you.


As for this year, I haven't quite settled on my New Year's Resolution, though I'm thinking Stress Management is on the menu. Stress is another thyroid demon (I know! How many thyroid demons do I really need?). When I discussed with my doctor how I lose sleep thinking about work, we discussed different options and I told him that if I exercise, I sleep better because I've properly exhausted myself. Exercise is an endorphin's agent and therefore a stress management tool. I know extreme exercise causes my body more stress (so, no I can't do CrossFit or P90X or Zumba), but I can take turns with Just Dance with the girls, go for walks, weight train with a medicine ball, and race the husband down the block.

Course, when it comes to stress management, I should add in listening to music more, baths, taking a friend to get a pedicure, and getting my hair cut. Plus, who really cares if I veg out playing a video game? I'm that typical Type A personality that has to constantly remind herself it's time to put the pen down and quit worrying about work and students or my own children...and go play. The husband asking, "Do you want to go for a walk after dinner?" certainly helps.

Good luck with whatever resolution you choose to do. May it improve your health and happiness! And ask your support system to have your back!

If Looks Could Kale Caldo (trying the suspicious greens in Caldo)

It just so happens that I work at a school that grows organic vegetables and raises chickens. For Entrepreneur Day this year, the 5th/6th are hosting a farmer's market with organic vegetation (winter harvests) and free-range, organic chickens. What a fantastic fun-raiser addition! As a parent, my children have brought home classroom harvests that we've enjoyed.

It was an interesting day when a sea of 3rd graders carried beach-ball sized cabbage to dismissal for their parents to collect them. One of those children was my middle daughter. I had no clue they were involved with a gardening project, but our school has an amazing and healthy organic garden. My then 3rd grader brought home a 15 pound cabbage (not the record-holder cabbage, which weighed in at 15 lb, 9 oz). I missed the deadline for creating a dish for the feast (being a teacher means sometimes I'm a rotten mom; I just could not get a dish made because of work obligations). Luckily I was still invited to attend the harvest feast and check out dishes parents had made with cabbage and I felt less guilty about my lack of contribution because the feast was enormous! To store the beach ball for later use, it took 7 or 8 gallon size baggies to properly house the chopped cabbage. I gave several bags away to my parents and my sister and that still left us with an abundance. From that feast, a fellow teacher's husband (recruit the Daddy, I should have done that) made an enchilada cabbage casserole. Well, that gave me my first cabbage project! It's still one of my favorites and you'd think non-dieters would turn their nose up, but it's a hit at gatherings and my children (who'd thunk!?).

Often, my 6th grader best resembles The Dark Crystal's Aughra when she's carrying the world of supplies on her back. She prefers carrying her art supplies and library book in her hands. On her back is a overly-filled camping backpack (we had to go heavy duty and large-capacity) and on her arms are a gym bag, lunch bag, and a book bag for a stack of books she must carry. Just try to help her de-clutter that bag and remove the litany of books she's carrying around! This past week, my little bag lady had an addition to her load: a large bag of kale. We're talking a thin, medium size trash bag of kale.

I won't lie, I have tried kale once and thought, "Nope, don't like it." That means I haven't given it a real go. If I'm honest with myself, certain foods taste exceptional in one way, but completely disgusting in another way. Take spinach as an example. I could never stomach the cafeteria's soggy version growing up and it's alright in salads and yet I don't crave it. Then one day, I tried creamed spinach and it became one of my favorite work lunches, especially since it's a steamable veggie bag in the freezer aisle and that means zero prep on my part (save hitting buttons on the microwave). I'm certain the Parmesan and Asiago cheeses in the "creamed" part of the title is what does the trick. Many things are improved with cheese (that's how I get my children to eat cauliflower).

As the week progressed, my daughter pressed upon me the issue of a recipe assignment including the bag of kale taking up valuable real estate property in my fridge. What? I'm expected to cook it for a harvest feast. I don't even like kale! Due to having a child with poor memory who could not tell me when this dish was due, I sidled up to the science teacher at dismissal the next day and asked when the recipe and dish were due and...what do I even do? She replied, "It's great in Caldo!"

So, today, that is what I'm doing. My eldest daughter (it is her assignment, after all) and I are in the midst of making caldo. I have my medium crock pot and my largest pot put to work and we didn't even use all the bag. We've washed and cut vegetables and she wanted to put the kale in herself.

As for liking or not liking kale, I may have to talk to Sam I Am and explain a few things because I tried a leaf as I cut the greens for the If Looks Could Kale Caldo. It wasn't bitter like my first kale taste-test (then again, my first taste-test didn't come from our school's organic garden with pure chemical-free dirt; the size of our produce is astounding!).

If you are unfamiliar with the dish, Caldo is a Latin dish common to our area, but is found all over the world. Many variations exist and just like any recipe, each area will have its own unique ingredients. If you decide to google, you'll find many options to choose from: Caldo de Res (Beef Soup, which in our area, I've eaten as Oxtail soup), Caldo de Pollo (Chicken Soup), and Caldo Verde (Green Soup with kale or collard greens and sausage). That's just a few! While I am familiar with a Mexican version, the Portuguese have their national caldo, Caldo Verde and the spices and flavors have paprika and garlic spiced sausage, so the flavors are quite different than the smoky, cumin flavors that I'm familiar with.

Perhaps the best quality of caldo is the cheap and easy preparation. Every recipe lists food items often found in any kitchen and the portion you need of each item is small. My one large pot has only two potatoes and 2 corn cobs. As we cut and split the portions for the school's feast and our dinner, we watched it grow despite small handfuls of each ingredient going in. That tells me on those tight weeks or days before payday (perhaps when you went broke getting your children Christmas presents), you can look in each nook and cranny and drawer of your kitchen to put this soup together. Use that last potato in the bag that, alone, won't take care of a family of five. It's that half onion left over from another meal preparation or that one large carrot or half-used squash (happens when I'm the only one eating the vegetable on a regular basis). It's taking a can of chicken broth or a bullion cube and using leftover meat or emptying that 3 lb bag of frozen chicken that only has one large piece left. It sounds incredibly cheap (and quite possibly a leftovers mix) and fantastically easy (and I've been on a cooking boycott and this may be what ends the stalemate).

The caldo most typically found in our neck of the world includes squash and tender chicken pieces and it has a chicken-noodle soup healing feel to it. The chunks of vegetables are large and chicken is added without being cut. As it cooks (the longer the better), the chicken is so tender, it falls apart. It's colder outside lately and I really want to warm my hands around a soup bowl.

Being the cook I am, I research recipes and then do what I want. I see the common themes in each version. I know the flavors I like best and what my children will eat (the child who has the kale recipe assignment keeps remarking on the glorious smell. I know my group well and choosing the Mexican caldo spices would work. I even had herself so she could understand that fact. She inhaled a whiff of heaven...so choosing cumin was a win for us.

The recipe I'm working with includes carrots, onion, yellow squash, organic free-range chicken broth, frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs, potatoes, corn on the cob, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper...and that giant bag of kale in the fridge. Price-wise, this is a relatively cheap meal to prepare. I spent $24 on all the ingredients for two batches. I am estimating 16 servings for the stove top batch. Since some of the food I picked up were in bulk bags, like the potatoes and chicken, the full amount I spent isn't actually simmering on the stove or in the crock pot. I have enough potatoes left over for two meal sides and an extra piece of chicken. I estimate that, total, one batch costs $8.30 and one serving costs $0.52 cents.

I love crock pots so all we did was chop the vegetables into big chunks since caldo typically has large chunks of potatoes and onions and coins of carrots and squash. We put 2 potatoes, 1 yellow onion, 1 yellow squash, 2 corn cobs broken into 5 or so pieces, 2 or 3 frozen chunks of chicken thighs and 2 cups chicken broth. We trimmed the stem off about 6 leaves of organic kale for each batch and cut thin strips. We added approximately 3 or 4 tablespoons of cumin and garlic and added salt and pepper to taste. We eyeball spice amounts as a general rule.

Everything went in there at once and we set the crock pot for 4 hours on medium and the stove top simmered for about 2.5 hours before I turned off the heat altogether and let it sit. A side fact about chicken is it takes 30-60 minutes to cook frozen chicken depending on the size of the chicken pieces, so making sure it's thoroughly cook is quite important. We cook the caldo for longer because when the chicken is tender, you put a big spoon or mug into the soup to take out a serving, and the meat has separated itself and you have strings of chicken meat, it's that tender.

I love recipes where you prep and walk away until later. You don't even have to set a timer because it just gets better the longer it cooks. That's a great excuse for using the crock pot on low for the 8 to 10 hours you're at work for a day you know a cold front is blowing in. If you don't use a cover on the caldo while it simmers on the stove top, you will have to add water because of evaporation.

The verdict? Kale in caldo is mighty fine. I highly suggest it. As part of my daughter's project, she had to work on the nutritional value of one serving, which is included below. These numbers are estimates because often with caldo, you fish out what you want more of. My husband fishes out more meat while the youngest wants more broth and potatoes. Naturally, one of those bowls will have more protein while the other has more carbs and potassium. The kale and potatoes contribute considerable amounts of potassium. The kale alone put 2,227g of potassium in the entire pot. Potatoes added 1240g. When I have students in after-school sports and their little muscles ache from practice, I ask if they like bananas or avocados because they have potassium, but kale will be added to my suggestion list!

Happy eating!

Calories	Fat	Cholesterol	Sodium	Potassium	Carbs	Protein	Fiber
81.2g	2.4g	11.2mg	94.68mg	305.8mg	93.52g	4.36g	1.18g

Easy, Healthy Low-Glyecemic Meals (Frozen Entrees, Packed Lunches)

On this journey to optimal health (note: I am NOT the "I run 5 miles a day" optimal health freak, I'm more the "eat well and maybe I'll go for a walk today...oh, pajamas are so nice! Never mind the walk" kind), I've memorized which products I can eat that are available in our local grocery stores. Occasionally, in my domestic goddess mode (which means I have more prices and product locations memorized in a given grocery store) I'll locate new thyroid-friendly options. Eating for health conditions can prove to be boring. Just like anyone else, I will occasionally boycott cooking because I have a hectic, obligation-filled life. I want something quick to eat with the busy lifestyle I lead. I am a teacher, after all, and when you tutor four nights a week...well you get hangry (combo of hungry and angry, which is so fun to tease 4th graders about right before lunch...move it, this teacher is getting hangry!).

I wanted to share a few easy convenience menu items I've located that have made my life easier and a bit tastier...and a bit less hangry.

Udi Frozen Meals

If you go to any grocery store's Gluten Free aisle (most grocery stores have one, however small), you'll find the Udi brand. One day, cruising towards the ice cream section in HEB because there are no sugar added or Splenda added ice cream choices, I spy the words Udi across a freezer section door and stop mid-stride. Udi? Really? Gluten-free meals? Of course I had to try one out.

Mind you, Udi is not a sugar-free brand, just a gluten-free brand. With my diet restrictions (thanks, thyroid!) I read labels for sugar content and put back any Udi product with more than 9g of sugar in it (typically the cookies and brownie mixes). Now that my local HEB offers Udi frozen meals, I know they're located near the Ezekiel bread (read further down for that alternative grain).

I've so far enjoyed the Udi Ziti with Meatballs, Chicken Alfredo, and Ravioli (sorry, I have no desire to try out the sweet potato ravioli, blech), but there are other choices available. Half a bag easily fills the tummy. This meal proves itself most useful on those evenings when the husband has fed our minions and himself earlier in the evening (sometimes he'll take them to Chinese since I can't eat that too often or they'll be so hangry themselves, they left zero leftovers of the gluten-free stroganoff their Daddy made them). On these late evenings, I've heated up one of these meals and downed an entire bag (not often, but over-eating because I didn't eat enough earlier happens to me too).

The meal itself is a not a steam in the bag option. They take 10 minute in a microwave safe bowl. However, if you purchase it before work for your lunch, it defrosts in a bag in your classroom those 4 hours before lunch. Thus, you cut the cook time in half, easily.

Udi's Uncurred Pepperoni Pizza or Russo's Mulberry Pizza

A few weeks back, I wrote a post about frozen pizza. I still maintain that grocery aisle frozen pizza is a delicious and cheaper alternative to delivery service. Since my life includes being a teacher with three bottomless pits - I mean children - I am often over budget and too broke to order pizza on those late hangry nights (more so when their Daddy has an evening shift, which he hasn't had all school year and I'm enjoying it). Gluten-free pizza all by its lonesome is cheaper when purchased from the frozen aisle. By the time I add up the bill for Domino's or Pizza Hut, I'm paying twice as much (or more) for delivered pizza than I would at my local HEB or Walmart. Then you have places like Little Caesar's that no longer make gluten-free pizza. Since I'm the woman who only buys my favorite cashmere sweaters when there's a 70% off sale...budgeting a good pizza deal works quiet well for me.

A few times, I'll take a few slices of GF pizza to work with me with a side of cherry tomatoes. There's lunch in no time and I don't feel deprived. If I had full-wheat pizza, I get nauseous immediately. I think the wheat-yeast combo of risen bread is the deal breaker for my stomach. 

Mary's Gone Crackers

Mary's Gone Crackers offers brown-rice, flax-seed crackers. I find them at my local HEB and while I don't particularly crave crackers, I do crave the HEB rotisserie chicken salad which has all of 4g of sugar per serving. That easily takes care of lunch on those days I realize all too late that it's Thursday morning and the house is bereft of gluten-free, sugar-free meal choices for me to take to work (well, the ones that require zero cooking). Since I shy away from salads most days due to soy (soybean oil is used in 99.9% of salad dressings and my thyroid acts allergic to itself when I consume soy...and what is salad if it does not have Ranch? Give me steamed asparagus over Ranch-less salad any day), I'd rather pick up something made from scratch for lunch. As far as a last-minute lunch-on-the-go, this fits the very restricted requirements of my nutritional plan.

Glutino's Gluten Free English Muffins

I'll be completely honest with you...I restricted so many carbs from my diet that I had to add some back in! The doc limits his thyroid patients to 60g of carbs a day, but that number excludes vegetables. I bring this up because Glutino is not a low-carb food choice just like Udi isn't low-carb either; however, I knew adding back carbs was a move I had to make and this is one more option I can enjoy. I hadn't realized these existed until I went to eat at a Denny's with a friend of mine and the menu offered gluten-free English Muffins. I had to seek them out and found them at my local Walmart in their frozen section. For the most part, you simply cut them in half and toast them. I've slathered on buttered and even the 6 year old wanted one of her own. If the others in my family steal my sugar-free, wheat-free foods, I know it's tasty.

One word of caution, though, is that this product contains soy. Please read my note about soy at the end of this article.

Veggie Straws and Chips

A friend of mine found an off-shoot of Veggie Straws (same company) that resembled Pringles chips. She had read the label for offending allergens for my diet and found they had zero soy (you can see why she's my friend). Sometimes, you just want chips with lunch!

Now, potatoes themselves are not a symptom-inducing food for my thyroid health. I can eat a baked potato, milk-free mashed potatoes, or french fries, but it's not daily and rarely twice in one week. If I eat too many potatoes, I gain weight. It's just the nature of my body; however, do I try to behave? Well, I often behave, but some days you just want chips. I don't allow myself too much garbage in my diet, but these are certainly an easier choice for on-the-road munching. I feel considerably better about buying that for my family. The Ranch flavored Veggie Straws are a house favorite.

Snapea Crisps, Wasabi Ranch

One of my favorite lunch sides is Snapea Crisps' Wasabi Ranch because I enjoy foods with a little punch. The wasabi seasoning isn't so strong as to make your noise cry, but it's an easy way to get some fiber down!

This is an excellent side to throw in a bag depending on what you've packed for your lunch. It probably wouldn't be so good next to leftover gluten-free spaghetti, but I've thrown it in my lunch bag with a container of either BBQ hamburger patty or pork chop (my brother makes the best BBQ meat and he's awesome at finding dry rubs or seasoning mixes; I'm sure the type of meat he chooses is paramount to a good burger. I go cheap and for frozen bags since I'm constantly and futilely trying to fill up some black hole stomachs.

Needless to say, it's one of my favorite easy lunches. I just pack a real fork (no fake ones to cut my burger with!) and snapea crisps and I took under 3 minutes to pack lunch. 

Ezekiel 4:9 Bread

Where would I be without this bread? This is a low-glycemic bread and my doctor quotes it in his book, The Genesis Strategy, as the only suggested bread for his patients. 

You'll find Ezekiel bread in the frozen section of a grocery store and some stores, like Sprouts, carries more than one version. I simply refrain from picking up the raisin bread because raisins automatically increase the sugar intake. Since Ezekiel bread is low-glycemic, I have zero symptoms when I eat it. Therefore, there's often a bag in the freezer.

One slice of Ezekiel has 15g of carbs and zero sugars. It brings back to the menu an oldie but goodie: the grilled cheese sandwich! There are times I watch my children order a grilled cheese sandwich at a restaurant because I don't make many meals that include bread anymore. My heart sinks. There's always that Mommy Guilt about how rarely my children eat McDonald's or eat grilled cheese sandwiches or their favorite restaurant: Chinese. This is why my husband and I agree that on some late tutorial nights, he takes the girls to McDonald's when he picks them up from school at 4 and I'll eat a GF pizza when I get home closer to 6. But because of this bread, grilled cheese sandwiches do not have to be a thing of the past. I don't have to make two meals (I hate making two separate meals for my family and for myself...that's too much work and too many pots and pans to wash).

Since I keep the bread stored in the freezer (I eat it sparingly), it takes nothing to slather butter on one side and a slice of cheese on the other to start a grilled-cheese sandwich. The pan does a good job of defrosting the bread in no time. On some mornings, I'll toast a slice of Ezekiel and add butter or, even rarer, Polaner's sugar-free jelly (I don't care for the "with fiber" versions; it's just not as tasty). If I'm feeling particularly chef-life, I'll make scrambled eggs with sauteed mushrooms with a slice of buttered Ezekiel. Other times, when I really want a burger without a fork or wrapped in romaine lettuce, I toast some Ezekiel and enjoy a rare dollop of mayonnaise (again that dastardly soybean oil used in mayo that I avoid on a regular basis...but sometimes, just sometimes, I let myself enjoy a bit and I know there are recipes for homemade mayo, but I'm only a Betty Crocker during the summer).

If nothing else, I've packed sandwiches for a road trip to Six Flags. The facilities offer picnic tables near the front gates for families to enjoy a picnic lunch. It's certainly cheaper for our budget. Thus, I'll toast Ezekiel bread in the morning while I'm making regular wheat sandwiches for everyone else. I'll put ham or turkey with my ultimate favorite Pepperjack cheese (and maybe some mayo....maybe). So, Ezekiel bread can easily be utilized for a lunch box. It does not mess with blood-sugar, which is great for me. I will add that it's important to avoid peanut butter because it contains a good deal of sugar in just one tiny serving (read labels, we often use more than one serving per sandwich). Avoid sugary jellies and jams because you're just negating the entire purpose of using this alternative low-glycemic grain.

If you're curious to try other options, Ezekiel 4:9 offers tortillas and other alternative grain products. 

Why I Limit Soy

For the most part, I limit my soy intake and some of the items I mention in this post include soy. Soy is often used in products that need to sit on a shelf and be preserved for a bit. It comes in many forms with various names (soybean oil, soy lecithin, bean curd, edamame, miso, shoyu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein (TVP),  hydrolyzed soy protein....is just a START to the list of possible soy names on a label). Want to read more? The Kids with Food Allergies site has a great tips on how to avoid soy. It's near on impossible to avoid it in entirely and small amounts do not bother me so much. It's more quantity and daily consumption that would cause problems. Sometimes, you just need to satisfy that craving or you'll go mad with dieting. Daily? No, I'd feel the repercussions. 

As someone who knows their body best, you create rules for yourself that are doable. My rule of thumb will always revolve around the question of what will give me the worst symptoms, because that's off the menu. I can't have sugar in large amounts at all. It's limited to under 9g per meal. Wheat is the second-runner up, and then soy and peanuts.  I know if I eat sushi, my body will ache for the next 24-48 hours because of the high content of soy (even in the eel sauce I love despite the fact that I avoid dipping sushi in soy sauce). With soy or peanuts, my thyroid gland itself swells and my body aches like I have the flu because my body is experiencing an allergic reaction. I have difficulty breathing, swallowing, talking, (not to mention it's rather uncomfortable) if I eat soy products daily, which is why I don't eat Atkins products anymore. Yes, they are low-carb and sugar-free...but my body does not appreciate the over-load of soy.

For that reason, I limit my family's dinner-night-out to Chinese once a month because my body just can't take the quantity. If I have it twice in a week, I will be horribly sick and physically aching with stiff muscles for days. My stomach will act as if I have a tiny flea circus with their acrobatic show on replay. In contrast, if I eat a slice of cheese-cake with 34g of sugar...I'll pass out sleeping withing 15 minutes (there is no fighting it, I'm down for the count) and when I do rouse, I will have great difficulty thinking or even responding like a normal human being for some time. Sugar's effects on my body are immediate and debilitate me. I am unable to perform routine daily tasks. Soy makes me ache, so I move slower and need more Aleve, but I've learned to limit it and I do alright. Sugar...it's limited like the plague. I avoid fruit as a result. Fruit is a rare evening treat, much like a dessert should be. I feel the fruit sugar's effects more than you'd think is possible. I know that the fruit I do consume should be consumed after a high-protein meal to reduce the symptoms my body experiences.

The entire point is this simple: know your body and work around it's needs. I know my body cannot handle certain foods, so I have eliminated many of those food choices because I like feeling energetic and I certainly like a disappearance of horrible symptoms. 

Summary

In the end, what is the entire point of eating the way we eat? We desire more energy. We desire less head-fog. We desire fewer symptoms of whatever health condition we live with. We desire, most of all, to not die a preventable disease. We desire a more comfortable quality of life and a reduction of symptoms affords us that luxury. When I look at those dieters whose health goal revolved around a certain pant size or a number on the scale...I don't wish them ill. I think how wonderful it must be to not struggle with weight, to make a simple goal and reach it through calorie reduction and exercise alone. I could not lose weight without a doctor's prescription to address my wonky thyroid. I could not lose weight without realizing the offending food allergens that make healthy thyroid function more challenging. My motivation has always been a reduction of health-related symptoms and a better quality of life. 

Course, along the way...how much easier can I make this? Oh, look! Frozen food options. I don't have to be Betty Crocker after all. Yessss!

Happy Healthy Living!

Tis the Season for Thankful (Healthful) Tidings

As we enter the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, I contemplate (as many of us do) the aspects in my life that I am thankful for. At the forefront, as always, is my health. The changes to my health over the last almost two years have afforded me the opportunities to enjoy my life.

Just in the past two weeks, I've hit the 50 pound loss marker. I never started this journey thinking that was a possibility. I don't recall this weight or pant size in high school, even. As I close the gap to the ideal weight my doctor suggests for optimal health (we're talking 10-15 pounds!), I stand in awe of a working thyroid. All my efforts to lose weight or be generally healthy actually pay off. I see others who struggle with weight only to meet failure again and again remind me of myself, struggling and wondering what it is we're doing wrong. At some point, each of us with untreated and/or un-diagnosed health issues give up on ever being healthy and feeling well. How unfair!

My sister recently underwent a hysterectomy with one ovary remaining. The details of a growth the size of a volleyball just astounds me. The atrocity itself weighed in at 10 pounds, but as my sister's body has healed from surgery and recovers from an energy-sucking ailment, she finds many parts of her health improve. Without any changes to diet, almost immediately she's lost weight. That one hormonal imbalance caused so many other issues and she proudly explains how she doesn't need daily naps anymore. She no longer needs to sleep her entire first day off, setting an alarm to make dinner, and then having no issue falling right back to sleep after dinner. I've been in that stage myself. It's been three weeks now of a nap-free existence. I understand only too well the glee attached to that simple fact. Having the energy to go through a typical day without exhaustion over-taking you is a miracle. 

Recently, my husband remarked that not everyone has the determination to make the health choices that I make daily. My weight loss transformation isn't easy for others to follow. He also recently told me I'm getting too skinny and I can stop losing weight any time now...and then took another breath and added, "but whatever weight you stop at that leaves you healthy is fine by me." My end goal is to be healthy, of course, but I made sure to remind him I had much more motivation to stick to healthy choices because my health had taken such a horrible downward spiral. I never want to return to the days where my health was at it's worse. All by itself, the miserable health I endured before is my daily motivation to make healthy choices each day. 

There is a big difference between napping and passing-out napping that those who haven't participated in extremely poor health often don't understand. I couldn't help the napping. My body dragged. The energy to prepare my children for school each day was exhausting. Teaching while sitting on a stool was utterly depleting when it wasn't a very active event. I had the stool as a tool to make it further through the day, honestly. Now, I just make others jealous of my energy levels at work (not on purpose, I'm just a busy-body; if I make others look bad, it's unintentional, I just never was good at sitting still).

So, yes, I celebrate a 50 pound weight loss weighing in at 149 when I never saw anything lower than 164 on my short frame, not even during high school. It's similar to looking at my sister who has looked as if she's lost 25 pounds by having a 10-pound volleyball removed from her abdomen. The change in size and weight is only an outward indication to the world the change in our health. I'm not sure quite what to do with the ocean of compliments. I've always preferred compliments on my teaching or some great idea I've come up with over my physical appearance. It's not an easy path I've had to take. Most people remark they could never give up sugar. Well, you can if you face the health problems I face. If I chose to make one bad food choice, the rest of the day is wrought with horrible symptoms. I easily eat sugar-free, wheat-free, soy-free, and peanut-free because, honestly, I got stuff to do! I won't let bad health hold me back if I have the power to prevent it.

One last piece of advice when it comes to T-day feasts. I've already opted for the easiest menu possible, but there are allowable carbs on the menu along with carbs for the hubby and kids. I've put on the grocery list the ingredients for George Stella's Pecan Pumpkin Streussel Pie because it's a sugar-free, low-carb option (made with a pecan-crust instead of a traditional wheat or graham-cracker crust). I celebrate my health and happily add vegetarian items for my 76 year old Daddy who made his own health choices 30+ years ago to reduce his weight from over 300 pounds to 175. I'm extremely thankful for healthy choices and a new life illness-free. May your holidays be filled with similar sentiments - don't stress overly much about finding the perfect gift. Taking care of yourself and being present and actively participating in life is the best gift.

Happy Holidays!!

Rocking (Easy and Affordable) Gluten-Free Pizzas

Hello my adoring fans! (and if you're not, shhh, I can disable the comment feature and stay in my happy little world). I've had a great week playing with 4th graders. I have been hooked to grammar videos on YouTube that students beg me to replay and if I break into song, they sing it in their following classes (one child, I'm sure, is doing it to see if he can get on that teacher's nerves...but ahem, if you wanted a grade, you should have put your name on it to the tune of Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies"...that's too fun to get mad at).

I feel that it's important to write that I enjoy pizza. I don't enjoy wheat pizza because I get instantly sick and basically deal with fatigue so severe I can't fight falling asleep; however, I crave it and I walk past foods in the store and long for the days of my youth when my Daddy made me cast-iron skillet sized pancakes and homemade syrup. Breakfast isn't as fun anymore.

Ever stubborn (or determined), I've found a few solutions along the way. I don't have tons of pizza solutions, but I'm always a budgeting fanatic because of my three children (and since I like eating, I make sure to keep to the budget). I crave pizza like anyone else. I crave pancakes and biscuits and cake, too. I know the majority of my daily nutrition does not include those items, and let's be honest, any healthy nutritional plan should not be heavy on treats. Those items are all treats, but wheat? It's asking me to eat cardboard. I know it smells heavenly, but I don't feel my symptoms remind anyone of heaven. It's easy for me to abstain for that reason alone: avoiding those horrid thyroid symptoms. However, what does one do when they really crave the treat, but not the evil side effects?

You get creative...especially when I once looked up how much it'd cost to get a veggie-topped gluten free pizza from Pizza Hut. $18 had me closing the window (in contrast, Domino's is cheaper). My meal shouldn't cost half of our entire check for a household of five. Course, I figure I'd just have to get used to the slightly chewy crust and have less veggies than I really like. That's my life now, right? Well....maybe not.

Mama Mary's Gluten-Free Pizza Crust
Found at both my local HEB and Walmart, I have frequently made my own pizza using this pre-made pizza crust. I add a plethora of my favorite vegetables like jarred mushrooms, and always, always pepperoni. For the most part, this has been my go-to for pizza cravings. The crust itself is about $4 or $5 and since I pick up the cheaper wheat crusts to make my children pizzas at the same time, the other items I purchase (shredded mozzarella, tomato sauce) are already feeding my minion army. We're set! Thing is, I have to be willing to do some preparation. Isn't the joy of pizza having someone else prepare it? Many times I choose NOT to pick up the pre-made pizza crust because I don't want the cost and the effort.

I recently noticed my small-town grocery stops have frozen gluten-free pizzas. That's changed up a few options and I wanted to share it with my audience. Yes, it's not diet food, but it's also not thyroid-filled allergen foods that cause the thyroid to struggle to function. I can live with that.

Udi's Gluten-Free Uncured Pepperoni Pizza
I found this at my local Walmart. The crust is not as chewy as Domino's and whatever their seasoning is, I was pleased. As price goes, it cost me about $5.76 (since locations can vary). After paying $7.99 just for a Domino's pepperoni and cheese gluten free pizza (no other topics because the price goes sky high), I'm loving this pizza.

Russo's Frozen Pizza
I recently tried the Russo's Mulberry and I'm in love. Though it's a tad pricier with a $6.99 after-coupon deal at HEB, I'm still going to fork over that cash. While Russo's has a nice variety of pizzas, I chose the Mulberry for a taste-test. The crust is not chewy. Not one bit, Sam I Am. It's the best gluten-free crust I've ever had. The mixture of flavors and seasonings have me gladly dropping $7 for that baby.

Half of the pizza filled me up, and I couldn't say that of Domino's very flat-crusted, sparsely topped pepperoni pizza. I didn't consider the Domino's sparsely topped until I checked out Russo's toppings. The Mulberry has Italian sausage, beef, Canadian bacon, and uncured pepperoni, I like it so much that I could exclusively purchase that variety of Russo's pizza, though that may be unfair to not try the others. I might find a variety of new menu options if I'm willing. With such a limited nutrition plan, finding a new food item in the restricted plan that's an actual treat? An option that's actually not "cheating" on your health? That might bring a tear to my eye.

Other Options
I haven't delved too deep in the various ways to have gluten-free pizza. I'm running full-tilt from the moment I wake up until I go to bed. I know there's other pizza options. I have books with gluten-free pizza crust recipes, like George Stella. Other brands offer pre-made crusts and crust-mixes. There's a growing collection of frozen gluten-free pizza by California Pizza Kitchen, Freschetta, and Amy's Organic. I know my lifestyle and its restrictions. For example, I have my stock-pile of agave syrup and coconut flour, but as much as I'd like some low-carb coconut flour muffins, I'm swamped with work. I'm hoping an up-coming 3-day weekend will offer an opportunity to bake coconut muffins or carb-quick cheesy biscuits. I like that I can purchase frozen pizzas and stock them in my deep freezer for those nights when tutorials runs late and I meet a parent walking out the door and do an impromptu conference...and my stomach is nagging me and my children melodramatically act like they're dying of starvation. I have a go-to pop-in-the-oven on late-work days option again. Yes! Put on PJs and start checking my own children's homework after working with other people's children and their homework.

Always Test-Testing New Items
As I finish this post up, my husband hands me a can of Libby's Skinny Fruits made with Splenda. I'll have to try that out and see if it's a fit since I limit one of our daughter's sugar-intake because it spikes her anxiety. I wouldn't suggest eating an entire can in one sitting, because I can do math fairly well. One serving is 6g of sugar (found naturally in the fruit), but a 15 oz can has 3.5 servings. That's 21g of sugar and I'd be taking a forced nap. Course, in contrast, that's also 2.5 cups of fruit. If I keep to the 1/2 cup serving for my daughter and myself, we can enjoy a few more fruit options.

I thanked my husband as he walked away and his response was, "I'm trying." I wonder if he knows how much that means to me: how he goes to the store for me, how he looks for new products, and how he's learned to limit foods that affect the girls in his household. I know I would not be as successful in my healthy pursuits if I lacked his support.

With that, I hope you enjoy some of the consumer items that are popping up these days. If my town is finally offering these choices, then these options are becoming more prevalent. It becomes a matter of scoping out aisles you don't always look at anymore. Eating healthy shouldn't be boring. It should not take Betty Crocker effort, either. I'd starve if that was the case (or eat dressing-less salad because 99.9% of dressings are made with soybean oil). Gluten-free living is looking up.

Happy eating!