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!

Thyroid Health and Weight Loss Miracles

Even though I have been absent from the blogging keyboard for longer than I want, it hasn't been from lack of activity. On the contrary, life has been exceedingly full-tilt. Since my coworker's passing, I have the task before me of revamping my entire curriculum, lesson-creation/presentation, and daily schedule.

I do tutorials 4 days a week. Two are for struggling writers and the other two are for ELL students (of my 4 teaching certifications, one is for English Language Learners). Four days this past week alone, my conference period at work has been absorbed for parent conferences. Time? That exists? I just want to yank that necklace off Hermoine's neck and start a little time-redo each day so I might get close to accomplishing the must-do list each day. That, or I need to successfully clone myself.

As it is, I'm finding myself awake a little past 10pm sloughing away through grading essays and awake at 4:30am to get some much-needed quiet with at least one cup of coffee before it's time to chase children (i.e. herding cats). It's not as much as a high school teacher who may have upwards of 120 students, but it took me a week. My student load is 70; however, the beginning writer needs considerable TLC. This woman is tired of reading run-ons with "and then" to combine 20 thoughts across one sheet of lined paper...but when I share the funnest method to correct these sentences, the essays show how hard my students are working to fix these beginning writers' mishaps. So, last Sunday when I spent my entire day off pasting, cutting, printing, typing and creating colorful file-folder tri-folds for triage stations....it's paying off.

I'm calling them triage stations, though that's now what they're really called. It's triage in my eyes because I can't fix all the bleeding. Beginning writers need encouragement and advice and immediate feedback. Writing teachers often receive the ever pressing question of, "Is what I wrote good?" Thing is, you can't read 24 essays during the class and give feedback....quality feedback. If you do, there are idle (and then loud, going-to-entertain-themselves) students. The time is wasted. Stations fix that. I rotate around the room to each station and do mini-triage. I have grouped students to listen to each other read their stories and given them tricks to catch their run-ons and change passive voice into active voice. It's working.

In all that glorious, teaching mess called writing...some beautiful things have been happening. I have been too active to write in my blog, for one. Negative things surround my life, too, and there are some I wish I could deal with. Two family members had surgery this past week. I couldn't be with either one, nor visit them out of town. I have absolutely ugly attitudes from coworkers in my wing. I can't do anything about those persons who prefer to complain about everything. I can't join them (or rather I refuse to join them and now the focus has turned towards me). Thing is, I'm too busy coming up with my own solutions and from sunup to sundown, my hands are too busy to let my heart worry about them. I'm there for my students and no one else.

Yes, my title is about weight loss miracles, though my beginning doesn't seem to show I'm on track. I give you this example of my life because two years ago, this lifestyle did not exist. I couldn't stay awake past 6:30 or 7:00pm. It didn't matter how healthy I ate, I continued to gain weight. Twenty months ago, my life started turning around with actual, true medical treatment for my thyroid. That treatment included a low-sugar/sugar-free and low-carb/wheat-free diet (that evolved into peanut-free, limited-soy diet).

The first day I sat across from the doctor (and started crying when he pulled out his prescription pad because it meant he wasn't turning me away without helping me like all the other doctors did), he walked out into his waiting room and shook my mother's hand. I had told him about her, how she held the dutiful chauffeur's position the past months ferrying me to one idiot doctor to MRI scans and finally to this excellent professional. His words at that time were, "Give it about 6 to 12 months and your girl will be healthy again."

Well, he was true to his words. Not only that, he made this incredible weight-loss miracle occur in this body that once-upon-a-time, five weekly exercise sessions never accomplished. I've never been one about bragging. There's some personality trait of mine that holds accomplishments on my tongue and not released into the air, but I decided it's time to share the exact numbers in weights loss (cause it keeps decreasing and readers needed numbers to be convinced of why pushing for their health is paramount).

I didn't believe doc when he said he'd get me to a certain number. I'm approaching that number. He wasn't lying or a quack. It is, in all actuality, happening. This past doctor's appointment (I see him monthly at this point), he increased my desiccated thyroid to 45 (I have to cut a 90 in half because the way the prescription comes are in 30 increments). It's perfect! 60 was giving me hot flashes and thinking issues.

Weight loss-wise, this 5-foot 3 and 3/4 inch woman weighed 199 pounds in March of 2014. I now weigh 151 pounds. In all my adult years, my lowest weight was 164. Even in high school, my weight was 164. I do not recall any lower weight on my frame save 5th or 6th grade when it was 77 lbs and the boys had taken a bet to see if I was, indeed, the lightest in the class since I was the smallest and skinniest (in my defense, I'm a summer baby and barely hit the September 1 cutoff with an August 29 birthday, so I graduated at 17. Of course I'd be smaller than my classmates; I was technically a year younger). But I doubt that weigh-in counts (as a goal) just because I remember it.

I'm two pounds shy of a 50-pound weight-loss. My husband, who likes curves, already stated I can stop losing weight any time now. Doc's goal sit close to 135 pounds. My goal? My goal is healthy. If I did not lose another pound (and I've said this that last 13 or so pounds), I won't care. I have energy again. That thought alone makes me weep with joy. I stay up past my children's bedtime. I handle my job and it's so interactive and fun, when I signal to students it's the end of the class period, I receive disappointed "aww" in response (though one student has started answering my "Oh students" signal with "Ohhh nooooo!" when it's really "Ohhh yessss!" because he knows it's signalling the end of the class time and their fun). Because of all these health changes, I enjoy my students and enjoy my children. I don't even pay as much attention to the scale as I once did. I used to do daily weigh-ins because it told me when I needed to tweak my diet. Now, I go days and days between and today's weigh-in was a shock. When did I do that?

I promise you all, I'm an avid eater. My portions have shrunk over time, but even as a child, I preferred grazing. There's no starvation happening for this weight-loss (and those of us who are hypothyroid know that starvation only causes more weight gain because of the stress starvation puts on the body and stress equals weight gain in hypothyroids). This is all happening because I have the correct medicine dosage, diet, and lifestyle.

If unauthorized food is offered to me, it's easy for me to shake a finger and say, "No way, but thank you." Even hubby knows what can hit the dinner table and he's awesome about it. There's one lady at work who's excellent at remembering that I eat only sugar-free. She keeps her candy dish filled with a mix of both regular and sugar-free candy. That makes my heart sing. I still have a sweet tooth (Blue Bunny ice cream made with Splenda, I love you) and I'm sure there are people whose hearts sink when I always say no (think how they went to that effort to gift their coworkers?). But I always refuse something I know my body cannot process and will cause the rest of the day to spiral into unhealthy symptoms. No thank you! Even the sweet cafeteria ladies know I don't eat cafeteria food. Their salads have taken on a new element this year, and I know two days a week, if I forget my lunch, there is a backup plan I can participate in (just not chicken salad-salad day...not until I know how much sugar goes into their recipe).

I'm better at handling the stress at work. I don't mind making tri-fold stations or staying late at work each day. Those moments are for or with children. I often dream about students or lessons.  So I'd say my waking hours are filled with could-be stresses, but it's not limited to my waking hours and anything for children is not stressful. Often, my biological children are with me in the room (depending on the day). I LOVE those moments.

The moments that cause me stress are with other adults. It's always been other adults. My mother often said that of her educator career, too. We true educators love children and if we could be in rooms with children all day, the job would be absolutely perfect...but adults skew that entire plan. However, I'm better at reminding myself I cannot do anything about other adults' attitude. There is no need to take their remarks personal. Whatever lies in their heart, whatever personal stresses they have, whatever personal issues they have not dealt with...those are not my fault, not my doing, and not mine to solve. It is their's. That's something that goes on inside their head. I have no power to change that. Now, when it affects a child, the gloves go on.

When it comes to meetings and someone lies, tries to take credit, or just complain (where no solution is good enough)...those events cause me stress...and my tongue let loose the last official meeting. With the negative events in my hallway this week, I approached my principal (and friend, because I met her through my principal courses) that communication isn't happening. With the passing of my coworker and writing interventionist, the dynamics have unbalanced themselves to extremes. It's two negatives against one. We have a quasi-plan that we hope replaces a balance in our department. The former 4th grade writing teacher (whose spot I took over) is coming back as my interventionist. I have history with her and we adore each other. She was quite pleased when she learned it was me taking her spot. She felt better about walking away from her position knowing students would be in good hands (mine). So, am I excited to see her arrival tomorrow? You betcha!

In the final analysis, having my health allows me to handle the normal stresses of life. The present stresses in my life are a recurrent theme of my almost 15 year career. I have to use both hands to count individuals I have come up against who have caused negativity in the work place and for some reason, I rubbed them wrong (mainly because I'm awesome and without trying, make others look bad or I ask questions that provoke quality education changes and some people don't like that). So, stress will always be present. That is life. How am I reacting to it? Much better now that my thyroid is under control. Anxiety attacks are a thing of the past. Taking people's garbage attitudes personal are a thing of the past. I got a job to do. I see a need, I'm going to take action to fill that need. It's not about anything else but what students need.

Take my life as an example of what proper medical treatment can do for your life. It's important to be determined about seeking quality care. You are authorized to fire a doctor that does not have your best interest at heart. You are authorized to request (perhaps demand) those in your life to support your diet needs and refrain from saboteur tactics. Skinny does not have to be a goal - feeling good and feeling like you fulfill some aspect of your life's task here, that does. I know I was put on this earth for children. I have the energies to put towards that end and it fills me with such peace doing that.

I still have students who will cry over my coworker's passing. There's one sweet girl, in 5th grade. Her guardian angel passed away. She would ask after her grades, scold her, give advice, and make her do tutorials to get caught up...and now she's gone. So, I find a little head pressed against my arm from time to time. This past week, we had progress reports and I'm busy looking at former students' reports, "Who's passing? Who do I need to scold?" There's one boy, I swear, loves to hear me scold him. And I look down at this little head pressed against my arm and I see tears streaming down her cheeks. I don't have to ask any questions why those tears are there. I just grab her, hug her, and praise her for her grades and most importantly, tell her how proud our guardian angel would be. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I have to focus on. I need my health to do it.

Reverse T3...the Saga Continues

Sometimes my eyes cross while I'm researching medical information on my thyroid. It's like that little butterfly-shaped organ in my throat does this constant 20-ball juggling act. It's gotten itself off balance and I'm struggling to get it back. Thankfully, I have a master juggler throwing the balls back into balance.

When I met my doctor this past week, he confirmed my reverse T3 (rT3) ratio is 0.308. A range under 0.2 is preferred (there can be issues if you're under 0.1, but that's another thyroid story). Now, I've taught math to young persons and looking at those numbers probably mean nothing to most people. My immediately makes the numbers into hundreds for a comparison.

Reverse T3 Number Crunching:
0.308 is my reading.
0.200 and under is a target range my doc looked for
0.100 and under is another area that needs attention

My math shows that my body is producing 150 to 200% of what it should be (for my math geeks, I got 150% by dividing 308 by 200 and 200% by dividing 308 by 150 because 0.150 would be a middle-ground area between 0.2 and 0.1 optimal reading).

Thus the question is...why is my body doing that!? Oh my heavens, that's way too much rT3 production!! The Holistic Thyroid Solution website  explained the role of T3, T4, rT3, T2, adrenal, cortisol, an host of other issues that connect to rT3. I liked this site the most because my eyes were crossing with my other research material. I need someone to speak English, please, not medical jargon. I have an Education degree and I only speak education jargon with fellow educators and my family (because they're stuck with me). With that, let me give a breakdown of what I understand has been happening with my body and how it can help you and perhaps someone you know.

Reverse T3 is often not the go-to blood test that doctors opt for when diagnosing thyroid health issues, but that's a huge mistake. Even the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism states that most useful marker for tissue hypothyroidism is the T3/rT3 ratio because it's showing the "diminished cellular functioning" at the tissue level.

The most useful image I can give is a Stargate docking station...and rT3 is refusing to open the docking station. Well, when you can't get supplies delivered or ready to be shipped off to the areas that need them, emergency situations happen.

When a doctor chooses to run tests for T3 and T4 only, the problem is that T3 tests measure both active T3 and reverse T3 because they're biologically the same. So, a doctor will review T3 results and say, "Oh, you're body is making enough T3." The ratio is the only method that accurately shows if your body has the correct balance of thyroid hormones being produced. In fact, excess rT3 will make T4 labs show that a patient has enough or too high levels of T4. That's because the body's making more T4 because the thyroid knows things aren't working right, so it's overcompensating.

Let's add those doctors who rely only on TSH (a pituitary gland test). The above description of how rT3 makes T3 and T4 lab tests "normal" or "high" levels also make TSH appear like it's normal, too. This is how people continue to have NO treatment for hypothyroidism. That would explain why I've been told repeatedly, "Your lab results are normal," and sent on my miserable way.

To make it even more confusing, rT3 affects T2 production. T2!? That's a movie! Where did that futuristic Arnold come from in my system? I haven't read about T2 before, but apparently, there's many docking stations and supply management our thyroid is in charge of. If T2 gets out of balance, it causes less T3 production too (and that is just a horrid domino effect).

Fixing rT3
After awhile, it makes you feel like you can't win. I'm thankful for my doctor because he is knowledgeable about thyroid health, even the most obscure pieces of information that many doctors are unaware of. This is why I always promote the sentiment that if you're doctor is not healing you, fire him/her. Find someone who will keep searching for the answers for you. I told my doctor this past week, "As soon as I think we have this thyroid in balance, it pulls a fast one and goes 'na-na-na-na-boo-boo.'" We've worked so hard and we're still tweaking my health regimen? I see this gentlemen on a monthly basis still. I don't mind the copay (though the rT3 was a $94 copay and one site I reviewed mentioned that most have a $60 fee, it just depends on your insurance). The point is, even when things aren't working the way I'd like them to...I can look back about 20 months ago and see a huge difference in my health. I've lost 45 pounds. I never thought that possible. I've always been overweight and it doesn't matter how many salads I eat or how often I exercise.

Stress
One of the biggest issues I personally face is that stress is a culprit. It affects your thyroid's health more than you know. Adrenal fatigue is real (that's when your body produces too much cortisol and over time, your adrenal glands just start petering out). Some of the symptoms of adrenal fatigue is waking up at 3am (mine is more like 1:30-2:30am) and your mind is racing. You're starving. It doesn't matter that you're tired and all you want is to go back to bed. Your body feels it's resources are tanking, even having your blood sugar plummet and it's screaming for help. I didn't really put two and two together whenever doc asks me if I sleep well. I don't think I've ever slept through the night since having children. I wake at many little noises in the night, but it didn't hit me those times I wake up and my mind is racing and I struggle to go back to sleep was something more. I now have another item of discussion to talk to my doctor with at my next visit. It's less than a month away.

I know I've been in some pretty stressful situations. I haven't always had a healthy work environment. This past school year, I lost someone close to me who was also my work partner. I've been grieving as well as adjusting lessons. I don't feel the coworkers in my wing do their part. They only do things if it's a directive from our principal. So, I'm the only schmuck who's doing more because I see the need. My moral compass will not let me do otherwise.

This past week, these lovely coworkers decide to have a last-minute meeting and didn't inform me what it's about. For some random reason, they decide to start questioning discipline measures in our wing. I assume this is because a matriarch of our school passed away, the one I shared a daily class schedule with. Often, I find myself the only one putting a hallway of 70 or so students in check (especially after recess) without adult backup...and they're starting a conversation about "I don't see how it's fair for an entire class to loose recess..."

Oh I lost my temper. I don't like doing that at work because I don't feel it's professional, but my meeting notebook got slammed down on a desk and I started talking. When others aren't available to help supervise and manage 70 students, you as the sole disciplinarian have to be stricter. No other teacher was present when my classroom management tactics couldn't be heard and my only helper is a new assistant who is learning, but no where near as loud as me. I can tell you honestly that lines gets quieter when I walk into the hallway (and most mornings, I'm the only adult i the hallway as students approach) because I nag about it daily. If you're quiet, you can hear directions. I hate time being wasted because of excessive talking. I have too much to teach and I don't want my throat to hurt all the time. My classroom management skills work, but 70 students? That's pushing it.

The way they approached it wasn't right. If you have a grievance, don't surprise your grieving coworker with a last-minute meeting. I felt attacked. I had no idea that was coming. I think it would have been wiser for those individuals to meet with our boss on their own to air their grievances because I even point-blankly stated, "This should be a conversation between me and you only" as I point to myself and my principal. My boss is the only person who can tell me my discipline measures need work. Another person's complaints should not decide it right then and there and it comes back to that phrase, "Be ye without sin the first to cast a stone." If you're not present to help with discipline, then you can't be upset with how I discipline.

Stress is always my beast of burden. I'm still slugging through backlogged papers and journals to grade because a funeral and rosary and candelight vigil takes a lot out of you. Emotionally, I've been wiped out. I'm struggling with teaching concepts alone and having to reinvent my teaching wheel mid-stride. I often wake up at 2am with a grand idea for teaching...and then struggle to fall back asleep so I can have the energy to start the idea in the morning.

I'm a stubborn individual. I feel so strongly about quality education that I don't let myself off the hook. I have met parents that grow angry with us teachers when we don't do things exactly so, but we're not infallible. Life hits us below the waist just like it does anyone else and the workload doesn't lessen. My standards certainly don't. I know stress-management is key for my thyroid's health. I just seem to be batting a thousand when it comes to stressors in life. Thing is, I see my principal, also a friend, and how she wears herself out because she's taking care of us teachers, our school, our students. I know our matriarch was the same way. Many times we don't push ourselves because of our personal sense of standards but because there are people we love and we help them carry the burden. We love education. We love children. And now we're walking with one less person. Do you think I'm going to give myself a break when there's even more to carry? That's where my stubbornness causes my own stress levels.

Maybe all it comes down to, folks, is that your health is valuable. Fight for it. Life is stressful in general. You learn to do certain things that improve your life. You either let people treat you a certain way - from your spouse, coworkers, boss, doctor, tax assessor, family, or friends - or you stand your ground and set boundaries. After awhile, things get better. I'm getting better at being mouthy and setting boundaries. Now if I could just get Hermoine's necklace where you can repeat the last hour so I could get more done...well, that'd be nice. Until then, I have to continually find balance in each day and continue doing those things that give me fulfillment and teaching gives me that feeling. I love it when I signal to students it's the end of class and they go, "Noooo!" or state, "Wow, this class always goes by so quickly." That means they're having fun and they have no clue how much I made them work. It shows me I'm doing more than alright.

Take care, readers!

Life's Curve Balls

Dear Readers,

I must apologize for my blogging absence. It's not because I have given up on my cause, but rather life has decided to throw several curve balls at once. The fatigue and other symptoms that plagued my recent daily life turned into extreme faintness in the middle of the work day. When I called my doctor's office, I got a rather patronizing nurse and I was not pleased with her response. She quizzed me on what I ate (everything I should and nothing I shouldn't) and she tried to make it seem like my protein intake was the problem. Come again? The diet I have eaten the last year that has made me healthy, energetic, and 45 pounds lighter is suddenly the issue? I call shenanigans. It was reminiscent of all those previous doctors who didn't believe me when I said there's a problem with my health and they'd sent me packing with a "it's all in your head" or "you're perfectly healthy" fairy tale ending. If I haven't changed anything in my diet, supplements, or exercise routine...tell me what I'm doing wrong, please. All you're doing is fueling the fire that makes me push for the desired outcome and I'll prove you wrong.

The very next day, a Friday, I received a call while at work. Anyone who is a teacher understands you don't get to answer personal calls during classroom time. My personal phone is on vibrate and I check it during my conference period, which happens to be at 3:00pm this year. The advice on the phone was too late to follow through with. I was advised that if I still felt that faint, I should go to a walk-in clinic. I was rather displeased with the message because of bad timing. And yes, I did not make that decision on my own the day before because, guess what, I'm used to not having help. The only good that came of it is that the nurse has to retract her statement to me from the day before because when the doctor read her notes from our phone conversation, he had a completely opposite viewpoint. He suggested seeking medical care immediately if it persisted.

I knew a walk-in clinic was not a viable option. Are they thyroid experts? It's more like mini-triage for flu, dehydration, spider bites, high fevers, etc. My thyroid results routinely come back "normal range" and the like and I don't get help with 99% of the medical population (quite frustrating). I could seek ER help, but we know what that'll end up as...a ridiculously high medical bill where I receive zero help. I knew my general practitioner wouldn't take any walk-ins after 2:30pm and, let's add, getting a sub the last hour of the work day is just so easy, right? Ha ha ha! Not! Besides I was heading to a parent conference in the next 30 seconds after hanging up the phone. Oh yes, thanks for helping. I called you on a day when I had time to make arrangements to receive help...and didn't receive it. Just lovely.

Since timing was bad and I didn't expect any help until my next doctor's appointment mid-October, I simply did what I had done prior to finding this doctor. I overate carb-meals for the next week (carbs I can eat, like corn tortillas and rice) knowing that weight gain would happen, but I also wouldn't keel over from my body over-reacting to what it thought was lack of food. Doc told me at my last doctor's appointment that it sounded like my body didn't want to lose anymore weight and he'd like to run blood testing to verify his theory. In essence, my body's communication had crossed some wires and it thought I wasn't eating enough fuel and it demanded more or it'd throw a temper tantrum in the fashion of dizziness and black vision. That means that I was right back where I used to be before this doctor, an undiagnosed thyroid patient feeling ravenous to the point of extremely distracted when she had eaten a healthy, satisfying, and filling meal one or two hours previously.

So, I made a choice to overeat calorie-wise because I knew that would balance out my body's crossed-wires communication systems and get me through each work day. I lucked out. It was 6 Weeks test taking time and used that time to sit and lean against my small-group table when the world started swimming (and no, snacking didn't help, only overeating did). I knew I wouldn't get to press the issue the following week because I had planned a trip months in advanced and I wouldn't even be in-state. I slept that weekend and I hadn't napped like that since last summer when my body was still slowly healing with the new medical help.

This out-of-state trip, simply stated, included visiting an extremely good friend because her city hosts a Comicon each September. I considered it a belated birthday celebration since my birthday is at the end of August. I was only out three work days and I slept on the plane and took a slower pace. When I started getting faint with swimming black vision, we ate and rested. I rested often.

The day prior to leaving I received an additional curve ball. I was absolutely devastated to hear a close colleague of mine, someone I considered a dear friend, had passed away. She and I worked closely with 4th grade writing. Literally, not only did I lose a friend, but my work-partner. I've had to change my students' academic schedule (we would split students each class period) and I'm still adjusting my curriculum because I know, for a fact, she's going to be extremely hard to replace. Not because of any bias on my part, I assure you. She was an expert veteran and you grow into those positions. And those individuals who are that awesome are all working somewhere by this time of year. I'm on my own. We discussed and agreed upon curriculum, lessons, resources, and Saturday School tutorials. I shared each test result with her and we identified who needed what kind of help. We talked to parents together. We ate lunch together almost every day.

To say the least, I've spent the last week absolutely heartbroken...and then progressively concerned because I'm an intelligent woman who is often brutally honest with herself. I recognize what I have to do alone. I know they can't replace her easily. My grade-level coworkers aren't much of team players and I'm not a charmer that can motivate them towards that end. I'm a passionate educator and that sometimes charms other educators because passion can be infectious, but my grade-level coworkers prefer focusing on negativity. I lost my only positive teammate. So, forgive me my blogging absence. I've had more than a few curve balls to juggle, bat, or dodge. I'm still trying to figure out which ones I can toss back and say, "In your face, you thought you had me!" I think I've tossed at least one of those curve balls back just to be pummeled by the others.

My Reverse T3 blood test I took came back Wednesday. I learned this on the automated answering service my doctor's office has. Since our local laboratory facility is slow to return the results to the doctor and often do not get them to the doctor by my appointment, I decided to do it asap. It cost me almost $100 copay, which I've never experienced before but when you're desperate to have improved health, you pay it. Surprisingly, results were in under a week (maybe some angels expedited the process).

The automated message stated that my thyroid is sluggish and we're upping my desiccated thyroid from 30mg (which I've been on about 20 months) to 60mg. At this point, I'm not going to the doctor earlier than my already-scheduled October appointment. I'm just doubling my present prescription and I was directed to call their office and they'll call my pharmacy about my new prescription.

The morning after my first increased thyroid dose, I didn't hit my alarm 4 times before actually getting up. I hit it once. The next day, I didn't hit it at all. For the previous 3 weeks, I was hitting the alarm button 4 or 5 times and then moving very sluggishly and getting to work at 7:30am instead of my regular 7:00-7:10am. Now, I'm not falling asleep during homework time with my girls, which is often about 5 or 6pm. I'm not experiencing that crazy faintness and swimming black vision. So, here's one curve ball I can toss back into the ether and shout, "You thought you had me, but I'm too stubborn to give up on my health! I don't mind nagging my health professionals. Ha ha ha!"

Thyroid problems are not easy to deal with. It's a hidden devil. All I can say is, if you have a friend or family member that appears to have frequent problems, don't think it's lack of will power that they're gaining weight. Don't think they're sneaking food because you see them eat a salad every day at work, but they're gaining weight so they must be sneaking food. Don't think they're making it up because you don't have conclusive symptoms like a fever (in fact their temperature will be lower than anyone else's). They're always donning a sweater or about to pass out if they're in summer heat for just 15 minutes. Thyroid symptoms are easy to miss.

Thyroid is a silent, invisible beast and make thyroid patients - diagnosed and mistreated or undiagnosed and not treated - give up and bit by bit, lose parts of their lives. I've heard and read stories of people who've lost spouses and had to quit dream careers because they couldn't maintain a simple life pace. I've known women that menopause caused a sudden collapse and their thyroid was at fault. I've met people (and suspect I am one) where childbirth triggered a malfunctioning and sputtering thyroid.

If you know someone like me, don't use tough love to browbeat them and push them into being better or doing more because you think it's all in their heads. It's not an attitude adjustment they need. If you see family or friends with fatigue, depression, or anxiety, these are symptoms of a hidden health issue. If someone is so fatigued, a doctor diagnoses them with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, it might actually be a thyroid problem. If someone has health problems all over their body, it's not that they want all this attention. Their thyroid is giving them health issues all over their body.

If someone who knows is in so much pain as to affect a brief outing at the zoo (and you're not remotely worn out)...and quite possibly, they've been diagnosed as having Fibromyalgia...it could be actually be their thyroid. They'll probably experiencing many health tests that have no conclusive data to prove any diagnosis, but yet their fatigue, daily pain, and grogginess persists and interferes with relationships and social calendars.

I press these points because I've been that person that doctors and close people didn't believe. I was told I was weak or it was all in my head. I just had to have mind over matter. I was told I was wasting money on supplements and foods and doctor's appointments. I was told that my thyroid theory was off base because nothing I tried was working....that it was all in my head. I was told I needed to see a psychiatrist.

I'm more stubborn that most in that passive-aggressive way. I knew all those voices were wrong. You won't know I'm disagreeing with you until I take action later on. But I was right to be stubborn about firing this doctor and pursue another course...and then fire that doctor and move on again. I found a miracle practitioner who is helping me and it's not an over-night event. We're still tweaking my health needs 20 months after our initial appointment and diagnosis.  You must be proactive and you must complain. The squeakiest wheel gets the oil, after all. The ether is greasing their pitch and you think you'll never get a homerun. Life throws you curve balls, so what? Just understand you gotta keep dodging them however you can and you'll get knocked down some. Keep picking the balls back up and volleying them back as soon as you have the strength. Do not give up. You're literally fighting for your life.

If you read this not because you have health issues but because someone you care about does...support them in every way. Don't buy them donuts as a treat. Don't suggest fast food for lunch. And when a doctor says "there's nothing wrong," encourage them to fire that quack and hire a new one. The support we get is paramount in the help we receive and how quickly we are able to live our lives again.

So, here's throwing a curve ball back. I missed several weeks of blogging, but I'm back.