Steel Kitten

It's been a pretty good week

I was off work last week with Martin, spending quality time resting and watching some of our Christmas DVDs. Sticking to my goals this week has been relatively simple, but I'll be interested to see how that changes when I go back to work tomorrow and have less time and energy. Each challenge week will run from Sunday to Saturday, and I'll try and report every Sunday on how we've done. 

Walking - I worked out that my weekly total walking should be 16km to get to 500 miles by next January. This week, despite starting in the middle of the week, I managed 17.65km thanks to a fantastic walk in Salcey Forest Saturday morning. I felt a bit stir crazy when I woke up and suggested to Martin we go check out some of the walks in the forest, as we'd lived within a few miles of it for ten years and still hadn't gone there. An hour later, after packing food and drink and unearthing our hiking boots, off we went. 

To say some parts of the Woodpecker walk were muddy would be an understatement. At one point my whole right boot disappeared up to my ankle, but it was fun.We got to see some wildlife, but only heard not saw  the woodpecker that the walk was named after.

 

Reading - haven't started that yet. I have picked my book, 'In the Heart of the Sea' , which I'm ashamed to say I've had unread on the shelf for over a year. Just haven't opened it up yet.

Internet fast - just squeaked in over the hour a day here. I had a load of banking to do, and that lead on to me reading a few articles on financial stuff which took me over. I think I'll have to make a list of things that are allowable under this category, as I consider reading about financial stuff a mandatory wealth-building past-time.

Nutrition plan - egg yolks are back in. Yay! Happy dancing, as I really need more sources of protein than just meat, poultry and fish.

No spending - did quite well on this. Everything was necessary and we really underspent on petrol compared to usual as we were on annual leave. We were also living out of my freezers, which are overflowing with discounted food.  

New windscreen wiper rubbers                 £11

Petrol                                                     £25

Chicken food & straw and hay bales         £17.64

Our food                                                £9.18                     

Cat food                                                £8.00

Total                                                     £71.44

I did have the mercury fillings on the right side of my mouth replaced on Friday, but this was paid for in December out of my savings so this will not be counted. I'm due back to have the left side done in February.

Just to clarify what is and isn't involved, below is a list of the things we will not be spending money on as part of this challenge:

• Books, magazines, dvds
• Clothes, shoes, and accessories
• Luxury toiletries and make-up
• Bric-a-brac, furniture and household items
• Takeaways and meals out not related to family celebrations
• Weekends away/overnight stays
• Craft items

There are certain things that we have decided to exclude:

Supplements, information and things that support health

Prescription drugs are out, as are over the counter medicines and emergency dental work. I have numerous supplements in different forms to help my gut heal, digest my food, and generally fill my micro-nutrient tank that has been severely depleted over the last few months. These are also out, as they get me up and out the door to work to earn income.

Emergency breakdowns and maintenance

From cars and boilers to fridges and kettles, we may be a bit creative for a few days, maybe even weeks, but these will eventually be fixed or replaced. This includes maintenance. No point scrimping and not maintaining something only to have a bigger repair bill later when it breaks down or conks out completely.

Vegetable seeds and plants

My diet has changed dramatically compared to what it was, and I am currently in the middle of an elimination diet to identify those foods that trigger an immune reaction. My fruit and veg consumption is over 10 portions a day now and rising, all of which can be expensive. I need to be able to grow as much as I can, and over the next few weeks I will be clearing out the polytunnel and sorting out the vegetable beds ready for production of as much as I can.

Takeaways and meals out related to family celebrations

I'm cutting out any takeaways or meals out over the next few months apart from those related to family celebrations. My mother-in-law is 83 in February and my 43rd birthday is also at the end of this month. On both of those occasions we intend to eat either at a restaurant or have a takeaway (although I am considering cooking a family meal for Martin's mum). Beyond that, there will be no takeaways or meals out.

*** 

So that's it so far. Here's hoping for another good week. How are you doing with your resolutions and goals?

What will 2016 bring?

 

Despite spending the last six months struggling with food allergies, malnutrition, and the horrible effects of hypothyroidism, I still have goals and dreams. In fact, sometimes it was only these that gave me some focus when I felt bad, and they were also how I knew that my symptoms were not the result of depression or stress. I actively wanted to do things, planned to do things, but lacked any energy to move and do them. I still enjoyed a lot of quiet activities when I wasn't resting or sleeping, like colouring, needlepoint, and creating mood boards on Pintrest and Tumblr of some of my favourite things, and my feelings of self-worth were still strong and intact. I was just extremely confused about what was going on with me, but luckily having a Type A personality meant I wouldn't stop until I had an answer and a way of fixing the problem.

Actually, until that point I thought that being a Type A personality was a pain in the butt. The restless drive to do things, to achieve things, to know things, has been tiring in the past and led me towards an unhealthy perfectionism habit that caused me a lot of stress. However, under these circumstances it proved to be a godsend. I had no fear of immersing myself in new knowledge and taking action to uncover better answers than "You're probably a bit depressed due to Seasonal Affective Disorder" or "All women are a bit tired". My personality means I'm not afraid to call bullshit when I smell it and go it alone if I have to.

So in that respect being type A has been incredibly helpful.

The hypothyroidism has been helpful in its own way too. I've let go of a lot of things, and with it a lot of stress, and I go with the flow a lot more than I used to. For example, I can walk around mess and ask Martin to sort out because it will tire me out too much to do it. In the past I'd be stressed if it wasn't done and end up doing it while gnashing my teeth, no matter how tired I was.

I am a lot more flexible about plans because sometimes I feel unwell and break them. I will not push myself to exhaustion or make other people feel more comfortable by pretending I'm ok when I'm not. This means that sometimes we ran out of clean pants and socks, and some people get annoyed with me when I won't jump when they want me to, but hey! Tough. My health comes first.

So, to honour the type A part of me that has been so helpful over the last few months, as well as giving me something to focus on and aid my full recovery, I have set some challenges for myself for the coming year.

No spending for three months

I wanted to find ways of saving more money, of getting to our financial goals and retirement faster, but balked at the thought of doing it for the year. It just seemed too long and I wasn't sure what the future held for me health-wise, and this will impact on my ability to earn extra income. But then I realised there was no real reason why I couldn't do it for a short focused period of time, and if it worked roll it on for another few months. So that is what I am going to do.

For three months I'm not going to spend money on anything not connected to an essential monthly bill or emergency repair. I will write about the specifics of it in a couple of days, but for 13 weeks there will not be a penny spent on stuff that is not needed.

Walk 500 miles

One of the hardest things about the last few months is not being able to move any more than was strictly necessary. Exercise went out the window. I couldn't do yoga as my joints and muscles were so stiff (read swollen) it was painful. Rowing at a gentle pace for 10 minutes left me gasping, heart pounding and wanting to be sick. The last time I was in the garden I had an immune flare. Even walking round the village fatigued me to the point I would be red-faced and shaky with a temperature. Me and exercise didn't mix. Now I know it was my body telling me that my cell nutrients were dangerously depleted and could not keep anything other than the essentials going. Heavily supplementing my nutrition and embracing an elimination diet means I am now able to go for a walk around the village and feel ok when I get back. Yay! Go me. I have two routes around my village on MapMyRun - one that is 1.82km and one that is 2.83km - and a couple of opportunities for walking near my office, so I've decided to walk a total of 500 miles by this time next January, which is about 2.3km a day.

Have a complete nutrition plan

Thyme and rosemary meatballs with wilted spinach and roasted parsnips

Over the last few months I have developed a number of surprising food allergies/ intolerances and embarked on an elimination diet to try and bring my immune system under control. I was swelling up with around 10lbs of water each day, starting off in the morning a size 12/14 and finishing up a size 16/18. I've had to wear loose clothes and pin/belt them in the morning, then undo them as the day progressed.

Each time I eat something my stomach/bowels/immune system do not agree with I 'flare', which is a complex assortment of mental and physical symptoms. At the cellular level, each time I eat something problematic, my immune system rushes in to 'stamp out' the offender. This unfortunately sometimes means that my thyroid hormone gets a thumping, as some food proteins are so similar in structure to it that my immune system gets confused and tags the wrong things. At the moment I eat unprocessed meat, fish, fruit and some vegetables supplemented by coconut products (oil/cream/milk), sea salt, lemon juice, honey and leaf herbs. That's it. Not that interesting, but it works. I relented over Christmas and ate gluten-free ready made foods and paid the price when I started swelling up again and had a headache for five straight days, so no more cheating.

By the end of this year, I want to have a complete understanding of what foods I can safely eat without triggering an immune reaction. I want to have re-introduced and tested all of the basic foods I eat, with only the luxuries left to test such as spices, condiments and seldom-eaten items. I will be following Mickey Trescott's excellent Autoimmune Paleo Protocol and basing the re-introductions on her recommendations.

Read one book a month

I have so many books on my shelves that I want to read it is getting embarrassing, so I have designated half a shelf in my bookcase for the ones that will be read this year. This is - finally - the year for War and Peace. There are 15 books, as some of them are a bit thin and once I get into them will be read quite quickly.

New 30 day trial - no more than one hour a day on the internet

I've battled with this for years on and off. I know I'm healthier and happier when I am not plugged in all the time, I know aimless surfing is a waste of time, I know it stops me from sleeping properly and interacting well with others, so why am I still doing it?

So until the 6th February I will spend no more than one hour a day on the internet unless it is work related. The rest of my time will be spent crafting, reading, journaling and decluttering. If this works, I will roll it on for another month and then on...

So, that's me.

Still here. Still trying. Mostly failing, but always, always keeping going.