Today I met with Claire Mooney at Magnolia House. Magnolia house offers nutritional consultations, herbal remedies and acupuncture. I set up an appointment to have her look at my diet and point out nutritional gaps, and perhaps steer me in the right direction in terms of my personal health issues.
Of course the thing that stands out is my ongoing allergy and asthma issues. I have had allergies my whole life, and asthma since I was 23. We talked for a while about what I do and don't eat, and she asked me what my personal food pyramid would look like. This was a really good question- and very telling as it turns out! I knew I ate a lot of grains, but I thought the thing I ate the most of after that was veggies and fruits, then meat & dairy, then nuts and beans at the tiny top. When Claire looked at my food log on this blog, she pointed out that I actually eat a shitload of gluten, or wheat products. I was really embarrassed to have her look at the blog, especially since i have been eating a lot of crappy snacks lately. I was also embarrassed that I didn't realize what I was eating! When I went home later, I started to look back through the blog and realized I have been so focused on low-calorie meals, I have let myself get lazy, eating processed grains and tacos and whatever.
Claire recommended I eliminate gluten and dairy from my diet, completely, for 2 weeks and see how I feel. I was told this same thing by another herbalist/nutritionist (forgive me for not knowing the exact lingo or title for this profession!) that I met with before my sinus surgery last year.
I think I know already that this change is going to make me feel better. I am happy to be taking these steps forward in my ongoing commitment to my health and wellness, but I am currently feeling kind of down about today. I think it is because thinking about my asthma always makes me feel sad. I feel like I have so much to work on, and I have only scratched the surface by losing weight and adding regular exercise to my life. There is so much work to do, and as I have said before it is the work of a lifetime.
Claire said it seems like I have a lot of the knowledge I need as far as food goes, and that I just seem to need help applying it to myself. She also wants me to try acupuncture and herbs, she has a special herbal blend that is for the lungs specifically. She sounded very confident that we could increase my lung health and capacity, which was hopeful. I know not everyone "believes" in traditional Chinese medicine, but honestly, I have been to so many doctors for so many years and all they seem to know how to do is write me a prescription for Advair (which, by the way, is over $200 a month!) I am increasingly interested in a holistic approach, and I feel Claire is someone I can trust. If anything, I can relate to her sense of humor, which is really big for me. She also seems so healthy and strong herself, someone who might be practicing what she preaches.
So. After work today I went to Whole Foods and picked up a few things, and browsed around a little bit. Whole Foods has a lot of great gluten-free products. I re-discovered some black sesame tamari rice crackers I love, and picked up some pastas and other treats.... ahem, delicious chocolate dairy-free coconut milk ice cream....
So all in all, not a death sentence! I am excited for this challenge, and glad to be making this next step. You will probably see some changes to my food logs, most significantly the absence of Greek yogurt everyday.
I will survive ;)
xoxox,
Robin
WOW, Robin...this is big news! Isn't it great that we've kept track of everything we've been putting into our bodies these past four months? Even if we weren't trying to get fit--it's valuable information on its own apart from that.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, because yesterday I discovered these gluten-free noodles called NO-dles that are calorie free and made from yam paste or something odd like that. Not bad. Literally have zero calories.
I'm very interested in this concept of seeing a nutritionist. Did you go specifically for the asthma advice? I wonder if she could take a look at what I'm doing and give me some recommendations. I'm frustrated because I'm not losing any weight--just maintaining what I've lost--and I need a kick in the pants, I think. Do you mind me asking how much it cost?
Go, Robin! Gluten and diary free for two weeks! Sounds like a great challenge.
Hrrmmmm..... I didn't go specifically for asthma advice- more just hoping she would look and go: eat this, not that!.... which she did. I guess the thing I didn't count on was that by stepping foot in that office I ended up sort of talking about everything. It makes sense- all of our body systems are connected.
ReplyDeleteSo, the thing is- if you go to see her- or probably anyone in this field- you won't be able to just say: HI! I want to lose weight! What am I doing wrong?! Their practice is in healing and healthiness. Being healthy has always been my number 1 goal, weight loss was always just one part of the equation.
If you would like to see her or her bizznizz partner- you can follow the link above in my post to their website. They also have a link to a blog they do. You should check it out. A nutritional consultation is $35-$45.
As far as your plateau, I don't know. It takes a long-ass time. Remember to focus on getting stronger and healthier and less on the scale. I honestly think you should toss your home scale and just use the one at the gym every week or so. It helps me not to obsess! It also helps get me into the gym.... if I don't know how I am feeling/weighing, it is because I haven't been at the gym.
All that said, I kind of want a home scale. What a hypocrite!!!
another thing- hit those classes at the y again!! you have to trick your muscles into burning more calories. hit the classes and do interval training hardcore!
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