Its Time To Get Real

About food, that is!  Also, nutrition, fitness and my health in general.  I had let my health slide DURING my pregnancy with my first child.  I know, talk about a heck of a time to let it go.  However, I was young and listening to several people who were completely ignorant to the subject of nutrition, especially how nutrition during pregnancy can affect your labor and delivery and the health of your baby.  I ate with reckless abandon and gained 60 lbs!  Yes, that's right...no typo there.  60 pounds, or one Kate Moss.  My recovery was slow and difficult, and, my poor daughter was a miserable baby.  She had reflux and gained weight VERY slowly. I suffered from horribly low milk supply(I was pumping and ONLY ever got blood, no milk) so my daughter, who was already having a rough go, had to be switched to formula as this was several years ago...there was no facebook, no social networking and so, no information about donor milk or things like that. I had no idea that my diet could have affected things so drastically.  I assumed that this was just one of those things and went about my life with my bad habits.   Then, when my daughter was about 2, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease and PCOS.  I knew that something had to change.  I went to weight watchers and took medications prescribed by my doctor. The weight would fluctuate wildly.  I would alternate feeling great and feeling like hell.  During one of the periods when my weight was better, I became pregnant with my son.  I had a much more complicated pregnancy with my son and delivered him at 37 weeks.  It was a miserable pregnancy and, while my physical recovery was easier, I suffered from horrible postpartum depression.  Again, while I tried to breastfeed, I had no support and frequent pumping sessions again yielded only blood. About 4 months after giving birth, I saw my family doctor, who had done some blood work and felt that my thyroid hormones weren't being managed properly...my TSH was FAR too high and was probably what was causing my milk to dry up so quickly.  I was devastated.  My poor boy, who, at just 6 weeks of age was admitted to Children's Hospital, then suffered from a virus similar to RSV, and spent so much time sick, was not able to be breastfed, which is especially beneficial to babies prone to being sick.  I knew something had to give.  Several doctors wanted to start typical drugs for PCOS, mainly, Metformin.  I was NOT ok with this.  I was handed anti-inflammatory and diabetic diets...these diets just looked plain WRONG to me.  Why would any doctor hand me a diet recommending SOY?!  I have autoimmune thyroid disease and doctors were telling me to eat soy and LOTS of grains.  That artificial sweeteners were ok and to avoid strenuous exercises.  Then I found GOOD doctors.  One doctor piqued my interest when he mentioned that cutting grains(especially wheat) out of my diet would be FAR more beneficial for my health conditions than any medicine he could prescribe.  Another doctor ran tests and discovered that I had some vitamin deficiencies.  I was mildly overweight and had vitamin deficiencies, most notably, b-12 and D.  I was alternately appalled and amazed.  This was RIGHT before I became pregnant with #3.  Now, in that time I had started making some changes.  I had cut wheat out of my diet, gave up 'fake' foods: nothing low-fat or with artificial sweeteners.  I was eating butter, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar and taking a fermented cod liver oil/butter oil blend, as well as d-chiro inositol and heavy doses of probiotics.  Then, much to my surprise, I turned up pregnant.  And, amazingly, I felt much better this pregnancy.  I was tired but I managed much better and I carried MUCH longer than I ever had before!  I went two full weeks longer than I ever had before and gave birth to a baby that outweighed my others by 1 1/2 lbs!!  She was a completely different baby than I was used to.  Nursing has worked out better this time as well, however, due to her tongue and lip tie, she ended up dehydrated and my supply fell through the floor.  However, I was able to sort it out and start pumping and the older she gets, the better her latch is, so she is STILL nursing and getting breastmilk.  I had no issues with postpartum depression this time, just a minor return of anxiety attacks.  I DID start to notice though, a general funk through my house, and baby weight that won't go anywhere.  I was feeling the stress and the kids were acting horribly.  Then I came across this FASCINATING post over at Holistic Kid discussing the possibility of children being born with sugar sensitivities and some inherent behavior struggles that these kids may have!  This described my kids to a tee.  Then I realized that, from about 37 weeks pregnant, I really had just thrown in the towel.  I was lax about giving the kids their supplements.  We stopped going anywhere and I wasn't taking them out to play.  I was letting their grandparents take them out for fast food all.the.time.  Then the baby came and it didn't get any better.  After reading the post at Holistic Kid, I realized that I knew better and so I have to DO better.  Its time to clean up the diet, get back on the supplements, get active and get back on track.  SO, every week I will be posting meal plans, workout routines and progress reports!  Its always hard to get back on track after falling off, but now I've got a greater motivation than ever!!