The Journey Never Ends...

It's hard to believe that it's been over 3 months since we've started on this path, but time flies in the midst of self-exploration!

I hope you're feeling proud of how far you've come and optimistic about your future as a healthy, happy, and beautifully balanced person. What we've accomplished together is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of your potential for wellness, and I encourage you to continue tuning in to your body and listening to its wisdom and guidance.

Remember to maintain all of your new healthy habits and not let life impinge on time needed for self-care. Use this blog as reference whenever you need a little inspiration or motivation to get back on track, and of course I'm always here for you if you need me.

Here are my last few recommendations:

Keep On Keepin' On

Now that you've become well-acquainted and comfortable with the new diet and wellness practices that will help to bring you greater health and balance, it's time to do the hardest part of all... making these behaviors stick!

One of the best ways to keep yourself motivated is to surround yourself with positive, healthy reinforcement. That includes things like...

• connecting with health-conscious bloggers via social media (Pinterest is great for inspiration and recipes!).
• talking about food and wellness with friends and family.
• joining a community of like-minded people (such as at a yoga center or gym) 
• arranging your kitchen and home to be more conducive to wellness (such as getting some inspiring wall art or pleasant indoor plants, organizing your cupboard, getting candles for the bathroom or bedroom, etc).

Preparation is 95% of Success

After a much needed recharging of your batteries, and connecting with all the amazing people in your life who nourish you with their love, it's time to get back on track with nourishing your body.

First up, friendly reminder to schedule that acupuncture appointment. It will definitely bring back your period and work in accordance with your new diet and self-care routine to support healing.

This week, we also talked about taking on meal planning as a regular way to maintain a healthy diet, working up to getting 7.5 hours of sleep as the norm, and self-care practices to help relieve stress. So here are your recommendations for the next couple of weeks...

1. Plan your meals in advance. Now I realize that this can be a time-consuming task but if you invest in about 30 minutes weekly to create a meal plan for the week, and do a little bit of daily, or every-other-daily prep in the evenings or mornings, you'll be much more likely to have satisfying and nutritious meals with minimal inconvenience when it's actually time to eat.

Baby Steps to Major Progress

Phoebe, I'm so thrilled with how you're progressing so far. I hope you're patting yourself on the back as well for how proactively and naturally you're taking your health into your own hands. You're not only following my recommendations, but expanding and elevating them based on your instincts towards wellness, and it's just fabulous to be along for the ride with you.

So lets keep up that momentum and take another step forward!

For the next couple of weeks, continue following the recommendations from our previous sessions, and add to that the following:

1. Make an appointment for acupuncture for amenorrhea, this is a very effective yet gentle way to open the channels of the body and return its natural rhythms.

2. Start tracking what you eat and any uncomfortable symptoms you experience. Food Allergy Detective is the app I mentioned which could help with this, or you can always keep a notebook if that works better for you. On the topic of apps, here are more apps to support health and wellness which are all free! And of course continue tuning in to your body and following those hunches when you feel like a particular food or activity is doing more harm than good. Write those down too and we'll discuss next time.

Let Food Be Your Medicine

Nutrition, digestion, and absorption are essential for creating health and wellness. And while it sounds like you don't eat many conventionally "unhealthy" foods, which is wonderful, there are still a few ways which your diet can be modified to support healing.

Here are your recommendations for the next two weeks. I hope the detail is helpful rather than overwhelming!

1. Consume more healthy fats.
2. Reduce sugar and starchy foods.
3. Reduce blood sugar spikes with adequate snacking between meals.
4. Increase anti-candida and probiotic-enhancing foods.

Now here's how you can do all of that...

Consume more healthy fats.

1. Eat a teaspoon of coconut oil every morning and evening before bed. I highly recommend looking for the extra-virgin organic variety, with my personal preferred brands being Artisana and Nutiva. You can also cook with coconut oil and substitute it for olive oil when sautéing vegetables, add it to smoothies, and use it for skincare (it's a little oily so I generally use it overnight to wake up with smooth skin). In case you're not convinced how amazing this stuff is, check out this list of 160 uses!

2. Other healthy fats include organic butter and ghee (international/Asian aisle, unrefrigerated), as well as full fat yogurt, nuts and nut butter, avocados, cheese, and low-mercury fish such as salmon.

Welcome to wellness

Congratulations on taking the first step in your new and balanced approach to health!

With a little gentle guidance and plenty of support you're well on your way to managing your thyroid condition with ease and feeling your ultimate best.

As we've discussed, it's very likely that your collection of symptoms - headaches, digestive discomfort, weight fluctuation, amenorrhea, yeast infections, and anxiety - are all related. Once we get on track to making gradual adjustments in your diet and lifestyle, it's very likely that a positive domino effect will begin to emerge where you start to feel better and better, and get back into the routine of knowing what your body needs and actually satisfying that need with nourishment in many forms.

So relax, trust the process, and let your body guide you towards better health. It knows exactly what to do, we're just going to tune in and listen!

As the weeks and months go on, we're going to delve into balancing your digestive system, reducing your stress level, creating hormonal balance, and crafting a customized nutrition plan that is full of all the wholesome foods your unique body thrives on while also finding ways to fit that healthy diet into your busy schedule.

So here we go!

These are your recommendations for the next two weeks:

1. Repeat the following affirmation to set a positive intention of welcoming health into your body and mind (or any similar affirmation that feels right for you): I love myself unconditionally, and I make time to connect with my amazing body every day.

Times that are great to repeat this affirmation are generally times when you're not focused on anything else, such as: when you're in bed awaiting sleep, when you're waiting for the train or are on the train, when you're walking, when doing yoga, even when you're peeing! Just continually remind  yourself to repeat it throughout the day. Affirmations are a very powerful and effective way of planting ideas into your subconscious mind which you wish to see manifested in your daily life. This particular affirmation will facilitate your daily self-care practices and will ultimately support the process of nurtured healing.

2. Focus on getting more sleep. Do a mini sleep detox by committing to a minimum of 8 hours of sleep for at least 3 nights in a row. Notice how you feel on that 4th day. 

Your body does an incredible amount of healing while you sleep, including balancing the hormones that are essential for keeping your thyroid happy, calm, and balanced. Quality sleep also helps your mental functioning, communication, natural detoxification, cellular repair, immune balance, cardiovascular health... you get the idea, it's really important, so aim to get as much as possible over the next 2 weeks.

3. Take the candida home test. Here's a link that shows an illustration and the basic process. I recommend looking after about 5 minutes and jotting down what you see, and then looking again after 30 minutes and jotting down what you see. If you can take a picture of the 30 minute results that would be very helpful in assessing the overall growth level. 

If you see something kinda gross, don't worry! Drink some water with fresh lemon to alkalize your digestive tract and give you a more refreshing feeling until we can address this more directly.

Ok, now regarding your upcoming visit with the new endocrinologist, here's what I recommend (sorry if it's ALOT to absorb, but asking about these things now will help us see the bigger picture for what your body needs):

• Ask for a full thyroid panel with antibodies because you suspect Hashimotos.
• Ask to have your vitamins and minerals checked, just to rule out deficiency and give us an insight into what foods might be extra beneficial for you.
• Ask for a food allergy IGG test. People with Hashimotos often present with multiple food allergies so this will help us stay clear of any foods your body isn't processing very well right now.
• Ask to have your female hormones checked, like progesterone, DHEA, pregnenolone, and others because all of this could affect the thyroid and could indicate why your periods are irregular.
• Ask to have your cortisol levels checked.
• If the doctor doesn't do an ultrasound on your thyroid, ask whether she thinks that's necessary to rule out nodules or abnormal size.
• Mention your family history of gluten intolerance so the doc has that on file.
• Ask what the doc recommends diet-wise, so we're sure to incorporate this.

Whew! I think that's everything for now, and I hope you're not feeling overwhelmed. You have two weeks for the 3 recommendations above so don't worry about getting them all done right away, just go at your own pace and do as much as you can, keeping in mind this is the foundational beginning of your recovery journey. 

Talk to you soon!