My Journey to Better Health

Sigh!  Were you ever on a trip that seemed more like you were on a roller coaster rather than a highway?  You have a destination in mind, a vision of how wonderful it will be to "arrive". You pack your bags, load the van, and look around for your map.  Well, there is Rand McNally Atlas, National Geographic Atlas, and Michlin Atlas to pick from. Which one to choose?  Which is the easiest one to follow?  Hopefully they all have the same information, but maybe, just maybe there are some differences.  Well, there are more, many many more, "atlas es" out there proclaiming that their highways are the best to travel to arrive at better health.  Just follow their directions and you will pull right up at your totally healthy, sleek-looking, drug-free destination.  They must all be correct, for they each have wonderful testimonies from people who have traveled their roads right to the perfect ending.   I have traveled with some of those "atlas es" - one by Dr. Atkins, another by Diana Schwarzbein, still another by Sally Fallon.  For some reason, I always ended up at the same destination - the city of Frustration!  So, instead of finding the atlas that was right for my journey, I gave up on all of them and wondered down the road of Don't Care Anymore.  Ever been on that road?  Oh, you have perfect freedom - feeling sad? Eat! Feeling happy? Eat! Mad? Eat!  Who cares??  But, soon you realize you're not alone, for every so many miles you gain another companion - and their names are all the same "Add Another Pound"!   They are sneaky companions!  They sneak up on you and latch on without you realizing it and all of a sudden! you look at yourself and wonder how on earth you ended up with all these companions!   Oh, dear friends, it is not a fun destination!  For some of us, desperation sets in and we are tempted to keep traveling on the road named Don't Care Anymore, but we now realize it is lined with enemies waiting to attack us and make us more sick and weak. 

Many of you know that I have thyroid issues for 23 yrs. and for about 5-6 years now I have been having trouble getting my levels to stay at an even keel, where I feel good for a long period of time.  I have also weighed the same for the last 6 years.   My desire is to lose 35 #'s in hopes of helping my thyroid function better and for me to be more healthy.  I know that may not sound like much to lose, but it is enough to be difficult for me. The first thing I knew I needed to do was to find someone to be accountable to, someone who could help me get a personalized map for my journey.  I visited a nutritionist and she mapped me a travel plan.  It had to be tweeked a few times since then (which was 3 wks ago), but I have learned alot.  Portion sizes are the biggest thing that has got my attention.  3 cups of veggies is alot of veggies! An ounce of bread is next to nothing.  3 oz. of meat can fill you up, 1/2 banana is a serving of fruit. Wheat makes me hungry all the time, and beans for breakfast are wonderful.  I have also learned that I have low blood sugar and if I don't eat every 4 hrs. I am in trouble.  Another discipline that has been really good for me is I have to walk for 40 min. every day.  I love to walk and I love to walk on the road, however, if it is raining or really cold, I walk in the barn.  Well, yet another thing I have learned is 40 minutes (2 miles) walking in the barn is about more than I can bear!  :) It is 42 times around and around and this is my view......up one side

down the other......

I have my challenges on this journey.  I am tempted to go down Chocolate Ave., and Donut Lane.  They beckon to me and leave me under the impression that just alittle detour won't hurt, but I know that if I am serious about reaching my destination, I cannot be looking out my side windows, but straight ahead toward the goal.  I have left a few pounds behind in the dust already, which my nutritionist says is almost a miracle because of my thyroid, but I so want to reach my destination and to do that I have to travel this road, sometimes roller coaster, that will get me there.  Only with God's strength and His timing! . . . . . . . . . . . .

Until next time. . . . . . . .