I have been very busy lately. It is summer and I have been avoiding the rut I got into last year of blogging all day. Instead, family time has been a priority. I was hoping that the more relaxed schedule, the ability to sleep in past 5am, and the absence of work stress would help me feel less tired.
You see, I have been fighting fatigue for some time now. My doctor gave me the all clear, reminding me that I have been more than stressed for the past three years as my son battled leukemia. I feel now, however, that I should have recovered more from that than my body actually has. I will never ‘relax’ and forget about it all, but I don’t have the immediate stress of the illness anymore. So what is going on?
I have found that I wake up feeling like I have not been to sleep at all. For months I have been sleeping like a baby and feeling exhausted upon waking. Recently, I have not been able to get to sleep at night, despite being bone tired, so I think my new-found passion for coffee is screwing me up some!
I know I have been given a clean bill of health but I am a little suspicious of my adrenal glands. Having such high stress levels for so long will have filled my body with the stress hormone cortisol. That wreaks havoc with your adrenals. So I have been looking for natural ways to try to regulate this. I know I need a good eating plan:
•Avoid gluten — a protein that many women with adrenal imbalance may be sensitive to.
•Eat adequate protein at every meal — important for energy and stamina.
•Eat within an hour of waking — helps restore healthy blood sugar levels.
•Eat healthy fats.
•Eliminate all “white” food – refined sugar, flour, and grains, at least temporarily. (This is easy as I already do this for the most part)
In addition to eating well, I also need to follow a gentle and regular exercise routine. Here is where it gets a little tricky. You see I am about to sign up to run a half-marathon – more on that in another post, so I am going to have to train. This means balancing my exercise program to meet the needs of both my adrenal fatigue and my goal of running a crazy amount of miles when I can’t even make it to the end of our street without keeling over!
I also have to take into consideration my herniated disk at the base of my neck. This is an old injury which threatens to pop from time to time, always at the most inconvenient moment, and is a constant nagging companion whenever I decide to be awake!!! I have learned that exercise is the best thing for it; strengthening the muscles around my neck keeps the disc in place. I just have to be careful!
So this is where I am at. School is going to start soon so I need to get my butt back on that crazy schedule. My kids are going to the local school (instead of schlepping down to the school I teach at miles away), so we have a new way of doing things to figure out. I am working on kicking my adrenals into shape along with my ‘within normal weight‘ body with the ‘not going to run anywhere fast‘ physique. Big boobs and butt are sexy to some, but my expanding middle (also a sign of adrenal fatigue) is not! It is also one of the unhealthiest places to gain weight. This healthy working mom wants to reevaluate and get her game on again!
Healthy Working Mom 