Tag: goals

Posted in Overall health, supplements

Iron! – Wellness Wednesdays

Posted on by nlchronicles

One of the markers that I have to monitor is my iron level. Minimum should be 12 but to feel great, the goal is at least 50. And let me tell you, this marker has been a struggle!

Allow me to remind everyone that I am not giving medical advice, but just sharing my journey that has allowed me to move toward better health.

About 14 years ago, I had a huge drop in my iron level. Long story short, my menstrual cycle stayed on for almost a year. There were ebbs and flows but just constant. It was so bad that I was freezing while everyone at work was warm. I went to an outpatient urgent care and found out that my iron level was 6!!! The nurses were surprised that I didn’t have more complications with such a low level.

Soooooo I had to get a blood transfusion of two pints and stay in the hospital overnight. Not a fun process but I was able to begin the work on having a higher iron level. But with heavy cycles, it’s a challenge to have a higher iron level. It typically hovers around 12 🤯

I was taking a really good iron supplement once daily and recently switched to desiccated beef liver, which has a higher bioavailability. I actually had lab work taken today that included my iron level so I am hopeful that the desiccated liver has helped. 🤞🏾

Why mention all this? Your hemoglobin level is so critical to many body functions. Did you know that you can have heart palpitations if your iron level is too low? Or that you may develop pica? I’ve not had these symptoms but a friend did. Developing a healthy iron level is still my goal and I’m determined to keep pushing the envelope for better health in this area.

Any suggestions on how to increase the iron level? I’m definitely open to suggestions. See you next week!

Posted in food

Cooking at Home – Wellness Wednesday

Posted on by nlchronicles

Cooking and meal prepping have been HUGE game changers for me. I did quite a bit of health testing to see what works or does not work well for me. This helped tremendously and thankfully I have no food allergies, but it does limit some of my food choice options. And when I eat out, I don’t know the exact details of what is going in the food.

Allow me to remind everyone that I am not giving medical advice, but just sharing my journey that has allowed me to move toward better health.

I found that many nightshades bother me. These include potatoes, paprika and all peppers. Paprika is probably the worst offender but is used in so many recipes! So to better monitor the ingredients and the quality of products, I started cooking more. And unless restaurants become more slanted toward AIP or paleo, then choosing to cook at home is a must.

At first, I made the same recipes all of the time, but my nutritionist pointed out that I had appropriate cookbooks and why not actually try those recipes lol. My fear is always – what if the recipe is gross? 😧 the horror! So I decided to try only one new recipe at a time for any given meal (as I eat basically the same thing throughout weekdays). That way, I could try different options without feeling like I’m constantly throwing money away on meals that I don’t like.

And what is even more important to me is that I control the quality of what I’m eating. So I control sodium content which is crucial when trying to be healthier. Have you actually looked at the sodium levels at some places?? There’s one restaurant which I won’t name in which none of the meals has a sodium level less than 1000 mg with some ranging up to 3000 mg. That’s INSANE! Managing carbs is high priority for me so I can better monitor this as well by cooking at home.

I highly recommend taking the time to meal prep and cook more at home. It’s better for everyone in the long run. See you next week!

Posted in self-care, Work/life balance

Beyond Work – Wellness Wednesdays

Posted on by nlchronicles

Even before the pandemic, I worked in a remote position. BUT I had a good deal of travel in my previous job so I wasn’t at home all of the time unlike my current situation. One thing that remote work has really pushed me to do is have a life outside of work!

For far too many years, work has been everything and outside interests were a tiny speck in my life. Sure, I went on vacation, but I didn’t take the time to pursue things that I was truly interested in. Well being at home alllllll the time definitely changed that up. I have always enjoyed being out in nature but now it truly has purpose. And I’m able to finally explore the area that I moved to last year but couldn’t.

In my quest for physical health, I had to realize that other aspects of life play a part in wellness too. And then I had to act on that, which can be easier said than done. I even attended a session today sponsored by my job on burnout and that can affect everything in your life- body aches and pains, minor illnesses, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia …the list went on and on.

Some things that I’ve done for self-care that have absolutely nothing to do with my job include:

  • Spa day! 🧖🏾‍♀️
  • Visiting family monthly since I live less than 90 minutes away, the first time in YEARS
  • Visit the art museum
  • Find walking trails to check out
  • Visit nature areas, and more

So I encourage you to join me in celebrating life outside the confines of work if you have not and do what brings you joy. I’m sharing a couple of pictures from my recent adventures below. See you next week!

At the overlook
At an area park
In front of the art museum

Posted in Updates

Transformation Tuesday!

Posted on by nlchronicles

I NEVER thought I’d get to this point. It’s definitely not something that I planned for as my goal was to lose 75 pounds. But I guess my body has other plans!

Please join me in celebrating the release of 100 pounds on this current journey!! 🤩🎉🎊🥳

Posted in supplements

Magnesium – Wellness Wednesdays

Posted on by nlchronicles

Welcome to the third week of Wellness Wednesdays! Today’s focus is magnesium. Allow me to remind everyone that I am not giving medical advice, but just sharing my journey that has allowed me to move toward better health.

What is magnesium? According to the Nutrition Source of the Harvard School of Public Health, magnesium is a mineral that “plays an important role in assisting more than 300 enzymes to carry out various chemical reactions in the body such as building proteins and strong bones, and regulating blood sugar, blood pressure, and muscle and nerve functions.” It basically helps with everything.

In PCOS, women tend to need more magnesium than the recommended daily dosage. It can be difficult for my muscles to relax and magnesium is responsible for that. Have you ever taken magnesium citrate? See how quickly your digestive system relaxes from that! And even though I don’t take the citrate form (I use buffered chelate magnesium), if you have too much, it can cause diarrhea. So I now take approximately 600 mg of magnesium daily and it has works wonders.

I can sleep better. My bowel movements are regular and easy, which has not always been the case. I’ve dealt with low motility and that is the worst ever. And of course, magnesium helps with the other 300 processes mentioned above that I didn’t even realize were connected until I started using it. I even use a topical magnesium spray for areas that tend to stay tight, like the cervical area or hips.

I’ve recommended the use of supplemental magnesium to family members. They both mentioned it to their respective doctors and their doctors agreed with my recommendations! One person, my mom, has seen improvements in her sleep as she is better able to relax, bm consistency and help with sciatic nerve pain that she was dealing with. I sent her the magnesium spray as well to help with areas that she needs to address.

I am not saying that supplemental magnesium is for everyone. Checking with your medical care team is a must. But it has definitely come through for me and been a game changer! Have you tried magnesium? If so, please comment below with your thoughts. I’ll see you next week! 🎊

Posted in exercise, self-care

Exercise – Wellness Wednesdays

Posted on by nlchronicles

Welcome to Wellness Wednesdays! Today’s focus is exercise. Allow me to remind everyone that I am not giving medical advice, but just sharing my journey that has allowed me to move toward better health.

For most of my life, I’ve tried to incorporate some type of exercise. As a teenager, I ran track for a couple of years. I tried out for field hockey and made the initial cut to do conditioning but that level of running left me exhausted. Looking back, this should have been a stop sign to find out why I was so exhausted. In college, I worked out fairly consistently my freshman year and lost about 25 pounds. But when my course load increased sophomore year, physical activity decreased. After graduating, I worked at an hmo and went to the gym there several times a week but it seemed that I toned more than lost weight. And the saga goes on and on. Frustrating, yes?

Around 2011, I started having issues with my hip and so I chose yoga and stretching to help ease the concerns. And it worked! Another clue but I still hadn’t taken the time to put all of it together. I walked a good deal and did other higher impact aerobics but was just maintaining weight. Then I started following doctors and nutritionists who focused on PCOS. That was a game changer.

Basically, I had been doing a lot of the wrong type of exercises for me. While exercise is wonderful, the body believes there is stress and increases cortisol- your fight or flight hormone. Well with pcos, that hormone is hard to get back down and that increases the storage of fat and inflammation, especially in the gut. So I’ve changed to longer, slower walks and always stretch at the end. I try to do a yoga or Pilates based workout twice a week. Weight training probably once per week. I limit hiit workouts to maybe twice per month. Sometimes I cycle or do the elliptical at the gym, when available. And that’s it! After years and years and years of thinking that the harder I went, the more I would lose 🤯 I don’t have to do that. How amazing to have that revelation! And I have still lost 97 pounds in the process! 🤩

So I encourage you to find the workout that is best for you. Comments, questions? Drop them below and share what works for you. See you next week!

Posted in Overall health, self-care, Work/life balance

Sleep – Wellness Wednesdays

Posted on by nlchronicles

Where do I even begin with making sleep a priority? Looking back, for years I ran on little sleep which didn’t help me to better health. Then, for awhile, I would go to sleep really easily but wake up around 1 or 2 am and just be in the bed, wide awake until about 5, doze off and jump up to a 6 am alarm. I would maybe get 4 hours of sleep. Not enough hours and lack of quality caught up with me.

And I knew I needed to do better because I felt tired all the time. I would need a nap in the middle of the day, which worked out as I worked remotely at the time. But I felt awful and it affected everything else.

I follow a couple of functional doctors who kept emphasizing the need for quality sleep as well. Then I started with working my nutritionist (I actually work with two now who focus on different things). The first one really helped me to understand the importance of sleep and how it allows the body to repair itself and reduces inflammation, which is HUGE for me. And it’s made such a positive difference.

So if you are not getting at least 7 hours of quality sleep, rethink your routine. Wear blue blocker glasses after dark. Limit the amount of time you watch tv, especially at night. Don’t use overhead lights after dark. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule, even on the weekends. Meditate before bed to get your mind prepared to sleep. These are all changes that I made and continue to tweak as I still work on this area.

Any suggestions on how to improve sleep quality? Comment below and share what works for you.

Posted in Uncategorized

Non Scale Victory

Posted on by nlchronicles

I live about 20 minutes from a Gap factory outlet and let me say, this store has the BEST deals. Each week or so, there are a few highlighted items there. And the store includes all Gap brands including Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta.

A friend went yesterday and sent a text that some of the items were down to $1.99! So of course I went after work 😄 Because my sizing continues to drop, I try to find deals on clothing. And yes, I found some amazing deals.

But…the best discovery was when I picked up the size medium leggings and THEY FIT! 🤩 why is this such a big deal? I remember buying a pair of leggings a few years ago size XXL from the same designer, Old Navy. The bonus was that the leggings only cost $1.99!!

For those who need encouragement, let this be it for you: you can drop weight the healthy way. It may take time and it may not happen the way you expect, but as someone who had to buy “husky” clothing when I was in elementary school, this is a great win! (On another note, WHYYYYY was clothing labeled husky? That’s another post for another day)

Share with someone who needs encouragement or share your NSVs below. 🥂 to your good health!

Posted in Uncategorized

A Pizza Find

Posted on by nlchronicles

I have been wanting really good pizza for awhile! But with so many dietary restrictions, it’s a challenge to find something to purchase that won’t cause pain or bother my allergies; in other words, cause more inflammation. So I decided to start paying attention to ingredients that I might be able to try and give it a whirl.

And I made on today! AND IT WAS TASTY! When experimenting, I don’t really use measurements lol; it’s more of a play it by ear method. The crust is cauliflower based by Caulipower. I then minced 4 cloves of garlic and poured extra virgin olive oil in a bowl with the garlic so that the oil covered the garlic. I whisked for a bit and then whisked in dried oregano.

With the garlic oil base

Next I poured these onto the crust. Tomatoes are nightshades and tend to cause joint pain so I’m trying different bases. I cut up pre-cooked chicken sausage and added to the crust. Lastly I used a mix of goat cheese and vegan cheese (that’s not cashew based because cashews are a no for me) to top. I baked for about 15 minutes on 400 degrees.

What would I do different? Probably just use goat cheese. I liked that more than the vegan cheese but that’s matter of preference. I would also have added onions, olives and more oregano. Next time, I’ll also try a pesto base instead. To keep from getting bored, I have to keep trying different options. This will definitely go into the rotation!

Finished pizza

Any suggested toppings? List them below and I’ll try them too. 🥂 to your good health. Until next time!

Posted in Uncategorized

A Late Post

Posted on by nlchronicles

OMG- I was sitting here thinking “when is the one year anniversary for reaching the goal that I set for myself in the weight category?”. So I looked through some of my old posts and realized that it was in NOVEMBER last year!! Clearly I did nothing to celebrate because I didn’t know that it had been one year.

To recap, my goal was to get down to 175 pounds. And yayyyyy, I met that goal. And I’ve blown right past it as well. My last weigh in was 154 for a total loss of about 91 pounds. The only thing I’ve tried to do is be more consistent, get good quality sleep and incorporate some type of exercise on most days. Cooking at home more has helped a good deal; that’s been easier since I no longer travel up and down the coast.

But why do I mention all of this? To continue to stress that better health is possible. Have I hit all of my health goals? No. There are other indicators that I would like to improve but I believe that I will get there as I continue to work on them.

I’ve included a comparison picture from yesterday that I took before meeting a friend for lunch (one of the few times I’ve eaten out in some time) and from December 2018 after losing about 27 pounds. Share with someone who may need motivation to keep moving forward. If this chick can manage PCOS and osteoarthritis and still lose weight, you can too!

🥂 to your good health!