Fitter at Forty

Over the past few years, blogging has had to be pushed to the background as I have focused on raising children, supporting my husband in his teaching and music pursuits (and he in my music pursuits and other interests), and doing it all within a fairly small budget. Our last child is now two years old and this past summer I decided to make good on what I had been promising myself for years. Now that there will be no more pregnancies with all the weight fluctuation and hormonal changes that brings, I wanted to get back to my slimmer self and gain control over some unhealthy issues I had with food. This wasn't only a desire to look better but to feel better and be healthier. Six pregnancies (and five babies) took its toll on my health and body and now I felt I could and should focus a bit more on myself so that I have more to give my family.

Initially my goal was to exercise more rigorously every day in an effort to lose weight, so I left early each morning for a brisk walk, ear buds inserted. I really enjoyed that time to myself and looked forward to it each day. It was good for my physical and emotional health, and my stamina increased--but I didn't lose any weight. So I thought, okay, I must need to tweak my eating habits as well, but I didn't know what. I had the gut feeling that my issues might be related to some hormones being out of whack and started looking up books that could teach me about that. I came across two books that looked promising and checked them out at my local library. They provided a wealth of information and many things rang true to me.

In her book The Hormone Reset Diet, Sara Gottfried explains the different functions of each hormone and what happens when they are adversely affected by things like poor diet, too much stress, bad sleep habits, and even environmental factors. Taking the survey at the beginning of the book helped me pinpoint where my problems were and with which probable hormones, which gave me a springboard for action.

I knew that many things wouldn't be an issue for me, like alcohol or caffeine, but others, like sugar, gluten, and dairy, would be very difficult. Going off sugar wouldn't be too bad--I'd done that plenty of times in my life--but I'd never tried to go off all gluten or dairy products. I was a little apprehensive about trying something so drastic, but the more I read and listened to my body and thought about the results I wanted, the more I felt that this was something I needed to do. Knowing that "diets" are so often ineffective or harmful because people don't/can't maintain them, I suspected that many of the changes I made needed to be permanent. So I needed to commit myself to being all in. While my kids didn't like the change in routine (though the food I made for them didn't change much), my husband was very supportive, which helped a lot. Everyone needs a cheerleader and sounding board when they're making a significant change like this!

Gottfried's approach seemed a bit overwhelming at first, but as I became more acquainted with it, I realized that she takes it one thing at a time, which helps it seem doable--particularly for women, for whom this diet is geared toward. In other words, rather than going "cold turkey" on everything at once, you give up one thing at a time in three day increments. So, while you are further restricting yourself every three days, it's still easier than restricting everything all at the same time. For example, the first reset you go meatless (red meat) to reset your estrogen and the second reset you go sugarless to reset insulin. The third reset is for leptin, which I suspected, for me, was broken, or at least limping along. (Leptin is the hormone that helps you know when you're satisfied and should stop eating.) I'd never restricted fruits before, so that was definitely something new for me and I started feeling the deprivation that is common at the beginning of a new diet. As it turned out, that was a feeling that was to remain my almost constant companion for about two weeks, as I gave up grains and dairy in turn. Those first two weeks were definitely the hardest as I dealt with things like regular hunger, fuzzy thinking, and light-headedness, and I have to admit that wasn't a very fun time in my life. But I was committed and just kept plugging along, focused on my goal.

One thing to be wary of in learning about new diets is their claims about how much weight you can lose in a specified small amount of time. In this case, it was 15 pounds in three weeks. That was how much weight I initially wanted to lose and the idea that I could in less than a month kept me going. But what such claims don't factor into account is that everyone's bodies are different and respond differently and at different times. So in my case, I wasn't way overweight (just uncomfortable in my own skin) and wasn't eating the traditional bad American diet. I already had many good health and diet habits that I had maintained for years and this reset diet wasn't going to magically melt off my extra pounds in three weeks. That was kind of a hard lesson to realize. In fact, it actually took me two weeks to lose two or three pounds! (As I recorded in my food journal, "I must have been eating better than I thought.") What kept me going--and I think this is critical in any diet change--is that I felt better. My stomach was flatter than it had been in a long while, I didn't feel bloated or gassy any more, and I no longer had an energy crash after lunch every day. So I knew something was working.

Another factor in creating a lasting change in diet, losing weight, and/or improving your fitness level is keeping a record. I learned that 1) keeping a health journal or diary and 2) recording what you eat for every meal is crucial to success. The first provides perspective--the ability to look back and see that yes, real progress has been made, even if not in the ways you expected. It also gives you a place to write your goals so you can see them regularly and remember why you're doing this--and reach them! The second provides accountability. Recording what you eat is a small (and often inconvenient) thing to commit to, but when you know you're going to have to record that snack or sweet, it does make you pause and consider if you really need it or if you could make a healthier choice.

On August 12, 2019 I wrote in my food diary: "My goal for this reset is to lose 15 pounds, to feel more energetic throughout the day, to be able to sleep better (consistently), and to feel more comfortable and confident in my own skin (not so self-conscious). Also, to have greater clarity of thought."

By August 18th, I had found an app for my phone that helped immensely in accurately recording my foods and their carb, calorie, and protein amounts to help me stay on track. Trying to find all that information online for each food was just way too time intensive! I had also learned that eating a pound of veggies a day was harder than I expected. Typically our family dinner is focused around vegetables (we still get a Bountiful Basket each week), so I thought I was already eating quite a bit of veggies. But making an effort to eat a minimum of three cups of vegetables a day has really changed things for me. Now I truly love vegetables in a way I never have before and I want to eat them at every meal and miss them when I can't. I even like beets now (when I used to hate them)! It really is true what Gottfried says about our taste buds regenerating every two weeks. In two weeks I had trained my body to want more healthful foods and my taste buds regenerated to agree with those desires so that I enjoyed my improved diet more than I thought possible. I learned that it is possible to survive without cheese and re-learned how good lemon/lime water is for those times when I want to snack but need to hold off.

Throughout this hormone reset experiment the word "nourish" kept coming to mind. I felt like the varied foods I was eating nurtured my body in a way I'd never experienced before and it made me feel that I loved and was taking care of myself. Instead of just eating what I knew would most fill me up and keep me full longer (namely a lot of whole wheat products), I was eating what would nourish my body with a variety of nutrients.

One big thing I focused on quite well for a while (and need to get back to) was my sleep. Science has proven that good sleep fosters healthy weight and I have long known how important adequate sleep is to my personal health and wellness. Gottfried recommends helping the mind and body prepare for sleep by taking nightly baths with epsom salts and essential oils. I've always been a shower person, but I really enjoyed getting back to baths and allowing myself that time to slow down and unwind. As the mother of five, it's not always possible to arrange this, but when I can do it it's a helpful routine--part of the "nourish" concept.

I did learn that keeping carbs to 75 g per day was very difficult and I hated feeling like carbs were the enemy. After some time I upped my limit to 100 g and that was much easier. I add fiber powder to my breakfast shake each morning but otherwise I prefer to get my fiber from foods in their natural form--which really seems impossible when you're keeping carbs to 75 g a day!

About this time I felt I should incorporate some of what I learned in the second book I checked out from the library, The Adrenal Reset Diet by Alan Christianson. I have always understood the importance of complex carbs and whole grains and their health benefits, and I didn't want to deprive my body of that. Christianson's focus is on strategically increasing carbs throughout the day so that dinner contains much more carbs than breakfast, since carbs increase cortisol output, which naturally helps our bodies prepare for sleep. (Did I mention how important quality sleep is to a healthy weight?)

Not surprisingly, I learned that I had been eating too much sugar and that I need to keep sugar and breads to a minimum because they are "avalanche foods" for me--meaning they are foods that, once I start eating, I have a hard time stopping or eating in moderation. And I learned that while 100% whole wheat bread is the best bread choice (which I've eaten all my life), it's still basically "refined" when it comes to how the body processes it, as opposed to eating whole wheat, brown rice, quinoa, etc, which are eaten in their natural state.

Even though I have lost those 15 pounds I wanted to at the beginning, I would still like to lose another five or more to get back to the weight I was when I got married. I'm not totally sure that's possible, but I think it might be. I figure as long as I keep getting back on the bandwagon when I fall off and keep making an effort to continue exercising five days a week and being as active as I can, nourishing my body as well as I can, my body will do what it should do. In the meantime, I have quietly reveled in the accomplishment of losing three inches around my hips and dropping 2-3 pant sizes (depending on the pants--since sizing practices have changed over the years). I am thrilled to have a little "thigh gap" back and to have a better body image and food relationship.

So the quest continues... Onward and upward!

College Fitness and Health

With many students recently heading back to college, my thoughts are turned back to my college days and what a busy, stressful, fun time that was in my life. Included in that stress was trying to figure out how to stay fit and eat healthily with my limited time and resources.

Susan, a friend of mine, recently brought this website to my attention (found at http://www.thebestcolleges.org/the-best-regimen-for-college-fitness/), and I embed it here for others who may be struggling with the same college-time health questions. And really, these are great tips and reminders for all of us, no matter our age:

Sleep Training Infants

Before our third baby was born earlier this year I read another couple of books on sleep training and, for lack of a better term, "baby scheduling." Our first child did pretty well with sleeping, but our second threw us for a loop. In the very long process of figuring out what was wrong and how to fix it, I read an excellent book back then that helped immensely. Third time around, I didn't want to leave anything to chance if I could help it!

In the years between baby #2 and baby #3 I'd learned about the Babywise method and read up on it on a friend's exceedingly popular blog. I have a cousin who used this method with her first son, and seeing how well it worked, I wanted that! So before my baby came I read On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep. I didn't agree with all of it, but I felt it had some good information, and overall, it definitely seemed worth trying. I liked how it took the middle road between being slave to a rigid schedule, and having no predictability by letting baby determine everything all the time. I felt that that middle road fit my personality and my family's needs.

The second book I read was the Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby. I was quite impressed with this book and particularly by the woman who wrote it. It's no wonder she's called the "Baby Whisperer"--she's amazing! I read several parts of the book numerous times, trying to ingrain them in my head, since I had to take the book back to the library. My problem was that the book is built around the premise that you know your baby and therefore know which personality type he/she is, and thus how to approach sleep training. Since my baby wasn't born yet, I could only guess and try to imagine different scenarios and how to handle them. All I was asking was that our experience with #2 just not be repeated!

In case you haven't noticed, I'm one of those people who likes to have things planned out beforehand as much as possible. So I was doing my best to be prepared in this case too, but of course I knew that babies have their own agendas and their little personalities aren't always very moldable (at least in my family). I wanted to know as much more as I could about how to foster good sleep in infants, but realized that sometimes new babies are just difficult.

After the first couple weeks with my newborn, I began trying different techniques with these two methods that I thought might work. Some things worked better than others, but I kept being frustrated by my baby's inability to be molded into any schedule whatsoever for more than a few days at a time. I was trying to be as flexible with him as I could and sensitive to his needs while still trying to help him maintain a schedule that his body could get used to. But it was hard to be consistent because I have other children who need me. So it was frustrating, as many of you understand.

Finally, after deciding that my baby wasn't made to be "Babywise," and even doubting that he could ever learn to nap on a semi-regular schedule (fortunately, he slept well at night almost from the start), we gradually fell into a routine that works for both of us most of the time. Now that he is almost 7 months old he has learned how to put himself to sleep and doesn't hate his bed like child #2 did. What blessings! When baby sleeps, Mama gets some downtime, which means that when baby wakes, Mama is glad to see him again, and he her. Both of us are renewed and able to cope with the other stuff in our day.

So...what I re-learned from this experience is that I can learn a lot from books and other people's experiences--gaining a knowledgeable foundation on which to build--but my children and I have to find our own groove. I still feel that this approach is different from ignorantly winging it, since that often leads to bad habits (like sleep crutches). We were able to find our own groove because I knew what the signs of sleepiness are, how much sleep my baby needs for his age, and whether his cry is hungry or tired (which is a big one to figure out with each child), among other things.

Sleep is such an important factor to one's health, no matter how small the person! And, especially after reading Kurcinka's book, we make our children's sleep a priority. (If bad behavior is frequently an issue with a child, I would check the amount of sleep they are getting before anything else.) I know I certainly can't function properly or maintain my health if I'm not regularly getting the hours of sleep I need!

Staying Healthy as Fall Begins

Many of us around the country are beginning to sense the coming of autumn as days shorten and temperatures begin to cool. I have already noticed that with that change of season, people are getting sick--including sniffles already at my house. So I've been thinking about what we should be doing better to prevent illness as much as possible, and looking back at prior posts I've realized how many things I've already written that address this. So I thought I would re-link you to them, in case you need the refresher, like I do:

• My list of 7 things to do to prevent illness

• The healing properties of Echinacea

• How promoting healthy guts improves your immunity

• How using essential oils promotes wellness and healing

• Honey's role in promoting wellness (and its curative properties)

• The importance of adequate sleep to our health

• And even the many health benefits of fasting (If you haven't read this information, you really should--it's quite fascinating!)

Winks and Weight

Last week we received this article as part of my husband's employee wellness program and I thought it valuable to share:

Want another reason to get your forty winks?

How about this: Not getting enough sleep may hinder the effectiveness of your diet.

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that dieters who got an adequate night’s sleep (approximately seven and a half hours) lost more fat than those who slept about two hours less.

While both groups lost the same amount of weight, only one-fourth of the weight loss in the less-sleep group came from fat.

Those who slept less also felt hungrier, as their bodies produced more of the hormone ghrelin, which triggers hunger and reduces energy expenditure, reports Science Daily.

If your goal is to lose fat, sleep may be your secret weapon, helping your body to burn more fat and keeping hunger under control so that you’re better equipped to stick to your diet.

The National Sleep Foundation lists other potential dangers of too little sleep, including increased risk of motor vehicle accidents, increase in body mass index (caused by increased hunger from sleep deprivation), increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, increased risk of psychological problems such as depression and substance abuse, and decreased ability to focus and retain new information.

Probably most of us are already aware of much of these facts, but it's good to make all the connections.

10,000 Steps A Day

In my part-time work as a medical transcriptionist, I hear a lot of good advice from doctors on a daily basis. Much of the information I hear repeatedly (such as "quit smoking" and "exercise" and "lose weight"), but other things are new to me and I try to take them to heart. Such was the case a while ago when a doctor instructed her patient about walking 10,000 steps a day. This got me interested in seeing how many steps I usually walk and what it would take for me to get 10,000 too. So now I wear a pedometer.

How far is 10,000 steps? Most people walk 2,000 steps per mile, so that's 5 miles a day. According to thewalkingsite.com, "A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day."

According to this site, under 5,000 steps a day is considered a sedentary lifestyle; 5,000-7,499 steps is "low active"; 7,500-9,999 is "somewhat active"; 10,000 is "active"; and more than 12,500 steps is "highly active." It's been interesting for me to see reality right there on my pedometer and have that extra motivation to do more just to see those numbers go up. And I've found that the days I reach the highly active range (which so far hasn't been often enough) lead to better nights' sleep.

How many steps do you walk each day?

How to Improve Your Sleep

My youngest child had severe sleep issues for about a year, from the time she was only a few months old. As a result, and in desperation, I sought help from all the research I could find. This led to my pinpointing her lactose intolerance, and once we eliminated milk products from her diet, her sleep greatly improved. However, the poor kid didn't know how to fall asleep on her own at night or take naps, so I had to painstakingly teach her these things. I did so largely with the help of Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's book, which I mentioned in my last sleep post. It took us months, but eventually my daughter learned how to fall asleep on her own and sleep all night, and even--at long last--to take a nap each afternoon. It was a miracle! But it took education, diligence, and work, in addition to all the fervent prayer.

I also learned that all the things I gleaned from this experience could be applied to my preschooler and even to myself.

So here is a list of 5 basic things I learned that help a lot:

1. Dimming the lighting one hour before bedtime and not allowing any energetic activities in that time leading up to bed.
2. For the sensitive (which my youngest is), no TV (or computer time) 3 hours before bedtime: It tricks the brain into thinking it's full daylight, instead of time for the melatonin level to start increasing.
3. Exercising! Daytime exercise can make a big difference--even for a little toddler--but it should be finished about 3 hours before bedtime.
4. Keeping a consistent wake time is just as important as keeping a consistent bedtime--even on the weekends. (This one was so hard for me to learn because there's something in me that protests against waking a sleeping child! And though my older child doesn't need this, my younger one did for a long time because if I let her sleep in too long in the morning she didn't want to nap later, and then she was too overtired to sleep well at night.)
5. "Sleep begets sleep." I can't emphasize this enough, as I've seen it over and over again. Until recently, if my youngest took a good nap during the day, she would sleep much better at night, so that nap was crucial for keeping us on track.

Sleep: It's a Big Deal

Most adults value their sleep, and if you're a parent, you are particularly tuned in to how important sleep is. But there's still a lot to learn about this topic (which, incidentally, one of my uncles, Dr. Jed Black, is constantly digging deeper into, as head of the Sleep Center at Stanford University).

Sleep has always been important to me, more so than to most people I know. In my junior high years and then especially in high school, I came to realize that I needed eight to nine hours of sleep every night in order to function properly. Sometimes I had to fudge on that a little, if I had a particularly difficult test coming up, etc, but I diligently strove to do my studying during the day so I wouldn't have to pull all-nighters. Staying up late made me miserable. I could tell that my immune system was compromised and, if not soon corrected, lack of sleep would soon make me sick. Of course, it also made me cranky, unable to think as clearly as I needed to as a student, and much less capable of handling my stress load or coping with life in general. I was continually astounded that the majority of my friends (and generally all my peers) would squeak by on five hours or less. (I didn't know anyone else my age who went to bed at the early hour of 9:30 pm.) I didn't know how they did it--and I still don't. The research I have read about this age group states that young people actually lose years of their life due to extreme lack of sleep. In college I had a friend who, after continuous problems, had a sleep test done and found that she is one of those rare people who needs 14 hours of sleep a day to feel normal. She could hardly ever get that much, as you can imagine, but that made me grateful I only need eight!

So how much sleep do you need in a 24 hour period? It depends on how old you are.

In general, here is the break down:

Infants - 16 hours
Preschoolers - 11 hours
School-aged children - 10 hours
Teenagers - 9 hours
Adults - 7-8 hours

Now, I know many of you will look at this list and think, No way! But I also know that many people have never given it a try and experienced the difference more sleep can make--for yourself and/or your child(ren). For example, as Ms. Kurcinka states in her fantastic book Sleepless in America: Is your Child Misbehaving or Missing Sleep?, a great deal of behavioral problems in children can be treated and corrected by increasing the amount of sleep a child gets. As I have witnessed in my own children, overtiredness results in hyperactivity, misbehavior, and inability to cope. And so when parents comment that there's no way their children could go to bed at eight or nine p.m., they're just too wired, I think, Ah, but that's why they're wired, that's why they can't settle down at night. More on this later....

The Mayo clinic (and all other research on the topic agrees) states:

Although some people feel rested on as few as five hours of sleep a night, recent studies call this notion into question. Researchers have found that people who sleep so little over many nights don't perform as well on complex mental tasks as do people who get closer to seven hours of sleep a night. Additionally, researchers have found that adults who get much more or less than seven hours of sleep a night have a higher mortality rate than do adults who sleep about seven hours a night.

And older adults are not exempted from this, according to the article. Also see the article for tips on how to tell if you're not getting enough sleep and the importance of not just quality but quantity sleep.