Monday, April 2, 2012

Hmmph.

Well hello there, you poor, ignored little blog. You thought you could slide away into the abyss and join Xanga, did you?

I would say nine months is a pretty solid gap. I won't promise more more consistency to you hoards of devoted readers (I'm talking to you, mom) but after opening my blog to see the cliff hanger of vegetarianism, I thought an update might be in order.

I truly enjoyed our little stint as vegetarians. If nothing else, it opened our eyes and helped us make more conscious decisions about what we eat. As a couple, Nathan and I have always been fairly healthy. We both have our weaknesses, but we know how to make good choices and keep a healthy kitchen. When you have kids, though, your tastes and choices are often drowned out by small voices. I don't cater to my children, but there are limits to the spices and foods they will eat and occasionally our meals get a little bland and boring. Maintaining a vegetarian diet that could please me protein obsessed husband, nourish my 2-3 year old, and give me the nutrients to nurse was not as difficult as I thought and helped us spice up the rotation of dishes.

If you remember, the idea of going meat free was my husband's. Because I've never been a big meat eater, it was a much easier transition for me. I found out towards the end of the first month that he was only sticking to the diet when he was home. To each their own, though, right? Because I do the cooking and shopping, our home remained vegetarian through Christmas, or roughly 6 months.

While I still keep my meat intake fairly limited, I had some health problems that required change. I know experienced vegetarians would argue (correctly) that there are ways around it, but for me, it was a deal breaker. Since age 17, I have taken thyroid medications for Hashimotos thyroiditis, or hypothyroidism. It took a deeper look into my patterns (and a pretty great doctor) to find that the diagnosis wasn't incorrect but it wasn't a full picture. Like a small percentage of people with thyroid disorders, I also have Graves disease flare ups (together, they refer to it as Hashitoxicosis) and the food (soy, mainly) that made up a good deal of my diet triggered Graves episodes that were taking a huge toll not only on me and my body but on my family. Exhaustion, anxiety, and depression ran rampant. A few months later with a more balanced diet, adjusted meds, and a baby that's nursing far less, I am feeling much more like my old self. It's nice to enjoy full days of activities with the kids like I want to without freaking out or fighting to stay awake and I think they are much happier when I am, too.

If nothing else, it was my first (and probably last) adventure into restrictive dieting of any sort. I've never dieted or understood strict plans others stick to (so not advocating fads, yo-yoing, and pyramid schemes) but now I better understand the battle with temptation dieters endure.

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