Getting back to basics as a nutritionist after a hard month
I have missed blogging! I did not intend to skip 3 weeks of posts but here we are. Since my last entry I have moved house and into my very first dedicated home business office. Alas, the transition has not been smooth - think E. coli in the drinking water supply, landlords turning up without notice, leaking solar hot water system valves.
It really took a toll on me and it was not surprising in the least that I then came down with a virus which took over a week to recover from. But here we are, and I am settling into our new life. For all the challenges, the house itself is amazing. Located on a bit of land and only 12 minutes from the beach.
Let’s talk about what I’m doing to get back on track.
I am simply taking my own advice and following the pattern of my previous blogs. (If you click on the underlined titles below it will take you to the relevant blog for more detail)
Firstly, I need to get back to eating regularly, every 3-4 hours. When I was sick eating was not appealing, and because I took a 12 day break from my ADHD medication, I find myself quite sensitive to it again, meaning I feel incredibly motivated and productive but I have little appetite in the day.
Yesterday I had my yoghurt with my ADHD medication and then tried to stick to my 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm eating times but that did not work. Today I am excited because I was gifted some collagen powder from Nutraviva which went into my coffee and delivered me 9.7g of protein first thing in the morning. (Note: Collagen is an incomplete protein - meaning it does not contain all the essential amino acids) I then went for my walk and came home and had my ADHD medication with my yoghurt around 7am. So today I am trying to give myself 3 hours between eating (i.e. 3 hours starts when I finish eating, not when I start eating) to hopefully increase my overall intake. So I’ll roughly eat at 10am, 1.30pm, and then make dinner at 5pm.
I do have an affiliate link for Nutraviva (you get 10% off and I do get a 15% commission). https://nutraviva.com.au/PLENANUTRITION_KATE
The product they sent me that I am loving is their unflavoured collagen. I even had it in warm water and it tasted fine. I potentially think it could be a good option for the kids in my clinic with ARFID as protein is often something we are conscious may be lacking in the diet. It’s something I would consider discussing with my clients. https://nutraviva.com.au/products/collagen-hydrolysate-stick-pack-140g
I need to order this ASAP. I think I last ordered it in February and I only ran out in the last month. It is a fibre supplement that has a very mild taste in plain water. I recommended this often in clinic to increase someone’s fibre intake. I find it helps keep my bowels regular. Honestly I am waiting for payday (and not my payday because I am a casual and missed two shifts off work but thankfully my partner has a stable job). PHGG is one of the most affordable supplements though.
I was disappointed initially to learn that I could not walk around the property we have moved onto (the previous tenants had told me they went walking on the property but when I asked the landlords they said I need to stay in my fence line). This means to get my steps I am now driving to the beach to watch sunrise every morning which is quite a lovely way to start the day. I did get up to a 12 day streak of meeting my 5000 steps and then when I was unwell I was basically housebound (and I did go for a walk too soon one afternoon and that knocked me out for 3 days).
Ah the elusive rest. I struggle to know when I need to rest, when I need to walk, when cleaning up would actually make me feel better. When I started feeling better after my illness but didn’t want to overdo it, I would make myself sit and rest as much as I was being productive. i.e. if I cleaned for 90 minutes, then I had to sit and watch a movie. I do like my Garmin smartwatch for helping me here - I can tell for example that I’m still recovering from illness or need more rest if simple housework is shooting up my heart rate.
I know there are different sorts of rest but honestly that feels like a mental load in itself to explore. Instead I’m going to focus on reading, sitting in the ‘relaxing chair’ (my friend’s kid named our sunlounger that on moving day), looking at the wildlife, having a bath (now that the water probably doesn’t have E. Coli) and we will soon be enjoying movies and games on a very fancy projector has bought (pretty sure it can project up to 150-inch screen which is more than twice my height!)
Breakfast with carbohydrates, fat and protein
The part I truly don’t understand about this is that all 7 of my ideas in the breakfast blog appeal to me and I think I’ve had two of them in the last month.
This is partly a systems issue - if I’m doing the grocery shop at the last minute and my brain is fried, I seem to use up my brain power simply coming up with 3-4 dinners for the week.
But I am endeavouring to be more organised and will be doing a big shop tomorrow. I’m actually toying with the idea of doing a bigger fortnightly shop followed by a little top up. I am loving Woolies Direct to Boot. It means I can fill my cart from the comfort of my own home and I don’t have to step foot in the overstimulating supermarket to fill it up.
In terms of timing, I am simply trying to change one thing a day. Today that was having collagen/protein in my coffee, and giving myself a full 3 hour break between meals. Then I can move on to ordering my PHGG, structuring my rest a bit more (is that an oxymoron?), and setting up a breakfast menu.
Next week I will be back with regular programming, talking about a nutrient that is commonly missing from ARFID diets.
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