A Wordy Response

Okay, Nancy, my Earthly Relief friend, I hope you don't mind, but I've decided to respond to you in a new post because:


a) My response would be way too long in that wimpy comments section they give you. I'm not really sure just how many characters are allowed, but if the box size is any indication...well, that's just pathetic.

b) Your question and my response might just help someone. Separately, ineffective--but together--bam! boom! bazing!--dynamic duo. :) (Sniffing too much fabric softener sometimes does this.)

So, here's the question that the delightful Ms. H. had for me:

Hey Keemarina!I have been thinking about emailing you re: vitamins for some time now, so your post is perfectly timed. Do you have any recs for a 34 year old woman who recently lost 25 lbs. through diet and MUCH exercise, and now suddenly has no energy? Like, I can barely make it around the block w/ the kids. I had thyroid, iron, and all the blood work done to no avail. What would you recommend? I am currently taking the GNC Women's Vita-Pak, and, well, I see no real improvement after almost a month.Thanks for any words of wisdom you may have!

My response:

Veronique! It is with great joy that I bring you my recommendations and I hope this will truly help you, as I do feel your dilemma. BTW--BIG HUGE CONGRATS on the weight loss and those absolutely beautiful pictures of you and your family!! When will your blog be sporting them?

Okay--so here's my thoughts:

1) Go see if you can have your thyroid checked again. Keep pressing it. It's important. The thyroid is one of the most under diagnosed problems that face women in this culture. I had to go to 3 different docs to have it diagnosed before finally, one doc would admit that it was a bit low. I then did some alternative medicines and it leveled out after about 1 1/2 years.

After I had JD, I was so sluggish. Everyone kept telling me it was just the fact that I now had a newborn/baby (JD was about 9 months old when I finally had it diagnosed by doc # 3.) I kept bellyaching to my Mom and she kept pressing me to go to different docs to keep having it checked. Once it finally got diagnosed, my Mom prescribed some different alternative thyroid meds....I started feeling better, but didn't really feel 100% again until a little over a year later. After recovering with Ellie and Cal, I knew that it was not just the fact that I had a newborn/baby...it really was my thyroid. With Elle and Cal, I was not sluggish in the least (tired, worn out, insane...but not sluggish.) Maybe if you call your doc's office, they can read the thyroid results to you and you can have them analyzed to see if you are borderline. Even a borderline thyroid reading, though it wouldn't catch a doc's eye, can sometimes put you over the edge as far as how you feel.

2) Vitamins take time, so whatever you end up doing....keep with it. While meds have a quick response time, vitamins are slow, sometimes, to get your body back to peak operating level. The general rule is that you need to be on the prescribed vitamins/mineral for about a month for each year that you've had the condition. That's why, most people end up bagging the idea and going for the quick fix. Vitamins are not a usual quick fix, but they are the healthy route in the (sometimes very) long run overall. Also, buy liquids, softgels, or capsules. Stay away from tablets as they are harder on the stomach and much harder to digest. I ordered the various forms that most vitamins come in by their effectiveness and absorption rate--liquids being the best.

3) Keep exercising. I know it's absolutely crazy to say that given your energy loss and the fact that exercising takes energy, but it is the best thing for you. Exercising will actually increase your energy level, circulation and help make you sane at times. :) If you haven't already, try and add a strengthening program to your routine. Just doing cardio will not help in muscle strengthening and chronic muscle fatigue can make you feel sluggish. Plus, a strengthening program will actually burn more calories than just doing a cardio workout. Don't worry about muscle mass. Unless you're pressing 50 lbs. dummybells thrice-a-day, you won't get too "pompp'd uupp." (insert Arnold's accent here.)

4) Drink lotsa water (not just liquids, but water.) Cold water can help you increase your metabolism about 10% and helps rid your body of some energy zapping toxins.

5) Increase your B-complex vitamins. B vitamins are great for energy and are your overall stress vitamins. Any time you are exerting energy and losing weight, your body can get stressed and stress can result in energy loss. Any reputable vitamin store will have a B complex vitamin which will include every B vitamin your body normally needs to function. Check for higher doses of B12 included in the vitamin pack as this will directly help with energy.

6) Increase your vitamin C intake. Vitamin C is a body's best friend. Increasing your vitamin C will help in about a dozen or so ways including fighting those toxins that are being released into your body every time you exercise. Oh yes! Toxins are everywhere. :)

7) Increase your protein intake, decrease your carb intake. Protein will help with energy and weight loss. After you get done working out, eat a small amount of protein (maybe 10-15 grams). Not only will this keep your metabolism going, but it will help in muscle repair; which in turn, can help with muscle fatigue.

8) Decrease your amount of white and high fructose carbs and increase your amount of veggie, fruit and whole wheat carbs. Watch out! Some of those wheat breads you think are so good for you, are not made from true whole wheat or have hefty amounts of high fructose in them. There's no such thing as soft, light wheat bread. It's an anomaly.

9) This next suggestion is a tricky one because it involves deceit and sneaky behavior. Here's what I do--eat 3 small meals a day (with your family) and then about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, try and eat about 3 tablespoons of something with good protein and carbs in it. My fav in between snackage is trail mix. I get this really great trail mix from Target--6 bucks for 32 oz. There are a number of different kinds (I used to get the one with m&m's in them, but found it was a little too counterproductive.) Anyway, there's some brutal dyes and preservatives in them, but for the most part, they're okay. :) The ones I get are Fruit Nut Seed Blend and California Trail Mix; both are Archer Farms brands. So between meals, I snack on 2 - 3 handfuls of these every few hours. You can also use trail mix, if mixed with the right carb/protein ratio, to take your vitamins with and is a great little snack to eat after working out.

10) Energy drinks. Now for the most part, I stay away from them. I can't drink them because I'm very sensitive to caffeine and end up needing a pacemaker if I even smell caffeinated coffee. But in your case, I would highly recommend them. Don't worry, you won't get addicted to them (unless you drink like a keg a day)...for the most part. The ones I'd steer clear of are Red Bull and those that contain high amounts of evil sugar and caffeine as their main ingredient. All they do is get your heart jacked up, only to crash a few hours later, with no real benefit except being in the state of awake. Besides, sugar destroys the vitamin C in your body. Try and find an all natural energy drink. I found a great energy drink that Karryn and I used on our Chevy Chase drive back to Iowa this past summer. I drank one in the morning and it lasted all day. It was called VitaminEnergy and again, I got it at Target. There are two kinds that our T has. One is Dragonfruit and one is Fruit Punch--made by Glaceau. Best of all, it's got no sodium, increased Vitamin C, increased Folic Acid (which is a B vitamin) increased vitamin B3, B6, B12 and B5 (all of those crazy B's I was talking about.) It's also got natural caffeine, Bioenergy Ribose: http://http//www.bioenergy.com/store/Main.aspx?html=br, and Taurine, (at times of extreme physical exertion, the body no longer produces the required amounts of taurine, and a relative deficiency results. Taurine acts as a metabolic transmitter and additionally has a detoxifying effect and strengthens cardiac contractility--not my words, obviously.) Even better, it has no crazy aftertaste like some of them do. (I tried a Red Bull on this crazy drive and did not like the taste or after.) This taste is very light and somewhat refreshing. See Karryn for further review. :) Anyway, my suggestion is to get these until you can get your energy level stabilized. You don't need to drink them every day, but just on the days you need to get stuff done. :) You can slowly wean yourself off of them when you feel like you're getting up with Mr. Bluebird on your shoulder and haven't even had your first cup o' joe yet.

11) Finally, go to your local health food store. In Chicago, we had a great little organic, health food store right down the street from us so when Doc Mom was unavailable, I just strolled down there and they had some granola-eating veggiehead ready to help me at a moments notice. I would imagine that So Cally has a few hundred stores like these right in your neighborhood, although they're probably ten times better and much nicer than this little one I went to. Point is--if you are feeling brave and need your earthy, go-green, it-ain't-clothing-'less-it's-made-from-hemp fix, stop into your local health food store and ask them their opinion too. You can also check out some new vitamin packs and energy drinks--which I'm sure they have.

Please keep me posted on how you're doing. I hope some of these tips are helpful. If I think of any more, I'll E-mail you, and of course, I'll have ask my Mom as she is really the expert in all of this. I would keep with your GNC vitamin packs until you've used them all and then try and find a multi with higher doses. You might need to take a few different pills a day at different times of the day until you can get your energy level back to zippy and zippiest. I love you, dear friend, and am praying for you. Please continue to ask as (or before) you buy things so we can make sure we have the right brands, dosages, etc. for your body.

Love you much!!

Kim

Proverbs 31:17
III John 1:2