The Shakeology Difference

I have always struggled with energy issues. And as some of you know a year and some months ago I started on a Thyroid support pill that has greatly increased my energy levels and focus. But despite that change there are still days when its a huge struggle to get through the day and get anything done. I frequently have days were all I want to do is sleep or I don't feel like I have the energy to do anything. I live off of XS Energy Drinks, Vitamins, and Supplements. When I get excited about something and show energy and compassion, I spend 2-3 days recovering from an hour or two of showing the person I really am.

For the past week I have't experience this problem, except for yesterday. Yesterday I could barely get through the day. I had cleaning and cooking to do and my mom was coming over for a girl's night. I spent most of the day fighting the impulse to go back to sleep and to cancel on her. She was only here for a couple hours and we kept it really low key. But despite that I crashed the second she left and slept for 12 hours not-so-straight. Not so straight because I have a 14 year old dog who needs to be let out for frequent bathroom breaks and I'm a light sleeper so I wake up at every noise. The wind has been strong and beautiful today so its been knocking over things all over the neighborhood and waking me up constantly, amongst other things.

This morning at the ripe time of 11am I finally dragged myself out of bed and struggled through taking my thyroid pill and letting the dogs out. Then I sat in a fuzzy existence for an hour before I ate. Having no energy to do much I grabbed a scoop of strawberry Shakeology, added a banana, some ice cubes, a couple shakes of cinnamon, and some vanilla almond milk to my little single cup Ninja blender and buzzed up breakfast before hobbling back to a darkened corner of the livingroom to bask in my fuzzy existence.

15 minutes later. Can I shout that to you? Imagine me shouting that to you "15 MINUETS LATER!" I am snapping pictures, working on my goals for the next week. Playing with my dogs, watching TV, posting on Facebook, bouncing off the walls and waiting oh so not patiently for when my stomach calms down so I could do my PiYo workout for the day. I felt awesome, powerful, strong, POSITIVE. Life is amazing, I'm amazing, I love life, I love me, I love my dogs, I love my friends, I love those awesome people who introduced me to Team BeachBody recently... That was and still is my frame of mind. I was dancing around the house to the bellydancing music in my head and sipping on my smoothie. Bah bah bah bum bum bumpy bum dah dah dah is it too early for the neighbors to pull out my drum and shake the world? Ooops I just shook part of my smoothie onto the wall. And with that I had a light bulb moment.

Have you ever had one of those? A light bulb moment. Those times when our subconscious finally gets our conscious minds to hear what its been trying to tell us. A sudden realization that changes your world. For a week now I've been drinking Shakeology daily. Once a day I mix a smoothie with it in it. Usually in the morning. Then I'm busy busy busy all day long. I do one or two workouts, I think of amazing things to do. I sleep well at night and wake up inspired with an idea for another book. I've had so many ideas for different books this week I'm having trouble keeping them straight. I feel happy, positive, ready to take on the world. I feel...I feel like I could be a super hero. That is the power of Shakeology, Thats the difference its made in my life in just one week. Concentrated nutrition that tastes amazingly great. If this is how I feel after just one week, I'm excited to see how I feel at the end of this 30 day challenge I'm doing!

Day 2 on Thyroid Meds

Bummer, not feeling as awesome as yesterday but hey that's soo my fault. I was feeling so great yesterday I decided to eat some candy hearts full of chemicals, because I felt good and they tasted good. Not thinking about the fact that all the food dyes in them give me food allergy migraines.  Despite the pain in my head, I still feel better then normal. I just don't feel like doing anything. However I discovered that once I killed the light in my office and closed the blinds and stopped trying to move around much, I was able to function pretty normally the rest of the day! Which never happens with my food allergy migraines. Those things lay me up, barily able to do ANYTHING for 3 days. I mean no sound, no light and good god stay away from me, I spend as much time as I can laying in bed feeling truly miserable.


Yesterday I posted on facebook about how great I was feeling and got a lot of "I'm jealous" responses. I was shocked that so many of my friends had been experiencing thyroid issues and I never knew. In the process a friend told me about how all her thyroid tests had come back normal so she is only trying a thyroid supplement and it only lets her feel a little better. All of my tests for YEARS have come back in the normal range, but I have symptoms of hypothyroidism. I even have a huge goiter that causes me all sorts of problems. I've had ultra sounds done and seen a specialist. I hated that specialist. He sat for an hour at his computer and typed away and finally responded with telling me that when my thyroid got so large it was having serious issues functioning, then he would have it taken out and put me on medicine for the rest of my life. That's it. That's what came out of the hour session with a specialist. That and a bill for over $500. Wow, so freaking ridiculous.  Oh and he told me because my metabolism was so slow if I wanted to lose weight I would have to starve myself and exercise a lot.  I ignored my thyroid stuff for a while after that.

In the last year I've ran into 2 strangers who started talking to me about thyroid issues. Why, because my goiter is so large that a blind person could see it in the dark. Ignorant people could see that my enlarged neck had nothing to do with me being so over weight. These people had had thyroid issues of their own and they both urged me to not give up. To keep looking for answers and trying things. One lady was so passionate about it because of her own negative experiences and it taking years for her to come up with answers and by then she had to get surgery and get hers removed and now shes stuck on meds for the rest of her life. In the past 3 months 2 of my co-workers have ended up having thyroid issues. One had thyroid cancer and had it removed and the other had to have a nodule removed as well. These things have started to scare me and made me really want to learn more about my thyroid issues before they got worse.

Through my studies at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition I've been learning that there are natural ways to heal your thyroid through things like nutrition, food, vitamin supplements. But it takes years and I was getting scared. I'll explain another time why it takes time. But for now, think on this, if took years for your body to be damaged so why wouldn't it take years for it to heal?!? So tests, more tests but this time through an integrative wellness nurse. Who looks at things from all different angles and not just what the tests show. We did more blood work and will be doing another ultra sound and a symptom write up and iodine tests. After much research, testing and talking we decided to put me on a low dose of a hypothyroid medicine and see how I respond. This is a TEMPORARY  thing. I will not be on meds for the rest of my life. But if the response is good then it helps me get my life back on track and then I will be able to start naturally healing myself. Some of you have no idea how hard it is to function in this state. So my immediate response has been good. We'll see what my blood work says in a couple weeks after being on the meds. And the results of the updated ultra sound.

So my advice to you. Don't give up. Keep learning and researching and pushing to find answers. We only live once and its worth it to have the best life we can.

Thyroid Meds Day 1

I'm on top of the world!
That is how I've felt all day. I can't remember feeling so well. I have more energy that I can imagine but its not "too" much you know. I feel like I can do anything I want to do. I'm more focused, not so foggy and slow. Normally I crash after every meal and right after work. Naps are my best friend but sometimes they just don't revive me enough to function like a human being. I've put off medication for years. I don't want medication. I hate being on pills and I'm not good about remembering to take them. I've been told that once your thyroid is messed up, it's messed up for life. But I'm learning that isn't true. Don't always believe what one health professional tells you. Do some research of your own and become well educated. New information is always coming out and the person you're seeing might not know. But they also might know things you wont find easy so make sure to talk to them about what you're reading and learning.