Don’t mind the up close and personal mug shots, but I wanted to touch on something that I don’t think many of us are aware of or in tune with… Our nutrition and how are bodies react to what we’re eating.
I’ll admit, for a long time, I ate whatever I wanted and just went along with however I was feeling, good, bad, or otherwise. Acne? No big deal, I’ll just cover it up. Joint aches and pains? No big deal, I’ll just take ibuprofen. Extreme fatigue and inability to sleep? No big deal, I’ll just drink loads of caffeine and hope for the best at night.
This sustained me for awhile, but as I got older, I started feeling worse and worse. I no longer could get away with not sleeping at night and caffeinating myself to the point of jitters (and worse, anxiety attacks). I no longer could tolerate the painful acne on my face that nothing could heal. I no longer could tolerate the high dosages of ibuprofen I was taking (it’s a wonder I didn’t screw up my internal organs!).
I HAD to get my nutrition under control (although I was told I was healthy and all my pains and concerns weren’t related to how I was eating…yeah, OKAY).
This was several years ago and multiple attempts at figuring out what worked for my body and what fueled me the best. It took me many years, many setbacks, and many failures to get my nutrition on point – and sometimes I feel like it’s still a work in progress!
My acne cleared up, my joint aches and pains alleviated (the muscle pain is still there, but that’s normal – thanks CrossFit, LOL), and I don’t feel like I need high doses of caffeine to make it through the day. And when I have an adverse reaction to something, 9 times out of 10, I can usually pinpoint it to something I’ve eaten.
Take the above pictures, for instance. Last Wednesday, our family ate lunch at Wild Wing Cafe and I tried a new wing flavor. I didn’t think anything of it, because we’ve eaten there numerous times and it’s never been an issue.
We went about our day, went to the gym to workout, and when we got home later that evening, my face started itching. I still didn’t think anything of it and ended up having the leftover wings for dinner.
That night, I woke up multiple times to my face being super itchy and inflamed. My face hurt and it felt like little needle pricks all over my face and neck. When I woke up the next morning, my face was swollen and red and itched so badly. It was insane!
The only new thing I’d eaten was the new wing flavor. It took a couple days of claritin, hydrocortisone cream, and my soothe regimen to get my face back to normal. Thursday and Friday were rough as my face was swollen, sensitive, and itchy. As the inflammation started going down, it started feeling more normal and comfortable.
The left picture above was Thursday morning upon waking up. I felt like I’d had botox to fill my laugh lines. The right picture was Sunday morning, finally feeling like myself!
I can tell you that had I not been so in tune with what I was eating and how my body normally feels that I probably wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint exactly what I was having a reaction to. And that’s how I used to be. I couldn’t attribute how I was feeling to any one thing, so I didn’t know how to correct it.
Thankfully I now know and I won’t be having that wing flavor anymore. The more you know, the more in tune you are with your body, the faster you can make the connection and start correcting the problem.
Need some help on your nutrition journey and figuring out what works best for you? I’d love to help you out! Reach out today and let’s chat 🙂
I hope you have a beautiful week! And no allergic reactions!!
Whitney
