I haven’t shared much of my health/fitness journey in awhile. Honestly, I am pretty upset with myself because I am up almost 20 lbs from last May. Towards the end of the summer (August to be exact) I started getting random fevers. I would get one every 4-6 weeks. The fever would last about 24-36 hours and I would feel like I had the flu without the nausea. In the beginning of December I had a bad one, my temp got up to 103 and I finally was like “this isn’t some random bug”.
I ended up doing an e-visit with my doctor and went in about 48 hours after the start of my fever but I was feeling better. She ordered a panel of 5 tests to look for some kind of infection… everything came back negative/normal. Given my history with uterine fibroids she wanted to meet with me in person to figure out what could be going on. I went in at the end of December and she ordered 3 more blood tests, a chest x-ray, and another ultrasound. Because of the fevers, weight gain (I know that was me – I was eating like crap and not working out), and joint pain she tested for Lyme’s, RA, and general inflammation.
Both the Lyme’s and RA test came back negative. My chest x-ray was normal but my inflammation was OFF THE CHARTS! Mine was 14 mg/L and normal range is under 1 mg/L. Risk level is up to 8 mg/L. General inflammation could be the sign of a wide range of auto-immune diseases and/or cancers so I freaked out but I needed to see how my ultrasound came out.
Fast forward to mid-January I finally got in for my ultrasound and everything was “normalish”. Last summer I had 3 fibroids (non-cancerous tumors in my uterus) and now I have 4. They are not large enough for surgery and given the location they are not the reason for my pain and fever.
The doctor asked what I wanted to do next and I decided to hold off future testing and get my nutrition and fitness back in order. I have a friend at work that has talked to me about the Anti-Inflammatory Protocol (AIP) Plan. The site https://unboundwellness.com/ was a huge help for me. I thought it was going to be a lot like the Whole30, which I’ve had great success with. BUT it is much more restrictive. I have to reference back to their food list every time I get ready to cook something. Through AIP plan you can’t have nuts/seeds, eggs, nighshades (white potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, some spices, ect…), seed oils, and pain relievers (no more Advil for awhile!). These foods can cause inflammation so after 4 weeks (like the Whole) you re-introduce a food group for a week and see how your body reacts. You then take it out and move to the next food group… until you find what is irritating your system.
I kind of know what my system doesn’t like (nuts, tomatoes, peppers) but I like the foods so much and they are “healthy”. My main goal with following this plan is to:
- STICK TO IT! Full transparency… the first week is not going well. I do great until dinner time. A few days ago I had to make a quick Target run to get fruit and I bought mac & cheese. WHY?!?! Because I thought it would make me “feel” better mentally. Nope, my stomach hated me. Guess I needed that reminder that there is a good reason I am doing this. I have to get my inflammation under control because the pain that I am in on a daily basis is getting really difficult to handle.
- Lower my inflammation numbers- I am going to make an appointment for mid-March to have my inflammation tested again to see if my results lower.
- Get back to normal- Early last year I was doing so well (mentally, emotionally, physically). Late in the summer until now I slowed down my working out and starting eating more than I normally do. The less I worked out the more bad stuff I ate. It may sound weird but when I work out I stick to my nutrition plan. Most people use it as a reason to go all out on a meal. For me, if I don’t work out I feel guilty and then eat all the crappy stuff.
It’s only day 4 for me and I haven’t been great at following the plan but I am feeling better. I did weigh myself this morning and I am down 1.5 lbs from Monday so something is working. I plan on checking in again next month to let you know how I am doing.
Helpful sites:
- Unbound Wellness – https://unboundwellness.com/
- Great for general information
- It’s All About AIP – http://www.itsallaboutaip.com/
- Awesome recipes!
- meatified – https://meatified.com/easy-aip-meals/
- Recipes and meal planning prep ideas
Jamie 🙂
