I am on day three of a migraine. I woke up at 3:30am and drank some water hoping I was just dehydrated. Wrong. I woke up again at 5:00am and begged the Mister to get me a pain reliever and an ice bag. With all my ulcers, all I’m allowed to have is Tylenol. Um, that doesn’t do much. I eventually drifted off to sleep and woke up 30 minutes before I had to drop Mikey off at school. Ugh. At least now I am feeling a bit better. Nauseous, but better.
I know most of this comes from my diet. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately, and my diet has suffered. I got in a bad habit of drinking diet coke again, which (for me) is a big migraine trigger. So why drink it? Because it is so flippin’ delicious I can’t even stand it. It’s also my only source of caffeine on mornings after sleepless nights.
Diet coke also does something to my appetite. I get hungrier than usual and crave crap. So, along with diet coke I’ve been eating a lot of fast food. Consequently, I weigh as much now as I did when I was studying for the bar. Not good.
So, what am I going to do? I’m going to start off by drinking a 16oz green smoothie everyday starting Friday. Do any of you read The Happy Foody? She’s on my blogroll (the one I have yet to update) and I recommend you check her out. Anyway, in February she hosted a green smoothie challenge that I pointedly ignored. I was able to dig deep with a few good excuses and never participated. Now I regret it, because it would have been nice to do this with a community of participants. Oh well, my bad. I’m going to start tomorrow. Check out her blog for testimonials of people who have just finished the challenge. Her rules for the challenge were pretty simple.
- Drink a 16 oz. of green smoothie each day�preferably for breakfast. I HIGHLY recommend getting the book �Green For Life� by Victoria Boutenko. It�s a quick read and it has lots of yummy smoothie recipes in it. Check out her website too!
The Happy Foody: The Happy Foody Green Smoothie Challenge (Feb. 13, 2008)
Anyway, that’s what I’m doing. My goal is to lose weight and not have a headache for 30 days. In addition to my regular posts, I’m going to use my blog as a log of sorts to track my intake and recipes. I hope you don’t mind! I’m also encouraging anyone who wants to join me to leave a comment or send me an email. Oh, and wish me luck! I’ll definitely need that, too.
So, have any of you taken steps to improve your health this year? Have any of you improved a medical condition or lost a good deal of weight? Tell me all about it. I love success stories, even when they aren’t mine.
I totally sympathize with the migraine. I’m trying to get pregnant so the only thing my dr will let me take is tylenol.(it is tylenol#3 with codene though)
I have been trying unsucessfully to reduce the amount of crap from my diet before I gain pregnancy weight. I greatly appreciate any tips you can come up with!
It’s not a migraine (I don’t think) but I’ve had a killer headache all day despite 40,000mg of Tylenol. I feel for you.
Some of my worst headaches were when I was pregnant. Just blinding, mind numbing pain. Good luck with that! ;) Sorry, I’m teasing. I just had wild hormone fluctuations ergo, the headaches. Don’t worry!
Petunia–sorry about your headache. I have a pretty good idea where yours is coming from. I finally broke down and took Excedrin. Asprin! Caffeine! Ibuprofin! Ulcers! All very bad, but in less than 30 minutes so very good.
Ok, so those green smoothies don’t look very yummy, but I need to something for my overall health, so I’m in. This starts tomorrow right? I for one, will be looking forward to the recipes and tracking.
Country Girl!:)
Don’t they look questionable? Everyone swears that they do something to make you lose your cravings for sugars and junk and make you feel balanced. Other people swear they look younger and their face is clearer. I hope so! I’m taking before and after pictures. Gulp.
oh man, a couple years ago i was diagnosed with chronic migraines AND hypothyroidism (i.e. no metabolism) at the same time so I definitely understand the “get skinny while your head is throbbing goal.” I totally suck at any form of diet (my grandmother was literally a candy maker; sweet tooth like you wouldn’t believe) but recently something I’ve found that works is hot yoga. I know trying to find time to go somewhere to work out is a pain but basically it’s a yoga class in a hundred degree room (which sounds like torture but sweating like a crazy person is surprisingly gratifying) and something about it does good things for your circulation and thus migraines. Sorry this comment is SO freaking long but wikipedia it or something if you get the chance and good luck!
I was a medical nightmare this winter- what with my asthma, alleriges, eye issues, a new grinding teeth habit and a dash of sinus issues- all of which left me with daily headaches that made me more dependant on pain medication than I ever care for.
I started talking to all of my people (yes, I’ve got a medical crew) and turns out…I just needed to start drinking way more water and putting myself through a couple of nasal rinse/irrigation (looks and sounds revolting. a goddamn godsend though) and then POOF! They have magically dissappeared.
for shizzle.
But I’ll look into the green shake thingy as the lethargy of the bod these days are so not spring appropriate!
(ps: the moral of the story: drink water. lots of it. tons of it. really. oh so simple.)
A success story? I gained 5lbs. in the last month. UGH! I’ve been working from home lately and all I do is sit on my bum and watch CNN.
So yes, I need to get some supplies so I might not start tomorrow but I am willing to try anything right now. When I was dieting before, I tried the 3 hour diet. It is low calorie but the thing I liked the most about it is your intake is spread over lots of little meals instead of 3 times a day. So, you always have a snack or meal within a few hours of each other.
OH! drink green tea. I think drinking 1 cup burns 90 calories on its own.
HAH! On one blog I am talking about cookies and on the other I’m complaining about gaining weight.
Jules, I have heard from a friend who suffers from chronic splitting migraines and says that a shot of Botox to the temple area (or wherever the pain was) every 6 months does the job… dispensed by her neighborhood Kaiser! Go figure that it’s not only for the rich and famous to continually look wrinkle-free, but works well medicinally.
Jules I suffer from migraines and trigeminal nueralgia (facial nerve pain like a toothache that rips through your face/sinus/eyes with piercing pain) and the last 2 years have been a challenge. A frozen bag of corn on my afflicted area and prescription drugs have been my only salvation. I have tried drinking gallons of water, wearing huge sunglasses, no wine-BOO-, and no cheese, been to many docs, and am about to try acupuncture if I don’t get SOME relief. I have 14 or 15 day migraines. I’m still cheerfully hopeful that I will find the cause/cure. Sorry for the long post, so grateful I am not alone! Stop by my blog sometime, I’ll try not to focus on headpain.
Jackee, I’ve had headaches like what you’re describing. The longest one I ever had was in October of 1997 (17 days, I’ll never forget it). Anyway, I had an MRI done and I had a small tumor on my pituitary. It explained a lot (headaches, weight gain, etc.). Anyway, we were able to take care of it, and so now when I get headaches I jump! It’s one of the reasons I am a bit obsessed with what I put in my mouth. (Artificial ingredients, preservatives, and other food chemicals can affect hormones, and my tumor was hormone related).
Good luck! I hope you can find a way to control the headaches. :)
Some of the headaches issues might be caused by what’s in the Diet Coke (the Splenda). I was just looking up horror stories about it yesterday and it’s kind of scary to see some people’s reacts to it.
Headaches stink though- I am preg and the only thing I can take is Tylenol too- blech. It only works part of the time. I had a friend who usually suffers migraines and had a terrible time during pregnancy- acupuncture really helped her.
Carey– My headaches are definitely Diet Coke related. Anything artificial, really, and ESPECIALLY sweeteners. In fact, I woke up with one today because I went on a 5 day ice cream binge. Stupid.
It is great that you are trying this. I am interested to see if you get fewer migraines – best wishes! Love your blog.