The Importance of Listening To Your Body.....

Hello Winners! Thanks for following me here. I have created this blog spot just for you!

I have been challenged with some pretty nifty health-related stuff for the last year and probably many more, that have progressively impacted me to an unacceptable level over the last 3 months, based on what my body was telling me, and I am FINALLY getting a handle on what has been happening and have already started the healing process. I, of course, want to do my best to share my account of this experience with all of you, as it relates to health and nutrition, with the hopes of raising awareness.

What Is Happening To Me?

Over the last year, I have experienced periods where I haven't been feeling anything like my usual energetic/happy-go-lucky self. After checking with my MD and having blood work done earlier this year, nothing proved conclusive based on my results compared to the symptoms I was experiencing. The frustration continued to build within as I tried to figure out WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO ME. I felt like I have been riding a never-ending roller coaster of fatigue and emotional imbalance that was progressing at a ridiculous rate.

Starting back in June of this year, I started experiencing excessive sleepless nights and disturbances in my regular sleep patterns for the first time in my life. This made absolutely no sense to me, as I got in regular exercise, worked full days, ate fairly healthy and didn’t have anything impending on my mind to disturb me. In addition, on the nights where I did get in enough hours of sleep (6 to 8 hours), I would wake up feeling like I hadn't had an ounce of sleep.....foggy, moody, exhausted, mentally drained, irrational, emotional, lacked energy for my favorite activities, etc. with a full day of work and/or activities ahead of me. Just Great!

Eventually my work performance was sufferning, as I was consistently tired and forgetful and just couldn’t wait for the day to end so I could get home and jump into bed. I had been through down periods in my life before caused by disagreements, loss, break-ups etc. and wouldn’t accept that I was going through an extended depression because I had never let any of life’s disappointments get to me so badly before that it kept me down for extended periods of time like this...just not typical for me. It was something more...my body was trying to tell me something and had been for a while…and trying to get a handle on what was happening was challenging and frustrating.

At first, I automatically assumed that I needed to engage in more physical activity and/or spend some more time at the gym, so back in May of this year I increased the amount of times I would exercise each week. This wasn’t working out for me. I was working out vigorously and not only wasn’t I getting more energy from my workouts, it was contributing more to my universal fatigue and I wasn’t even getting lighter on the scale…something was seriously wrong! The overabundance of exercise eventually led to a knee injury back in June which required surgery in July and I was forced to take a big step down from my regular workouts and to slow down and spend time really paying attention to my body and listening more clearly to what it was telling me. I would have never in a million years thought that knee surgery would turn out to be the biggest blessing in disguise for me.

Adrenal Fatigue

Being a naturalist and trying to avoid being consistently medicated for anything at all costs, I knew it was appropriate for me to do extensive research on my symptoms for alternative remedies and believed that nutrition and exercise was the key, but the right kind and amounts was what I needed suport with most. About 3 weeks ago it was like the Man Up Above dropped the biggest gift in my lap. I stumbled upon a nutrition/fitness specialist by the name of Antonio Valladares (www.burnsports.com), who I immediately made an appointment with for a consultation. He is not only extensively educated with the causes for my symptoms, but also experienced my exact symptoms. He also healed himself from adrenal fatigue and/or “burnout” and has been a practicing nutrition and fitness specialist/professional focusing on the causes of my exact symptoms and assisting people all over New York City heal themselves.

After having my health history reviewed and evaluated and answering a ton of questions on my food-type preferences and my symptoms, it was concluded that adrenal fatigue was most probably the main cause, with the possibility of some food allergies, and explained that this is typically caused by lack of balanced nutrition that works well for each personal individually, whole foods, personal and environmental stress management and a myriad of other external contributors/factors that I personally would have never even spent a second thinking about had they not been brought to my attention.

Slowing Down

We immediately created a game plan conducive to having me feel more and more like myself and I am now consumed with a sense of calm, instead of a cycle of stress/fatigue/frustration. First rules of the healing process….SLOW DOWN! and create a nutritional plan that supports me personally! I have been slowing down and feeling more and more balanced every day and experimenting with foods to see what does and what doesn't work for me based on really paying attention to how I'm feeling after I consume certain foods and really listening to my body.

Conclusion

I’m hoping that this season of change is supporting all of you. Not only is the weather changing and leaves turning different shades...but the cooler weather tends to create more opportunities for slowing down. I am personally doing what it takes to slow down and ask that you spend this time wisely and listen to what your body is telling you…it always knows best and is your life compass...always leading you in the right direction. If you have been experiencing any of my symptoms and require some support, please reach out. That’s what I am here for and what TBWN is all about.

With Love & Gratitude,
RG aka The Biggest Winner Now!