Blog designed to follow me through all the trials and tribulations of dietetics, physiology, heart-stopping exams, and college in your mid-late 20s.
All things DIET, food, lifestyle, exercise, recipes, and health food reviews.
I hope this update video helps some of you newly diagnosed, or just wondering what being on one of the most frequently prescribed biologics is like.
I wish all of my fellow spoonies the best. - -- And don't take this decision lightly. Do NOT let anyone else coerce you or make the decision for you. This is your life, your body, your illness. BE INFORMED and be your own advocate.
Enjoy the video. Let me know your experiences, your thoughts in the comments. Like, Share, and Subscribe!!!
This is the make it or break it week. In so many ways.
I could just list my goals, but I think it might be more helpful to you and to me to explain why they are on this list and just how I plan to improve them and my life.
1. Financial Aid
I'm pretty sure this one needs no explanation. My award letter is not what I expected it to be. Its fine, just odd. So I need to speak with my counselor.
2. Get my windshield repaired
Again, no explanation needed.
3. Get back to eating the way I want (really it's a need) to.
So this has less to do with dietetics than with Crohn's and medications. I have pretty much figured out what I can and cannot eat to feel good and keep my weight/bloat/water retention down. I'm also working on figuring out which foods help my mental state. I MUST get back to that way of eating.
4. Start Product reviews
I had promised a long time ago to do product reviews from the perspective of consumer (does it taste good, is it economical), Crohnie (will it give me a flare, allergens), and dietitian (is it actually healthy, who would this product suit). I need to actually do this.
5. Uh. Exercise
I started doing yoga twice daily months ago and about a month ago, I stopped. Idiotic. Yoga not only is great for flexibility, it's amazing for relaxation and sleep. It teaches mindfulness and it's extra low impact for any painful joints. Also. Walking. I'm home with my pup and yet I've still lost all ambition to stay healthy.
6. Step up my YouTube game
This goal is actually many goals in one. Work on thumbnails, tags, titles. Also professional content. Last week I recorded a series of probiotics videos. They aren't up to the standard they really should be, but I'm uploading them to keep my presence up and then the quality will continue to improve with better equipment, software, and editting techniques come in.
I've got some great ideas for content, but the production quality is holding me back. So it's all about the education and practice this week. Hopefully by next week and the week after you'll start to notice.
7. Start the third weekly blog post that corresponds to that weeks video theme
I think it's more useful to people to watch a video and then have a more in depth resource to click through to.
8. Move beyond just posting for comfort and routine
The quality and content has to be there. I think the anxiety study has started to move in to my real life, so it's time to repurpose the channel to correspond with the blog and bring forth my inner dietitian.
9. Plan for the next functional food video series
It's not just probiotics that really help ALL people. There are many others. We could delve into kombucha, aloe, and a plethora of others to determine whether they are actually functional and how do we best use them.
10. Get through the main research on Thyroid diet
Beyond goitrogens, selenium, and iodine. What else is there that needs to be eliminated or added to the diet to help make our thyroids function the best and does it still help when the patient has an autoimmune disorder..
So those are the main ones. I won't be too gutted if I don't get through them all. And some are going to be a choice everyday. But this week is the beginning of a new Era. And at this point, it has to be, for me, for my future, for my confidence, for my health.
I've never been good at sticking with things I've only promised to myself. But if I ever plan on having a business or even making any sort of a difference here (or even making some money from it) I need to be better and more committed. I need to put some real effort and invest in this project.
So, with this really short post, that it is what I am doing. I am committing to you and myself to keep up and improve both this blog and my videos.
The posts in both locations will become more informative, more professional, while staying personal and entirely genuine.
Please stick with me and stick by me as I finally do something to help myself in the long run and stop being so reactionary and only doing things in reaction to my immediate and often painful circumstances.
I am here to tell you I am taking my life back and I'm going to help others do the same!
Did you know today is Norwegian Heritage day? I didn't, but that's awesome.
So. Update.
Eventually this blog should take the form of health, diet, and lifestyle advice that will be supplemental to my career as an RDN. Until that happens, it will continue to serve as a life and school update platform, slowly molding and evolving into a more health and professional based platform.
The first step in that evolution is here.
I am starting a new blog series that should be coming weekly on Mondays (nevermind that this one is coming at you on Wednesday). Here I will feature a goal for the week along with a review of a product, book, or diet that I've been learning about.
This week I mainly focus on the goals.
I've got so many for this first week home.
Here they are:
- PPD test administration and reading
- Immunization record and flu shot record
- Transfer of scripts to pharmacy that accepts WA AppleHealth
- Dr appt with GI
- Discuss the merits of staying on Humira vs coming off of it entirely or in favor of another med
- If staying on Humira, transfer to specialty pharmacy
- What I Learned This Week post Saturday
- Change YouTube channel name
So as you can see this week is a focus on personal health and getting my ducks in a row for clinicals.
In the state of NY, every Healthcare professional must have a yearly PPD test (for TB) - which is pretty standard - and a yearly flu vaccine.
I got my influenza vaccination in November last year here in WA, at a local pharmacy so I have to find that record and get it transferred to my immunization record through my primary care physician and get all of that sent to my school so that it can be disseminated to the proper people before I start clinicals.
Other than those goals, I'm trying to relax and prepare myself mentally for the next big step in my college and professional journey - taking care of self, in other words.
I've been vlogging in bits and pieces this week and those clips will be coming to my YouTube channel as well.
As I mentioned above, I am also looking to change the name of my YouTube channel to better reflect where I am taking the content and my plans for the future in terms of business pursuits.
You will notice the content change shortly as well I hope. Not this week and maybe not next but definitely within the month of May. My first foray into science based diet advice will either be on Thyroid diet research or personalized Crohn's diets.
Part of my other blog series (What I Learned This Week) will wrap up how I did on my goals and what I learned from them and any changes or progress I have made.
I hope you are all looking forward to these changes and some previews into what might be coming from me in future as I step into a career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (MSRD). I look forward to your input and feedback and PLEASE SHARE the videos and blog entries so I canreachmorepeople.
It has been a long time since I have written a post. Lately, I have just been filming a video as an update instead of writing a post.
This past week was finals week. My first term in Buffalo is done and I am 1/5 done in my journey here. I will be back in Buffalo in about 7 weeks to start my first round of clinical rotations. It is incredibly scary, but I am trying to stay focused on the fact that this next 7 months may be the hardest of my life so far.
With that being said, I have to make sure that every other part of my life is set and I will not be having to deal with crazy health problems, money issues, etc. The next seven weeks will be spent hopefully relaxing, but also spending quite a bit of time getting my life in shape, in every sense of the word.
There are so many things that need to be done. My first week back home (starting Monday actually) is going to be spent getting a new physical, updating my TB/PPD, and having a gastroenterology appointment. So most of my health-ish things will be taken care of right off the bat. Then I have to go through all of my medications and work out whether I need to purchase new insurance instead of just Medicaid (AKA AppleHealth). Hopefully getting all of those things done right away will allow me to focus on the other parts of my life - family, fitness, modelling nutrition, relaxation.
The other thing, which I mentioned in my last Vlog, is starting the process of finding out which internal streams of dialogue actually represent me and sorting out what I know does not represent me.
I guess you could say I am hoping to "find myself" this short summer off of school so that I can come back and start this next set of classes and clinicals the best way possible.
Building confidence, learning about myself, getting in shape mentally - physically - emotionally: that is my plan for the summer -- oh, and a lot of horses too. And my dog. And sleep.
This first four months in the CPD program have been rough, but looking back, I know they could have been much worse. And I know I handled them as well as I could. And toward the end, I was really starting to come into my own. I owe a lot of that to therapy.
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Keep up to date on my Youtube channel: Go to channel and subscribe here.
And I will try to keep posting here too, but I am starting to actually vlog, so if you are curious about what a graduate student's life is like, or what I deal with daily as someone with crohn's and other chronic illnesses, it might be worth hitting the subscribe button!
Buffalo Marches can be incredibly unpredictable. But this winter has been tranquil in comparison to many.
Financial matters do not get any less frustrating or scary. And, in fact, they get more so. To the point where you want to bite someone's head off for impeding your life, your dreams, your passions, and your needs.
I have no idea why I have this insatiable appetite of late, it is really frustrating.
Two weeks is too long to go without seeing the psych...
I have more emotion when it comes to dealing with my family member's upsets than my own.. and that is not healthy, that much I have learned. I have been leaned on too long to support the weight of others at this point.
Ask for what you want. Without embarrassment. Without hesitation. You just might get it. You just might need what you have asked for.
But, I am acutely aware of how much I fear looking weak.
I do, in fact, NEED to study. And I can, in fact, only get an 87% on an online, open book test.
Autism spectrum disorders are some of the hardest to accommodate for in a post secondary education setting and we are no where near prepared to accommodate them. Disability offices tend not to have the scope, resources, or financial reach to help this type of student. They tend to fall through the cracks even with incredibly high levels of intelligence and this frustrates me to no end. likewise with veterans; we must help them more.
My boss has Hashimoto's thyroiditis as well.
No one seems to be able to do anything to help my situation, but they all feel it is unfair.
Cholesterol does not contribute at all to calorie intake.
Motivational interviewing is incredible and I need to practice it more.
My birthday is on Tuesday; I will be 26 yo. End of health insurance and beginning of the ugly 20s. Here's to 26 and still being a student. Here's to 26 and being much healthier than 21. Here's to 26 and learning to love myself and be myself. And on and on.
Check out the new videos from this week:
Hashimoto's
Let's try some alternative therapies in addition to traditional Western meds and medicine
