Flea Becomes a Basic Bitch

[fleaball]

...because this challenge is all about fighting off acid reflux. lol chemistry, amirite? 

 

Bad jokes aside, here we go. I've spent almost the entire year waffling over how to start getting healthier because I have issues with both prioritizing and committing to things. Needing to work on my diet, working out, PT exercises, mental health, etc etc etc, means too many things to pick from so basically I never picked anything to work on because what if it was the wrong choice. Last week my therapist told me just to pick one thing and run with it. This isn't really what she had in mind, but I've also never been great at following directions. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So here we are. My acid reflux has gotten pretty terrible over the last few months, but in August my doctor said that when I see her next (12/31, go figure) she wants to start scaling back what I take to eventually get me off it. Which is fine; at the beginning of this year I wanted to be off it entirely by the end of the year. That hasn't worked out, but I still want off it. 

 

So the overall goal of this challenge is to manage the reflux better. It's a single goal, but with the baby diet and exercise goals that lead to it. I've thought about it a lot over the past week and I think this will be a better approach to improving my health than simply thinking of it as "I need to eat better and exercise." The downside, of course, is that it's not a goal that can really be quantified in concrete terms, but I will be paying attention to and noting how I feel: how often does my throat hurt, how much trouble did I have sleeping last night, etc. Challenge starts now, runs til 12/29. I've tried these goals in the past and told myself it would help with reflux, but I'm tweaking my approach again and the reflux is now bad enough to require actual attention and not just fluffy "these goals will help!!" bullshit. 

 

The goals: 

 

Eliminate Trigger Foods: 

• No dairy. Dairy is 100% my biggest reflux trigger. Tried and tested. The fat cat will be disappointed I won't be snacking on cheese and sharing with him anymore, but he'll live.
• No fatty/greasy foods. This is the other category that seems to have the biggest impact on how I feel, so away it goes. 

 

Gentle Exercise:

• Walk at least 15 minutes 3x a week. The gym has treadmills. I can make this work. A slow 15 minutes on an exercise bike is also acceptable if I feel ambitious.
• Do a Yoga with Adrienne video every day. Will be careful of the bending over and whatnot that usually aggravates the reflux, but in general yoga is chill enough that I won't want to vomit every time I move. I'll do random videos from now until 12/2, then start one of her old 30-day yoga challenges. 

 

That's it! I'm in a better place to make this work since I've started grocery shopping more and cooking some things/ordering less takeout and other shit. I will occasionally have to make exceptions, I think, because if I get hungry while I'm out late driving for Lyft sometimes my only option is fast food, but I'll still make the best/least shitty choice I can if it comes to that. There are other goals I could add to make more of a difference, but I'll sit on them for now and see where I get with just these. 

[fleaball]

[Arkania]

Following

[Zaethe]

 

As someone else for whom dairy and grease are the top two triggers for reflux (followed closely by caffeine and carbonated drinks)  I can attest that it's no small feat to cut them out!  

 

Following along!

[fleaball]

7 minutes ago, Dalish said:

 

As someone else for whom dairy and grease are the top two triggers for reflux (followed closely by caffeine and carbonated drinks)  I can attest that it's no small feat to cut them out!  

 

Following along!

Hey there, glad to see you back! Yeah I cut out carbonated drinks years ago just because, but I cringe to think of how they'd make me feel now. I'm not sure caffeine actually bothers me, but once I get the bigger triggers out of the way I'm going to work on giving up coffee again and we'll see what happens. 

 

28 minutes ago, Arkania said:

Following

woo!

[WhiteGhost]

NaOH that is one seriously basic challenge!

 

[Zaethe]

1 hour ago, fleaball said:

Hey there, glad to see you back! Yeah I cut out carbonated drinks years ago just because, but I cringe to think of how they'd make me feel now. I'm not sure caffeine actually bothers me, but once I get the bigger triggers out of the way I'm going to work on giving up coffee again and we'll see what happens. 

 

 

Glad to see you back too!  I was stalking for the last half of last challenge and noticed the lack of your thread, so was hoping you were doing alright.

 

I have so many triggers it's not funny.  Dairy, soda, caffeine, grease, spice, not eating (attempting intermittent fasting was hell), and sugar.  For a while I thought gluten was a problem child too, but it turned out to be the acidity and sugar in heavy tomato based pasta sauces.    

 

A lot of those were easy for me to get rid of (and some still haven't gone yet...) but dairy and grease were my white whale.  Because it's convenience, when all else failed I could grab a cheeseburger, or some easy mac.  or just make a cheese sandwich.  In the end I had to fill my fridge with falafel and hummus to actually get anywhere with it.

[TimovieMan]

Oh my GERD! Following!!!

[Sylvaa]

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following. You set up this challenge really well.

 

Two chemists walk into a bar. One tells the bartender, I'd like some H two O. He has a sip and feels refreshed. The second chemist says "I'd like some H 2 O too."  He takes a sip and dies.

[NeverThatBored]

Following!

 

[Tobbe]

Looking forward to hear more about how the Yoga works out for you!

[Tobbe]

And all the Chem jokes/puns too of course!  

[Severine]

 

I need to do basically all these same things. Stupid reflux.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

[fleaball]

Welp, day 1 for me and I'm already hitting speed bumps. Specifically, I was helping my father put up plastic on his windows before it gets insanely cold this week and I somehow managed to royally fuck up my knee while trying to maneuver around all the shit in his room. I slipped on something or turned wrong or idk but walking is off the menu for the next couple days and yoga may be a question mark. Of course it's the same knee I was doing PT for earlier in the year so I'll try some of the less intense exercises and stretches I got for that to see if it helps; at least it'll still be something. 

 

I've also failed the no dairy rule today but I did that on purpose. I found a cheese I've been craving at Aldi, so I bought it and then I'm going to enjoy it and then it's not going to be a thing for the rest of the year.

 

 

18 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

NaOH that is one seriously basic challenge!

 

Haha I like this one.

 

17 hours ago, Dalish said:

Glad to see you back too!  I was stalking for the last half of last challenge and noticed the lack of your thread, so was hoping you were doing alright.

 

I have so many triggers it's not funny.  Dairy, soda, caffeine, grease, spice, not eating (attempting intermittent fasting was hell), and sugar.  For a while I thought gluten was a problem child too, but it turned out to be the acidity and sugar in heavy tomato based pasta sauces.    

 

A lot of those were easy for me to get rid of (and some still haven't gone yet...) but dairy and grease were my white whale.  Because it's convenience, when all else failed I could grab a cheeseburger, or some easy mac.  or just make a cheese sandwich.  In the end I had to fill my fridge with falafel and hummus to actually get anywhere with it.

I come and go a lot. >> It's lame and annoying but I wind up in phases where I don't want to deal with people, even if they live in the interwebs.

 

Oh yikes. That's a lot to deal with! If I were trying to manage that many triggers I'd just give up. And to be fair, I could have more than I know and just not realize it, but ugh. It's the convenience that gets me too - everything seems to have cheese and/or grossness. And since I drive for Lyft (same thing as Uber) there's a lot of eating on the run and not being able to prepare things. It's such a pain. And I'm going to miss cheeseburgers, goddammit. 

 

15 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Oh my GERD! Following!!!

Love the pun!

 

13 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

That cat looks sinister.

 

13 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following. You set up this challenge really well.

 

Two chemists walk into a bar. One tells the bartender, I'd like some H two O. He has a sip and feels refreshed. The second chemist says "I'd like some H 2 O too."  He takes a sip and dies.

lol thanks. Fingers crossed it works this time.

 

9 hours ago, Tobbe said:

Looking forward to hear more about how the Yoga works out for you!

I make no promises! lol. I know from past experience that doing yoga even semi-regularly makes me feel a lot better so I'm hoping to repeat that. It won't make the weight melt off or anything, but if it can help manage stress and help me not feel so stressed and tight, it will be worth it. 

 

3 hours ago, Severine said:

 

I need to do basically all these same things. Stupid reflux.

#basicbitches4lyfe

 

3 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Asking the important questions.

[fleaball]

I feel like death after eating that cheese. 

 

[Zaethe]

20 minutes ago, fleaball said:

I feel like death after eating that cheese. 

 

 

It always sounds worth it until afterwards!  Every time!  I don't know if you get Mylanta there but they really help me when I screw up. 

[fleaball]

2 minutes ago, Dalish said:

 

It always sounds worth it until afterwards!  Every time!  I don't know if you get Mylanta there but they really help me when I screw up. 

We do have that! I’ve taken a different antacid and it’s helping but I still hate life lol. On top of the reflux, I have other issues with dairy. Not lactose intolerance and it’s not consistent, but sometimes after eating  dairy products I want to light the world on fire. 

[Zaethe]

7 minutes ago, fleaball said:

We do have that! I’ve taken a different antacid and it’s helping but I still hate life lol. On top of the reflux, I have other issues with dairy. Not lactose intolerance and it’s not consistent, but sometimes after eating  dairy products I want to light the world on fire. 

 

Dairy is a demon, it's so evil but damnit it tastes so good.  And it seems to have this magic capability to make one forget precisely how crappy the feeling was after the last time you ate it.  

[NeverThatBored]

What cheese was it that you had been looking for?

[fleaball]

12 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

What cheese was it that you had been looking for?

It’s just a ball of spreadable cheddar covered with slivered almonds. Nothing super special or even super quality, but Aldi only seems to have it around the holidays. The other store I go to had it for a stupid expensive price, so I think I really only wanted it because couldn’t get it (ie refused to pay so much for it).  

[Tobbe]

5 hours ago, fleaball said:

It won't make the weight melt off or anything, but if it can help manage stress and help me not feel so stressed and tight, it will be worth it.

 

I'm only interested in yoga for the mobility aspect of it. Just some basic stretches has done wonders in that area, so I'm thinking the next logical step for me would be to try some yoga. But... Time!

[Bean Sidhe]

Following for the chemistry giggles

 

 

Glad to see you back. hopefully some of this helps.

 

 

 

[RES]