That's a Wake-Up Call if I've Ever Seen One
- Kristin W Sladek
- Sep 5, 2024
- 6 min read
A month ago my family completely changed up the way we are living and eating in response to one giant set of labwork I had done. This is our story.
I'm a ripe 52 years young and, admittedly, in the thick of being post-menopausal-- pun intended. I had been feeling my age more than I liked and wanted to go on hormone replacement therapy but my usual doctor was not willing to help me. If you know me, I'll keep going till I find someone who gives me the treatment that I want and I'll bring print outs of the research to stand behind my decisions with me. So about 6 weeks ago I met with a new doctor who drew a mere 13 tubes of blood, ordered a mammogram, and a DEXA scan to look at my bone density before starting any treatments.
The results were hardly pretty. I knew I'd gained weight but to see a high cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, thyroid dysfunction, MTHFR gene mutation, hip osteoporosis (not -penia, the kind where I no longer am allowed by my husband to jump, jog, do plyo, etc bc of risk of fracture), and good lord, my lupus was crazy active also! I felt reasonably fine. I didn't think I ate pretty well, rarely drank, didn't think I lead pretty healthy life. Clearly, I was very wrong and staring bigger health problems in the face. I felt like heart disease, brain disease, complications from lupus or a broken hip were lined up like eager trick or treaters knocking at the door, all battling it out to get their hands in the candy that's my well being. I don't give out candy at Halloween (we don't get kids bc the way our property is situated) and I am not opening the door to this group of little darlings.
My husband, who god love him, has always carried a few extra cortisol-induced-from-being-a-workaholic pounds, had to have had a sudden Come to Jesus moment when my labs were so bad, thinking to himself, "if her's are bad, my god what are mine?!" I say this because he looked me dead in the eye and said, "Find a meal plan and we're doing it. This is going to change, for all of us, on Monday." Now when he says that kind of thing he legitimately means that on Monday morning things will change, not the I'm giving it a few days to ease into change. On Sunday we prepped the kitchen, had our grocery list, and took a deep breath as we started a month long adventure of 100% home cooked meals, no dining out, daily exercise, no alcohol (not that we did the daily drink or even Friday night happy hour but this was a zero thing). The plan included zero gluten (fine with me, I have Celiac) and microscopic amounts of dairy. No red meat. No pork. We said to the kids that this isn't' a diet, this is how it's going to be. Our Sunday morning breakfasts out? Not happening for a while. Domino's because I'm tired and can't think? Sorry. Hot bar from the grocery store? Maybe. Buy lunch at school or work? Forget it.
He decided to do twice daily workouts and we dubbed it the 75 Ed as opposed to the 75 Hard. I'm sticking to once a day plus a walk with a weighted vest. I lift heavy weights or do Pilates so I can try to rebuild my muscle that disappeared, thank you menopause and cancer treatment. The kids started moving more as a result also.
My days have become less about what I'm doing for X, Y and Z and more about how I'm going to stay healthy so I can keep doing those things. I can hear my late father, an avid sailor, say that the boat doesn't need to just come about, it needs to hard jibe and make sure to stay alert so you don't get smacked in the head by the boom. My family's ship was whipping around, and headed with our bow into uncharted and hopefully safer waters.
Not that this is all about weight change, but together we have lost close to 50 pounds, and that's with 2 of us not moving our weight at all. I go back in three weeks for new labs to see how those have changed if at all. Our energy is up, our skin is better, some of us no longer have bad body odor, our sleep has improved, our focus is better, our moods have improved.
Ok, I know you're going to ask what I'm taking because surely I'm on some kind of medicine or one of my family members is. This is a transparent list of the medicines I take in addition to the one's for my ADHD and anxiety that I'd taken for years and the bio-idential hormone replacement therapy of estrogen and testosterone, and oral progesterone-- they're all supplements, vitamins, minerals, herbs, adaptogens...
Thorne Hormone Advantage (DIM)
Thorne Methyl-Guard Methylation Factors
Thorne Super EPA (EPA and DHA)
Pendulum GLP-1 Probiotic (akkermansia
Pendulum Polyhenol
Klean Calcium (Citrate)
Pure Encapsulations Thyroid Support Complex (includes iodine)
Modere Axis Multivitamin (with minerals)
Modere Reviatalize (trace minerals with shilajit)
Modere Liquid Biocell Beauty (liquid collagen with hylauronic acid)
Modere Trebiotic (pre, pro, and post biotics)
Optimum Nutrition Creatine Monohydrate
My husband takes Pure Encapsulations Men's Pure Pack which contains everythig he needs-- vitamins, minerals, EPA/DHA, Vitamin D3, CoQ10, Magnesium Citrate, and Saw Palmetto. He takes the same creatine and the Trebiotics daily as well. We know darn well that you can absolutely not out supplement a bad diet, but you can use it as a sort of layer of protection atop the cake to make sure it doesn't, well, go completely bad.
This new way of eating and exercise has been honestly rigorous but sometimes your need to go to boot camp for a while before being thrown into the battle of life. You need a stint in residential rehab before living on your own and trying to navigate a world of fast food, calorie dense nutritionally devoid although admittedly often delicious foods consumed while binge watching Love Island. I have gotten used to constantly washing pots and pans (great time for headphones and an audio book or podcast), used up a big bottle of olive oil, and considered starting a compost pile for the stems, stalks and rinds. Do I make absolutely everything from scratch? No. I do buy bottled lemon juice, frozen cut up fruit and veggies, canned papaya and pineapple, non-dairy protein powder... I did not go all organic but that's another post in and of itself. The foundation of the plan is one that is MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH) meets bone health and anti-aging. We took all the best diets we could find and made a list of things we had to have daily and are doing our best to include them. I now am the Queen of Kale and berries. Do not stand between me and my salad.
Do I recommend this? Yes but with a warning label that it's not for the faint of heart or those half heartedly committed. You have to go all in and give it a month, at least. As you read above, it's improved our lives, and I look forward to seeing what my labs look like after this. If you want to get started on your own health journey, I'm here to help. This is mine, and it's just the beginning.
*Sponsor & Legal Disclosure: Below are links to Fullscript and Modere, where I get my supplements, and a link to my website where you can subscribe to one month of the 28 Day Reset Meal Plan. I have since partnered with the supplement companies and receive a small commission from the sales of the products but you save when you use my links. I do not endorse anything I have not tried personally but remember, what works for me may not work for you. This content is made soley for the purposes of entertainment and not to be used to diagnose or treat any condition nor is it in place of a medical doctor or other health professional.
(C) Kristin Sladek, 2024
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