It’s set. Period.

I decided to share the amazing effect this book (The Fast Metabolism Diet) has had on my period cycle. My period’s transformation has been so fantastic that it needed it’s own post. I think that this is the HUGEST VICTORY in my battle with my insulin resistance…

…and thus needs an entire blog dedicated entirely to it.
I will also be adding highlights from a new book I’m reading by Dr. Don Colbert called “The Bible Cure for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain”.

I promise I am working on a Let my tune-up begin! follow-up where I share about the effect the amazing book by Haylie Pomroy, “The Fast Metabolism Diet” has had on me with it’s step by step easy to follow protocol. This post is just a snippet of the good news….

WOW WOW WOW!!! I’m so excited!

So, in past posts I mentioned that my period has been a mess since puberty. Since my blood sugar has also been a mess this long (as well as my thyroid, I’m quite certain) it’s no wonder my period has always been a monster.

‘What does blood sugar have to do with your period’ you ask….? I’ll get to that.

My period started very late, 14 years old, and was extremely hard and very painful, and had a long duration while the space between slowly shrank over time. And the pill, no matter the dosage intensity, always made me sick. I now know it’s a very big no-no when you have thyroid issues to flood your system with a synthetic hormone, especially if you want your body to remember how to balance that hormone by itself after you stop using it (so you can become pregnant, for instance)…. BUUUUTTTT that’s another blog post.

My AH-HA moment…

I had been suffering for about 14 months with a period cycle that was more like a year long period with moments of spotting in between, with no end in sight. The kicker, I wasn’t able to get pregnant. My daughter was about to turn 3 ~ she was conceived in 6 weeks~ yet now my period raged on sometimes 12 days, 12 DAYS!!!! and we had been trying to conceive in the small windows in between for over a year to no avail. My hormonal system was all out of whack. The AH-HA moment was when my OB prescribed Metformin, which helps control insulin levels in the blood.

Wait, WHAT?! Insulin is a blood sugar issue not a reproductive issue, right?! WRONG!

Doctor’s try to keep your bodily issues separate but we just don’t work that way. I needed my OB to have a round table conversation with my primary care doctor (who handled my Hashimoto’s disease with Synthroid) and my psychiatrist (who handled the symptoms my body was dealing with poorly on Synthroid alone). Come to find out the connection I was looking for was the medication they prescribe to you when they discover you have PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome) which is directly linked to insulin. GO FIGURE!!!!

My system had always had a hard time with sugar. I’ve had moments as a teenager where it looked like I was having a 4 minute long grand mal seizure (loss of bowel control, grey skin, no recognition when touched, convulsions, risked swallowing my tongue, etc) but after countless specialists and thousands of dollars worth of testing all doctors could tell my parents was that it was my hypoglycemia shutting my body down because my brain couldn’t function on the low availability of sugar in my blood. Hmmmm.

That said, a light bulb went off when I realized that my sugar issue was having an effect on my periods and cycle as well. What else was it messing up?

I was put on the Metformin but it was just a band aide. I was able to get pregnant about 6 weeks later so I stopped taking the metformin because I try not to be on medications that aren’t absolutely necessary. My OB agreed. What I didn’t realize until my son was born was that my body hadn’t healed while on the Metformin, the issue had merely been masked by it. It caused issues that carried over to my baby boy and his health. Huge issues like severe acid reflux and milk allergies that ultimately had him on $1000 a month prescription formula. The last thing I wanted….

When it comes to your children, especially your suffering newborn, searching for answers can take on a life of it’s own.

That’s when I went into hyper drive. I started researching everything I could get a hold of and reading every book I could afford to buy. This blog is about the very victory that search was seeking out, the very victory I had been looking for! I’m sharing it with you, bearly able to contain my excitement, to tell you that there is hope, that there is victory, and that you don’t have to have more medications in your cabinets then you do tampons! There is wellness!!

I PUT THIS MEAN PERIOD ISSUE TO BED

My cycle is now at 28 days (as of the last 2 months) and I feel great! I took on “The Fast Metabolism Diet” to unwind my insulin resistance, and I was not disappointed. Other issues that can be contributed to insulin resistance are brain fog, irritability, sugar cravings, dizziness, mood swings, fatigue, extreme hunger, light headedness, weight gain, and sometimes anxiety/panic attacks. (The Bible Cure for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain)

Are you dealing with insulin resistance? Hypothyroidism sufferers also deal with these symptoms, but I believe it’s because of the same reason I am. The thyroid controls hormones, insulin is a hormone and it’s not regulated any better by a sick thyroid then the other hormones. Also our diets are often fast food, high carb (sandwiches and pasta), or no food (dieting) and our insulin takes the hit.

Here is part of a fabulous article by Wellness Resources called ‘Insulin, Leptin, and Blood Sugar – Why Diabetic Medication Fails’ describing insulin resistance.…(I highly recommend that you read the entire article)

If you continually eat too much [either in quantity or in sugar value; glycemic index] and gain weight, then cells get tired of seeing insulin taxis driving up.  In fact, they shutter their windows and lock their doors; insulin becomes persona non grata. The reason for this rejection of insulin is rather simple.  If the cells take in blood sugar when they can’t use it, because they already have enough, then the extra sugar will caramelize and kill the cell.  Rejecting insulin is a self defensive measure. This is the mechanism behind basic insulin resistance at the cellular level.

What we are medicating to stop happening (insulin fluctuations) is actually partially happening because of a built in safety measure our body is implementing ON PURPOSE! “We are fearfully and wonderfully made”. Psalms 139:14     Isn’t God just awesome!?

I believe if other hypothyroid sufferers addressed insulin resistance (or leptin resistance) the way I have, their body will also begin to heal and their instances of suffering from these ailments will SIGNIFICANTLY DIMINISH if not disappear altogether. What do you have to loose?

I am currently not at a bad weight, my BMI is in the average range. The issues above, though, were causing other issues like inflammation that set off my hashimoto’s disease, extreme fatigue that you could feel to the bone, bloating-up so bad after eating that I would look 5 months pregnant just 20 minutes after a meal and feeling just Blah and Yuck. “The Fast Metabolism Diet” gave me a step by step plan to follow to reset my metabolism and get my body back to a healthy hormonal rhythm. This encouraged my cells to see insulin not as an murderous invader but as energy and the healing is apparent in my extended cycle (that is now also virtually symptom free and much lighter and manageable). The way it was intended to be.

There were a few things I did differently that I will cover in my review of the diet that I’m currently also working on. This praise report just needed to be given it’s own platform.

Don’t lose hope. Don’t give up.

Your body is an amazing creation that when given what it needs will bounce back and heal. It is fragile, intricate, and yet very tough. Never forget you are so very worth the effort.