It’s one of those days…life w/hypothyroid

OMG, this morning was one of those darn mornings!!!!!!!!!!! I got up with all intentions of exercising but I was due for a weigh-in prior to the workout. So, I took off all of my heavy garments so I didn’t have any extra stuff adding to the fat, and as I stepped on the scale I was excited because I had been eating well and reducing the late healthy snacking. I knew that I hadn’t exercised in a couple of days, but I hadn’t been eating like a pig either. Well, as I stepped on that scale, confident that I was going to be a few inches closer to my 1 pound loss per month goal, I was surprisingly shocked at what I saw! I gained 1.6 pounds in 5 days!!!!!!! I was UPSET, angry, disappointed and sad. What happened? So, rather than exercising at that moment, I decided to meditate and pray to remain calm and optimistic that I will get better—one day I will loose all of the weight that my body is holding on to due to an out-of-whack thyroid. I felt better, but I did feel the need to post my feelings as a status update on my twitter and facebook page and I did get a few comments confirming the same thing.

After my sadness, I decided that I will not stress out about this gain, but instead try to remain calm. I think what has been happening is that I have been under quite a bit of stress with my business and volunteer activities. So, rather than stress about my 1.6 pound increase, I am going to keep repeating my affirmations and keep expecting the best in terms of my health! I spoke with Mary Shomon, a thyroid activist and author, over the weekend and she said that it is likely that my adrenals are low and that my body is likely going through other hormonal changes since I am… hmmm, getting older.

I am waiting on the test results from a recent saliva test and allergy test that I took a week ago. Even though I was calm that day, I would not be surprised if my adrenals where crazy! I’ll share with what happens!

PART 2: I Survived…
I survived today and I felt so much better after writing out my feelings and taking a step back to think about life. Of course, my mom had to give me a little shake too to remind of these things. So, as I close out my day to prepare for the next day, I’m feeling great about life despite the setback with this crazy, hormonal, autoimmune disorder!

Potassium Can Help Balance Blood Pressure

Throughout my teen and adult years, my mom has always encouraged me to eat bananas.  In fact, she would always say, “Eat a banana to get your potassium.”  So I ate the banana even though I didn’t know why potassium was good for me and I’m not sure that she even knew why either.  All I knew was that “mom’s always right!”  Well, recently, mom did it again, she reminded me to eat my banana, but unlike the past, I decided to find out why I needed to have this banana!  Needless to say, mom was indeed right to encourage me to get my potassium.

Through my research, I learned that potassium is one of three major minerals, called an electrolyte.  The functions of potassium include the following¹:

• Assist with regulating fluids and mineral balance in and out of the cells
• Assist with maintaining normal blood pressure by blunting sodium’s effects on blood pressure
• Assist with transmitting nerve impulses/signals
• Help muscles to relax

As you see, if you have challenges with high blood pressure or if you eat a lot of foods high in sodium, then you should definitely start to boost your potassium.  So how much potassium is necessary daily for men and women to achieve these benefits¹?

• Ages 9 – 13                        4500mg
• Ages 14 and up                   4700mg
• Breast feeding women          5100mg

Potassium can be found in almost all foods; see the table below to find out what foods have potassium; these foods are ranked from highest to lowest.

Food	Amount	Potassium (mg)
Lentils, cook	1 cup	738
Salmon fillet, baked	3 ounces	628
Mahi-mahi fillet, baked	3 ounces	533
Cod fillet, baked	3 ounces	517
Portabello mushroom	1 piece	484
Yam, baked in skin, peeled	1 cup	475
Red beans, can, unsalted	1 cup	460
Crimini mushrooms	1 cup	448
Mustard greens, cooked, no meat	1 cup	404
Potato, baked, no skin	1 each	391
Almonds, dry-roasted	1/2 cup	373
Banana, medium	1 piece	358
Broccoli, florets, uncooked	1/2 cup	325
Spinach, cooked, no salt	1/2 cup	302
Broccoli, chopped, cooked	1/2 cup	293
Turkey, breast, no skin, roasted	3 ounces	292
Beef, any cut, trimmed, cooked	3 ounces	269
Celery sticks, 4-inch long	1 piece	260
Chicken, breast, no skin, roasted	3 ounces	256
Romaine lettuce, shredded	1 cup	247
Baby carrots	10 pieces	237
Tomatoes, chopped, fresh	1/2 cup	237
Okra, cooked	1/2 cup	234
Cherries	1 cup	222
Coconut milk	2 tablespoons	220
Green beans, cooked	1/2 cup	159
Lemon, fresh	1/2 cup	120
Cow’s milk	1 cup	120
Green peas, cooked	1/2 cup	110
Apple, small	1 piece	107

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¹Duyff, Roberta Larson.  Complete Food and Nutrition Guide.  New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.