So the other night, I had a real fun time L
Let me give you the full itinerary:
10 pm – went to bed
1 am – had acid reflux so bad I almost choked in my sleep
1:02 am – made myself warm chocolate milk (to soothe my
stomach and get the taste out of my mouth)
1:03 am – looked up causes of acid reflux and foods to avoid
1:05 am – whimpered in distress at some of the items on the
list
1:08 am – discovered ‘chocolate’ is on the list…mid sip of
my beverage
1:08:30 am – decided: ‘Eff that, I’m already miserable…and
half done. Might as well finish it.”
1:12 am – Pinned the list for later
1:13 am – trolled around on Pinterest until I felt like I
possibly, maybe, hopefully wouldn’t throw up again
1:30 am – went back to bed with great trepidation and
pillows piled high
As you can see. I
had a fun and productive night *sigh*
I don’t know when my body decided to rebel against me,
but I’m not a fan. Sure, it probably has
A LOT to do with my quickly approaching 30th birthday.
But I dislike unpleasant facts, so I’ll thank
you all to disregard that.
Technically,
I’ve always had minor problems with acid reflux. It was usually due to stress (e.g. I kept a
bottle of Maalox handy during finals toward my senior year of college), and
didn’t bother me too much at night.
A couple of years ago, I noticed it coming back, so I cut
down on alcohol (which wasn’t much of a hardship). That seemed to help a little, but obviously,
it wasn’t a long-term solution. Ironically, my sister was studying acid reflux and esophageal issues over Easter weekend.
As for cutting out alcohol, it turns out I was on the right track (it's number one on that list I was reading at 1:03), but I need to go a little further toward eating better. To my complete (lack of) surprise, fried foods were next on the list.
As for cutting out alcohol, it turns out I was on the right track (it's number one on that list I was reading at 1:03), but I need to go a little further toward eating better. To my complete (lack of) surprise, fried foods were next on the list.
Oddly enough, I
was thinking about cutting out a majority of my fried foods just that morning. I gave up French fries for Lent, but I didn’t
get a lot of good out of the experience (health-wise) because I just replaced
fries with other fried foods. Onion
rings make an okay substitute…but I don’t like them nearly as much as I adore
fries. However, they’re certainly on par
with fries when it comes to unhealthiness.
In addition to helping cut down on my heartburn, cutting out fries would
also help whatever problems I might have with Diabetes down the line. (Oh yeah, I can’t wait for my family medical
history to catch up with me on that one)
There are five things on the list I don’t think I’ll have
too much trouble avoiding: Coffee, soda, salt, cheese, and chocolate. I’m sure some of you are horrified by those
last two. Amongst my friends, I’m well
known as fully weird because of my cheese aversion. Really, I like some cheese…some of the time. Mostly I’m a fan of white cheeses (mozzarella
sticks are heavenly). And while I
occasionally enjoy chocolate, I’m really more of a Skittles fan. Coffee will be absolutely no problem for me,
because I already avoid it. Soda won’t
be too hard, because I’ve been trying to keep away from that delicious poison
for years. Okay…actually I’ve never been
a big soda fan, because my mom never bought it when my sister and I were
young. My mom is also the reason I’m
already eating low sodium. She didn’t
use salt very often when she cooked, so I find foods gross if there’s too much
salt. However, pepper is also on the
list, and that’s unacceptable. In fact,
spicy foods in general are on the list, and that makes me sad. That was the cause of most of my whimpering
at 1:05. That and mint. How can I cut out mint?! That’s my favorite of all flavors!!!
Really, as I read the list of foods to avoid, I began to
realize the reason for my severe reaction stemmed from my lunch that day. I had eaten a bowl of soup that was
incredibly spicy, and contained three other ‘bad’ foods: tomatoes, garlic, and
beef. To be honest, there was probably a
high sodium content in there too. As it
was a homemade soup, I didn’t really have nutritional facts for the whole thing…but
salt pork was one of the
ingredients. So…yeah…high sodium content
as well. As if all of that wasn’t
enough, I also drank at least 20 oz. of Coke to wash it all down. The Coke was left over from an office party,
and it was beginning to go flat. I hate
to waste food, so I drank a good amount of a (3/4 full) 2 liter bottle before
throwing the rest away.
All-in-all, I suppose I was asking to be woken at an
ungodly hour with acid reflux. Really, I’m
only surprised it waited so long to strike.
The only thing that would have made it worse would have been adding the
last three things on the list: oranges, sugar, and butter. Though that probably would have made the soup
taste so awful, I wouldn’t have eaten it.
Perhaps then I never would have suffered through this ordeal *ladylike swoon
onto an ottoman* And it’s not as though
I even get a nifty kid out of all this heartburn, like my friend Niki. Sure, she’s going through the same pain, but…nifty
kid at the end. Unfair :’(
With all of this, I’ve also decided it’s time to get serious about losing weight. Not only because I want to fit in my clothes
a bit better, but because of the health benefits. Turns out, losing weight is supposed to help
reduce heartburn and acid reflux. To
that end, my mom has bequeathed to me a Fitbit Flex, and I’m going to start
trying harder to reach my daily step limit.
In fact, I actually exceeded my limit yesterday by more than 4,000
steps! I was both exhausted and elated
when I got home from my walk. I even
jogged for a (infinitesimal) bit. By the
way…that’s kind of hard to do when I’ve got my phone stuffed in one bra cup and
my keys in the other. That particular
sports bra wasn’t equipped for that level of capacity. Oh well, I’ll figure it out for next time.
My only other alternative to all of this nonsense is to
find the fountain of youth. As that has
thus far proved elusive, I suppose I’ll have to bite the bullet and start
getting serious about making healthier choices.
Though I wouldn’t say no to an exploratory mission to Florida. I believe I’m correct in thinking Disney
World might offer the best opportunities.
It couldn’t hurt to add a search through Universal Studios and Harry
Potter World while I’m down there.
Anyone want to fund my mission?
*Sigh* Can’t blame a girl for trying :D
