Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Me! It's me! I'm coming to dinner! Did you guess right?

As you may or may not know - I think I've said it on here before but I forget (we'll get to that); I don't really do the dinner thing all that often since becoming a full fledged grown up. I did have dinner more often before my n=1 Paleo experiment to be sure. But now that I'm a fat burner and not a sugar burner (and um, still being single is probably a contributor too), it's a rare occurrence. Why the change of heart? Glad you asked...please to continue!

So I mentioned a little while back that I'm pretty sure I'm dealing with some adrenal fatigue action. Since that post, like everywhere I look in Paleoland is all "adrenal fatigue!" Granted, some of that is due to me going to my trusted sites and look for their posts on the matter (semantics, whatever ;P), but other times it really is just popping up. Now I'm not saying that the Universe thinks I have adrenal fatigue and wants me to know about it or anything hippie dippy like that. Ok, so maybe I am. Don't judge me; I cannot help that deep deep deep within myself lives a dirty stinkin hippie that tells me crazy things.

I know it's actually much more likely that since I feel like this is an issue for me, I'm noticing it more in my little world. Like when you get a new car and all of a sudden EVERYONE in your whole town got the same car on the same day...It's just like that. Those cars were always already there, but you didn't notice because they weren't like yours.

Back to the matter at hand. I had an epiphany last night (or was it the night before? Memory ugh! We're still not there). In It Starts With Food, the beauty wonder duo Dallas and Melissa talk a bit about when you can't trust what your body is telling you. Now for me, I'm a big believer that your body wants you to be healthy and we should listen to what it tells us. But what if we've messed it up so much that it doesn't know which way is up any more than you do? How can you trust it to tell you the right things? Their -ahem firm - advice? Eat anyway. Eat three squares a day until you can trust what your body is telling you. I was pretty sure this part of the book (they also said it in their seminar so I guess they really do mean it) didn't really apply to me so I've never really thought about it until now.

I don't eat dinner because I'm not hungry for it. But I got to thinking (and now that I'm thinking about when I got to thinking, and it was the night before last. Good job memory!), I didn't eat breakfast for years either. Years people! Know why? Wasn't hungry. But what about now? You already know. I'm on day 18 no eggs, and eggs have been what's for breakfast since I started Paleo. I've been eating breakfast for years now. So I thought to myself, now you can't imagine life without breakfast, but you didn't have it for years and years. Maybe your body IS confused!

Then I started thinking about how out of sorts I've been (currently suffering from a severe case of CRS, also known as Can't Remember Shit, no matter how much I sleep it's never enough, no energy for my walks but that's ok because due to the CRS I've once again forgotten to bring my workout clothes, by the time I get off work I feel like I could lay down and sleep for hours... you get the idea) and how not eating enough is stressful to the body; which is why Dallas and Melissa say to eat anyway until you can trust the signals your body gives you. My not eating dinner could be contributing to this suspected adrenal fatigue. Oy. Breaking myself down and not even giving it a second thought! Good job lady.

I had dinner tonight (my current favorite meal: ground beef with a smidge of garlic powder, a hefty dose of salt, and a poop ton of cinnamon plus a bunch of baby spinach). I was going to have dinner last night but I came home to a power outage and it didn't kick back in until 4:30 a.m. For a normal person (read non-mega high strung) that probably wouldn't be a big deal, but it really messed with my sleep. When I did sleep, all I could dream about how I had over slept because the power never came back on and I was super late to work and where I'd have to get breakfast since there's nothing ready made in my home anymore. But mostly I was awake because I was worried I'd over sleep and be late for work because the power never came on and OMG where am I going to get breakfast?!?!?!

But I digress.

The weekend is coming up and this dinner thing is going to be a challenge. I am hard pressed to have two squares on a normal Saturday or Sunday, let alone 3. I forget to eat ALL THE TIME over the weekend.

And did you know I have a week long stay-cation starting in 8 days? I am already planning my meals (hint: see food above and lots and lots of bone broth to heal my tummy) so I will not be allowed to miss any meals for lack of planning.

Ok. I'm tired. And unfairly enough, hungry. I ate already! Stupid stomach...

Night night.

Oh you crazy little adrenals you!

I'm not the lowest stress person you could meet. This may surprise some people (though perhaps not my friends that IM with me during the day!) as apparently I come across quite often as some semi-hippie vegetarian yogi tree hugger. As much as I hate to admit it, I am a semi-hippie tree hugger - please don't tell anyone. I'm not ashamed to admit I used to be a vegetarian. Plus, while yoga is great, I freakin hate it. Seriously, it is not my thing. I'm not sure how I give off those vibes to people. What with my skull tattoos and pencil skirts and all ;)

Anyway, I'm actually fairly high strung. Tightly wound. Type A. Whatever colloquialism you'd like to use. The bottom line; I stress easily.

I'm convinced this is part of why I live a semi-hermitic life. I'm an introvert that has the job of an extrovert. That's stressful. I have to see and talk and interact with lots of people ALL DAY LONG. Believe me, it's not that I don't like people (except the one's that I end up blogging about on how my I direct your call?). It's just that it can be a lot for a person like me. When I was working as an esthitician, that was pretty much heaven. Estheticians by and large are introverts. Surprised? Right, because introverts don't like people and blah blah blah. Not true! We just don't like A LOT of people all at once or for an extended period of time. Give me 4-6 clients a day in a one on one situation where I'm helping them heal and de-stress? I'm all over that. Hairstylists are extroverts. Fact.

So, even though my job is pretty great and I like it and am truly grateful in this economy to be able to pay my bills with a bit to spare and all that jazz, it's harder on me than it would be for an extrovert. When I get home, I don't want to talk to anyone. I just want to play a couple Zynga games (don't judge me), read a bit, catch up on some Netflix action (Dexter is my current obsession), hang out with my kitties, and go to bed.

Combine the higher than would be expected stress level of my job with a pain in the arse move and what do you get? Adrenal fatigue. I haven't had a salivary test, so I can only go with my gut. My gut is usually right about things though. My gut said gluten was evil. My gut said Paleo would be helpful. My gut is 99.9% of the time dead on about people. I have learned to trust it. So my gut says it thinks I have adrenal fatigue. We're going with it.

I've been teetering on the brink of this for a while now; I think moving just pushed me over the edge. Now I have more experiementation ahead of me. Beginning with: I'm not leaving my apartment except to take the trash out, go for a walk, or get the mail. I went to bed shortly before 9 last night. Got out of bed a bit after 10 this morning. Rest is the name of the game for the whole weekend. Jealous? Hells yeah you are! Don't feel bad about it, I would be too.

Rhodiola is on its way to me. Naps are all but required. Sun is out in force for my walks. Dexter is still not in my mailbox and this is not awesome, but I'll survive on Lord of the Rings (shush! I am a nerd and I'm proud!) and sleep.

Ready? Here I go!