Hello friends,
:-) a big smile to everyone, and a hand wave!
I often feel as though I have nothing to say, and that if I saw you (so many who post here - and others who haven't, in a while, too) I would like to smile and wave.
I'm having trouble with my sleep schedule. I may be on the verge of having a settling into a good pattern, or I hope so, because I feel the most frustrated now, than I have in a long time. I often find I change happens soon after I feel a huge awareness and frustration!
Anyway, I was thinking of the food program, and how it's about changing habits and putting good food habits into place, that sustains good biochemistry. It's this approach I would like to follow, with sorting out my sleep schedule.
I've come to realize that I have a fairly entrenched schedule. I am starting to realize it isn't random, and it isn't 'the way I would like it to be and then suddenly not'.
A bit of background: I'm 37, in treatment for metastatic breast cancer (bones, liver). I'm taking some pretty powerful drugs to mop up the estrogen in my system, so I have been hurtled into (peri)menopause (and I have had a hysterectomy/oophorectomy too...).
I wake at noon. I go to sleep at 2 am.
I would like to wake earlier in the morning, so I can make it to morning appointments and work - although waking at 7 am doesn't seem realistic, because I also don't want to go to bed before 11 pm.
The food:
I have shake when I wake, each day within an hour of waking. A small sweet potato, 1 cup frozen blueberries, cinnamon, a tablespoon olive oil, scoop microfiltered whey protein powder (27 or 30 grams protein - I weigh 130 pounds), multivitamin, vit D, calcium, potassium, pycnogenol
Snack: I have a planned snack at 3 or 3:30 pm, with my medication: almonds and an apple, or a couple pieces of dried fruit and almond butter, or steamed broccoli with olive oil and a chunk of sliced ham
Supper: 7 or 7:45 pm - I have a standard 'supper bowl' with 2 cups mixed frozen veggies, about a cup of either squash or sweet potato, and a portion of meat (roast, fish, chicken) for about 25-30 grams of protein, with a drizzle of olive oil over, and half a fruit for dessert (pear, apple, peach, whatever is in season).
9 or 9:30 pm I will grab a handful of nuts.
11 pm, I eat another meal, 1.5 cups frozen veggies, protein meat for 21 grams (still my protein amount but less because of settling for bed), with olive oil drizzled over.
2 am I'll have 1/4 sweet potato with olive oil drizzled over, which helps me get to sleep.
I'm celiac, so that is why no wheat. I'm allergic to dairy, but the microfiltered whey protein powder works for me. I've tried adding brown rice, corn, beans and lentils and my digestive system runs it all out and I feel awful. So I don't eat those foods.
I've been trying to go to sleep a little earlier each night, and just rest there, but any progress I have made, has re-set itself back to my original pattern. I've tried getting up earlier, and that seemed to be working, but then my original pattern reset again, after being stressed and not sleeping, being awake until 5 am in the morning. But I still wake at noon.
I guess I am here looking for support because I feel SO frustrated at not being able to change this. It's not as if I need 18 hours of sleep - I just need to get the sleep at a different timing.
Comments welcome...
It's a pleasure to visit with you here!
Pleasantly,
-Lea