The Bachelorette Party

Busy.  Busy.  Busy.

My life has been a blur over the past few weeks!

Between 4^th of July weekend, my friend’s bachelorette party this past weekend

and now her wedding this coming weekend, July has disappeared before my eyes!

…Along with my good eating habits…ugh!

I have still been getting my runs in,

but my inner fat girl has been in charge when it comes to what has

been going in my mouth.

The day of the bachelorette party started out great!

I got my 9 mile run in bright and early and had a

super healthy smoothie for breakfast (thanks to

my awesome sister Emma!)

The itinerary for the day was to meet at the bride’s sister’s house

and take a party bus to a Detroit Tiger’s game.

Any time there is a party bus involved,

you know you’re in trouble!

After the 2 hour drive to the maid of honor’s house

I was starving!

I don’t know how it is for everyone else, but on long run days,

I feel like I am constantly hungry!

This unfortunately, was one of those days.

Lucky for me, Libby had a very healthy spread of food laid out

and she is also gluten free, so she actually had food I could eat!

There was a wonderful berry salad,

A veggie tray with hummus and a delicious herbed cheese,

and a cheese platter with yummy hard cheeses.

The signature drinks were Moscow Mules.

If you have never had one, you best be trying them this weekend!

I will put the recipe at the bottom of the page.

There were also panty shaped cookies with pink icing…

I avoided the cookies obviously because being gluten challenged like I am,

I cannot eat anything yummy.

I was eyeing the cookies all afternoon thinking to myself,

“just one cookie won’t hurt, right?”

Then my better sense would kick in…

“of course one cookie will hurt you, idiot!”

UGH!

But then someone made the mistake of informing me that the cookies were

GLUTEN FREE!

That’s when everything went to hell.

I probably ate 10 cookies!

I’ve never been that person who can just eat one cookie.

For those of you who can, I hate you!

But apparently when I am denied cookies for so long

I eat them in excess….

My friend even put cookies in her purse so I would not be tempted

by gluten at the game.

I’m still laughing about this!

Well her plan didn’t work.

I don’t know what inning it was, but I was so hungry I was about to eat my arm off!

After numerous adult beverages,

all logical judgment went out the window…

I grabbed a friend who was not very aware of my gluten situation,

and we snuck off in search of food.

All I wanted all day was a hot dog.

Yuck, I know, but a hot dog is a must at a baseball game!

I ate the hot dog, bun and all!

It was glorious!

The feeling of a rock sitting in my stomach,

that I am still experiencing 3 days later,

is not glorious... ugh…

Being gluten free is hard work!

Everyone has some hiccups like this right?

I just have to learn from my mistakes

and remember how crappy I feel after making them.

I must remember this when they bring out the cake

at the wedding next weekend!

How do you stick to your diet in situations like this?

How do you get back on track after long weekends like this?

Mystery Symptoms

Good morning!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!  Mine was nice and relaxing.  I may have overindulged a little bit, but still managed to squeeze 9 miles in!

Since May is Celiac Disease awareness month and all, I wanted to go ahead and share my story with you.  Hopefully I can help someone get the diagnosis they have been looking for!

I have struggled with stomach issues for as long as I can remember.  I would be bloated and uncomfortable from the time I woke up in the morning, until the time I went to bed at night.  I went to the doctor one time in college about it and she said it sounded like IBS.  She wrote me a prescription for it and on my way I went.  I gave the meds a try, but they didn’t help.  I just came to terms with the fact that this was just the norm for me.

Shortly after that trip to the doctor, I noticed that my fingernails were not looking quite right and were becoming painful.  The part at the tip of the nails, where they connect to the skin underneath, was starting to detach and recede! So, I went back to the doctor.  I was told that it was a nail fungus (eww!)  She wrote me a prescription for an anti-fungal.  After finishing a few courses of different anti-fungal meds and seeing absolutely no improvement, I gave up.  I have been wearing nail polish every day since trying to hide my embarrassing fingernails.  Mind you, this was over 6 years ago!

Next (yes the list of symptoms keep on coming) I started having pain in my right hip.  It would come and go and at first it wasn’t really bad, just a bit uncomfortable.  Then it got so bad I could barely put any weight on the leg and would walk with a terrible limp.  Once again, I went back to the doctor.  They did x-rays and ran tests and everything came back normal.  I was given a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and sent on my way.  I didn’t even bother filling the rx, because I knew that it would not help.  Here I was, in my twenties, and falling apart!

The most recent issue was swollen lymph nodes under my right arm pit.  This scared the crap out of me because breast cancer runs in my family.  I went back to the doctor (mind you I was seeing different doctors, so this wasn’t just one idiot!) I ended up having blood work done, a mammogram, an ultrasound and an MRI done.  And of course, yes, you guessed it, they all came back normal!  How could this be!?

I decided to do some research myself, since no doctors were willing to get to the bottom of this.  I kept coming across Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance.  The more I read about it, the more symptoms matched mine.  But wait, wasn’t gluten intolerance that made up disease? What does it even mean anyways? I used to wait tables and I would come across the dreaded gluten intolerant person every so often.  They were the biggest pain in my ass!  Could I possibly be one of them?!  Those thoughts aside, I decided to go gluten free to see if any of my symptoms improved.  Low and behold, I started to feel a million times better!  My stomach was no longer crampy and bloated and my hip pain stopped flaring up!  It was amazing!  I had no idea I could feel so good!  I have a friend who is gluten intolerant, so I talked to her about it.  She encouraged me to go get tested. So, that’s what I did. I went in and said that I wanted to be tested for Celiac and any other food allergies or intolerances. I felt I would finally have answers!

Well, the call came from the doctor…everything came back normal once again! How could this be!? I felt a part of me die right then and there.  I thought for sure I had figured out why I was so miserable all of the time.  I was beyond frustrated!  I hung up the phone and cried.  Not because I wanted something to be wrong with me, but because I just wanted to feel good for once!  Then I started to wonder if I was going crazy.  Was I just imagining all of this?  But then I remembered my fingernails!  No, I was NOT imagining it!

Later that day I got a call back from my doctor.  He realized that my tests would not be accurate if I was gluten free, and I had been for quite some time!  He referred me to a GI specialist who told me to get back on gluten for a month and then we would retest.  So I did, and once again felt like crap.  It was worth it though, because I ended up getting the results that I knew would come back!  I have Celiac Disease.  Finally I have answers!

I have been gluten free, with only a couple of slip ups (and oh man did I feel those slip ups) for about 2 months.  I feel fantastic!  No more stomach aches, hip pain or swollen lymph nodes!  My fingernails have even started to heal!!!!! 

Here they are on their way to recovery.  Gross, I know!

I feel ashamed that I was one of those people who thought this was some made up fad diet.  Especially when I see the eye rolls directed at me.  When people make comments like “how do you know you have it?”, or “who says?” or “so you just get a stomach ache?”  No, it’s much more than that.  These comments are hurtful, but can I really blame these people?  I had the same outlook on the disease.  It makes me realize that there needs to be more awareness about it!  Awareness is coming, slowly but surely.

Hopefully this can help change someone’s outlook on Celiac and gluten intolerance or help someone get to the bottom of their “mystery symptoms”.  No you’re not crazy!

If anyone has any questions, please ask me!

XOXO

Halie

Unexpected Encounter

So, last night I was sitting at home catching up on Grey's Anatomy and I decided that I needed a snack.  I found some candied walnuts in the kitchen that my boyfriend had brought home from work.  They were a sample, so they were not in their original packaging, therefore no ingredient label.  Against my better judgment, I ate them anyway and I paid the price later.  The candy coating on the nuts must have contained gluten, because I had a horrible stomach ache all night!  I'm still feeling it this morning.  Ugh!  Reminder to self, DO NOT eat anything without a label!  I'm still new to this no gluten thing and it's a learning process.  I will know better next time.

To add salt to my wounds, my boss brought in Panera bagels for the office staff this morning... waahhh!  I will NOT give in!  Oh well, I have my delicious LARABAR that I brought for breakfast instead.  My boss did inform me that she asked the people at Panera if they carry a GF bagel.  Of course they don't, but hey, it's the thought that counts!

I usually make very good decisions about what I eat.  Of course, there are times when I splurge and eat junk.  Like ice cream for instance... I LOVE ice cream!  I could probably eat it for dinner if I allowed myself.  Oh wait, I did eat it for dinner the other night!  Oops!  Apparently when my boyfriend goes out of town for work, my eating habits go out the window.  I went to the gym and had an excellent workout and had good intentions to go home and eat the healthy meal of zucchini "noodles" and homemade marinara sauce (recipe at the bottom) that I had planned.  Well, I was sweaty from the gym and it was 90+ degrees out.  There just happened to be a Dairy Queen on my way home and I gave in to the ice cream.  I could have just ordered a small peanut butter cup blizzard, but oh no, I had to get the large!  Ugh!  Bad choices!

I made up for the bad choice of "dinner" by killing it in Cardio Fusion class last night.  Or at least it felt like I made up for it.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Oh well, my boyfriend comes home today so hopefully I will get back on the wagon.  Or is it off the wagon?  I can never remember.. ha!  And I have a date at the gym with the Tone It Up girls tonight!  Bikini Cardio, Malibooty and Bikini Abs are on the Bikini Series schedule for tonight!  I'll let you know how it goes!

Until next time...

XOXO                                                   Follow me on Instagram @GF_RunnerGirl
                                                              and on Twitter @GF_RunnerGirl
Halie <3


For those of you who are interested in the zucchini "spaghetti" that I was referring to above, here is the recipe...

For the noodles:
 Lay the zucchini on it's side on a cutting board and use a vegetable peeler, or julienne peeler to make thin ribbons.  I used 2 small zucchini.

For the sauce:
Combine 2 roma tomatoes, 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, 1 clove fresh garlic, a pinch of fresh basil and oregano, and pepper to taste in a food processor.  That's it!  simple right?!  Yummy!

I eat it raw to take advantage of all the nutrients from the veggies, but you could warm it up if you'd like!  Here's the finished product.  My zucchini are not very "ribbon" like due to my crappy vegetable peeler, but you get the idea.

My first post!

So I thought I would start this off with a little bit about myself.  I am 28 years old and currently in the best shape of my life.  This is the first time in a very long time that I can honestly say that I am happy with the way my body looks.  The bikinis that I ordered arrived the other day and the dreaded first try on of the season was upon me!  I stood in front of the mirror and for the first time I was happy with what I saw!  It was an amazing feeling!  This was not always the case though...

I come from a family of health nuts who are all physically fit people.  I am the oldest of 3 girls.  I've always referred to myself as "the big sister" ( having more meanings than one unfortunately).  My mother is a tiny woman who spends endless hours in the gym to maintain her excellent physic.  My dad remodels homes for a living and on top of that he plays hockey and water skis.  He is in excellent shape for a man of 57 years old!  Next there's my "health freak" middle sister (age 22) who just graduated with a degree in exercise science.  There is not an ounce of body fat on this child!  She could walk into a bakery full of delicious treats and order a plate of veggies and a water.  If only I had that will power!  Haha!  Lastly there is my baby sister (age 21).  She was a bit of a chubby child growing up, but has since blossomed into a super model of a woman!  She has been blessed with being naturally thin with long lean legs. Freak of nature I tell you! She could sit down to a donut feast and not gain an ounce!  I on the other hand get a whiff of a donut and 5 pounds appear on my thighs!

Here we are.  From left: Mom, baby sister, middle sister, me, Dad.

Then you have me.  I was a thin, active kid growing up.  I was always participating in some sort of sport all the way through high school.  Then college and the dreaded freshman 15+ came.  Ugh.  I liked to party, ate whatever I wanted and didn't work out.  Go figure I gained weight!  A year and a half ago I got on the scale and it read 162 and I was in a tight size 8 jeans.  I was overweight, unhealthy and unhappy.  Enough was enough.  I started exercising regularly and started using MyFitnessPal to track my calories.  I even started running!  I guess it was more like jogging at walking speed in the beginning, but hey it was something!  The pounds started to come off slowly but surely.

Since then I have lost 32 pounds and have even completed 2 half marathons!  I figured with this new body and eating well I would feel fantastic, right?!  That still was not the case.  For as long as I can remember I have had stomach issues.  I won't get into details, but let's just say I never felt good.  I finally went to the doctor and after many, many tests I have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  This means I cannot eat any foods containing gluten or there will be hell to pay.  I was devastated.  No more delicious baked treats like cake, bagels or donuts!  How could I possibly live?!  

Well after many slip ups I realized that my health and feeling good was more important than that donut.  And I have found there are many gluten free alternatives!  I am 1 month completely gluten free and I feel great!!!  My stomach that was always pooched out has even flattened out!

I hope this blog will help inspire others to get healthy.  Enjoy!

Halie

Here's a before and after.  Left: 162lbs. and unhealthy  Right: 134lbs. On the road to health

Follow me on Instagram @halie_patrick