Day 27 - Carbs

PC (pre-cancer), I spent a lot of time focusing on food.  What to eat, what to not eat, when to eat, how much to eat, etc.  You name it, I agonized over it. I had basically eliminated many food groups from my diet - diary, all grains, sugar, beans, to name a few.  I felt great!  I had energy for days, which lead to really incredible workouts at Orangetheory Fitness and really solid sleep at night.  My carbs came from starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and squash.  Nary a refined carb passed my lips, and I basically was only eating fruit, vegetables, meat, and healthy fats. Some might ask "why would you do that to yourself?"  I will refer you to the "energy for days" comment above. 

Boy has that changed.  While I would like to eventually get back to my ultra-healthy ways of eating, it's just not happening right now.  I have been advised to "eat what sounds good," and even if I had not gotten that advice, I would be doing it anyway.  The nausea from my first round of chemo rendered it absolutely impossible for me to get a vegetable past my lips, even my beloved eggplant and beets (weird I know).  Fruit, ok.  Vegetable, absolutely not right after chemo.  I can stomach some veggies now.   

The nausea is much much better and I am able to expand my palette a little bit, but portion sizes are still very small.  I do realize that focusing on my overall health is extremely important during my treatment, but the AC chemo is not allowing me to be too particular (nutrient-wise) about what gets into my belly.  All calories are good calories at this point. Perhaps the next type of chemo will be more kind to my stomach. If not, this just may be the year that I can get back into a two piece bathing suit. (I say that in jest for anyone who just thought "I can't believe she is thinking about something so trivial right now.")

I will also not have to worry about my hair blowing into my eyes at the beach this summer. No pony tail, hat, or headband could tame the beast that is (soon to be was) my hair, and it was always getting into my eyes.  Bright side.  This year, I will have to worry about sunscreen for my bald head (or semi-bald head because my hair will grow back over the summer). I'll be able to relate to balding men across the world this year.  Bright side. 

I plan to park my potentially skinny, very pale, and probably pretty bald self at the beach as much as humanly possible this spring/summer.  I love the beach, and we are so fortunate to live a mere 30 minutes away from it.  I'll probably have to get some kind of tent or umbrella this year because chemo can increase sun sensitivity, but that is ok.  I'll lather up in high SPF, which I do anyway, and park it.  Henry loves the beach, I love watching him love the beach, and Mike loves it as long as he has some kind of activity to do.  He can't just sit there for hours like I can, but that is typical of him anyway. 

Henry has energy for days regardless of his particular dietary choices at any given time, and his energy increases tenfold at the beach.  It invigorates him and always has.  He runs and runs and runs, jumps in the waves, digs a few holes, and runs some more.  It is both tiring and extremely impressive to watch. 

Hopefully we'll be able to convince some friend to join us at the beach this summer too.  It's usually a pretty easy sell.