For the next six months, I’m doing a nutrition and fitness experiment. I am doing this experiment over the six months that are trickiest for me to stay healthy – over Christmas, New Years, my birthday, Easter, and everything in between. You can follow this experiment in my weekly blog posts.
Why I’m Doing This
In March of 2011, I found out that I have Hashimoto’s disease/hypothyroidism (low thyroid). When my doctor told me this, it made complete sense because I felt tired a lot of the time, I struggled with headaches, my weight would gradually creep up even though I had a strict nutrition and exercise routine, and I had some other symptoms associated with hypothyroidism.
Since my diagnosis, my thyroid has been closely monitored through blood tests and doctor visits. In addition to thyroid medicine (which is essential for hypothyroidism, especially Hashimoto’s), I improved my health through more regular sleep habits, healthy nutrition, and exercise. My thyroid level is getting closer to what it should be, but the levels still fluctuate more than they should.
My Six-Month Health and Fitness Experiment – What I’m Doing
My Nutrition Plan
For the next six months, I will eat a primarily dairy-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free vegetarian diet. There will be a few exceptions. I will include whey protein and eggs, which aren’t vegan. I will have times of experimenting with Greek yogurt and regular yogurt to see if they are beneficial.
I’ll also use Ezekiel Bread, which is sprouted. For those who don’t have Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, this is close to gluten-free but not completely. My diet will consist mostly of vegetables, whole grains (gluten-free, of course), plant protein, healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, avocado, etc.), and fruits.
My sugar-free part of the diet will include no sugar, sugar substitutes, honey, or other equivalent except for a small amount of natural sweetener that is already in a product such as bread. So, of course, this means no candy or soda. I only had soda once a month as it was, so that isn’t a big change. But I’m a big chocolate lover, so it will be a huge change for me to not have chocolate for six months.
Although I love desserts, I’ve found that over the past few years, sugar has really affected how I feel and has affected my body a lot more than it ever had in the past. I find that I crash a lot quicker after having it, and my cravings are stronger when I have it more often. So this will be the biggest change to my nutrition regiment. One of the biggest parts of the experiment will be to see how much it changes how I feel, what my body looks like, and the amount of energy I have.
I have tried dairy-free and gluten-free diets for months at a time, but I have only tried a sugar-free diet for at most one month at a time. Although each of these diets individually has helped me feel better, I have found that whenever I’ve been sugar-free, the changes are the most dramatic (in a positive way). So I’m excited to see what happens with this experiment.
I’ll include the ups and downs throughout these six months with you each week. You can follow these posts here to share in my journey. On certain weeks, I will share random tidbits such as recipes and more.
My Fitness Plan
My exercise will consist of workouts six days a week. I have been consistently working out 5-6 days a week for many months now, using a combination of strength training, cardio, plyometrics, flexibility exercises, and foam rolling.
During this experiment, I will keep you up to date with what types of workouts I’ve been doing. Some with be my own creations, and others will be workout series such as P90X and TurboFire.
Through this experiment, I hope to improve my own health and find some new, healthy recipes and new tips. I want to learn from the results and help you in the process. I hope you’ll find some of the ideas will work for you, too. Please join me each week! 🙂
UPDATE: Links to each week’s posts in my six-month nutrition and fitness experiment:
Week 1: It’s Amazing How Quickly I Felt Good Again!
Gluten-Free, Vegan Carrot, Broccoli, and Garbanzo Bean Casserole Recipe
Week 2: From Sick to Healthy in Less Than a Week!
Week 3: Feeling Good for the Holidays Is a Wonderful Thing! (includes link to nutloaf recipe)
Week 4: I’m Excited to Continue My Experiment over Christmas!
Week 5: Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Christmas!
Week 7: TurboFire through the Week!
Week 8: I Played Golf with LPGA Star Lotta Neumann!
Week 9: Low-Thyroid Blood Test Results!
Week 10: Staying Healthy While Having Visitors
Week 11: 15 Pounds Lost in Less Than 3 Months!
Week 12: Healthy Valentine’s Day – True Love Helps You Be Healthy!
Week 13: Fun with Games, Beaches, and the Zoo!
Week 14: It’s Empowering to Eat a Healthy Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free Diet!
Week 15: Making Super-Healthy Eating a Natural Part of My Life
Week 16: Photo Shoot at La Jolla Shores Beach … What Fun!
Week 17: A Healthy Birthday for Me!
Week 18: Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Vegas Trip!
Week 19: I’ve Been Chosen to Be in the Book Against the Grain!
Week 20: My Photo Shoot for the Book Against the Grain
Week 21: I Was Successful in Eating Healthy at Six Flags!
Week 22: Fitness Photo Shoot at Balboa Park!
Week 23: Golfing Fun at Twin Oaks Golf Course
Week 24: Staying Healthy During Celebration Visits
Week 25: Healthy Weekend at L.A. Fitness Conference!
Week 26: Final Week of My 6-Month Experiment – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, and Sugar Free!
Results of My 6-Month Nutrition and Fitness Experiment
For my second experiment, see The Relax Day Experiment.
For my third experiment, see Event Preparation Experiment.
This is such an impressive experiment. It can’t fail if you stick to it but its finding the mental discipline I would struggle with.
it’s so wonderful the attitude you have and dedication to taking care of your health. It’s inspiring to me. I hope you feel wonderful.
for the sugar free portion of your diet, are you still eating natural sugars found in fruits? or are there certain fruits you are not eatting because they are high in sugar?
Over the last couple of years I have been struggling with gluten and dairy so your blog is extremly interesting!!:)
It’s a good thing you learn about your diagnosed with hypothyroidism early on to prevent future problems
Fantastic post here! Really good to see all the updates as well and the various benefits you got as you went through this program.
Any plans to try something similar again?
Wow I am sorry to hear about your disease but I am impressed on the diet and that you are still fighting to live, and be healthy this inspired me to do the same thanks for sharing.