Coping, Stress and Anxiety Summit Giveaway

I'm not sure how many times I can say this but, "where did the time go?!"

This year has been a busy one between traveling, work, organizing the GP Walk, home life, and of course my own self-care.  The summer is coming to an end and I hope to have some time soon to share more stories, updates, and photos.  However, today I have a wonderful giveaway and event that I am very excited to tell you about!  

SmaryPants Wellness Package Giveaway

"We are on a delicious mission to put health in reach of more children and grown-ups by bringing simplicity and sanity to our supplement routines."

As someone with digestive trouble, you most likely know how difficult it can be to get the important nutrients in when eating food and even drinking at times can be such a challenge.  We are advised to take vitamins but how do we do that when many of them are enormous, chalky, hard to swallow pills, ones that come back up with fish-burps, or require 4-6 a day?!  And can we trust the ingredients and the bio-availability?

4th Annual GP Walk & Ride!

The last few months have been busy and though I've been a bit absent on the blog there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes.  Aside from the advocacy work I do with ThriveRx (supporting others with living on enteral and parenteral nutrition support), the next GP walk has been in the making.  

This year will mark our 4th annual event, it's hard to believe how far we have come since the first walk, small but immensely effective, in 2012. Due to personal plans in August and September the walk will be held on July 25th, again here in Bellingham, WA.  We've added bike riding as an options so the official name of the event is now: 4th annual Walk & Ride for Gastroparesis and Digestive Health.  Now that's a mouthful but pretty much covers our intentions!  

Webinar: The Dysmotilty Diet in Action

ThriveRx will be hosting a live webinar this coming Wednesday, February 11th at 1pm EST (10am for my friends out here on the west coast) - The Dysmotilty Diet in Action.

One of our clinical dietitians at ThriveRx, Kristen Roberts, will present an overview of the dysmotility diet and I will be sharing my personal experience in addition to tips for how to put this into action.  Topics include the important components of nutrition - protein, carbohydrates and fats - and how to think about this when it comes to dysmotility.  Other areas to discuss include diet when it comes to SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and a brief look at FODMAPs.  So first step, click here to register.  A link will be emailed to you prior to the online event for signing in day of as well as after, just in case you missed it and want a chance to check it out later.  Oh, and the best part - a live Q & A at the end of the presentation!  Kristen has a lot of experience with dysmotility and I'll be on the call to answer questions as well about my own experience over the years.

Now we know how challenging it can be to figure out what to eat.  What each of us tolerates varies and may even change day to day for each individual which can easily drive a person mad (trust me I know).  However, having some basic guidelines to start with can make a difference.  Having support can make a difference. 

Looking forward to (and a tad bit nervous!) to this opportunity to work with Kristen.  So please join us as we talk about some ideas and continue to walk this journey together.

Taming the Fire

The Super Bowl is about to begin and after buzzing like a bee around the house, preparing for a few guests who are super fans.  I'm not exactly what you would consider a football fan, but I can't help but get caught up in the emotions of anticipation, excitement, and the hooting and hollering that that belt from my husband and our friends.  Plus, it was a great excuse to get a super cute team hoodie and make some funky earrings to match!

Today isn't the best day symptom wise.  Sleep has not been great and to top it off I'm on my period, a time when GP can rise above and beyond my control. This tends to begin the week before and last the first few days of, followed by my best days - hunger, energy, the strange yet joyful feeling that the beast finally decided to give me my freedom back.  To make today work, I must prepare, aka "get my game face on."

- Upon wakening, I took a few minutes to focus on deep breathing followed by some simple stretching in bed.  This must happen quietly before our pups hear my feet hit the floor and trample me down for immediate attention...and most important of course - food.  

- With the endless bowls of snacks, most of which would make me sick, I followed the same routine of a small, complete breakfast (today it was 1/2 cup oatmeal mixed with cooked and strained blueberries plus 1 scrambled egg), which (cross fingers) will most likely settle.  

- After laundry and cleaning, I tossed my lavender-infused heating pad in the microwave and allowed this to calm my belly for a time. 

- Prepared a snack for myself later, balanced of course, for the game: my favorite gluten free crackers, slices of avocado and oven roasted deli turkey.  While other's may be chugging their beer I will be sipping my homemade broth, especially if eating is a challenge.  

- Find something to do with my hands to keep my mind off wanting to snack non-stop like many tend to do during the game.  Today I'll be knitting.  

- Don't be afraid to ask others to help with the clean up because let's face it, I'm not the super multi-tasking hostess I once was. 

- Enjoy the day for what it is, not for what I can't do...like gorge on snacks and have an adult beverage.  Friends, laughter, crying (whether we lose or win I'm betting there will be a tear somewhere!), and really just being a part of something.

Now these are just my own ways to deal and prepare.  If you know much about GP then you probably know that there is a huge spectrum of what we individually can tolerate on our day to day routine. I do believe we can all benefit from...

Rest

   Laughter

       Movement

            Community

                Deep breathing

                     Asking for help

Emotions can fly all over the place on a difficult day, on a busy day, a day that seems overwhelmingly overwhelming.  If we let those feelings take control of our body's need for balance, then trouble lies ahead.  It's a bit like stop, drop, and roll.  What happens if you catch on fire and don't do follow this practice?  Not good!  With GP, it's like a match inside just waiting for an opportunity to strike.  And I know for myself I try to do everything in my power to prevent this, and when it does strike, when the flames want to engulf me, remembering the list above helps to cool down the heat.  

Sunset on "fire" captured on the bay last night, a fire filled with beauty and hope.

What do you do to stay balanced?  

Wishing you well today, 

Stephanie

Coming up...Dysmotility Diet in Action Webinar!