I had a total meltdown on the phone with my mother last night. I was crabby and having violent outbursts all weekend. If I'm being honest, it's been for the last four or five days. I felt like a crazy person. Mom was very concerned when I started sobbing uncontrollably and babbling about how I didn't feel like myself and how I was scared that I was legitimately going round the bend.
This got us talking about what it could be. Mom thinks that my fitness plan and my "new diet" is what is causing it. The thing is, I'm not dieting. I'm just choosing to put better foods into my body. I am taking in the amount of calories that is needed to maintain weight for someone my size. I'm being very careful about not depriving myself of food. I don't need to lose weight. I just don't want to keep putting crap into my body. I couldn't keep eating the way I was eating and expect my metabolism to keep up as it always had.
Frankly, I like the way I look. However, since I've crossed the threshold into my 30s, I know I am going to have to work harder to keep myself the way I am. Once you cross that threshold your metabolism slows and will continue to slow unless you take preventive measures. Mom doesn't understand this. She just thinks I'm dieting and obsessed with my weight. She tells me constantly that I'm too skinny. This coming from the woman who weighed 90lbs while she was pregnant with me!
We talked a little more and Mom suggested that I might just have some hormones that are out of whack. I normally have out of whack hormones. This is nothing new. Once a month, I'm a basket case. That's just how it is and how it always has been. After acknowledging that yes, this is similar, yet vastly different, Mom suggested that I go to the lady doctor and have them do some sort of hormone panel. She told me that she had gone as she was becoming pre-menopausal and they were able to identify which hormone she was low on which was causing her symptoms. Horrified, I asked if she thought I might be getting ready to go through menopause. She said she thought it was quite a bit early, but stranger things had happened. Now, I don't really think I am getting ready to go through menopause, but one can always hope.
This morning, I decided to do some research on mood swings and exercise. I'm not taking steroids, so I could rule out Roid Rage. Everything I found suggested that I am supposed to be high on those lovely endorphines my pituitary glad is releasing during my fitness routine.
Finding nothing indicating that the exercise would be adversely affecting my mood, I began a search into changes in diet and mood swings. Mom had also suggested that since I was eating better, I might be going through some sort of withdrawal. I explained that I wasn't having any headaches or flu-like symptoms and dismissed the suggestion. Oh, my smart Momma!
Typing in the key words "change in diet crazy mood swings" I came across an article on WiseGeek on the symptoms of sugar withdrawal. Bingo! I hadn't even considered it, because cutting out excess and processed sugars was not a conscious decision on my part. Upon reading the article, I went back through my food diary, and what do you know? I have eliminated about 75% of the added and processed sugars from my diet! Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!
The article says, "In the psychological sense, sugar withdrawal can be a very real and painful process, replete with cravings, anxiety or depression, and a general sense of loss when the addictive substance is not used." Well, yeah. That's exactly what I'm going through! I just didn't realize it was withdrawal because the symptoms aren't like when you're going through caffeine withdrawal. These symptoms are sneaky like a ninja and strike when you least expect it.
While I am celebrating the fact that I'm not headed toward life in a mental ward, you can read the article, "What are Symptoms of Sugar Withdrawal?"
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