Damn You, Flu!

So yesterday didn’t pan out quite like I had planned. Around 9am I got nauseated, got the chills/sweats, my body started to ache and my head was throbbing something fierce! So, the flu then? That’s what I thought too. But after the first couple of hours, nothing had changed, I didn’t keep getting sicker. I was too nauseated to eat lunch but I wasn’t actually getting sick. Go figure.

I went home at the end of the day and promptly donned my jammies and dragged my bed pillow and blanket out to the sofa and didn’t move for 5 hours. I slept great last night and this morning had some remnants of nausea, a little achy but I came to work. And now? Aside from being a little tired, I feel just fine. In fact I’ve already had breakfast and two snacks (one of which was a beautiful mix of fresh greens, strawberries, pine nuts, avocado….and canned clams) and soon it’ll be lunchtime. I think I probably did fight off a bit of the flu which would not surprise me since Ray’s been sick for a week.

One thing that I did struggle with yesterday was what to eat when ill. If it’s a cold, standard grain-free fare works fine. But when you have an upset tummy? No toast. No crackers. No noodle soup. Ray & Tara both suggested gluten-free bread but I’m completely grain free, not just gluten. Now that I know, I will make sure to have something cooked up and in the freezer, a grain free soup? Or, I guess standard tetra pak chicken broth would work too. Last night I ended up making myself a fruit smoothy, just frozen mixed berries, half a banana and some almond milk pulverized in my Magic Bullet. Worked out fairly well. I realize the idea is to not get sick to begin with….but what do paleo folks do when they have a GI illness in order to settle their stomach?

Obviously given yesterday’s illness, I didn’t go jogging on the trail as was my initial plan. And while maybe it’s just because it wasn’t ‘excuse making’ but an actual reason for not going, I felt like since I’m eating how my body is asking for, I am more in balance and so it was OK not to go. What I mean is that I didn’t feel any guilt whatsoever over not exercising. Normally I berate myself for days over a missed workout! Again, it may be too early to pin this on Grain Free, but I strangely feel as though with no grains in my system that I’m not just chasing my tail as far as exercise goes, that exercise is a bonus and enjoyable but that it’s no longer REQUIRED. Please don’t get me wrong, I am sticking to my schedule and working hard when it’s gym or trail days. But yesterday was the first time in a long time that I didn’t have to talk myself down off of a ledge because I missed a planned run.

Tonight I have nothing going on….I’m going to make the coconut snapper that I didn’t make yesterday and I think another night of laying on the couch and then I’ll be good to go! Ray is back to work for the first day today after his illness so he’ll be exhausted and perfectly happy to watch a movie snuggled up with me on the sofa!

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