Interesting

When I was in college I remember psychology classes were always talking about the connection between stress and illness. Then in graduate school I took a class about holistic medicine that devoted probably 33% of the course to this topic. It was a weird class, but learning about de-stressing during the most stressful year of my life was a good thing. I actually learned techniques in that class that got me through completing a thesis while I was in the last months before the bipolar became wild. I literally completed my thesis in early May and was pretty sick (yet refusing to admit it) by early June. The significant symptoms started in March of that year.

However, I never knew how strong that connection really was. But the longer I live with bipolar, the longer I can see it. For one thing, if I am under stress that triggers cycling. But I get physically ill more than ever before, and it correlates with stress and increased cycling. This last month I have been sick nearly constantly, and I've been cycling badly and I've also just been stressed. Coincidence? I think not.

Also, I'm trying something new. I love vegetables and fruits. I eat lots of them, even for snacks. Unfortunately my diet still stinks, because I work crazy hours, I'm too tired to cook more than a few times per week, etc. So I'm always looking for really healthy snacks, or super easy meals that will last for several meals. I found recently a website called The Cleaner Plate Club which has great and easy healthy recipes and discussions about healthy mealplanning. So far from this website I've found out that my peanut butter was from the tainted batch of Peter Pan (no more Peter Pan for me), thanked God a thousand times for sharing in the purchase of an organically raised beef this year, and found several new foods I LOVE. So check out this new blog and see what you think. Maybe I can eat enough good stuff to totally counter the bad......