Pain Management Tip: Dress for the Occasion

Have you ever noticed a connection between the clothes you wear and your pain levels on a given day?  Do heavy coats or tight shirts affect your posture and increase pain?  Maybe tighter pants make it hard to sit right, or a skirt affects your stride, causing the pain to increase.  It might be helpful for you to take notice of the how your wardrobe affects your pain.

Tip:  Dress for the occasion.

I don't mean that you have to give up on looking fashionable if you want to be comfortable; you don't need to give up jeans for sweats.  All I'm saying is that if your clothes affect your pain levels, you can think ahead based on your plans for the day, and dress accordingly.  You are a human being, and you can think through a problem and find a helpful solution. 

My Experience:  I've noticed a few connections between my clothing and my pain levels.  For example, if I wear a heavy coat while shopping, I'm done for.  Searing pain begins to afflict my upper back within just a few minutes.  I end up being so distracted by the pain that I flee the store, vowing to only shop online from that day forward.  Carrying a purse has a similar effect.  So, I've learned to leave my coat in the car, even on cold days, and carry my wallet in the pocket of my jeans when I shop.  That eliminates both the coat and the purse and generally means I have more stamina to pay attention to what I'm looking at and to shop wisely, rather than making regrettable purchases just to get out of the store quickly. 

Shoes are another important piece of this puzzle.  If you have chronic pain problems, you have probably noticed that sensible, comfortable shoes make a big difference.  If I am attending a somewhat fancy event, I'll still try to wear the most comfortable, supportive shoes I can pull off for the occasion.  

In general, I try to wear long shirts that are somewhat loose fitting around the middle.  I'm not talking about baggy clothes, just slightly loose.  If a shirt is too short - meaning that when I sit or stoop or stretch it shows skin - I'm too self-conscious to move comfortably.  If it is too tight, it restricts my movement a little.  But if it's just the right length, and just the right looseness, I can unselfconsciously sit, stand, stoop, stretch, reach, etc in movements that are natural for my body.  This is especially helpful if I need to stretch or reposition myself in order to ameliorate pain episodes.

So think this through.  You may never have noticed a connection between your clothes and your pain.  Maybe it's time to start paying attention to this to see if it can help you lessen your pain problem, even just a little.

Disclaimer:  The Pain Management Tips in this blog are merely ideas and observations from my personal experience of chronic pain and pain management.  I hope my ideas and experience can help you, but I'm not an expert, and really I'm in no position to be giving advice.  Talk to a doctor or pain psychologist for more trustworthy input.  

Brownies You Don't Have to Share

Let's face it.  Going without refined sugar can feel lonely and oppressive when you live in a world where almost everything contains high-fructose corn syrup or white sugar.  I often find myself drooling over carrot cakes in the displays at coffee shops, or dejectedly turning down chocolate chip cookies from coworkers.  

I just need to remind myself that since going refined-sugar-free, I've discovered some wonderfully decadent desserts that also are quite nutritious.  Tasty treats I can feel good about.  

What's great about this kind of decadence is that people who eat a lot of sugar don't think my delicious desserts taste as good as their sugary, buttery options, so it gives me an excuse to not even try to share!  

And, strangely, sometimes these things are so rich and nutritious that I'm full before I can pig out on them the way I want.

Here's an example.  I found this recipe for "Raw Fudgy Brownies," and decided to make a couple of changes to suit the contents of my cupboards.  I didn't have macadamia nuts, and I didn't have time to soak the cashews for 2 hours.  So I tweaked things a little.  Because coconut oil can be pricey, I only used it in the ganache and left it out of the brownie.  

Raw Brownies

2 cup mixture of cashews and almonds, soaked for an hour or more (try other nuts if you like!)

3 dates, chopped

1 cup almond flour (I just ground almonds in the food processor until they were as fine as they'd get without becoming almond butter)

2 Tbsp chopped walnuts

1/2 cup cocoa powder (or more if you want stronger chocolate flavor)

2 Tbsp maple syrup

Ganache

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

 

Soak almonds and cashews for an hour or more.  A few minutes before draining, add the dates to the water.  Strain and place in food processor, pulse until crumbly.

Add almond flour, cocoa powder and maple syrup and pulse until well mixed.  It will eventually become a little doughy, but will still be crumbly.  (Add melted coconut oil ~2 Tbsp or so ~ if you want it to be wetter.)

Dump the mixture into an 8x8 pan lined with wax / parchment paper and press down with back of spoon or with fingers.  

Blend the ganache ingredients in bowl until smooth.  Pour and spread over the brownies.  Chill in refrigerator for 10 to 30 minutes.  

Lift brownies out of pan using wax paper and place on a cutting board.  Cut with a large knife (to avoid sawing).  

Eat as many as you can, and don't worry about sharing with your sugar addict friends!

Pain Management Tip: Keep Warm

It is, perhaps, an appropriate time to note that it is frigid outside these days.  We're expecting a low of -9º F tonight, windchill closer to -20º.  

My pain is mostly in my muscles.  And let me tell ya, my muscles don't like to be cold.  So today's tip is simple:

Tip:  Keep warm!

Shivering (as I'm sure you've noticed) is a response to the cold which involves your muscles tensing and shaking to keep your vital organs warm.  In that sense, shivering is good.  But, if you're like me, you don't need any more tension in your muscles.  So put on a sweater!  Wrap yourself in blankets when you're sitting and reading on the couch.  Drink some tea.  

My Experience:  I'm a total miser when it comes to heating my apartment.  I'm one of those people who thinks that the thermostat should never exceed 65º in winter.  This condition, known as "Thermostat Naziism," means that I am cold a lot.  And that's bad for my pain.  

So what do I do?  Well, I wear extra layers if I'm just going to be sitting around the house.  I find that if I'm active in the kitchen I can get by with a t-shirt and sweatshirt.  But if I'm just sitting I might need more.  I often wrap myself in a blanket if I'm going to be reading or writing for a while.  And I always drink lots of hot beverages.  

Also, heating pads can help a lot.  The negative side of using a heating pad in the winter is that when you take the heat away from your relaxed muscles, they end up feeling colder than they would have if you'd never used heat.  Kind of like how my grandmother used to yell at me for sitting too near to the wood stove.  She'd say, "You're gonna get cold!"  It never made sense to me that sitting near a heat source would make me cold, but she was right.  As soon as you step away, the normal temperature of the room feels frigid. 

Hot showers also help in extreme circumstances, or baths.  However, these come with the same drawbacks as the thermostat and the heating pad.  On one hand, you're wasting water, on the other hand you're gonna be cold when you get out.  

So, just bundle up and have some tea.  Keep those muscles warm so they don't freak out.

Disclaimer:  The Pain Management Tips in this blog are merely ideas and observations from my personal experience of chronic pain and pain management.  I hope my ideas and experience can help you, but I'm not an expert, and really I'm in no position to be giving advice.  Talk to a doctor or pain psychologist for more trustworthy input.  

Cashew Frosting

Since cutting refined sugars out of my diet, I have been on an inspiring adventure which has involved discovering some of the wonderful things there are to eat that are healthy AND delicious.

Case in point:  Cupcakes with Frosting; made with almond flour and no sugar.

I'm standing on the shoulders of giants, however.  The recipes I've been using have all come from the blogs of folks around the country who struggle with major food allergies and other health problems that require them to change their diets.  Here's an inspiring website you can look at if you're interested in beautiful photos of attractive and delicious food.

And that's where I got the recipe for these tasty cupcakes.  I used this recipe for Strawberry Cake, but left out the strawberries because I didn't have any.  And I used mini-muffin tins instead of an 8" pan.  Then I followed this recipe for Vanilla Cream Frosting.  This is what astounds me:  The frosting is made of cashews, and it tastes great.  I had a brain fart, though, and neglected to add the vanilla.  I also didn't have any apple juice, so I used orange juice.  Even though I barely followed the recipe at all, I found this stuff to be really decadent and tasty. 

A Floor with a View

Hanging out with some friends a few days ago, I was asked how I like my apartment after a year occupying these two rooms.  I spoke of the space as if it were my soul mate.  I love this place.  The walls, the floors, the kitchen, and most of all, I love the ceiling in the living room.  This comment about loving the ceiling triggered a round of uproarious laughter from my friends. 

I forget sometimes that a lot of people probably can't relate to what is a hugely consistent element of my daily life: spending significant amounts of time lying on the floor.  For many years I have pondered the paint cracks, discolorations, and textures of the ceilings of the many places I've lived.  One gets pretty well acquainted with these things after a few hours of staring every day.  It's a big part of my life.  So of course, it's nice that I now have a nice view from the floor.

It seems strange to me that anyone could live in a place and fail to think about the ceiling a lot.  That's as strange sounding to me as loving my ceiling must have sounded to my friends that night.  

 

Oh, well.  For now, I'm enjoying the view.  Simple pleasures often carry me through the rougher moments of this life with chronic pain.

Quitter Chronicles: Installment #5 : Early Impressions

A few days ago at work, one of my coworkers offered me one of those Danish butter cookies that come in the blue tins.  When I turned it down, she said, “Too fattening?”  I replied, “No, I actually don’t eat sugar anymore.”  She laughed at me and kept saying she was sorry, as if I’d made a terrible choice to amputate all joy from life.  In my heart I retorted, “No, I’m sorry for you.”

With the exception of some small mishaps wherein I had to eat infinitesimal amounts of sugar in my mother’s mashed potatoes or accidentally ate a chocolate chip in an otherwise sugarless Lara Bar, I have been successfully avoiding refined sugars for four months now.  At home, the only sweeteners I use are dates, molasses, honey and maple syrup.  Away from home, I’m careful to avoid any sweets, and generally try to avoid eating any savory foods that might contain sugar. 

Here are some of my early impressions of this shift in my diet.

Weight loss.  I lost ten pounds in the first three months.  This was not my goal in cutting sugars out of my diet.  I never felt that I was overweight, and didn’t feel the need to get rid of any extra pounds.  But the weight loss was the natural result of reduction of sugar in my diet as well as increasing the quality of the foods I eat, and subsequently reducing the quantity.  I feel more nourished and satisfied with less volume, simply because I’m no longer feeding the insatiable appetite for sugar.

Mood improvement.  Before I cut out refined sugar, my life was a daily emotional roller coaster, and sugar was my anti-depressant.  I’d feel good after meals, but feel lethargic and moody a while later.  I’d eat some chocolate or a muffin to perk myself up.  These days that sugar roller coaster is much less pronounced.  I do still like to have snacks between meals, but I don’t experience the same extremes of lethargy and emotional lowness that I did before.

Energy.  Because I get more bang for my buck with food – meaning that I get better quality nourishment even with smaller quantities of food – I have noticed that I have more energy.  Not only do I no longer have that energy roller coaster of sugar highs and lows, but my body is being fueled by better fuel.  I have a steadier stream of energy throughout the day.

Change of taste.  Four months in to this refined-sugar free life, I shudder to think of the days when an open bag of marshmallows was a temptation.  The idea of eating a handful of candy corns makes me a little nauseous.  The other day I ate a very sweet banana and felt it was overwhelming.  My tolerance for sweetness has decreased, and things I would have considered inedible months ago are now wonderfully tasty – Ginger tea with only a little honey, for example.  If you combine this reduced tolerance for sugar, which leads to finding certain foods nauseatingly sweet, with the fact that I feel better and have more energy, maybe you can understand why I felt bad for my coworker who showed me pity when she learned that I don’t eat sugar.

My relationship with food.  I never thought of my eating habits as a relationship before.  But this experience has forced me to get to know my food in a way I never realized was possible or could be important.  Instead of just arbitrarily eating whatever is in front of me, I now carefully choose foods based on ingredients.  Sugar is so ubiquitous that I’m quite limited in what I can buy, but I’m finding more and more wonderfully decadent and delicious options that are easy to make at home from simple, whole ingredients. 

Pain.  Unfortunately, there has not been any perceptible change in my pain levels resulting from this change in diet.  I initially embarked on this adventure to see if it would help to mitigate my chronic pain problem.  It hasn’t.  But I can honestly say that it’s worth it anyway.  The other benefits (listed above) have improved my general outlook to the degree that even if the physical pain remains the same, my ability to live with that pain has improved.  Cooking healthy, nourishing foods has become a fun hobby that can distract me from pain.  Having more energy means I can bear up better under the stress of working and living with pain.  Being healthier means my body is stronger and more resilient, even in pain.  Having steadier and more positive mood means that pain doesn’t bowl me under as frequently as it used to. 

So for now, even if my original hopes remain unfulfilled, I’m going to stick with this crazy diet.

Festive Smoothie

Back in the day, when I ate anything and everything, eggnog was one of those things that did me in this time of year.  I'm not a big fan of most Christmas traditions, but eggnog I could drink all year if you made me.

This isn't eggnog, but it's tasty and festive enough to pass in my book.  I found the recipe on one of my favorite sources for healthy, refined-sugar free recipes.  I only tweaked it a little bit, because I wanted to use kefir, and I didn't have all the spices on hand.  Here's what I got:

Gingerbread Smoothie

1 banana (frozen or not)
1 cup homemade kefir* (I bet homemade yogurt or any kind of milk would do, too)
1 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Throw it all in food processor or blender and blend til smooth.  

I actually found this to be a little sweeter than I wanted.  Maybe next time I'll cut down on the banana or molasses. 

*One of these days I will find time to post about the wondrous world of kefir.