My Kryptonite

I know people who really have to watch what they eat in order to feel good.  They avoid sugar or dairy or, especially in the case of my family members who have Celiac disease, gluten.  When Craig and I did the Fuhrman diet and ate vegan for 6 weeks, I was excited to see how eating healthier effected me.  Secretly, I was hoping that I would suddenly find myself tapping into hidden wells of energy and that I would turn into Wonder Woman or something.

A girl can dream, right?

Anyway, that didn't happen.  In fact, I felt pretty much the same as always (except occasionally grouchy and hungry when I wasn't allowed to eat the unhealthy things I wanted to eat).  That was a little disappointing.

By the same token, I also have friends who absolutely swear by essential oils.  They find themselves healthier or healing faster or happier with a dab or two of the right oil in the right place.  And I've gotten all excited to try out their remedies and also had no luck.  (Note that I'm not claiming these things don't work for my friends-- they just don't seem to work for me.)

And all this is fine.  I'm very blessed to be so healthy; I just feel extra lucky that my body seems to work just fine with whatever food I put into it.  If I were a car, I would NOT be one of those fancy models that requires high octane gasoline-- just throw in whatever's cheapest and I'll run fine!

But it really hit me today that while food doesn't seem to have much effect on my health and well being, sleep matters A LOT. 

I cannot handle life without a decent amount of sleep.  The other night Craig and I were wrestling with insomnia, that left me on less than four hours (which, actually, a lot of people survive just fine on less), and I thought I would die.  I felt nauseated and dizzy.  AND GRUMPY.  It was bad.  (I might have resorted to letting the kids watch TV so I could nap at 8:30am...  Maybe...)

So, yeah, food doesn't make much difference to me.  But I can barely function if I don't get at least six hour of uninterrupted sleep.  And eight would be better.  (I daydream about how good I'd feel on nine...!  Squee!)  And it's good that I know this about myself.  In the same way that I applaud people who eat good so they can feel good, I do my best to sleep good so I can be my best.

Happy napping, everyone!