I Thought My Little Bit of Cheating was a Healthy Choice–Boy Was I Wrong!
I love my new Oura ring. I wrote about it before and told you how it has helped me to improve my sleep quality.
Well, that is not the only reason I love this tool: I love the information it gives me because it helps me to make better food choices to support my health.
We All Know Some Food Choices Just Aren’t Good for Us
Do you know what happens inside your body when succumb to that temptation and eat something that isn’t good for you?
One thing that happens is our heart rate goes up. And it can go up a lot!
If you think you have a food sensitivity record your heart rate before you eat it. Then take your heart rate again about a half an hour after eating that food. You might be in for a big surprise! I sure was.
I know that I can’t tolerate dairy except for small amounts of hard cheeses. I really hate this food sensitivity because I LOVE dairy.
And, like most people, I’ll admit to cheating from time to time. I figured that should be okay, and I may be a nutritionist, but I’m only human after all. I thought that was a healthy choice.
Now I Have Proof How Damaging a Little Cheating Can Be!
Since I started wearing my Oura ring, I have cheated twice eating small amounts of ice cream.
Both times I ate ice cream, very small amounts mind you, my heart rate went up—and STAYED elevated.
Normally when we sleep our heart rate drops. My normal is in the mid-50s beats per minute while I sleep.
That didn’t happen though. Instead, my heart rate went up and stayed up for hours. In fact, my heart rate stayed between 80 and 85 beats per minute, a full thirty beats over my normal until 4 am. Talk about affecting my sleep quality, right?
What do I learn from that? I learn that eating dairy is very damaging to my health. It makes me rethink “cheating.” It’s not worth putting my health at risk for a few bites of a creamy dessert.
But I Can’t Imagine Life Without Dessert!
I hear you, dessert is one of life’s pleasures, right?
Before you think I am saying I will never eat dessert again, rest assured it doesn’t mean I can’t have dessert. It means that I’m much better off picking a dessert that my body tolerates!
It is all about making the right food choices for my body.
If you have chronic health challenges, I encourage you to take control of your health by starting with information gathering using tools like an Oura ring. You might have a food sensitivity that is affecting your sleep quality, too. It could be dairy, but it could be any number of different things.
Information is power! That is one of the tenets of Functional Medicine —information helps us figure out WHY we get sick. This kind of information has the power to bring you health and wellness!
Start gathering information, then make an appointment with me to help you make strategic changes to maximize your health.
I was able to reach out to the folks at Oura Ring and get a 10% discount for you, so if you want to purchase a ring when you get to the shopping cart be sure to use the coupon code “kristy10”.
In full disclosure, I want you to know that I will also receive a small commission if you buy using this code. However I only recommend products that I believe in 100%, and I wear my Oura ring all the time and fully believe in it.
