Listening To My Body

Officially down with a nasty head cold. It wiped me out yesterday and I decided to take a sick day today despite the fact that I had no classes today so it's a bit of a waste. I'm prepared to take tomorrow off as well, but I think I may have turned the corner, thanks to a surprising action...

The Day O' Meat started off as expected, albeit with a longer sleep-in than the usual Tuesday. I broke my fast with the remains of last night's chicken - I don't know what they do to make the carcass so extra tasty (and I probably don't want to know), but the saltiness of the meat between the bones drives me nuts! I found myself absent-minded eating the bones - when the ribs separated into two sections, I noticed that the chicken's spine had mysteriously disappeared... Yum! So apparently I was hungry. Maybe I needed marrow nutrients...

A couple of hours later, I grilled up some bacon for lunch, before heading back to bed:


Now, when I grilled up that bacon, I was ignoring a gnawing sensation in my stomach that was demanding fruit, of all things. Now, I've never really craved fruit in such a visceral way before. I know what psychological cravings are, and what blood sugar cravings feel like, but this was something completely different I tried to shut it up with bacon and sleeping...

However, when I awoke, the demand for fruit was still there. I wondered whether my body was calling out for vitamin C, or some other nutrient that it wanted to help fight off the cold. So I decided to experiment and listen to my bod. I made up a pancake of 90% egg / 10% almond meal, fried in coconut oil, and defrosted a handful of blueberries, adding a couple of 100& cacao duds for good antioxidantory (it's a word now) measure.


I felt better almost instantly! The ache behind my eyes went away, and my ear/throat stopped aching. Well! I can't know whether the improvement was the result of something in the meal or just the placebo effect, but considering my cynicism going into the experiment, I wonder if the latter was negated... Either way, it makes me wish that there was more vitamin C in Mark Sisson's Master Formula, and I'll have to keep and eye out for sweetener-free C next time I'm in the pharmacy, ready for next flu season.

So tomorrow will need to be the start of Meat Month, although I indulged in a very meaty dinner to complete the day - bacon and minced beef! Oh how glamorous...


I'm heading to bed with a little bit of lingering throat/ear soreness, but with any luck I'll wake up feeling much healthier.

Has anyone else ever followed their instinct when it comes to finding a natural remedy for an ailment? I figure this is just one step up from getting rest when you're fighting any illness, or rubbing bruises...