S10E27: You didnt gain weight post-stroke, YOU BECAME TOO HEALTHY.🤣

Hello beautiful survivors, how are you? This is Karina, the host and creator of this top 2 podcast, Stroke Surviving the Odds. The show is all about moving forward past the events of the stroke and showing you that there is so much more life to live. You know, 27 years ago I suffered a brain stem dissection that led me to coma Interlochen Syndrome.

But I am here with you sharing all my tricks how how I got to survive this world as a survivor. I'm paying it forward with this podcast and I hope you pay it forward by sharing the podcast with someone else. Grab a pen and paper because the faintest of ink is better than the best memory. Come and join me here as we are recording today's episode. Before I officially start the show, I would like to do some clean house as I always do.

Like, share and follow the podcast on any platforms that you're listening to. I'm all over Spotify, iTunes, Apple, Google, you name it, I am there. Spotify takes care of all my distribution in the description of the podcast. I will be leaving all the transcript of today's show as well as of all the different ways you can reach me on all my platforms.

You might be hearing a few sounds behind me. That's my vocal dog, Einstein. He's very energetic today, so bear with me and thank you so much. Einstein is a Yorkshire, Yorkshire. He loves belly rubs and apparently he likes his new rubber toy. Today's show is going to be all about weight gain after stroke. I know I've done an episode about this many, many moons ago, but I think it's a rising issue amongst stroke survivors in different phases of our lives.

And our there's some stroke survivors that are in their 20s, in their 40s, in their 50s and in menopause. I mean, unfortunately over the years, these past 27 years, guys, I have noticed an immense growth, which is not a positive. But I can't believe on how many stroke survivors there are out there and how many different, different age groups.

Back 27 years ago, you barely heard about stroke survivors and stroke itself. It was more considered as a not elder but as an older disease. And now, I mean, I've encountered people on my Facebook group that are 1920 years old. Unbelievable. So bravo to them. They're courageous, they are brave. And you know what guys, if you are that age and you're listening to me, keep listening.

Guys. If I am not, hope that after 27 years there's plenty of beautiful life to live. I don't know what is. You are a champion. Whomever you are listening to this at this point, I'm talking to all of you. I know this is extremely hard and testing, but at the same time, you're going to see that there is a reward at the end of all this.

I promise you are going to find your reward. And weight gain is only part of the recuperation weight gain pose. Stroke is very, very, very common, as I mentioned, and there's a few factors that contribute to that. Obviously reduce mobility, medication, emotional and cognitive changes. Yes, we change after stroke, guys.

It's not in your brain, it's not in your mind. You have changed, you're adapting. You are adapting to your new life, your new reality. And unfortunately, I mentioned also very often that we regress unwillingly. We regress after stroke. That's that's bringing you back to your I'm not talking about a toddler here. I'm talking about infancy.

And until you get a grasp on things, that's how it's going to be. I know for me when I realized that particular thing, I was in the hospital in the ICU and I remember I like the food in the hospital was good and we had tomato cream soup today and my mother-in-law tried to feed me and my body was like I said, very immobile.

But I'm a righty. I'm a right-handed person and my right leg is the first thing that ever woke up on me. So you can imagine it's pretty strong. So anyways let's get back to the tomato soup. So my mother-in-law fed me and I remember not being able to talk but thinking I'm a 25 year old fucking baby I should be able to do this. But instead I'm wearing a bib and my mother-in-law is feeding me and I kicked my whole table with my lunch with my right leg. I think that's when I realized that I regressed that I didn't know the word regress at the time. I didn't really pay attention all I was as frustrated, pissed off, disappointed.

But I realized with the years that that's exactly what happens. So I'm giving you guys a heads up that don't get discouraged if that happens to you. That's a normal part. Faster you adapt, faster you adjust, faster you get to move on. Remember what you resist persists. I was very interested in the subject of weight after stroke, so I did do a little bit of research as I always do.

But this time I really went into it and I found out that all depends where the stroke happens in your brain, in what region. It might be the region that regulates the food sensation, the sensation of being filled. You don't want to eat anymore. And if that particular region of the brain is affected, you just keep on eating because you're never full.

You don't know when you're full. That's something, unfortunately, that those people that are affected in that part well have to learn to live with, but control. But that was fascinating to me that there there's a region of the brain that can be affected by stroke. I'm freaking real, man. I'm not going to focus too much today on the emotional effect that weight gain has on us because and, and, and, and trust me, I've gained weight also.

But I'm not going to focus on that today because I want the show to be very proactive. I want to give you tricks. I want to give you modalities and strategies on how to move past that and how to reframe. Reframe all this weight gain. And instead of calling it weight gain, why don't we call it being too healthy? That's a reframe in itself.

What do you think? So say it after me if that's the case. If you find you have gained weight after the stroke, say it with me. I did not gain weight. I just became too healthy. You see, that's a funny thing. That's what reframing is about, finding the positive and making it humorous. I believe that humor makes everything more digestible, more acceptable. Today's show is in collaboration with Stroke Buddies. Stroke Buddies are amazing.

They do amazing work. It is an organization that offers a lot of free resources, guys such as trainers or exercise or nutritionists or mobility help, as in as in finding the help you need where you are in the world. So I'm going to leave the description of where you can find them. OK. They are unbelievable. So what I tell my client is that I'm not a physiotherapist. I am no way, shape or form qualified to give any advice on body.

I can only share my personal experience and what worked for me. I always say what works for me should work for you. Why wouldn't it? But you might have to adjust it to you, to your body, to your situation. But as I'm not a physiotherapist, I assure you that I'm a hell of a coach and that for me, the biggest part of healing after stroke was not the body, It was really the emotions and the mind.

And the emotions in the mind has a lot to do have a lot to do with our winking. I know for myself, that's that's where when I get super stressed, that's where I start blowing up like a blowfish. And not eating my emotions. But I have a thing for cookies. For those of you who want to send me cookies, go right ahead. I have a thing for cookies.

The drier the better. Believe it or not. I'm like a Chick Wong, you know? But at the same time, when I not only exercise and eat better, but when I deal with my emotions. And I deal. Or rather, I have dealt with past traumas and trouble. You know what? I shed the weight. And I have a friend of mine and I say the same thing.

He has a lot of I can't speak for him. It's not my place, it's not my story. His life is not my story. But I keep telling him when you deal with what you have inside, you will shed the weight you want. OK, So what I'm telling you is that I'm not a physiotherapist, but I'm a hell of a good coach and I help with different strategies.

I personalize to you guys and I want to connect every part of you and make you shed that weight. Now you remember before I mentioned that depending of what region of the brain was affected by the stroke is in, might be where the appetite comes from. Well, that's where self-control comes to. If that happens, if that is the area of the brain, it's not a big deal.

Guys, you got this. I believe in you. You got this. If you want to get it OK, you simply have to have a little bit of self-control and awareness. Awareness, knowing your body and knowing yourself. Now, another thing that you could do to help reduce that weight gain that you feel, you might want to modify your dietary intake. Little more of this, little less of that, more. More vegetables, less grains, and less and less milk products. But realize that weight is not just your size. It's not just the size of your belt. We call it weight because it weighs us down. That's what a weight does.

It weighs us down. So by doing a few modification, you have control again. So these these these strategies that I'll give you now are going to give you that control that you seem to have lost after the stroke. We didn't ask to get a stroke, guys. It just happened. We didn't wake up one day and said, hey, you got nothing to do, give me a stroke.

No, no, no, no. So we lost control of not just our bodies and our minds, but we lost control of our decision making because we did not choose this. But now I want you to get it back. OK, so dietary modifications will be the first thing you might want to look into. Then the second thing would be lifestyle changes. Some things that you do simply need to be modified to who you are now and example, umm, I, I'm known to like my glass of wine. I love white wine, but I decided that the holidays are coming and I did gain weight because of my I don't know if you guys know, but I fell a few weeks ago, about a month ago and I fractured some ribs and I've been really not mobile as I used to be.

So right now I'm healing. I'm in the healing process, but I'm also taking medication, not very strong medication, but nevertheless. So I said, you know what, I feel bloated, I feel fat. Excuse me, I don't like using the FAFAT word, but that I feel like if this is not me, this is not me. So I said I'm going to do a dry November. I don't need to add any sort of alcohol or vodka in my pasta because I like a home enough sauce. I don't need to do that.

So that way when you do modifications for you, not only is your clothes going to look better, but your skin is going to glow. You're going to have less breakouts, less under eye circles. Isn't that great? You are going to feel good. You're going to feel back in control. Now the third thing we know, we all know it is increasing physical activity. Did you notice that there's a lot of chair yoga out there and chair exercises?

And why do you think because there is less and less people that have good mobility, more people have reduced mobility and it's perfect for stroke survivors. You can still be very physical. You can still work out doing it sitting down isn't that amazing. So when you do some physical activities, it is known that it helps your cortisol level, it brings you happy, It helps get out of depression yourself.

Esteem is going to go up and your ego is going to go up. Guys, you're going to say, yeah, I look damn good, I can do this. You got to do it. Those are things that all contribute to your mental health or your depressive states, to your anxiety. It helps reduce it. Again, as a coach I see the benefits, but I also notice how past traumas and PTSD effects our weight gain.

So not only weight gain but depression and mental state. You see how everything is intertwined guys. You know the past sometimes hold you back, but the past doesn't need to do that. It can actually be fuel. Fuel for your future, fuel for your resilience, for your strength. It doesn't need to weigh you down. It doesn't need to make you feel like shit. And less than your past is only a part of your story. And if you're carrying your pass with you and your PTSD with you, that's dead weight guys.

And I only want you to have healthy weight. Remember that I love you immensely. I'm going to leave you with that and all my information in the description. I thank you so much and I will talk to you soon.

S10E27: You didnt gain weight post-stroke, YOU BECAME TOO HEALTHY.🤣

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