The best way to feed your possible is to look after yourself. I know controlling your blood phenylalanine levels isn’t always easy, but it’s one of the best things you can do, to help reach your full potential and fulfil your hopes and dreams.
So, when life gets in the way and PKU slips by the wayside, I find it’s important for me to find my why. As a personal trainer, I often ask my clients to dig deep and find their why, but sometimes it’s good to take my own advice on board.
Why do I want to be the best version of myself I can be? We all have different answers. Our desire for a family, a fulfilling career, sporting goals, our friends and family. But it’s our diet that unites us and when we control our phe levels we feel better. We do better. We live better.
Meal planning is a great way to help yourself establish a routine if you’ve slipped and let your levels creep up, but our wellness doesn’t stop at phe levels. Finding some kind of exercise you enjoy and partaking regularly is helpful, not just for our health and mental wellbeing, but it can be beneficial for our PKU too.
Did you know that resistance training can positively impact phenylalanine levels? In my years of undertaking fitness training with PKU clients, almost all of those I worked with to introduce strength training into their regime, saw a slight lowering and stabilization of levels. Taking the time to build a routine, drinking water, meditating, getting in 10,000 steps daily, stepping out into nature, and keeping a solid sleep pattern can all help.
My top tips are to plan your meals and stick to that plan, keep a well-stocked pantry, set reminder alarms on your phone to take your supplements, and most importantly, if you slip, don’t beat yourself up.
PKU can be tough, but it isn’t a life sentence. And if your diet has slipped, you can get back on track. There are PKU patients kicking goals in all walks of life, all over the world. They aren’t perfect – they are human. But they know their why, they use it to get back on track. What are your hopes and dreams? What is your possible?
