Embracing My Health

Hi everyone!  Wow, keeping up my dailies has been more of a challenge than I expected. I blinked and missed 3 days. My body has felt a little rugged the last few days. Not in a sick with a bug kind of a way… but in manner that I would guess is getting rid of toxins. This morning is the first morning that I started to feel that my body was clearing the crud and starting with a fresher, cleaner slate. I have to say, it does feel good.

So far, I haven’t worked any sort of focused exercise into my daily routine. That’s coming right up.

Here’s to moving forward step by step.

(This update is for yesterday, August 1)

I’m getting into a groove with my food choices. The thing I’ve noticed is that, for me, it takes a little bit to get into the mindset. It has taken me less time than in the past, about a week, but I still wasn’t able to jump in on the first day at a 100%.

All of us have “that point” where our commitments suddenly feel less important than what we feel like at that moment. I have two times for that: 1) beginning the implementation of that commitment, and 2) about 4 weeks into it… I’ll suddenly “grow tired” of doing what I committed to and want to “treat” myself because I’ve been good and I “deserve” it. While giving yourself treats on rare occasions is perfectly appropriate, for me, it can be the beginning of the end. Some people have addictive personalities and I believe I’m one of them, at least in a fashion. When I splurge, especially with something like sweets, I have a difficult time keeping it in moderation. Although it sounds like one, sugar addiction is no joke. In fact, I’ll share more about sugar addiction in the next post.

Last note for this update, as a fruit lover, summertime is a GOOD time to live in the Pacific Northwest. Snack this morning: the most amazing organic local cherries. Heaven!

I missed making my daily entry yesterday – so want to make a quick note about  the day.  It was a good day for me and my food choices.  The rest of the day was a real rollercoaster but I noticed that because my food was good – I felt a little more capable to handle everything.  Not that it was easy, but if I was having a day like yesterday AND my body wasn’t feeling real good because of unhealthy/non-nutritive meals and snacks… well, it would have made a difficult day so much worse.

It was a good learning day for me.

The fast has gone well. I am starting to feel that floaty feeling I get when I haven’t eaten. We are breaking fast at dinner, so I’m going to be fine. I’m feeling quite pleased that I was able to make it nearly 24 hours without eating. It shows me that my body is on the road to healing. There was a time where I couldn’t go without food for 4-5 hours without adverse effects.

On the website front: I’m working on the page layout and organizationally. There are some hiccups yet – so please bear with me. I’m hoping to get everything tightened up in the next week or two. In the meantime, keep checking in. Please leave me any comments, thoughts or suggestions.

More soon.

I’m finding the online version of FitDay a little frustrating. After using the PC version for so long, the limitations of the freebie online program is disappointing. I think I’ll skip using the online version and just include my food on my daily entries. So real quickly, here’s today:

1/2 cup hempmilk
a banana
Chicken Baja Bowl at Taco Del Mar
3 marshmallows (you know there is nothing healthy at marshmallows at all… nothing… sigh)
Bora Bora Apple Cinnamon Nut Bar
Cherry Chocolate protein shake with 1 tsp salba oil

My energy levels were horrible today. I’m going to chalk it up to not having enough sleep over the last week. Tomorrow I’m going to be taking a day of fasting and prayer to hold up some dear friends that are going through difficult days. The last time I attempted to fast, my blood sugar didn’t allow me to complete the day. I’m hoping that my blood sugar levels have stabilized over the last year of improved health. It’s definitely been less of a problem. That said, I haven’t tried to go without food for a day. So, we’ll see.

Talk to you tomorrow.

I missed Day 2 yesterday because I spent the morning taking care of Amira. She woke up sick because of something she ate. I think it was wheat related, but I’m not certain. The rest of the afternoon, I was helping another friend who is going through an extremely difficult time. I’m grateful that I was in a place to help them. The thing I noticed about my day yesterday was that while I cared for Amira & my friend – I didn’t take care of myself by eating well. I let myself off the hook for sticking to the food choices I’ve laid out for myself.

Helping and being there for others doesn’t mean not taking care of ourselves. There is a temptation to think of these things as mutually exclusive. I’m reading a book on parenting right now. The introduction to the book said: before you do anything else… you must take care of yourself. You can’t expect yourself to be and do the things you want to as a parent unless your physical, mental and emotional needs are taken care of as well. This is another example of it.

Today is Day 3 and I’ve done okay. I skipped breakfast (yeah, a no-no), but ate a good lunch of a turkey sandwich and a side of cantaloupes and bananas. We went to an art festival and I indulged in a scoop of ice cream. I was surprised how “ungood” it was… AND it didn’t sit real well either. It’s a good reminder that often the idea of a certain food is more enticing than the actual thing itself.

I wrote this morning about being impressed by an assertion made by David McCullough. The assertion: excelling is possible only through the doing of the thing. It doesn’t matter what it is. Having head knowledge amounts to next to nothing if it lacks application… the doing.

I’m guilty as charged of researching, learning, and knowing a lot about health, nutrition and fitness… all without the doing. Well, that’s not entirely true. Our eating habits are healthier than they used to be a few years back. Any and every bit of change toward health we make is monumental. Our bodies will take each and every scrap of healthiness we give them. Truly, our bodies are inventive and ingenious with how well they keep working even when we don’t give them the building tools they need to do their jobs right. Our bodies are amazing Imagine then if we keep adding incrementally to those changes until they turn into a lifestyle. The gains we will experience are, I’m betting, unimaginable.

This marks Day 1 for me. Here’s where I begin the journey of chronicling what it takes for me, an internet junkie, a mom, wife and friend, to create a new life. I have so much knowledge to share and I will. But more importantly, it’s the doing that I do that I’m most looking forward to.