Tag: healthy eating

Weeds

image Somewhere along the line these little Dandelions were classified as weeds. Perhaps they didn’t live up to the beauty standards of flowers.  They are often pulled, poisoned and much effort is put forth trying to rid lawns and gardens of them.  But I pass these particular Dandelions every morning on my run.  I’m always touched by their beauty and personally I love yellow flowers.  There’s just something about yellow.  Many people also eat Dandelion greens and marvel in their taste.  My horses always loved eating Dandelions and I love how they looked out in the pasture.

All this got me wondering who decides that something is not beautiful and therefore banished from the flower world.  And who decides if we fit in the beautiful category?  In my opinion, there shouldn’t be a standard we have to live up to.  Beauty should, as they say, be in the eyes of the beholder.  But we all know this is not the case.  We all know there are standards for us, just as there are for the Dandelion.  We have to be a certain weight, or we are considered fat.  We have to have a certain look to us, or we are considered plain, or ugly.  It’s so sad that someone else gets to decide for us what represents beauty.  Me, I’ve decided to take back that power and make my own decisions about my beauty.  Only I get to decide how I look and feel and I do not have to please anyone but myself.

My whole life I have always blown out my hair whenever I washed it.  I have very fine, straight hair and I believed the only way to get any body to it was to blow it out.  When I was a teen, I remember my mom telling me I was going to be bald because I would wash and dry my hair three times a day.  My daughter has similar hair to me and she never blow dries her hair.  We had a conversation about this during our week at the beach.  I never blow out my hair when we are down at the beach.  Funny thing is it either looks the same, or better.  Imagine that.  Why in the world am I spending an extra half hour a day on this hair when it looks the same without that effort.  Probably because I was trying to live up to some beauty standard I set that said I needed to have lots of body in my hair.  It’s been a life long struggle trying to make my hair something it’s not.  Countless perms and body waves and tons of hair spray used in the process.  Well, since we’ve returned from the beach, I’ve only blown out my hair twice.  Once to go out to dinner and once to go to a meeting.  I’ve decided that I really do not need to put the effort in because my hair looks just the same even if I don’t.

Another area to think about is makeup.  My mom was a very vain woman who believed you never went anywhere without putting on your “face”.  When she had eye surgery, I remember her putting on her one eye “face”.  Now she’s in a nursing home and never has on her “face” and guess what.  Her face looks just as beautiful as it did with the make up.  Perhaps it looks better at times because it’s her beautiful, natural face.  I was never a big make up person.  I’m truly not a girly, girl but I did put on mascara every day.  I have such light eyelashes that without it it looks like I have none.  But I’ve begun to even cut back on that. The only person who notices that I have mascara on is me.  I’ve been going out without it and nobody notices any difference.  Again, I had set this beauty standard based on society’s expectations and was a slave to ensuring I had long, visible lashes.

How wonderful it is to have this new routine.  I’m no longer sweating, drying my hair and feeling my skin all sticky from makeup.  The only comments I’ve received are, you look like a teenager and you have great skin.  The reality is when we look in the mirror we see what we think is looking back at us.  That is not the reflection the rest of the world sees.  If you asked three people to describe one person, you’d see what I mean.  Everyone brings their perspective of us to the description.  Their perspective of us, the entire being, forms their perspective of how beautiful we are.  You know this is true.  Think about it.  Haven’t you ever in your life thought of someone as attractive, then gotten to know them and realized they weren’t as attractive as you thought.  Especially, if they are lacking in personality or kindness.

The point I’m trying to make is we have to be comfortable with who we are.  God made us just the way he wanted us to be.  We are created in his image and likeness – beautiful.  I believe there is nothing more beautiful than someone who is comfortable in their own skin.  They seem to radiate beauty and confidence.  It’s time to get out of our heads.  Do not let society’s standards be your standards.  Set your own standard for how you want to look and feel and then be confident and comfortable in that skin.  Stop living your life for someone else’s expectations.  Dare to be beautiful in your own right, just like the beautiful Dandelions you see everywhere.  Embrace your beauty and you will surely be beautiful.

 

 

 

 

Life Change

My very first blog post spoke of my reasons for being on this journey. This journey is clearly much more than about just losing weight. Sure, that’s one of the benefits of it all, but it never has never been my sole intention. There is so much at stake and life is far too short to stay on the surface.  Many of you know that I am an Elementary School Principal. One of my passions, besides getting healthy, has always been reading and learning. I spend a lot of time reading and some of the books that I love are about personal growth. In order to win at life, you need to address your whole being, spending equal time developing yourself physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Many times when we embark on these health journeys, we put a heavy emphasis on the physical component of it. We exercise constantly and see some results. We continue to exercise, but often begin to lose our motivation. We blame lack of weight loss, sore muscles, lack of time or just plain boredom with the routines. The reality is, aside from making exercise a daily habit, until you change your mindset you are likely going to give up. When I first walked into a yoga studio many years ago, I was immediately in love with the fact that it addressed my emotions. There were workshops, readings and just about anything you needed to grow spiritually and emotionally. Coupled with the physicality of the yoga practice, it was truly a life changing experience for me. Yoga really helped me to realize why I had failed so many times before.  It helped me to drill down and reexamine the way I was approaching this path I am on.

One of the first books recommended to me by my yoga teacher is still one of my favorites. It has lessons that reach far beyond the walls of the studio.   Feeding my mind with activities like reading this book, listening to educational podcasts, or taking time to run in the early light of morning have helped me in so many ways.  This book in particular has been one that I think of often in my day to day life.

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

Inside the pages of this book are four life lessons that we all can draw upon in our daily lives.  Now especially, with our world in constant turmoil, with tensions running so high, I find myself relying on it heavily.  The four agreements are –

  1. Speak with Integrity – Your word is everything!  Say only what you mean and avoid negative self talk and gossip.  Use your words to speak the truth and of love.
  2. Don’t Take Anything Personally -Remember always that nothing others say or do is because of you, it is really a projection of their own reality.  Be immune to the opinions and actions of others and you will avoid much suffering.
  3. Don’t Make Assumptions – Do your research before you make an assumption about someone or something.  When in doubt save your energy and don’t worry about it.  Ask and be direct rather than fretting and worrying about things. Be sure.
  4. Always Do Your Best – Under any and all circumstances do your best each and every day.  Yes, your best will vary depending on the situation, but do the best you can at all times and you will never be full of self regret.

You can surely see how these four agreements are about way more than yoga.  I use them in my daily life and often at work.  They really are about making a mindset shift and approaching life from a position of self love and positivity.

The second book I read, more recently, was one that I am still processing.  I liked it because the author brought in spirituality and I believe that is another important piece of the package.  Surprisingly, he is talking about Christian principles in the book and there were several quotes from the Bible.

40 Days to Personal Revolution

This book was used in a course I took with the same title at a yoga studio.  We worked on looking at how our past events shaped the person we are today.  We made peace with any unresolved issues and learned principles to help us become stronger emotionally.  Baron Baptiste—one of the world’s most beloved master yoga teachers—inspired us to transform more than body and mind: He gave us the tools we need to set ourselves free to live the healthful life we’ve always imagined.  Each week included:

-A yoga practice to do every morning
-Principles to cleanse your diet along with eating plan
-Instructions to begin and deepen a meditation practice
-Excavation questions to root out limiting beliefs and patterns

This one was a bit deeper than the Four Agreements, and as I said I’m still processing it all. It’s one you’ll want to read and reread as you grow and learn.  It will challenge the way you think about yourself for sure.  I have not been able to develop a meditation practice as of yet.  I just don’t have the ability to sit quietly.  Perhaps someday that will come.

I hope you’ll think about your own personal growth.  Don’t make exercise and diet all about weight loss.  Make it a journey of self discovery.  You will truly be amazed at what you are capable of when you address your entire being.  I’d love to hear about the books you’ve found life changing.  Please feel free to share in the comments.

 

Power of Mindset

This week we focused on mental toughness in running.   Anyone who has run on a day like today, or pushed themselves to do more than they thought they ever could, has inevitably tapped in to their inner mental toughness.

We have all experienced times where we dig in and get something done despite not wanting to, or feeling capable of.  That goes for way more than just exercise and running. It could have been learning to do something and struggling through the many failed attempts.  For me, learning a second language proves insurmountable most days.   Or, it could be as simple as passing up on the second helping, or the dessert.  Whatever the challenge was, what pulled us through was our mental toughness.

In order to work on our mental toughness, we need to address our mindsets. Now this is funny to me because at school that’s all we work on.  Why had I never fully connected it to this journey then?  Yes, I did think of things like, I can’t run a marathon “yet”, but I never fully tapped in to the full power of mindset on my health and wellness.

In the past, I primarily lived with thoughts of all the things I couldn’t do well.  My mindset was a well developed negative one.  Negativity permeated every inch of my inner dialogue.  I couldn’t run as fast as my friends, I couldn’t run without experiencing  pain in my ankles and feet afterwards and I couldn’t lose weight as fast as others could.  When asked to slow down my heart rate during runs, I whined about how slow I had to run and called it slogging (slow jogging).  Listening to this week’s podcasts reminded me that my power to succeed resides in my mindset.  It is the single most important tool I have to face this challenge.  I have to dig in and do the hard work in order to be a better runner.  There’s just no way around it.  Avoiding it is what got me to the place I’m at right now, injured and recovering.  There are no shortcuts here.

I’ve begun shifting my thoughts and tapping in to focus on all the things I can do.  Today, in ridiculous humidity, I was able to maintain a steady pace at 139 bpm without having to slow down or speed up for 75 minutes.  Today, I was able to run one of my miles at a 14 minute pace and keep my heart rate at 139 in extremely hot conditions.  Today, my run was up in pace from the last few.  Today, I filled my head with all the things that were going well and I felt myself growing taller.  It really was that simple.

I’m kind of embarrassed that I, an educator who preaches about this stuff to anyone who will listen, failed to apply it to my greatest challenge, healthy living.  I guess it’s like the shoemaker who has no shoes, or the mechanic who drives a clunker.  We often forget to take care of ourselves along the way. I’m so thankful my coach reminded me of what I know to be true and shifted my thinking.

Going forward, I’m going to consciously stay focused on things I am doing well and celebrate my small victories along the way.  When I wake up each morning, I’m going to allow myself some white space to rest, relax and think about all the things that are going well in my life.  Then, I’ll get up and out to face my day.  It is my belief that one small positive thought will change my whole day.  My running coach has a saying, she says that when we get what we need in life, we are #winningatlife.  Today, I feel as if I am doing just that.

 

Patience is a Virtue, Right?

This week I had four graduations at my school and an end term party.  Four speeches to be made, four outfits to plan and four days of food temptations to get through.  I think I fared pretty well.  I avoided the cake this year at all four ceremonies, though I did taste the frosting.  Girl must taste the frosting in life.  I went to two lunch celebrations with my staff following the ceremonies.  I fared pretty well there too, though I absolutely ate a piece of bread and butter both days.  Girls must eat bread and butter when in a restaraunt.  The end term party food wasn’t great so I fared well there too, though I absolutely indulged in some vodka on the rocks. Girl must live, laugh and sip vodka at parties.  I didn’t totally through caution to the wind this week, rather I tried to keep it real and keep control of myself.  It wasn’t hard to do and allowing myself those little indulgences went miles towards getting through not feeling deprived.  Last year I would have indulged a lot more.  I would have had cake and lunch and wine each of the four days.

The only bad thing about this week was all the pictures I had to pose for.  Thankfully I won’t see many of them and thankfully the children next to me are the real star of them.  I know I’m stuck on pictures lately, but putting it down here gets it out of my head.  Plus, so many of you have shared you’re struggling with them too.  It’s just that the darn pictures make me feel like I’m still at the starting point, the “before” phase of this journey.  They are a constant reminder that I’ve miles to go yet. But I’ve been smiling proudly and clicking away.  I’m documenting my journey and life and refuse to be absent again.

At yesterday’s graduation I saw the parent of one of my students.  Last I saw her, earlier this year she was super thin and had lost almost 60 pounds.  Yesterday, she was right back up to her starting weight. It saddened me to see that, but also reminded me that I am not back at the start.  It reminded me why I am taking the slow and steady route to health. It didn’t take me a week to gain the weight and create havoc on my health and it won’t take me a month to get healthy.  This is a journey and I’m in it for the long haul.

During my speech yesterday, I spoke about the measure of moments in a year.  If I had to capture the moments of my year I’d say:

*I began running again and kept at it despite a serious stress fracture.

*I only gained about ten pounds during recovery from said stress fracture.  I worked out in a chair during the crutches period to keep in the game.

*I rekindled and formed friendships through running and that are priceless.  My childhood friend and maid of honor at my wedding and I were always in touch and always said we’d get together, but life always had other plans.  Now we have races together and with meetings and weekends away built in. Big win-win!

*I overhauled the way I eat.  It’s far from perfect but it’s an improvement.  A great benefit beside my health, my daughter is willing to eat things she would never have tried before.

*I got off three medications and unnecessary supplements.

So, while I’m not moving those blue marbles to the lost jar permanently, the process is working.  If I’m still in it I’m winning.  Patience is a virtue, right?

 

Mind Over Body

Today my childhood friend and I are returning to our home town to run a 10k race together.  We’ve done races together before, but this one back on our home turf should be memorable.  I’m always excited to be with her and catch up on those carefree days.  There will be running, laughing and of course a beer.  I’m sure there will also be the dreaded pictures.  I will try to find one of us as kids and share with one from today.  I will keep sharing my pictures to document my life, as well to keep myself on track on this journey.

Last night I had a work function for our students.  I got dressed in a comfortable outfit that upon inspection in the mirror looked cute.  Actually it was even a little loose on top making me feel good about the work I’m doing.  The event included some pictures with my staff.  When I saw one, I saw myself as heavy and got discouraged.  What was this.  Does my mirror lie? Or, am I wearing rose colored glasses.  Was it just the picture?  Here’s where the mind starts taking over and beating me up.  One of the other ladies in the group and I were laughing.  She was saying the same things, but said she was planning to hang it up as her before photo.  Haha, I said, the problem here is this is my after.  It’s so easy in those moments to get discouraged and I did.  I’m working so very hard.  Running 4-5 days a week on my training program.  Working out other days as well.  Watching my intake of foods for the most part.  How can it be that I still appeared so heavy in that darn picture?

In the past, here is actually where I would get off track and spiral down.  The mind would start saying, why bother.  It’s not worth all this work if nothing changes.  But then I remember, it’s just one darn picture.  I am willing to stay the course, do the work and I will get there.  You see, it’s not enough to simply want this to work, you’ve got to do the work.  And there will be crappy days and crappy pictures.  But for every crappy day and crappy picture, there will also be good ones.  Today will be my good day and I am going to do the work.  I am going to continue to do the work until I am satisfied and then I’m going to continue to do the work because I want to stay satisfied.

Everyone takes photographs that they hate.  In fact, most people look at pictures and hate the way they look.  Even famous stars have bad photographs.  We even see them in magazines and on the Internet.  Does that make them less beautiful?  We’ve got to stop being so very hard on ourselves, me included.

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Unintended Consequences

There are large chunks of my life that are missing.  Looking through photographs of my kids growing up, you’ll see me as a young mother proudly smiling holding my kids.  You’ll see my happy little family all together.  Then around the time I returned to the work force full time (1997), there’s one last photograph of us all. I actually have this photograph in a frame in my office.  My kids and husband gave it to me when I returned to work so I wouldn’t “forget them”.  Who knew at that time it wasn’t them I’d forget, but rather myself.

There are not many pictures to be found that include me after that time.  There are lots of my kids, but I am largely absent.  I’m not sure when it started, or why, but my hate of photographs likely started with a perceived bad picture. You know the kind I’m talking about.  The photograph where you look fat, or old, or ugly.  When did I become my mother, grandmother, etc?  At that point I became the taker of all pictures and avoided being in them like the plague.

Isnt it funny, when you look at those old pictures that you hated so much you see them differently now.  Those fat photographs are not so fat after all.  You even find yourself wishing you looked that good now.  While I’m still not a fan of photographs, I’ve come to accept that every single person takes a bad photo, not just me. My daughter and friend validated that realization recently.  One said, the trick to a good selfie is to take like a hundred and pick the best one.  The other said, block tagging on your Facebook page so you can select the photos you wish to share publicly.

Seriously, I am very hard on myself. I look at myself in the mirror and call myself Grandma Schutz.  It’s hard to imagine being in my fifties some days.  Many of us ladies do the same things I do.  We constantly put ourselves down. We try all these diets and fads to recapture our youth.  We do it all for the wrong reasons, mostly to be what we think we need to be for others.

Recently, my daughter bitch slapped me when I vented about lack of progress with my training.  She said, every time you put yourself down you put me down because I look like you.  When I get older I will be you and I will have this stuff in my head.  I don’t need your body issues I’ve got enough of my own.  Ugh!!  Who even though about the impact my ongoing struggles had on her.  I was so busy worrying about myself I didn’t think outside of that.  It really made me take a moment to think about it.  Fast forward a few days, and on Facebook I saw a letter a woman had written to her mother about this very topic.  Yikes.  Talk about unintended consequences of sharing my feelings.

Here I thought I was an awesome role model for my daughter.  I eat healthy and am fighting the good fight to reclaim my health.  I work out daily and live an active life.  I thought I nailed it and my daughter has even begun to practice yoga and take hikes.  She’s in her early twenties and has even started tasting new foods she never would have before.  Heck, that took me until my late forties to do!  But, what I never realized or thought about was the impact of the negative side of this fight on others.  Who knew that by constantly voicing my self deprecation I was leaving an imprint on my daughter, framing her future.

I signed up for a half marathon training plan this week with a coach.  She made me slow down my pace a ridiculous amount to do some heart rate training.  The goal is to build a stronger base. To basically slow down to speed up.   I’ve always been a pusher.  I pushed myself to run, albeit I’m not fast, faster than was comfortable because I wanted to reach a goal I had set.  It didn’t matter that I kept getting hurt, or didn’t feel great doing it.  I fought the coach a bit but listened this week.  I came to realize that it felt great to run that slower pace and after I wasn’t exhausted or sore.  I wondered if life couldn’t feel like that if I stopped chasing some perceived expectations of myself.  Perhaps if I just embraced where I am now, slowed down a bit and just enjoyed the ride I would be a far better role model.

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Lighten Up

I was able to run in my first race last Monday following my long injury induced time off.  It was a hot day for sure and I felt every mile of the four I ran.  I didn’t care though, I was just so happy to be running again.  When I crossed the finish line, I joined my team and promptly said let’s go get a cold beer.  It was ten o’clock in the morning!   My husband looked kind of surprised and said you just ran a race, you don’t need a beer.  Have some water or Gatorade.   This got me thinking of all the double standard, silly things we do and say on our journey to health.  I thought I’d lighten it up this week and attempt to make you chuckle a bit. I bet you’ll even recognize yourself in some of my madness. Maybe you can even add to this short list.

First, look at my cover photo this week.  It reminds me of something I saw on Facebook. It goes something like, what I think I look like running vs. what I really look like.  Ha, how many race photos do we look at and say darn that’s not what I thought I looked like running the course.  This leads us to pose and smile now whenever we see those darn photographers out on the race course.

Then, there’s my dedication to only eating certified organic, non gmo foods. I get so upset at my husband when he shops because he never buys the right food.  One day recently, he came home from a trip to a store with chicken that was on sale.  Beautiful boneless breast packaged so lovely, but much to my horror, not grass fed, hormone free chicken.  I looked at him and stated firmly my intention to never eat that chicken.  I reminded him I only eat grass fed, hormone free chicken and nothing else will do.  He looked at me and asked, were those potato chips you ate at the party last night organic, hormone free chips?  Oh please!  Ruffles are an exception to the rule aren’t they?

What about coffee?   I limit myself to one cup a day and am quite proud of that.  But, do I really need to put in like a quarter cup of French Vanilla creamer?  You bet I do!   Nothing else will do and believe me I’ve tried it all.

Some days I eat so clean it’s impressive.  Nothing processed will ever touch my lips.  I will cook it all from scratch including pizza dough and pasta, gluten free.  But lord that glass of wine, or two must accompany it, right?  Especially if it’s my Friday allowance for the week. Is that a problem?  And, who doesn’t follow up their healthy salad for lunch with a beautiful piece of chocolate?   It’s really ok, isn’ it, especially since I drink green organic tea with it.

In fact, most runners I race with look so forward to the post race treats, beer and maybe a nice breakfast.  It’s a must.  The best race post celebrations aren’t those that include a medal, it’s those that include an ice cold hoppy beer on tap.

Double standards you say?  Maybe.  But at this point of my journey I’ve learned that it’s all about balance and enjoying life.  If that includes a ruffle chip here and there so what (and I mean here and there, not every day or week).  Coffee, wine or pizza will never be removed totally from my life.  I just make sure they are not the staples of my diet as they were in the past.  They are now my guilty pleasure treats that I indulge in once in a while, well daily in coffee’s case.  The point here today is to remind you all to take your life so seriously that you forget to live it.  That will surely be a recipe for failure.  As they say, live, laugh and love.  Then drink some extra water and start again.

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Gimmicks and Quick Fixes

With the arrival of Memorial Day I’ve noticed a barrage of weight loss commercials and ads.  Glossy photographs of skinny, fit people who have supposedly wrapped, shaked or pilled their way healthy.  It’s time to once again prey upon our panic that it’s bathing suit time and we still live in our winter bodies.   Promises to lose ten pounds in five days.  Promises to drop unwanted belly fat without exercise.   It’s really sad how many people fall victim to these promises.  Thousands of dollars are spent each year looking for the magic and thousands of dollars are wasted.

Lucky for me, I’ve only fallen victim to one or two of these gimmicks.  I’m pretty conservative about what I put in my body.  Anything that involves chemicals is out and most of these gimmicks involve some type of chemical you’ll either ingest or put on your body.  What most people don’t get is that these gimmicks and quick fixes will not bring lasting change because they don’t include a lifestyle change.  So, even in the unlikely event you drop the weight, the minute you stop ingesting or wrapping, you will be right back where you started, minus a few dollars.

This year’s fad involves wrapping your body in chemicals to lose inches.  It amazes me how so many people willingly place chemicals on their skin.  Our skin is one of our largest organs.  Creams and rubs placed on it get right into our body’s systems through our pores.  It’s actually the quickest entry to our body.  Why would you willing rub unknown cancer causing agents on your skin rather than change your eating habits or exercise?   Why would you risk your health to lose inches that will be back in a short time?  It makes no sense and I wish people would hit a pause button and really read and research before rubbing anything on their body.  Would you smoke a pack a day if it meant you’d lose an inch in a week?   Likely not.

Other commercials I’ve watched on sleepless mornings involve drinking our way thin. Some of the shakes contain healthy nutrients, so this could be slightly better.  But, the minute you stop drinking shakes and eating the same old food, your weight will go right back up.  Seriously, do you plan to live on shakes forever?  Without food overhaul it won’t be a lasting change.

What about all these juice cleanses.  Drinking juice all day long.  First, our bodies have the ability to detox themselves.  That’s actually the purpose of our liver.  Filling up on sugar found in juice for hours on end is not healthy.  Juice from organic fruit is healthy, yes, but anything in excess places a strain on our body’s digestive system.  We surely do not need gallons of juice in one day or week.  One glass is quite enough for health purposes.

What about HCG drops, or injections to rapidly drop thirty pounds in less than a month.  These pregnancy hormones are another of the latest trends in weight loss. These drops, coupled with a 500 calorie a day diet promise great results.  People, can we think for a minute here.  Do you really need to take drops that mess with your hormones to get results?  Umm, I think if you starve yourself and only eat 500 calories a day you’d lose weight without the drops.  So, what are you gaining here except chemicals messing with hormone balance and unhealthy eating.   Our bodies need way more than 500 calories to sustain themselves.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but someone has to say it, there are NO quick fixes or gimmicks that will give you what you seek.  It takes hard work and discipline to win this battle.  There are no answers to be found outside your heart and brain.  You are in the fight for your life and looking for shortcuts in bottles, wraps or pills will likely cause more harm than good.  At the very least, you’ll be a bit poorer and still unhealthy.  At worst, you’ll find yourself in a real health battle for your life.

Today, I’m asking you to rethink the notion that quick is better.  Resist the pressure from friends to jump on the latest bandwagon.  When someone tells you they dropped all their weight through some quick fix, congratulate them and walk away fast.  Resist temptation to plunk your money down because I guarantee within a short time that person will be right back where they started.  Think about it and I’m sure you already know someone whose been through this cycle.  Read and read some more about anything you are thinking to try.  Don’t just read the site of the product or people that sell it.  Read the research and reviews.  If it’s quick and easy I guarantee it’s built on bull—-.

Join me on the long, slow path to lasting change.  Treat your body like your temple and don’t place chemicals in or on it.  Whenever possible eat organic, healthy whole foods.   Commit to moving 30 minutes per day, drink lots of water and get restful sleep each night.  That’s seriously all you need to do to be healthy.  Nothing more and no chemicals required.

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Food Not Supplements

Have you ever counted the number of supplements you take and thought it excessive? Have you ever wondered if you were wasting your money, or mixing things that shouldn’t be mixed?  I’ve taken as many as 20 pills at once and wondered what my stomach must be going through digesting all that at once.

The supplement market is booming with sales through the roof.  Totally unregulated, these companies can make any promise they want. Most prey upon unsuspecting, many times desperate people.   I am one of those people who has purchased so much stuff on my quest to be healthy.  I have taken enzymes, herbal supplements, hormone replacements, vitamins, shakes and the list goes on.  I have spent a small fortune on this stuff and taken it unquestionably.

I’ve been to several nutritionists and doctors, each with their own list of stuff for me to buy and take.  Each sold me on the magic pill to solve my problems.  It didn’t matter that I was asking them for help in fixing my dietary habits.  It didn’t matter that I said I wanted to get my health on track through food choices.  Each time I was told that wasn’t possible without supplementation.   I even remember going once to JennyCraig and telling them no thanks when I looked at the ingredients in their food. At that time I was already cooking from scratch with whole foods.  They became extremely unsure and defensive when I asked to see the ingredient list for their foods.

When I started to do research about supplements, I became quite disturbed.  I could actually be doing far more harm than good by taking all this stuff.  It was time I faced the thing I was trying to avoid. My food choices were horrible and no amount of supplementation could ever fix that.  There were just way too many pills going into my body and it had to stop.   My first step was to get a true picture of what my body needed, or was lacking.  I went to an anti-aging doctor and had a full battery of tests, including blood, saliva and urine analysis. Then a profile was created to show my levels of vitamins, minerals, cholesterol, hormones, etc.

Through that process, I learned exactly what supplementation, if any my body needed.  I learned that many of the vitamins we take just pass through our bodies without absorption, literally money down the toilet.  I learned most people are Vitamin D deficient and it is a fallacy  to think the sun alone will take care of that.  I learned that you can indeed get what your body needs from food, but it can’t be genetically altered, or hormone laden.

I buy whole food whenever possible. I buy grass fed, hormone free meat. I have eliminated almost all dairy. I do eat hormone free fresh mozzarella.  Not sure I can give that up.  Whenever possible I buy the goat version.  I take Vitamin D (with K2 to insure absorption) and two herbal supplements to support my adrenals which are in late stage adrenal fatigue.  I drink one PowerShake a day (organic full fat coconut milk 8oz, handful of organic (blueberry, blackberry, strawberry whatever I have), half organic banana, tsp vanilla, two ice cubes) and one “green” whole food shake (Purium) made with two scoops of greens mixed with water.   That’s it. All the rest comes from good, clean, delicious food. I cook all my meals and they do not come in cans, bags or jars.

I am sleeping slightly better and when I recheck my levels (every 6 months), I’ve been mostly in good levels.   Vitamin D was hard to get in range and my hormones have had some fluctuations, but otherwise I’m in a good place.  I’m urging you to take inventory of your pills. What are you putting in your body today?   If you are swallowing a ton of pills, it’s time to pause, learn and change.

On the Road Again

After a long eighteen weeks, I got the green light to start running again.  I’m excited and nervous.  I’ve worked hard these past weeks on strength training in preparation for this day, but I am still anxious.   I actually ran an easy mile last weekend just to try it out.  I had no pain during or after the run so that should put my mind at ease.  Of course it doesn’t though because I knew when I ran that easy mile I have a lot of work ahead of me.

I have my first race in just two short weeks.  While it’s only four miles I feel unprepared for it.   I will do it though whether I have to run, walk or crawl.  I know that race will get me back on track for the summer running season.  That victory, no matter how ugly, will remind me why I run in the first place.  Training and healthy lifestyles are lived like that.  Sometimes we run, others we walk, or crawl our way through life.  Sometimes we are highly motivated and others we just want to give up.  When I get to the giving up point, I try to remember why I started and how far I’ve come.

I started this journey because I was sick and tired of feeling lousy.   I was not happy with who I saw in the mirror – my grandmother.  Seriously, when did that happen?  When did I become an older version of myself?   I am also motivated after watching my grandmother and now my mom struggle with Alzheimers.  The more I read about it the more I learned about lifestyle and food choices.   Reflecting on my eating really was a humbling experience.  In my twenties and thirties it hadn’t made a difference, but boy was it catching up to me now.  I hoped and prayed I would never get this disease but I felt I needed to start actively fighting against it.

When I think of how far I’ve come, it makes it easier for me to keep going.  This has been a battle.  Truly I have struggled with injuries, surgery, stress, you know life.  But I made it through with minor ups and losses.  I know how easy it is to regain all that was lost in what seems like a week.   I know how easy it is to fall back on those bad habits.  But I also know how far I’ve come.  I’ve made significant changes to my lifestyle and they are seriously not hard.  To remind yourself of the journey post pictures of yourself in a place you can easily see.  The photos should be of you at the start and various points along the way.  I’ve shared mine online so that’s pretty public.  Also, measure at least once a month and keep a timeline of your measurements.  In those moments check in to the timeline and you will find motivation to keep going.

So, when I’m anxious about getting back to my running routine and my inner voice is telling me it’s been eighteen weeks without it, just give it up, I push back now.   The old me would have just moved on with my new routine as the pounds came back and the food choices worsened.   The new me digs in and gets back out even if it means walking or crawling.  As long as I’m moving, who cares.  When you really want to give up, switch the workout routine.  If running makes me anxious I will go walk.  If you’re losing motivation, you may need a change to freshen it up.  Or, find a friend to drag you out there.

This week I will rework my workout schedule to incorporate my three runs back in.  Remember I shared to always plan your workouts on a calendar, just like you do for work.   Then I’ll reevaluate my menus to be sure I’m using food to fuel my body and runs.  Notice I said fuel my body, not comfort my emotions.  I’ve been eating real clean this week in anticipation.  I followed a Paleo menu this week but did incorporate some sweet potatoes to ensure I’m carb balanced for running.

Join  on this journey to stay accountable and motivated.  Find me on Facebook at :

Reclaiming Health Accountability Group