Tag: Healthy Lifestyle

Finding Balance: My Journey to Mental Wellness

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung

As we moved into 2025, I took a much-needed mental health break from blogging. I focused my energy instead on personal reflection and growth. Coming off a difficult injury recovery, I knew that I wasn’t in a good place and needed that time. I had a micro tear in the arch of my foot, which was not responding to PT. Could it be that I was not going to bounce back this time? Was this part of the aging process? Would I no longer be able to engage in the activities I loved? Would I live in constant pain?

Choosing to step away and focus on my wellness was a hard, but necessary decision. I needed to put myself first and ensure that I didn’t give up on the journey to reclaim my health. I had done that when I gave up running, after my last marathon. This led me to the unhealthiest point in my life – overweight, stressed and depressed.

Healing Plan

In January 2025, I went to my doctor frustrated and in tears. I told him candidly that I needed to find something to help me heal this foot. I told him how hard it was not to be able to engage in the activities I loved. I expressed clearly that it was affecting my mental wellness. I needed a plan of action to heal my foot, because I still had pain with gentle walking.

We discussed alternative treatments that I could try and I settled on dry needling and electric stimulation. By February, after painful dry needling, I was able to walk without a limp. The PT gave me the green light to try gentle yoga classes and see how the foot felt. I then added a beginner Barre class, which offered great stretching of the foot. By late February, I walked back on the pickleball court for the first time in months.

Self-Reflection

During the months I was struggling, I engaged in a lot of self-reflection and journaling. Self-reflection can help you get unstuck by giving you a clearer understanding of what’s holding you back. By examining your thoughts and feelings, you can identify patterns or fears that are keeping you from moving forward. It helps you recognize your strengths and areas where you might need improvement. By understanding these aspects, you can set realistic goals and take action to achieve them.

Reflecting on my history, I realized that my identity was strongly tied to my ability to engage in sports. When that was removed, I tended to give up on living a healthy lifestyle. It also affected my mental wellness and confidence. Therefore, my motivation was coming from external sources, not intrinsic sources.

I believed my pursuit of wellness was driven by my commitment to health, but discovered it was fueled by my need to compete. Therefore, rooted under all that was my need to be valued. This understanding has helped me set healthier sports goals as I move forward. It’s definitely a work in progress, but I am making better choices when planning my fitness goals these days.

Begin Your Self-Reflection Journey

As in my case, starting a self-reflection journey can be transformative. Here are three tools that helped me, and can help you, to get started on your journey.

1. Set Aside Regular Time: Dedicate a specific time each day or week for self-reflection. Choose a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted, allowing yourself the space to think clearly and deeply about your experiences and feelings.

This was hard for me, but early morning seems to work best. I need to have the house alone to truly have space to self-reflect without distraction.

2. Start a Reflection Journal: Write down your thoughts, experiences, and emotions in a journal. Reflect on what happened, how you felt, and what you learned from your experiences. This process not only helps in organizing your thoughts but also provides a reference for observing patterns over time.

I purchased journals in bulk to always have on hand. I used a separate journal for self-reflection.

3. Ask Yourself Reflective Questions: Use guiding questions to delve deeper into your thoughts and actions. Questions like “What did I learn today?”, “What am I grateful for?”, or “What could I have done differently?” can help you explore different aspects of your experiences and gain new insights.

In my case, I asked, “When have I felt like this before?”, “What could I have done differently?”.

Reflections on My Journey to Heal

Reflecting on my journey through injury and self-discovery, I’ve come to appreciate the impact of self-reflection on my personal growth. By taking a step back, I’ve set myself on a path toward a more balanced and fulfilling lifestyle. While the journey is ongoing, I am empowered by the self-awareness I’ve gained, which will guide my wellness journey.

Whether you’re facing similar challenges, or starting self-reflection, every step moves you toward a healthier self. Please share your experiences in the comment section to inspire and connect with us all. As always, feel free to reach out to me directly at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog.

Understanding the Injury Recovery Cycle: A Personal Journey

I’ve been taking a much needed mental health break these past few weeks, enjoying some down time. I received some bad news from the doctor regarding my injury recovery just prior to Thanksgiving. Hearing the words, degenerative damage, really sent me spiraling. I had been trying to hold on and push through, so hearing those words felt like a gut punch. Ironically, as bad as it was to hear, it was what I needed to move forward.

I’ve really been in a rut this last month. As my recovery time wore on, I became quite frustrated and deflated. I spent a lot of time trying to kick start my motivation and couldn’t quite get anything going. Having been through this before, I recognized that my mental wellness was suffering. While quite common during injury recovery, that should not be underestimated.

My thoughts recently have centered around injury recovery time and mental wellness of athletes. I am not a high level athlete, but I have always enjoyed participating in sporting events and working out. I thrive when I train and engage in these events, physically and mentally. I think it is the structure of training that fuels me. I love to workout for a purpose – i.e., to run longer distances, or run a distance in a shorter time. I strive to lift a heavier weight or to add a set to the lift. Knowing the end goal really pushes me to do the work.

Recently, I had been focused on my performance in pickleball. I’ve been working out at the gym to improve my performance, as well as drilling and playing games. I made steady progress and was truly enjoying the sport. It felt great to be part of the pickleball community. When the injury occurred, I assumed it would be a quick recovery. As the time passed and I still experienced pain, I began to try to navigate my way through.

I’ve come to understand that there is a cycle many athletes go through when recovering from injury. It doesn’t matter what level you are, though I imagine it’s far worse when you are an elite athlete. What matters is that, much grief, there are stages you move through as you work toward recovery. The mental aspect of this process is what I have been focusing on.

I have a competitive personality. I thrive when I am striving to accomplish a goal. I love to figure things out and especially love the learning process of it all. When I was a runner, I wanted to learn everything I could to make me a better runner. Same, in my professional life. I was always striving to learn and grow. My personal identity was strongly tied to my ability to run the distance, or improve my school. With an athlete mindset, I dealt with life through my sport, it is part of who I was. I was a runner, I was a Principal, I was an athlete.

The athletic part of my life became a strong coping mechanism for me, both growing up and as an adult. What a fabulous stress reliever to go out early in the morning for a long run, or workout. I started most of my days with an early morning gym session, run or walk. Therefore, when I get injured, it can feel like a personal threat to my identity. Suddenly, it feels like my life is altered and my routines disrupted. The morning athletic time is no longer an option, leaving me feeling isolated and sad.

I want to share my journey through this injury cycle. I hope it helps anyone else dealing with a similar situation.

Stages of Injury Cycle

Much like grief, there is a cycle people can experience when they experience an injury. Those, like me, who engage in training outside of professional sports, are no exception. The cycles do not necessarily follow a linear order. Instead, we go through them in response to our personal experiences. Here are the stages and my response to each.

1. Denial

The day I sustained the injury, I knew it wasn’t good. But, I thought if I stretched, I would be fine. When stretching did not help, I knew enough to leave the court. I went home and iced my foot, followed by compression and elevation. I thought for sure I’d be fine in the morning. I planned to take the next day off and expected to be ready to play by Saturday. I truly didn’t think it was anything serious. Honestly, I still haven’t canceled my playing commitments. I’m still going week by week, hoping to be back on the court. Denial of the injury is quite common and considered the first step in the recovery process.

2. Anger

As the days went on and turned into weeks, I started to get frustrated. I could barely walk to the corner without feeling pain. I didn’t understand why the pain wasn’t getting better and refused to stop trying to walk. Each day I got angrier about this inconvenience. I was angry at myself for not doing a proper warmup before playing and blamed myself for the injury. I was angry at my body for failing me. I was angry that I was missing so much playing time.

3. Bargaining

At this point, I was desperate to be done with the injury. I decided to rest for a few days and see if that improved my recovery. It was as if I said to my body, I’ll give you a week of rest, then will you heal? I remember thinking I just need to stop exercising entirely. I’ll recover quickly and it’ll be worth it. When that didn’t work out, I’ll admit I was back to anger. That’s what I say the cycles are not experienced in a linear fashion. When my bargain failed, I was right back to being angry. I was thinking, I gave you what you wanted, why are you not doing your part. It is quite frustrating!

4. Depression

Right before Thanksgiving I felt like I was at my lowest. It have been 8 weeks and I still wasn’t feeling better. Every day I had pain and I was ready to just give up. I remember hobbling in to the doctor’s office that morning and telling him I needed help. I shared with him everything I had done to improve and that nothing was working. I said there must be something he could recommend. I was on the verge of tears and said, soon I’ll be chubby and depressed. I will admit he was very patient with me and truly explained things to me. That is when degenerative issues came up. My feet have logged a lot of running miles. Many years of long distance running and training were not kind to my body.

5. Acceptance

This was the lowest point of my journey. I also think it was the moment that slapped sense into me. It felt like there was a moment of clarity for me here. I understood better the timeline and the reality of my injury. I also understood that it was not my fault entirely and I had done nothing wrong. As I drove home from the doctor’s office, I was extremely upset. When I got home, I got my gym bag packed and headed to the gym.

I decided that day, that I had to do something different. I was going down a slippery slope and needed to find something that wouldn’t cause pain. That day, I did something I’d been resisting. I put on my swim suit and got back in the pool to swim laps. I knew that meant I accepted my injury for what it was. I also knew that I still needed something athletic to engage in to improve my mental wellness. Swimming is something I’d done in the past when recovering from tendon repair surgery. I can’t say I love it, but it is very therapeutic and a great workout too.

Next Steps

I am two weeks past the news that this injury is way more than I anticipated. I have created a new schedule for my workouts. I have been able to lift weights throughout the injury, just modifying for anything that puts pressure on the foot. I’ve now added one mile lap swims two days a week. I also tried a Barre class locally and was able to do the class without pain.

My new routine has been so helpful for my mental wellness. I am focused on my recovery and finding ways to engage in movement is an essential component for me. I am now working out again, six days a week with one full day of rest. I started dry needling at the doctor’s recommendation. It is a bit painful, but I do feel it is helping.

My best advice is to find solace in setting new goals and focusing on other areas of your life. Injury recovery is tough, especially when you are used to being highly active. It is hard to accept that you are not able to just push through. Take that energy and use it to fuel your recovery. For me, setting new goals and focusing on other ways to move has been a lifeline.

I would be very interested to hear about your journey with injury. What have you found helped you the most? Please share in the comment section below, via email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, or on Instagram.

The Power of Gratitude in Healing

As I continue to recover from an injury, I’m working hard to maintain a positive mindset. It’s so easy to feel sorry for myself and believe me I do some days. The truth is, it is hard! Today, I reminded myself that an attitude of gratitude can create spaces of light. Today, I gave myself time to rest and reflect on all I am grateful for. Today, I am resharing the first of a two part blog series I wrote on this topic last November.

Discover the transformative power of gratitude! It’s so easy to overlook the small blessings that can lead to happiness and success. In this blog post, I shared how an attitude of gratitude created space for happiness after a difficult time. Click to read the post and learn how a simple shift in perspective created space for positive changes! A reminder I needed today!

Dhanya Vad: I Feel Gratitude

The Compound Effect

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
― Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

As the fall weather is upon us, I am cleaning closets and thinking of the approaching winter season. Fall is my favorite time of the year. I start to organize and purge what not longer fits, including more than just clothing. Life is always about evolving and growing as we go and fall is the perfect time to slow down and reflect. In that manner, I have decided this week’s post will be a repost of one of my most popular blogs from this year. In this post, I speak about the importance of consistency and holding firm to my journey as I move through the winter season. Let’s all use the fall to prepare for the winter ahead. Much like the squirrels gathering their food for the winter, I believe we need to gather our motivation for the days ahead. I hope you enjoy the reread of this much loved post.

I first read Darren Hardy’s book many years ago as a new school leader. The Compound Effect outlined, is the strategy of being consistent with smart, tiny choices over time that will produce significant results. As I read the book I was focused on leadership, yet in the back of my mind I kept connecting back to my health journey. The concept is that smaller steps over a long period of time will have a greater, more beneficial and successful effect on your life than bigger steps in a shorter period of time (that most people will not stick to). Today as I view the predictable dwindling off of the New Year’s resolutionists at the gym I am reminded of this concept.

For many years, I was that person. The one who gets all pumped up for the reclaiming health journey. Those who have followed me over time know that every spring I have a rebirth and start over. Then, every winter I slowly fade away and fall backwards. This year has been different, albeit not easier. The temptation to fall back has reared its head repeatedly, especially on these 18 degree days. Using the concept of the compounding effect, I know that consistency is the key to achieving and maintaining momentum. I have held tight to that concept on my darkest of days this winter and continued with the small, simple habits and daily routines that will add up to a healthier life. My goal this year was to make it through the winter with habits in tact and see where I am come spring. As we are nearing February, I am very hopeful that this year will be different for me. 

Consistency is not easy if you make your habits too lofty, the key is to keep things simple and doable. When I selected daily habits, I’d say I even set the bar lower than I knew I could accomplish this winter. This helped me through the harder days and gave me added bonus boosts when I achieved more and kept me motivated. We all know success fosters motivation and failure often motivates quitting. For my movement goal, I merely set a minimum of a 30 minute walk in nature goal for every day of the week. This goal has been the easiest one to maintain, rain or shine. Setting a doable goal like this sets you up for success and avoids repeated failure that can serve to make you feel like a failure and give up. Obviously, it’s not my only fitness goal, but it’s the one I will never skip. Walking and being in nature cannot be undervalued on any health journey.

Another doable goal I set was to improve my nutrition through simple choices for my meals. I made a commitment to have a healthy breakfast every day. To make it easier, I decided to to a morning smoothie with protein and healthy nutrients, using simple recipes found in Joyfull, by Radi Devlukia. This sets me up for my morning workout and keeps me full until lunch. There are so many great smoothie recipes, but if that feels overwhelming just use a high quality protein powder shake, such as this one from Complement. I like the chocolate flavor when drinking plain and unflavored when using with the recipes from Joyfull. I have been super consistent with this goal as well. No cooking required for this breakfast and the variety of smoothies is endless. For lunch, I generally eat the main meal of the day to allow more time for digestion. I eat a whole food plant based diet consisting of protein, legumes, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This also is very easy to do as salads are super easy to put together. 

On this cold winter day, I remind you that it’s not about perfection. It’s about the effort we put in and more importantly, the consistency we apply to our health journeys. Approach every day with a clean slate. If you ate too much yesterday (me eating pizza during the football playoffs), it’s all good, just return to your daily routine today. You slept in and didn’t do your gym workout this morning, get up do your 30 minute walk and return to the gym on your next scheduled day. Perhaps your body needed the rest. What we can’t do is give up and stop. Just keep to your routines as best you can and watch the compound effect unfold. 

If you have any questions or comments, please do reach out. I love getting emails at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog about your journey. Take a photo of nature from your 30 minute walk and tag me on Instagram at reclaiminghealthblog with #30minutesinnature . Let’s do this together, motivate each other and reach spring feeling healthier. It is only two months away!

Reclaiming Health: How Alzheimer’s Shaped My Wellness Journey

Your mother is always with you…
She’s the whisper of the leaves
as you walk down the street.
She’s the cool hand on your brow
when you’re not well.
Your mother lives inside your laughter.
She’s crystallized in every tear drop.
She’s the place you came from,
your first home…
She’s the map you follow
with every step that you take.
She’s your first love
and your first heart break…
and nothing on earth can separate you.
Not time, Not space
Not even death
will ever separate you
from your mother
You carry her inside of you

-Deborah Culver

I have many new followers and subscribers and thought it was a good time to introduce Reclaiming Health Blog. This is not a money making blog, rather it is a labor of love. I find it very therapeutic to write and document my wellness journey. The road traveled is not always easy, as long time readers know, but the will is strong. I’m thankful to those who are here and would love to hear about they why behind your wellness journey.

In this post, I will discuss my why. We all arrive to the wellness journey at different points in our lives. My why was cultivated as I slowly lost my mother on her Alzheimer’s journey. I made a vow then that I would do anything I could to not have my children take that same walk with me. I’m on a mission to reclaim my health, hence the title of the blog. ReclaimingHealthBlog.com, is a space in which I share my journey with others. It allows me to interact with others and also hold myself accountable to the work, but how did I get here?

When I had my last running injury, my mother was well into her Alzheimer’s journey. I sustained a torn tendon that required surgery. Following surgery, I was on crutches and unable to walk. I remember being in a lot of pain as well. My dad brought my mom out to my house to visit me as I couldn’t drive to them. I remember trying to get up to get something and feeling pain. My mother, who was mostly nonverbal at this point, suddenly jumped up from the couch and said, “Can I help you?” It was such a profound moment with her and reassured me that her love was still strong, despite this cruel and heartless disease.

The day I went into the hospital for surgery, I remember sobbing and saying this was the first time in my life that my mother wouldn’t be able to comfort me. I felt her loss so deeply. Alzheimer’s is one of the hardest journeys to witness, and sadly I’ve witnessed it twice. As a young newly married mother, I watched my grandmother fade away. Then, a mere 30 years later I was watching the same happen with my mother. It was at that point, I began to realize I could be next.

This realization has been the driving force behind this blog and my health journey. I have read, studied and learned that there are ways I can possibly reduce my risk for getting Alzheimer’s. I’ve learned that what I once thought was a disease of pure genetics, can actually be delayed or avoided through lifestyle changes. If there is even a small chance I can avoid this fate, why wouldn’t I try? What have I got to lose?

Watching my mother leave was very painful for our family. She was an amazing mother, wife and friend. When one progresses through this disease, they lose their memories and then their voice. My mother was physically there, but she was gone at the same time. She didn’t recognize any of us and couldn’t communicate. I didn’t get to hear her voice for her last 5 years with us. Truly this was a long goodbye.

When I sat at the care center with my family during those last years, I often left sobbing. It was so sad to see so many people living with Alzheimer’s. It was then that I began reading, researching and learning everything I could about this disease. I made a vow to my mother and myself that I would do whatever I could to live a brain healthy lifestyle.

Sadly, my story is not unique. In the United States, an estimated 500,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s disease are diagnosed each year. In fact, Alzheimer’s is the fifth-leading cause of death among Americans age 65 and older. In 2023, an estimated 6.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. These statistics are staggering. In my family alone, we lost my grandmother, mother and father in law to Alzheimer’s.

After attending the 2024 Food Revolution Docuseries, I realized there was hope.It was the first time I heard talk about prevention, and that that should be more of the focus. I’d long been following work done to find a cure and each time a trial failed, I’d feel helpless. Hearing that lifestyle and nutritional changes can have an impact, gave me renewed hope. This learning has fueled me to live better and share my experience through this blog.

I do not have all the answers and I am not a doctor. I know what resonates with me and am trying my best to continue to learn and grow. I believe the research that says nutrition and lifestyle can prevent Alzheimer’s in some cases. I am hopeful that I am one of those cases. I plan to continue to attend seminars and take courses to learn more about brain health.

I’ve written blog posts that share my learning and specific actions taken, and will continue to do so. Generally, I post one blog per week.

Posts I’ve Written About My Brain Health Journey:

Fork Power

Longevity and Brain Health: Lessons from My 93-Year-Old Father

The China Study: Reducing Health Risks with a Plant-Based Diet

IRAH: Individual Retirement Account for Health – A Personal Transformation Journey

My Mother’s Story:

I wrote this post just after my mother died. It’s a very personal piece.

The Notebook

Resources to Learn About Brain Health:

I took a course recently with  Dr. Dean and Dr. Ayesha Sherzai, co-directors of the Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Health. Through their research, they have found that lifestyle choices can have a long-term impact on brain health.  You can read more about the work being done at Loma Linda Memory Center at the links below:

https://lluh.org/neurology/our-services/memory-center

https://news.llu.edu/health-wellness/fight-against-alzheimers

I’ve also taken courses and attended the 2024 Food Revolution docuseries. You can visit their site at the link below:

https://foodrevolution.org/

Next Steps:

My next steps are always evolving as I learn and grow. I plan to continue on my whole food plant based journey and definitely notice improvement in how I feel. I am working with a Registered Dietitian who specializes in plant based lifestyles, to ensure that I get the right nutritional balance in my meals. I continue to follow up with blood work periodically and am due to have testing done this month. I also continue to spend as much time as I can with my children making beautiful memories, which I plan to keep.

If you are on a similar path, or have information to share on this topic, please reach out to me in the comment section below. I look forward to hearing from you and continuing this journey to wellness together.

Unlock Your Wellness Goals with Effective Scheduling

 “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” –Tony Robbins

This week, I walked into a yoga class feeling like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz. I had a tough weight lifting session on Sunday, and boy was I feeling it. I had trouble putting on my socks for the class, that’s how stiff I was. When I started the class, I couldn’t sit comfortably and wondered how it had gotten this bad. Then it hit me, that I couldn’t remember the last time I took this class. Thankfully, my yoga teacher knew exactly what was needed and when I walked out of class an hour later, I felt much better.

Yoga is an important component in my wellness program. I have tight muscles and need to work to lengthen them. The deep and intentional stretching I gain from yoga has improved my flexibility and helped prevent injuries. Additionally, yoga keeps me grounded and focused on my emotional wellness. Whenever I don’t engage in regular practice, I notice a huge difference in how my body feels.

Later in the day, I was still thinking about this and couldn’t come up with any reason why I neglected to do my stretching. It was simply poor time management and veering from my schedule that caused me to miss yoga. Coming out of August, following my daughter’s wedding, I had COVID. This derailed me for a few weeks and getting out of my routines seemed to have lasting implications.

I bet so many of you can relate to this experience and have found yourself wondering why there never seems to be enough time in your schedule. We all lead busy lives and time seems to get away from us. Clearly, I hadn’t managed my time well these past two weeks. But, there is always learning found in these bumps in the road and now I’m highly motivated to focus on time management.

After reflecting on my time use, I noticed an increase in my screen time usage. I need to reevaluate this and move back to a more structured planning approach. I’ve decided to use the following strategies to renew my focus on my wellness:

Calendar:

The calendar will me the main tool I used to schedule and track my fitness goals. I will use the calendar in my phone, as it is always with me. I will schedule all training sessions, as well as personal appointments on the same calendar. When I wake each morning, I will check the calendar, prior to going out for my long walk. This will put the days events front and center in my mind.

Routines:

The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. Doing the same things on the same day, or in the same order, sets you up for success. Daily habits played an important role in my professional success. They will also play an important role in achieving my wellness goals.

My current wellness routines include, daily long walks each morning and assigning days of the week to specific activities. This repetitive use of time helps the activities become habitual.

Less is More:

I am an overdoer by nature. This causes me to become fatigued and has led to sport injuries in the past. Scheduling on the calendar, will help me to visually see how much I am doing each week. It will help me avoid overdoing and ensure I have ample recovery and rest periods each week.

Give Yourself Grace:

Missing a workout session happens, but when it becomes a pattern it can derail you. I can use the calendar I create to reflect on my daily progress, ensuring I’ve accomplished my daily and weekly goals. Based on this, I can make further adjustments as necessary and give myself grace for the things that come up. It’s always about progress, not perfection, but tracking and measuring can help with my focus.

Set Goals:

What gets measured, gets improved. Goals are the anchor to our wellness journey. If you’d like to join me on this wellness journey, I recommend you start by thinking about your personal wellness goals. If you haven’t already done so, consider doing the following:

  • Set a goal for your long term wellness. Ask yourself, What is my primary goal for long term wellness? What can I do right now to support that goal?
  • List what you currently do for fitness. From that list pick two primary fitness activities that best support your long term wellness goal right now. Those are the two you will schedule onto the calendar first.
  • Check your calendar for available time slots. Start building your calendar around your two main activities.

In Conclusion:

Time management can certainly feel like a juggling act, especially when we lead such busy lives. Creating a routine and schedule can alleviate some of the stress you may be feeling. It an also keep you focused on your wellness goals. Without this focus, it is far too easy to let things slide.

I implore you to prioritize your health when scheduling your week. Be as creative as you can and look for those pockets of time. For me, it was the hours I spent looking mindlessly at the phone. I used to start my day sipping coffee in bed, watching the news and sipping coffee. I’d scroll the internet and enjoy the quiet. But, that was two to three hours a day. It’s perfectly alright to sip coffee in bed, but across my week that was fourteen hours of time I was using.

I now rise, dress, walk for an hour, then come home and sip coffee. Getting up earlier can definitely give you some nice quiet opportunities for fitness. Be creative as you look at your week with new eyes. I know you can find some time slots to use toward your wellness. Your future self will certainly thank you!

Drop me a comment in the section below and tell me what you plan to do to find time for your wellness goals. I look forward to reading your ideas, so please do share.

Transform Your Diet: Embrace Whole Food Variety

“Eating healthy food fills your body with energy and nutrients. Imagine your cells smiling back at you and saying: ‘Thank you!’” – Karen Salmansohn

Imagine eating a peanut butter sandwich every day for lunch. That is exactly what I did for years. Honestly, it didn’t bother me because I enjoy them and they’re easy. How many of us eat the same food on repeat? I know I did and never gave it a thought. Learning how important variety in food choices are to my wellness has opened my mind to trying new things.

I’ve learned it’s important to eat a variety of foods as part of my whole food plant based lifestyle. Recently, I heard that you should try to eat 30 different whole foods across your week. I am, however, a creature of routine and habit, especially when it comes to food selection. The thought of having that much variety in my week did give me something to reflect upon. Initially, when thinking about increasing variety in my diet, I focused on using it to push me out of my comfort zone. I tend to eat the same few foods repeatedly. Now I know, that eating a variety of foods is more important to my wellness than I once thought. With this knowledge, I am now planning my meals with far more variety than before. It’s a work in progress for sure, as old habits die hard.

My Food Struggles

I was raised in the 1960s and raised in a family where dinner consisted of meat, starch and one vegetable. At some point, the popularity of convenience foods caused some changes to our daily menu. Vegetables readily available in cans were now seen as the better option due to their shelf lives. My mother’s favorite vegetable was the french cut string beans and they must’ve often been on sale because we ate them often. Just thinking about them still makes me gag.

It was during these years that I developed my strong aversion to eating vegetables. I wouldn’t eat them, other than corn, for decades after I left home. I wouldn’t even try them. In truth, I only started eating broccoli and nothing more until this year when I transitioned over to a plant based lifestyle. Imagine, a vegetable hater is now living a plant based lifestyle. Most people who know me chuckle over that.

My Food Transition:

In January, I took a six week course on living a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. As I learned about its connection to brain health, I knew I would make this transition. I was unsure how and what I would eat, but thankfully there were many resources out there to help me. I found ample recipes to try, especially on Forks Over Knives. The trouble was I was avoiding most recipes that didn’t call for broccoli.

You see, when I first transitioned to a plant based lifestyle, I liked broccoli, spinach and corn. I also would eat salad. I assumed it didn’t matter that I ate the same thing every day, as long as I ate vegetables and fruit. I made broccoli every day and put spinach in my smoothie each morning and had a salad for dinner. As I continued learning, however, I realized how critical it was to eat a variety of foods, especially when eating plant based. This may seem like basic knowledge to you, but it was life changing for me.

Variety of Foods:

I’ve spent the last nine months learning about this lifestyle I’ve chosen. I’ve heard many criticisms of it, with the top being difficulty getting the proper nutrients. This criticism can be true, if you are not careful which is why I continue to learn, study and monitor my health markers. One aspect that is critical is to ensure you eat a variety of foods. This is critical in any lifestyle, but even more so in a plant based one. Different foods provide different nutrients, so eating a variety of foods can ensure that you get the proper nutrients.  Many plant-based protein sources lack one or more essential amino acids, so eating a variety of plant-based proteins throughout the day also helps ensure you get enough of all the essential amino acids. 

When planning for meals across the week, it is essential to focus on both variety and the nutrients your food will provide. This can sound like a daunting task, but there are many resources you can use to help guide you. One resource I found very enlightening was My Fitness Pal. I use the paid version of this app and kept a food log on it for months. Keeping a food log on this app helped me see the nutritional breakdown of my food. It was there that I began to notice what nutrients come from each food variety.

Using this food log, I noticed I had a lot of overlap for some nutrients and gaps in others. Nutrients I was supplementing for were revealed to be at extremely high levels just from the food I was eating. This meant I was both wasting money on them and potentially causing harm to my health. I highly recommend using something like this app to get you started. This awareness led me to seek out further guidance with a Registered Dietitian who specializes in Plant Based Nutrition. If that is not an option for you, I highly recommend you work with your health provider to monitor your nutrition levels through blood work.

Like everything else, I suggest you start with small changes to your eating habits to gradually increase the variety of foods you are eating. There are so many foods to choose from, but just try to add one new food in each week. Here is a great list of nutrients found in vegetables.

59 Different Types of Vegetables and Their Nutrition Profile

Tips to Increase Variety :

  • Eat the rainbow, and try to include at least three different colors of foods on your plate. 
  • Swap out your side dishes. Here’s a great list to choose from – 57 Vegan Side Dishes
  • Try recipes from different countries. I now eat Indian, Asian and Thai cuisine often, something I never would have tried in the past.
  • Choose one new vegetable a week to try. There are so many recipes online to try. I started with Forks Over Knives which has many recipes.
  • Try new ways to cook vegetables each week, such as air fry, roasting, grill, stir fry, etc.
  • Experiment with less-common grains. Here’s a great list to choose from – 17 Grains You Never Heard of

Next Steps:

As I transition to increasing the variety of food I eat, I am keeping things simple. Each week, I purchase at least one new vegetable to try. I am planning my menu for the week to include new recipes and one new food item. Once I increase my vegetable options it will be easier to plan meals. This week I made a chili recipe into which I was able to add a few vegetables. Traditionally, I find soups and chili recipes are the easiest way for me to sneak vegetables in. I also purchased a copper roasting pan to roast vegetables. I absolutely love this pan and use it often. The pan also has a basket which allows for good air flow and since I rarely use oil it prevent sticking. I highly recommend this pan – Copper Roasting Pan.

Here are a few articles you can read to get more information on this topic:

4 Exciting Reasons to Rotate Your Food

What is a Plant Based Diet and Why Should You Try It

The Importance of Variety in Your Diet

I hope you’ll take some time this week to reflect on your food selections. Are you eating the same things over and over, like I was? If you are, start to think about the importance of eating a variety of foods across your week. I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on this topic. Are you a creature of habit like I was, or a food explorer? Please feel free to reach out to me via email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram or Facebook, or in the comment section below.

Consider answering one of these questions in the comment section below –

What did you notice about the variety in your food selections?

How will you increase the variety of foods, especially vegetables, that you eat? Please do share.

The Impact of Giving Up Running on My Health Journey: A Reflective Journey

“Movement will give you access to joy that will dramatically improve the quality of your life.” – Kelly McGonigal

I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on my current health journey. I feel like I’ve learned so much about myself through this reflection. It’s no secret that this last journey has been by far my hardest. There were many causes that led me to my lowest point, I can not just name one. It was like the perfect storm, a particularly bad or critical state of affairs, arising from a number of negative and unpredictable factors. In isolation, each event that happened was life changing. In combination, they served to wreak havoc on my mental and physical health.

The past four years have been some of the hardest in my life, but as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I am finally in a space where I can reflect on all I’ve learned through my experience. To share, my perfect storm consisted of the following events coming together, 1) physical injury that caused me to give up running; 2) COVID pandemic; 3) death of my mother.

I’d like to reflect today on the impact giving up running had on my overall wellness, as I believe it was deeper than I ever imagined.

Physical Injury

I was always a runner. I was up and out early mornings with my father as we ran around the neighborhood park. The loop was 1 1/3 miles and we did 3 loops to start our day. Later, I ran track in school and found I wasn’t good at the short, fast events, but I could run long distance. I’ve run 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon races. Running was a great sport for me, as I loved the time spent outside in nature. It truly is meditative.

During 2017 and 2018, I was training for the NYC Marathon. Both years, I did not make it to the starting line as I sustained a femoral stress fracture up near the hip joint. This injury required 12-16 weeks non weight bearing, followed by physical therapy. In 2018, I also sustained three broken toes. My body was definitely telling me it was time to cut back on running, but I had always wanted to run the NYC Marathon.

In 2019, I knew I wouldn’t be able to cover the training distance needed to get to the starting line, but was determined to get there. I used a different approach that year, cutting back on training run distance and working more on my functional strength, stamina and cardio. I signed up for CrossFit and used that as my main method of training, coupled with shorter runs, no more that 10 miles. That year, I was able to complete my goal and finish the NYC Marathon.

As excited and proud as I am about that goal, I know that I sacrificed my body to achieve it. I finished this race with another femoral stress fracture and this one seemed by far to be the most painful. I was back on crutches and back to the healing process. I knew that would be my last race and promised my family I would give up long runs. What I didn’t realize was how hard it would be to give up running and what role running played in my health journey.

Mental Wellness

When I returned to work, following the marathon, I was back on crutches. I was mad at my body and mad at myself for doing this to myself again. I truly felt that my body had failed me and didn’t understand why. Knowing my training and running days were over, I seemed to have less interest in recovery or maintaining my fitness levels. I had what I describe as a pity party and ate anything I wanted regardless of the fact that I wasn’t moving at all.

Going through COVID shutdowns and the death of my mother a few months later, I had no motivation to heal or do anything. If I couldn’t run, I didn’t want to do anything. I gained so much weight during this time and looked like a different person. When I look back now at the photographs, I don’t even recognize myself.

I didn’t understand that movement, not just running, had played a pivotal role on my wellness and its absence would have a profound impact on me.

Movement

I now realize the role movement played in my life beyond just running races. Movement was critical to my overall wellness, both mentally and physically. If I look back, I was running 4 miles most mornings with my dad around the park before the sun was up. Training for long races, required me to do long distances before work, meaning I was up and running most mornings before the sun was up. I’ve seen so many sun rises out on the road and never realized how important seeing them was to my overall mental health.

When I knew I wouldn’t be running anymore, I gave all that up without realizing it was the glue that held me together. Post-marathon depression may not be a clinical diagnosis, but it’s real. To put it into context, when you accomplish any goal that you worked toward for years, it’s only normal that a letdown occurs when it’s over. Add to this the knowledge that it was your last running event and you can see how deep the loss is.

When I finally pushed myself to get back out there, I was walking. It was different for sure, both in distance covered and effort, but it felt good to lace up my shoes. I like to say walking saved me. I wish I had known just how important movement was to my health. I never acknowledged that, just saw it as training or a work out session.

I’ve learned that, movement is vital for overall wellness as it significantly improves both physical and mental health by reducing the risk of disease, boosting mood, managing stress, and improving cognitive function. Essentially, it contributes to a better quality of life across various aspects of health. My journey can attest to these facts. When I stopped moving, my health declined both physically and mentally. In its absence, I was not well. When I started moving again, my wellness both mentally and physically improved.

Movement can take many forms, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.  Movement can include things like, walking your dog, mowing the lawn, sweeping or raking leaves, working out at the gym, swimming, playing pickleball, taking a yoga class. Honestly, the possibilities are endless. The more time we spend moving and not sitting the better we will feel.

Movement in My Day

  1. Walking – I walk outside twice a day, once when I first get out of bed, before the sun rise and once in the afternoon. I do this regardless of the weather, but do have access to a treadmill should I need to stay indoors.
  2. Pickleball – I play pickleball almost every day, either drills or competitive games.
  3. Weight Training – I am currently lifting twice a week, but will be adding in a third session soon.
  4. Yoga – I try to grab a yoga class whenever I have time.

Possible Movement at Work

  1. Walking – Walk around the block after you park your car before entering the building. Walk at lunch.
  2. Walking pad – They now sell walking pads that you can place under your desk to allow you to get your steps in. I haven’t used one to recommend, but here is a an option that looks portable enough – Walking Pad Compact Size
  3. 1 minute Exercise sessions – Set your timer for 60 minutes. When the timer goes off take a short walk, or do some air squats, or wall push ups in your office. Just get up out of the chair.

Conclusion

I find being outdoors walking in the early morning, before sunrise, to be magical. It’s so quiet and still out there and it’s truly unlike any other time of the day. I’ve been starting my day like this for over 50 years now and didn’t realize how critical it was to my health, until I stopped doing it. I am so thankful to be back out there and know that it’s helped heal me. I hope you find time to experience that time of stillness and beauty in your health regime. There are many proven benefits you will get, mentally and physically. For further reading, consider this article:

6 Proven Scientific Benefits of Walks at Sunrise or Sunset

I’d love to hear about your journey. What has helped you along the way? What roadblocks are you facing? Feel free to reach out to me at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram or Facebook, or in the comment section below.

Prioritizing Health: A Personal Journey to Wellness and Balance

“Your health account, your bank account, they’re the same thing. The more you put in, the more you can take out.”– Jack LaLanne

I’d like to follow up on last week’s blog, in which I discussed staying true to my personal wellness choices (Staying True to Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle: A Reflection). I’ve been reflecting all week on why this time, unlike others, I felt strong enough to stand firm in my decision. I believe I’m stronger now because I have a clear vision for what my balanced lifestyle entails. A balanced lifestyle is a way of living that aims to improve our wellness in all aspects of life, including: relationships, fitness, health, and emotional happiness. 

A Balanced Lifestyle Includes:

Sleep

Getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night is an important pillar in my life. Sleep can have so many implications on health, both negative and positive. I’ve struggled with sleep over the years and made it one of my first goals when I began this journey. Forming stronger sleep routines has truly changed my life. You can read more about the work I’ve done to improve my sleep in these two posts – Sleep Your Secret Weapon, Sweet Dreams. At the moment, I’ve been hitting my 8 hour sleep goal, but this is an area I still focus on.

Stress Reduction

Stress reduction is another key pillar. Stress without doubt wreaked havoc on my health. It was so bad that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back to a healthy lifestyle. I was overweight, not sleeping, and most likely depressed. This was the lowest point of my health journey and I knew the only way to heal was to reduce my stress. I knew I not continue in my current situation.

COVID really changed the world and I was not exempt from that. A high stress job, coupled with personal events, created massive amounts of stress in my life. In 2023, three and a half years out from the onset of COVID shutdowns, I decided to walk away from the career I loved and devote my time and energy to my health. I’ve written about stress and my health in this blog post – Stress.

Social Connections

We are meant to journey through this life with others. Fostering and cultivating social connections and relationships is my third critical pillar. When we are too busy, or too tired to engage socially, we are missing out on an important part of wellness. Social connections can create feelings of belonging, being loved and valued. Who doesn’t want that? But, like everything else, relationships take work and time investments. It is definitely worth the effort, as strong social connections can have significant impact on our overall health. I’ve written more about social connections in this blog post – The Vital Role of Social Connections in Health and Wellness. I hope you’ll take the time to read it and then reach out to a friend, or loved one.

Nutrition

Eating a balanced diet, that your body responds too, is also an important pillar. Finding what works best for your body is the critical work we all need to do. There is not a one size fits all approach to nutrition and far too many competing options, which can be confusing. I’d recommend you spend your time figuring out the best path for you.

I chose my path, in consultation with my health professionals, by keeping a food journal and taking notes on how my body responded to certain foods. I noticed changes to my sleep, inflammation or bloating, along with other responses my body had to food. I used this knowledge to make the decision that for me, the best path was to shift to a whole food plant-based lifestyle. I’ve written about this nutrition journey in these posts – Change Our Thinking About Food, Eat to Live, The China Study: Reducing Health Risks with a Plant-Based Diet.

Movement

Movement has long been thought to be the most important piece of my health journey. While it is still one of my key pillars, I now know that it can’t be my only pillar, as I can’t use exercise to avoid everything else. I move my body daily and choose activities I enjoy. Walking twice a day is a staple daily activity that is non negotiable. I love playing pickleball as it’s great exercise and fosters strong social connection. Finally, I engage in yoga and strength training.

We all definitely need to move to stay healthy. It can’t be the only pillar we rely on though. Believe me, I tried to out run a bad diet for most of my life. I listen more to my body these days and pay attention, especially when I need to rest. That is something I never did in the past, to the point of consistently getting injured. I’ve written about my daily exercise routines in these blog posts – Move to Live, Healthy Lifestyle: Food, Exercise, and Joy in My Daily Routine

Prioritizing Health

A balanced lifestyle should include prioritizing your health above all else. It’s not about worrying over everything you do and labeling decisions good or bad. It’s about understanding the impact your lifestyle choices have on your wellbeing. I learned the concept of creating an IRHA – Individual Retirement Health Account, and make continuous deposits towards my longterm health. If you are living in balance, your deposits will outweigh your withdrawals. We all will make withdrawals as we live, but they are balanced out by many deposits along the way. I’ve written about this concept in this blog post – IRAH: Individual Retirement Account for Health – A Personal Transformation Journey

Next Steps

Ultimately, health balance is a deeply personal journey—one that requires self-reflection, and an unwavering commitment to your well being. It’s about finding what works for you and prioritizing your health. I hope you will take that first step. Here are a few more resources to get you started:

Baby Steps

Reclaiming Health: The Power of Taking the First Step

Longevity and Brain Health: Lessons from My 93-Year-Old Father

Healthy Lifestyle: Food, Exercise, and Joy in My Daily Routine

If you’d like to share your journey with us, please reach out via email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog. I’d love to hear what’s working and not working for you. You can also reach out on Instagram, or Facebook, or in the comment section below.

Staying True to Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle: A Reflection

“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.” -Michelle Obama

I had some questions regarding nutrition and my doctor suggested I meet with a Registered Dietician. I was psyched for this meeting and looking forward to learning and growing my knowledge. It took a while to get the appointment and I went into it feeling excited. Sadly, I left the appointment feeling confused and honestly, defeated. This response hit me like a ton of bricks and almost sent me into a mindset spiral. It came at me hard and I’ve spent the week really unpacking my response to this situation and thought I’d share the experience.

The issue I wanted guidance with was understanding ways to ensure that my meals are nutritionally balanced, within my whole food plant based lifestyle. I was not going into the appointment looking to change my lifestyle and I made that clear in all conversation with the provider. I take my health seriously and have been consistently monitoring my blood levels to ensure that nutritional targets are within range, as well as other indicators. I also have no current known health issues.

As I got into my car following this appointment, I felt I had been judged and definitely not heard. Perhaps it was a bad day for the provider, considering she was very late to our appointment. That said, I walked out with a strong feeling that I needed to reevaluate my lifestyle choices, which was not what I walked in looking or asking for. I was basically being told to add dairy, eggs and cheese into my lifestyle as the means to increase my protein and lower my LDL. I questioned what I was being told and knew it went against the current research on whole food plant based eating. I also knew this dietician did not think plant based, in absence of meat, dairy or cheese protein, was a viable lifestyle. Though she said, she was not trying to tell me what to do, she clearly was. I wondered how many others have let strong opinions derail their wellness path. As I unpacked this experience, I reflected on the following:

Be Impeccable to Your Word

In the book, The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz speaks to the importance of being impeccable to your word. According to Ruiz, your word is your power to create. Your word is all about the message you deliver, not just to everyone and everything around you, but the message you deliver to yourself.

This is important in this situation for two reasons:

  1. Your word has the power to lift others up or to harm them. In this case, this provider had a clear agenda that did not align with mine. That is totally fine, but I would have respected the message more had it been presented differently. Using your words to dismiss someone, without providing research, or clear reasoning is totally unacceptable in my opinion. Using your position of perceived power to make another feel less than is never acceptable. I know my body and it’s response to dairy, eggs and cheese and do not see them as viable means to healthy LDL levels, though they can increase protein.
  2. Self-talk – The second part was more of a personal reflection on the self-talk that I engaged in during and after the meeting. I was really doubting myself and my knowledge, and all the work I have done this past year. Despite feeling the best I have in many years, despite positive blood work and the current state of my overall health, I was ready to make a dramatic course change, based on the strong opinion of another. My inner critic jumped on this opportunity to engage my self doubt. These self doubts are what causes us to jump at the endless infomercials that sell the answers to all our health concerns.

Stay True to Yourself

It’s hard to live a plant-based lifestyle when so many have strong opinions against it. I don’t push my lifestyle on anyone. We made a personal choice, based on research and conversations with our health provider, that living this lifestyle was in our best interest. We are thriving. To change course, based on one interaction, would have been a huge mistake. I’m sharing my experience because this type of interaction happens often when people share their health journeys. For some reason, many feel it is ok to use their words to tell others how to do things in a better way, usually the way that works for them.

I think the best way, is the way that works for your body, in your current situation. As long as you are monitoring your health markers, through labs and in consultation with your trusted health provider, you do you. What works for my body, may not work for someone else. It is not the job of a health coach, or registered dietician, to prescribe one specific lifestyle to you. It is their job to help you reach your health goals, within your lifestyle. After they meet you where you are, they can educate and provide information to help you make decisions. If you have a specific health condition that warrants one specific lifestyle, that is a different situation than what I am discussing here.

I hope you take the time to learn more about your health choices, including really knowing the source and type of research you are relying on. There are so many conflicting ideas out there on wellness, it’s hard to know what to believe. I do recommend learning more about the China Study and Blue Zones. If you are considering a whole food plant-based lifestyle, I recommend you find a Plant Based Registered Dietician who truly understands this specific approach.

If this post resonates with you, or you’d like to share an experience you’ve had, feel free to reach out to me at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, via Instagram or Facebook, or in the comment section below.