Itchy Skin? Maybe It's What You're Eating

Last year, I started developing itchy skin on my shins. There wasn't a rash, the skin didn't seem excessively dry, it was just really, really itchy. Sometimes I would scratch until I felt like it would bleed if I scratched more.

Changing detergents didn't help. Using anti-itch creams, like calendula or others, helped, but it didn't stop the itch from coming back. Pretty much every single day.

Then I started eating almost entirely wheat-free after Easter when my daughter realized she needed to go gluten-free. And lo and behold, I started realizing I would have several days of no itching. When I'd eat wheat again, the itch came back. If I'd eaten a lot of wheat, it was a ferocious itch.

I had no itching yesterday, then ate regular wheat bread as part of supper last night. And my shins itch again this morning.

People tend to think of hives or perhaps even eczema when they think of food allergy/sensitivity symptoms. Itchy skin--and it doesn't have to be everywhere as my case shows--is another symptom. If you, too, suffer from itchy skin that doesn't seem to have any understandable cause, have a look at what you are eating. It's probably not the only symptom from a questionable-for-you food.

12 Weeks to Better Health -- Day 5

How have you been doing with your week 1? Those first small changes can be really hard to make. I know that, already, I've been struggling to make sure to have a serving of fruit before I eat anything else in the morning. And really struggling to remember to do my rotator cuff physio exercises. The first while is the hardest, absolutely. It's the reason people last 2 days with things like New Year's resolutions: it can be hard to change our habits. It pushes us out of a comfort zone. Our comfort zone doesn't care about how healthy or better things are outside of it, so we have to sometimes deliberately challenge it so that it changes its size or its content.

I've been thinking ahead to my Week 2. I want to be exercising at least 3 times a week--Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So, I already started. Why? Well, because by the time I get to next week, it won't be as hard to stick to. My comfort zone will have been stretched a bit already.

The last post, I said I would share about my using "rules" rather than "goals." I do have a goal in mind--80% healthy eating, for example--but I know that the way to reach that goal is to break things down to develop habits bit-by-bit. But there's something that goes on in me that if I say my goal this week is to have fruit first thing every day, I might not actually achieve the goal. The goal is not the action itself, but the ending. So, what action do I need to take? I need to actually eat the fruit every morning. How do I make sure that I will stick with it? For me, setting it as a rule works. With a rule in place, I'm far more likely to actually follow through on the planned action because I don't want to break my rule. And the rule is reasonable and doable, so I'm not setting myself up for failure and actually helping myself be successful with the change to fruit first by setting it.

What about you? Would setting yourself a rule work for you? Or do you resist rules and tend to want to break them? What would be your "thing" to encourage you to actually stick with your planned action? For some people, it might be charting--and keeping the chart in a spot where others will see it to help with accountability. For others, it might actually be having a buddy to be accountable to and you don't want to have to admit you've messed up that day, so you're more likely to actually do it. There are all kinds of possibilities, it's just a matter of connecting with what would work best for you.

12 Weeks to Better Health--Day 2

I have a confession to make:

It is only Day 2 and I almost forgot my first rule for myself this week: Fruit first!

But I did remember, so that's all good. But let's say I had forgotten. What would you do if you'd forgotten? Would you say to yourself, "Ugh, I messed it up. I'll try again tomorrow." Or maybe, "If I can't even remember to do today, how am I going to do make it through 12 weeks?" If these are the kinds of things you'd say, I'm going to suggest something else, what I would have done had I eaten something else first:

"Oops. Let me eat some fruit right now." I could follow it by, "What can I do so that tomorrow morning I'll remember?"

It's really that simple.

It's exactly what I did for my rotator cuff care this morning. I had the fruit, got on with my day and realized I hadn't done my exercises. So, I did my exercises pretty much right then. They're done.

There's no need to beat yourself up or get down on yourself if you forget. Don't throw it all away if you have a goal you're working toward and you really goof on it one day. It's okay. The rest of the day can be in line with your goal. Or your rules. I'll write more about my "rules" for myself rather than my "goals" for this tomorrow.

12 Weeks to Better Health--Week 1

I have been inspired to start a 12-week program. Or rather create my own 12-week program to better health.

This is not a program that I have all typed up in a document and ready to share. It'll evolve, I'm sure, as I go through the 12 weeks. Maybe you'd like to follow along with me--or maybe how I'm doing this will help you to create your own 12-week program.

I'm not sure why this "12 weeks" has hit me this week, but it has hit me as not being a huge amount of time and yet 12 weeks is 84 days, and 84 days of better habits can lead to some tremendous improvements. How much better would my health be if I exercised a few times a week for 12 weeks? How much better would my health be if I got enough fruits and vegetables for 12 weeks? Truth be told, this isn't going to be a challenge of doing 12 weeks of this or that, but more step-by-step, but even if it's only my first step for 12 weeks, I would see a difference.

And so, this first week of my 12 weeks, I'm focusing on how I start my day. My first rule for myself this week is that each morning has to start with at least one serving of fruit or a green smoothie. After I've had my fruit, I am free to eat as I normally would, so I can have that piece of toast or bowl of cereal or whatever after I've had the fruit. That said, I started my day today with a little fruit salad of fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries and some banana slices, probably 1.5 cups worth; it ended up being my breakfast because there was enough of it that I wasn't hungry for anything more. Fine by me! My second rule for myself to start my mornings is on the physical activity side of things. My rotator cuffs are still a problem, and I've been badly neglecting them, and so my rule for myself this week is to actually do my physio exercises each and every morning.

Are you going to join me for the next 12 weeks? Will you start your day with fruit? If you don't get enough fruits and vegetables each day (like me!), then I'm going to challenge you to do that: start each day with fruit. If a full serving is too much, then make it a bite of something, a single strawberry, a couple of grapes. Just get the habit going.

Loving This Book!

I have gotten back into books. I had, for a while, gotten so busy doing things on the computer that I had stopped reading. I purposefully made myself stop using my laptop after supper for about a week and it was all that it took to get me back into books.

One of the books I have out right now is David Wolfe's "The Sunfood Diet Success System." It wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. I had watched some DVDs that got me more motivated to eat more raw foods and ended up requesting some of David Wolfe's books (even though, I have to admit, I can't stand those NutriBullet commercials of his). Opening up this particular book, I was surprised to have him get into life transformation--beyond just diet--and looking at your thoughts and beliefs and having you do things with each lesson (yes, they're lessons and not chapters) like writing down 100 goals to accomplish in the next year...

It's been very interesting and good for me so far. Writing down 100 goals took me more than a day to do. "How am I going to come up with 100 things I want to do/accomplish in the next year???" I did it though. And I keep adding to it. And with those goals now out there and more in my mind, I'm naturally taking more steps to accomplish them. I've done more natural visual improvement stuff in the past few days than I have in months. I've resumed my physiotherapy stretches for my rotator cuff problems. Just little things here and there, but those little things add up and over time become great.

I also have his Longevity Now book out from the library. It's food-focused and what I like about it is he's not about, "Oh, you have to become raw now! Get rid of eating this and that and the other!" Yes, the reasons for avoiding certain foods (especially cooked foods) are given, but all the reasons to just starting adding in these other good-for-you foods are given, with the idea being that you just keep adding good foods in and eventually, there won't be room--or possibly even a desire--for those other things. It's nice and gentle. No sense of "failing" if you can't meet some standard.

Are you reading a health/food book right now that you're loving? Share about it!

Are You Up For a 3-Week Challenge?

They say that 3 weeks is the minimum amount of time required to establish a habit.

What habit will these particular three weeks establish? That depends on you! If someone can make all the changes to their lives, I'm sure they would feel amazing at the end of the 3 weeks.

"But which changes??"

For full details or to participate on Facebook, see the event page.

Can Milk Thistle Help?

 I've noticed for a few years now, at least, that my summer tan never really goes away. I always seem to have a kind of yellowy leftover look. What concerned me a bit--but my doctor has never even mentioned--is that even areas, like my belly, that don't get exposed to the sun have the faded tan look.

Last week or so, I decided to do a bit of research. The "carotene skin" idea didn't seem to fit as it wasn't yellow on the side of orange at all. From what I could gather, if there is truly anything off, it was my bilirubin levels due to liver congestion or some other liver issue. It is unlikely that I have any other liver issue, so the alternative health side of things was saying liver congestion. And, naturally, recommending a liver detox.

This is a bad time of year to be taking on a detox, I just know I won't be willing to commit to it with all the goodies I want to indulge in, so I kept reading to see if there was something small I could do to take a step in the direction of liver detoxing. The answer was milk thistle.

Our vet had recommended we give our dog milk thistle while she was on prednisone for months earlier this year, just as something to help clear the medication out of her liver and hopefully prevent damage, so I wasn't new to it. I read up on potential side effects and all that and decided to give it a go. It has only been about a week of inconsistent use, but I could definitely see an improvement in my skin colouring today! This is highly motivating in terms of doing something after the holidays to gently detox--or just really get myself into a truly healthy diet.

Of course, I probably should have actually contacted a naturopath before starting to take milk thistle on my own (as should you!), but so far, so good.

While there is already a disclaimer on this site, I feel the need to say it again: Nothing in this post constitutes medical advice or a recommendation that you take milk thistle. It is my experience so far with this herb; take what you will of it!

An Update

Where do I begin? So much to share and all interconnected and I'm probably not going to let it all out in a coherent manner, and might have to do this in a series of posts, but here goes.

Last time I wrote, I was talking about long-term goals, my goal for better health. My mind has since kind of changed this idea into ultimate health and a doctor's appointment has reminded me about this focus and even my desire to live to at least 100--and not just live, but still be active and in great health.

This bring's me to my doctor's appointment. It was supposed to be very quick. They didn't even weigh me when they called me in, so I figured they weren't going to check blood pressure. But as I was sitting, reading, in the room, a nurse comes in and says she wants to check my blood pressure. My insides went, "What?!" I normally get nervous  when my blood pressure is taken, for whatever reason, and I spend the minutes waiting for it by relaxing and preparing myself for it. I didn't get that this time. First reading: 143/something. "WHAT?!" My BP in the past has typically been 110/70-120/80. Anything over 139/89 is seen as a problem here. (I did some looking online; it seems different countries and places have different standards). Last year, when it was sweltering hot and I could actually feel my BP was high, my upper number (systolic) was 135, but they weren't concerned.

The nurse said she would let the machine run through all its cycles. Well, at that point, I was worrying, kind of freaking out. Second reading: 175/something over 110. Yeah, great! (sic) Final average was something like 153/something above 90. ACH! (German pronunciation here.;) ) I explained my nervousness during it all and how I was panicking about the first reading being high and asked if I should do it again later or what and try to calm myself down a bit. She decided to have me take my reading 4 separate times at a drug store over the next week and see her again. Well, we were leaving camping the next day; that was going to be a problem. I ended up getting an appointment 11 days after the original appointment, which gave me time to go camping and do the readings.

But the precedent had been set. She told me to wait 5 minutes when I got to the machine, so that I could relax, and then take the reading. Waiting didn't help. I had had the initial high reading and was nervous. And I hate those machines--when your arm is feeling painfully squeezed, how can your pressure not go up? In any case, I went the very next morning before we left for our camping trip. 140-something over I don't remember what (I have it written down). Those 5 minutes didn't make me feel calm. Mypulse was 107, I remember that. My usual resting rate is about 75, just to give an idea of my state at the time I was taking my blood pressure.

We went camping and although we were in town once, I didn't go into a drug store so I didn't check my blood pressure. The day after we got back, I went again and was very nervous and anxious. Still a bit high and I did more than one reading. Diastolic over 90 each time. Well, then I started getting nervous about how my anxiety was affecting my blood pressure reading. Which didn't help any, as you can imagine. Every time I even thought about having to take my blood pressure, I got anxious. The next day, this past Sunday, I dropped my son off at his cousins' and stopped at a grocery store with a pharmacy section. I walked around until I felt calm, but as soon as I sat down, the calm was gone. Tried to take some readings there, but they had the darn thing set up so that your back was to the pharmacy and everything (nothing like hearing people and noises behind you to help you relax,eh?). First reading was 140-something/something (I should grab my notes, shouldn't I? lol), second reading--when somebody had come up to the pharmacy behind me and was talking and things were falling in the pharmacy--was 175/something. Bah. Took a 3rd reading but it was so clear I was the furthest thing from relaxed, it was high, I left there and decided I would go to the drug store after getting my small amount of groceries.

Got to the drug store and the readings were lower, but still above 139/89. This actually triggered anxiety that would hit without me even thinking about taking my blood pressure! I tried all kinds of things to make it go away but to no avail. Finally, Monday, I just took a position of ignoring it. Was at a different grocery store with a pharmacy and sat down. Could feel the tightness in my chest from the anxiety, but I was otherwise feeling calm. It was strange. But it gave me a reading under 139/89. And by evening, I realized the anxiety had left completely. Took some more readings yesterday, but I was feeling rushed. Not anxious, though, so my pulse was high from feeling rushed, but the BP readings were all under 139/89.

That said...

These "normal" readings are too high. Optimal is nothing over 120/80, which is where I was for years and years. This all has helped my focus on making health improvements in my life. I'm not sure how much improving my diet would help with the BP, since my diet isn't horrendous and hasn't changed for the worse over the past few years, but my exercise levels... That's another matter. I've said in the past here how I've noticed I'm weak cardiovascularly. I get winded too easily. This, I believe, is tied with this increased blood pressure. My heart/cardiovascular system just isn't as strong as it used to be and I need to help it.

Now, all of this has managed to filter into my thoughts about my long-term health. How do I expect to live to at least 100 and still be healthy at that point if, now, my blood pressure is higher and I'm getting winded and my knees/IT band problems aren't taken care of and I'm not eating anywhere near as well as I could and... This "bad" event of high blood pressure has been a good kick in the butt to get myself more motivated and focused.

I've gotten on the treadmill once this week so far. Meant to this morning and forgot (not habit yet!). It's not too late. Off I go!

My Mom Has Cancer

My mom got a bit of surprising news yesterday: she has cancer.

She had been having stomach issues for a while (which may have actually started with h. pylori but still waiting the results on that test; more info on potential connection here), but had been seeing her doctor and was actively working at figuring out what was going on, rather than other people I have heard of around her age who waited and waited, which just led to further problems. She has to have it all confirmed with an oncologist, but the gastro specialist she was seeing is pretty sure it's not a carcinoma but a lymphoma, so that's very good news. The specialist doesn't seem too concerned; he actually said it was good that it wasn't just the narrowing they thought it was because she shouldn't need surgery, just chemo. And it hasn't spread anywhere, it's just at the top of her small intestine.

My mom was a bit of a mix of emotions with it yesterday. The C-word always raises fears, doesn't it? Even though most cases we've known have recovered. Her mother had cancer on her tongue and was treated and it never came back. Her father had colon cancer and while he spent the last years of his life without a colon, it was not cancer that got him. (No, he fell, broke his hip and never seemed to recover properly from the anesthetic!) Her sister-in-law is a breast cancer survivor. We have lots of examples of people who had cancer and beat it.


Unfortunately, there is a very personal case of someone with cancer who had chemo and didn't make it: my little sister.

She was only 2 when they discovered the leukemia. She was barely 3 when she passed away. It may have been a long time ago (33 years!), but I know this is still very much in my mom's heart and knowing she now has to have chemo raises fears. She is, fortunately, trying to have some fun with it and playfully laments she's spent the past few years trying to grow her hair to have the right biker hair and what will she do? :)

She's doing much better with this today and just feeling very positive. I do believe she'll beat this. The gastro doctor doesn't seem too concerned; if she doesn't need surgery, it's not very big and much more treatable. I'm actually feeling very calm about this all, which could be denial or shock rather than faith and hope, but I guess we'll see in time. Right now, she has about a 3-week wait until she sees the oncologist (another sign it's not seen as hugely urgent), so there's not much to do except wait. And learn.

The one thing on my mind is what can I do to help prevent cancer in me and my husband and kids? I know telling my mom about going vegan or raw or anything like that won't have her changing her diet at this point. And I know research is very contradictory when it comes to food, but I just know that my gut (no pun intended ;) ) has been telling me to go in a certain direction for some time and this is a reminder how important it really is. I plan on living until over 100; I've got to make sure I take the steps to do so. :D

In any case, over the next while, expect to see things here about cancer-free living!

 

http://xavisangels.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/cancer_awareness_ribbon.283122200_std.jpg

Our Gluten-Free Trial

As I mentioned in previous posts, my 15-year old daughter decided to finally try going gluten-free. She was starting to have daily stomach complaints, pain, bloating and we'd suspected at least wheat before, and she was desperate for some relief, so she went for it. First evening, pain ended up worse than before, but within a few days, she had no pain, her stomach was flattest its been in ages and she was feeling good.

We lasted about a week and a half gluten-free before holiday celebrations hit and she decided to indulge here and there. And so did I. ;) But to backtrack, the first day of going gluten-free was okay, the next two days were very hard to make the switch. After that, it didn't seem like a huge deal. Yes, I had my evenings where I was going, "Oh my gosh, what are we going to eat?" but I figured things out. With the internet, you can find just about any recipe you want by listing ingredients you have on hand that you think would go well together! I managed to find this one evening:

Full recipe at http://riappyayan.blogspot.ca/2010/07/mexican-kidney-beans-rice.html

I slightly modified it (didn't have tomato paste, for example) but it was definitely a keeper recipe!  And if you use vegetable stock (Campbell's vegetable broth is gluten-free; the chicken broth isn't), the recipe is not only gluten-free, but vegan, as well.

Since being back on wheat, I'm feeling blah again. But since so many of the wheat things around here are junk (German lebkuchen, for example, and stollen) with sugar, hard to know how much of it is wheat and how much of it is sugar. I don't have any desire for bread though. Nor the baked goods I had intended to make and haven't. I'm eager to get back to the wheat-free/gluten-free eating we were doing. I have this aversion now, which I should probably pay attention to!

My mother tried to tell me that it wasn't healthy to be on a gluten-free diet if you didn't need to be on it. My mother's an intelligent woman, but she doesn't seem to realize that what she said makes no sense. She's just going off of something she read somewhere. If celiacs can be healthy on a gluten-free diet, there's no reason others can't be. This isn't like the recommended diabetic diet where it's playing around with your blood sugars; it's just a matter of having gluten in your system or not. Since I definitely felt better being wheat/gluten-free (I hardly eat other gluten than wheat, so hard to know if it's wheat or gluten), then, by golly, I'm going to aim to pretty much eliminate wheat from my diet regardless of what certain experts may say (other experts say none of us should be eating gluten)! I'm thinking about convincing--or forcing--my 12-year old son to try, too. He has absolutely horrid dry skin on his hands every winter. We tried eliminating dairy last winter or the winter before and it had no effect. Something in his system is causing this! It's so bad that if I don't make sure he gets hand cream on his hands, they end up cracking and bleeding. And, yes, I have to make sure cream gets on him because he doesn't seem to pay any attention to it until it does start cracking and bleeding.

There has been some good things so far about going gluten-free:

1. Improved health.
2. Increased knowledge about using things such as digestive enzymes. Definitely helps my daughter and I've taken some a couple of times and I find my intestinal area seems flatter than usual--less inflammation?
3. Increased experimentation with recipes. Rather than eating the same old, same old, I've been forced to go beyond, find new recipes, try different things. Things I had wanted to do in the past but it took my daughter's health to really push me through the comfort zone barrier.
4. Seeing how we did reasonably easily manage to make the switch--yes, we still had our moments of going "Arrrrrrgh!"--it has me thinking more about my switching to a vegan (or beegan--using honey) diet and at least 50% raw. It can be done; it'd be nice if it didn't take a health crisis to finally do it.

I'll leave you today with just some of my finds during my gluten-free search:

The Naked Kitchen's Gluten-Free Sample Meal Plan 

Celiac Teen

Gluten-Free Vegan

Serendipitous Vegan

Day 17: Pre-Christmas Challenge--Progress

Already at Day 17! Yikes!

Borrowed from http://yogabellystudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/17.jpg

It's a little past the mid-point, but I figure it's a good time to assess. Have I made progress? Have my goals helped?

I can't say my raw morning focus has made much of a difference. Well, no, at first, I was feeling better, "cleaner". But I was eating more fruits and greens at that point. Aha! My raw morning yesterday consisted of a tiny clementine and my standby of Ani Phyo's Coconut Breakfast Cakes, topped with blueberries and maple syrup. That's been a pretty consistent breakfast this past while, so low fruit intake and little variety! I had said before that I needed to eat more fruits and veggies. It's very clear today that I do!

For the exercise portion, while I didn't see a difference when I put on my bathing suit the other day (;0), when I first started doing the exercises, I could barely do 10 repetitions of some of them. I made my way up to a set of 15 of each and just last night, started with two sets of 10. Definite progress, even if it's not exactly visible. This is very good on my part: I have had a tendency in the past to go too quickly, exacerbating the IT band and knees further, which set me back and forced me to stop. No need to stop! I do think continuing to do yoga after the exercises definitely helps, too.

No, not my suit, but it's cute, isn't it?
http://www.forthoseabouttoshop.ca/2012/05/23/beyonces-one-piece-and-modest-swimwear-trends-2012/

Yes, the bathing suit. Do you know, I think a bathing suit can have two potential effects with a goal: convince you that you might as well give up or spur you into a more dedicated action!

My kids and I went to a recreation centre on Friday where we spent some time in the pool and some time in the gymnasium. My IT band ended up having some burning here and there. I'm not sure if it was because of overuse or because it was being released. In any case, put my bathing suit on before we left and had a good look in the mirror. I have to be honest with myself: my challenge's overall goal was to improve habits but I know deeper down, I would really, really like to be in better shape much more quickly! Am I prepared to dedicate myself to that at this point? I'm not so sure. I am really trying to be more careful about what I eat, be more aware. The food diary kind of helped, but just paying more attention during the day, not grabbing something out of habit is more helpful. I took a couple of Christmas cookies after lunch the other day and five minutes later thought, "What did I eat those for?" It wasn't intentional, it was "they're there on the counter, mmm, they'd taste good" and I ate them. Bah. I was tired and craving something sweet last night but did not give in. Within about 5 minutes, the desire had passed. But exercise... With Christmas nearly here, my busyness is crazy. I haven't even been keeping up my novel writing. This may have to be an after Christmas challenge.

What is this Sunday morning babble about? I hope it's about something. About progress, about not giving up, about seeing things for what they are and taking the next step.

Only fifteen days left until Christmas Eve! Just over two weeks to take another step and make even more progress. I can do it--and so can you. :)

Day 4 - Pre-Christmas Challenge: Water!

Like all other flowers (lol), I need water. Every so often, actually, fairly often, I don't make sure to get enough water. When I don't, like other flowers, I wilt. And I sometimes set up problems with my sinuses and get nasty headaches, too.

Today being Monday, let me look ahead at a typical Monday and my water consumption: Monday afternoons, I teach a French class to a group of homeschooled children. With preparation and busyness in the morning, my attention on the class for the full two hours of the class in the afternoon, and then I rush off to pick up my nieces and nephew from school, a process that takes about an hour, I have a tendency to not drink enough water on Mondays.

Not getting enough water is a common problem, it seems. How many health resources out there say, "Drink your water!" It's important for so many reasons:

• your skin (especially with winter hitting us here in the northern hemisphere and dare I say, very clearly here in the north-central Canadian prairies)
• your brain's ability to think
• your digestion
• your kidneys and liver
• inflammatory conditions (sinusitis, arthritis, etc.) become worse when you get even a little bit dehydrated
• many cite it as important for weight loss
• so much more... 

It's important to drink your water! Maybe you can't have filtered water or bottled water or whatever. Getting enough water is important regardless of the quality. (Says the person who's issues yesterday came from days of not getting enough!) So this is my challenge to you today: Drink at least 8 glasses of water! Fill a pitcher with the amount you are going to drink during the day, keep tally somewhere, do something to make sure it happens. I find I tend to do even better when I drink more than that, but it does depend on what I've eaten during the day.

Doing this a little differently, I'll end this post with my Day 3 recap:

I posted early morning (early morning for here) yesterday, but I already had a sinus headache causing me problems. Part of this issue seems to be tied to my neck muscles, which I tried to work on with my yoga the night before, but clearly all kinds of different factors mixed together and left me almost incapacitated. It's not the level of pain in my right sinus but somehow just how the pain was, if that makes any sense. I had at times pressure and pain going in behind my eye, into my ears, no balance at all if I was standing and my eyes were closed... I thought about my self-imposed challenge and how would I be able to do the exercise if I was in that state?  I tried alternate-nostril breathing (a yoga technique) which helped clear some things out a bit, but didn't do enough. I tried to find trigger points and massage them. I tried massaging my head, which felt fantastic, but only went so far. I tried taking two Advil; it might have helped take the edge off a bit. Typical OTC sinus medications are not an option for me (ended up in emergency last time with severe heart palpitations!) A few people have told me a neti pot is the way to go when it flares up like this, but I don't have one. I finally ended up with a heated magic bag on my neck and base of my head, propped up in a specific way on the couch where it still hurt a bit, but I could function, at least function as much as I needed to laying on a sofa with a laptop. Sitting in a normal position meant me constantly massaging my head and around my eyes and cheekbone. It wasn't fun. And the sad thing is that it was the second time this past week. The other time? Thursday evening, after a day of 4 hours of French classes and getting even less water than usual.

You see where my recommended challenge is coming from today? Do not do as I have done! Especially if you have sinus issues!

I was hungry and decided I had to eat. This was before trying everything to ease up the pressure. I had some of Ani Phyo's coconut breakfast cake batter left, so I plopped it on a plate, put some maple syrup and... could barely eat any. Made me feel sick to my stomach. After easing up the sinus issues, I was able to finish it but still didn't have much of a desire to eat, even though my stomach was saying it wanted food. It did, however, make it easy to be raw for the morning. (I know maple syrup isn't raw, but that's a nitpicky thing I don't count. Just like the pasteurized orange juice that goes into my green smoothies.)

The avoiding junk was hard. Because I was feeling blah and tired, I really wanted junk. I saw frozen tart shells in the deep freezer. "Mmmm, 'butter' tarts would be delicious." Then I thought about making chocolate chip cookies. Neither times did it hit me they would be considered 'junk'. When it did hit me and I was still craving something, I thought about making Sarma Melngailis's chocolate coconut truffles and was so close to making them when a little voice said, "Wouldn't that count as junk, too?" Does it? I don't know. I decided it wasn't the healthiest way to satisfy the craving, so I didn't make them. But boy, was it difficult to stand against it! I eventually made myself a little trail mix with raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds and some raisins.

Late afternoon, my headache and sinus pain had eased enough that I could do some other things, but not too much. In retrospect, a day with the laptop helped me read blogs I haven't read in a while, blog, and write something like 4800 words for NaNoWriMo. The things I can get done when I'm not busy with everything else!

It hit me that I had still to do my exercises. I finally managed to get to them. I decided to still focus on my glutes, but I kind of created my own sequence from different exercises. I just think it's important to not do the exact same thing every single day. I also did some yoga.

Despite most of the day being very rough, I still managed to accomplish everything I set out to do--including avoiding the junk! A little voice is saying to me, "Avoid it today, too!" I might as well. But the main focus will be the raw food in the morning (I don't even know what I have in the house, eek!), get the exercises in and water.

Are you going to make sure you hydrate yourself enough today?

Day 2 of the Pre-Christmas Challenge

Did you join me in starting a pre-Christmas challenge? What did you decide to do?

Recall that my goals were:

1) Start the day off with raw food (trying to have nothing but raw all morning).
2) Do some exercises for my ITBS issues/tone my glutes.
3) Maintain the yoga habit I already have

How'd I do for day 1?

*I drank green smoothie--orange juice, water, banana, baby spinach and frozen blueberries--all morning, so that goal was achieved!

*I did some searching for ITBS exercises. Some people swear by them, others don't. I eventually just picked a routine I found in an October 2011 issue of Fitness magazine. There is an online version here: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/butt/exercises/butt-shaping-exercises/ 

Because my glutes are so out of shape, I did only one set of each exercise and only 10 reps per set. I know my glutes are going to feel it!

*Followed up with some yoga.

Friday's fitness and food goals achieved! That is not to say that I ate super well later on... I'll have to be careful or I'll sabotage the good I do in the morning. At the same time, I know from past experience that once I get into a habit of morning being pretty much only raw, I turn to the crud less. In any case, it was very easy to achieve. Perhaps too easy, but if I can stick with this easy stuff, it's still a step better than what I've been doing for ages.

One thing I did look up was Egoscue itbs and Pilates itbs. Both methods can apparently help with ITBS. Egoscue is usually best done first thing in the morning. I'm thinking I might use my Pilates book and start doing that, especially the legs sequence, before yoga. If I do a Pilates sequence would then not be getting just a legs/butt routine, but a whole body workout. Sounds good to me! Of course, I can mix it up between the Pilates and the Egoscue and the butt-shaping exercises above.

Now onto:

It's Saturday today, which means, for me, there's no real routine. Every Saturday is different for some reason. I have NaNoWriMo to fit in today, I have to go to the library, stop at the grocery store, avoid all the other stores during the newly founded Canadian "Black Friday weekend sales", get laundry done, all the usual. We have a family birthday party tonight, which means we likely won't be home until late. Fitting in 5-10 minutes of yoga before jumping in bed is doable; adding on actual exercise might not be. I think I need to consider doing Pilates or the sequence shared above during the day rather than in the evening, at least for today. Of course, I also need to make sure to get as much raw as I can this morning!

But right now, I'm going to indulge in a little me-time and play Sims 3. :)

Btw, it's never too late to join me! Why don't you set yourself a pre-Christmas goal and share?

Pre-Christmas Challenge

The other day, I celebrated my 100th day in a row of daily yoga! I had set a goal, was determined to reach it and did. No, I still haven't dropped the yoga: yesterday was day 102.

I feel the need for another goal, something other than the NaNoWriMo I'm also currently working on and whose writing habit I would like to keep up when it's done. Something physical. Christmas is in 31/32 days (we start on the 24th in my family) and that seems like a decent amount of time to make some sort of physical progress. But what do I want to do? That's what I'm here to babble about.

My yoga goal worked because, for whatever reason, there was this determination to do it. I knew yoga was something that would help me a lot with my ITBS (iliotibial band syndrome), even if it was for nothing more than 5 minutes some days. And it has helped tremendously. I'm now scared to stop doing yoga each day because of how much it has helped. But that determination was there and I'm not sure how to create that sort of determination, kwim?

I think we often set ourselves goals that sound good or are things we think we should do, but because we're not properly connected, properly determined, we don't do what we need to do to accomplish that goal. I had such strong determination to accomplish that goal that there were a few times we'd gotten home late, I'd gotten into bed and realized I hadn't done my yoga that day. Well, it was either start over or pull myself out of bed and get it done. I did the latter. That's the kind of determination I want on my next goal!

So, with that in mind, I'm thinking it's got to be about something I do rather than something I don't do. For example, "No more junk food." Well, I know myself. Maybe you're like me: You set that goal and you're busy or distracted and take something out of habit and before you realize what you're doing or remember your goal,  it's too late--that bite is in your mouth and down into your stomach.

One thought I had in the shower this morning was a weekly progression. Have it all written out, maybe with reminders in iCal or even my cell phone. It could be a food thing, which is something I do want to improve on because it's not been fantastic lately and I've been getting illness after illness. (Flu and pink eye at the same time a few weeks ago! :( ) It shows up in my one thumbnail. I tried to take a picture, but I can't get it to show up right. Whenever I get sick, it's like my thumbnail doesn't form quite right under the cuticle and as it grows out, there are these lines. They kind of look like Beau's lines, but aren't quite the same. It's like a form of splitting horizontally on the surface. Sometimes it's just a little thing a couple millimetres long; other times the line covers over half the width of the nail. When it gets to the point of being almost grown out, I always have to cut the nail short because it's just a mess. I had gone for sometime that I had only one little mark on that nail. I have signs of 4 periods of illness on that nail now. And for someone whose nails grow quickly, that's not good.

Excuse my Friday morning babbling. Back to what I was saying: I had the thought in the shower of having some sort of progression rather than 31 days of the same goal. So, week 1 would have a food and exercise goal (other than yoga); week 2 would bump it up a bit; and so on. I'm not sure it's wise to have a food and exercise goal, but at the same time, I'm thinking, "Hey, I managed to do 100 (102) days of yoga; surely I can manage two simple, yet progressive, goals?" And I know it all comes down to my determination. Am I determined to do this? Maybe once I figure out the goal I will be able to answer that question. ;)

Food goal ideas: raw mornings (at least, as much as I can handle), progressing to raw mornings and lunches, progressing to... Hm.

Exercise goals: My mind's all over the place with this one. I know there are some exercises that would very much benefit my ITBS. Part of my problem is my glutes are not up to snuff, which is kind of sad since I did figure skating years ago and pre-pregnancies, kind of liked my derrière. (lol. Did I just admit that?) With pregnancies, posture shifted, those muscles--gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus and gluteus medius--did not get properly used. I could see a simple first week goal of having an exercise sequence that I do before yoga.

Maybe that's as far as I should go for now? My first week? Get through the first week and keep that as the minimum I do? It might not seem like it would do much, such small goals like that for 30 days, but building the habit will help me much more than creating a more challenging goal that I can't stick to. I can have a minimum requirement--and then desired "add-ons", like 10 minutes on the treadmill or a strength training sequence I've found or 5 minutes of skipping rope... I just need to take the next step(s) right now. Especially with the craziness of Christmas preparation ahead!

What would my ideal be? Well... :D I would love to be 10 lbs down from where I am now by Christmas. I know at least 5 of those lbs are water that are the result of my food choices/sensitivities. So, really, I have at most 5 lbs of fat to lose. (And really, it could be I have 10 lbs of water retention to lose...) I would love for my glutes to be toned. There is no tone to them right now, let me be honest about this. I would love to just feel healthy and stronger.

Now to the important question: Am I determined to make this next step? Am I determined to start each day eating raw? Am I determined to do those glutes exercises each and every day for improvement with my ITBS and a more tone? *pause* Yes. Yes, I am. Let me get started right away! Let this be Day 1. Day 31 will be Dec. 23. I'm thinking I ought to share daily my progress--it would be a great way to make sure that I stick with this and keep thinking about it. I used my FB account for my yoga challenge; I don't feel much like sharing this challenge in FB. But I know that having the accountability in FB helped me stick with the yoga during the first month: I didn't want to have to admit to them that I'd missed a day and had to start over! This blog will be my accountability for this pre-Christmas challenge of mine. And if you would like to join me with your own challenge, please do--and share in the comments! :D

Hopping Back On Board

Well, baby-hopping my way back on board!

Today is the first day of school here which is a good time for new beginnings. Somehow, it's just easier to push ourselves through with something new on a day that seems "new" anyhow.

I have decided it's time to hop back on board and baby step my way over the next week or two. I was feeling so good when my mornings were almost entirely raw, lunches were raw or mostly raw and then supper was cooked but high veggies and often a salad. It's been weeks since I've eaten like that and the results are clear: low energy, headaches and sinus problems are back, skin's a mess, my ears constantly feel slightly plugged, allergies are through the roof... I hate this. I keep getting mentally stuck on the "perfect" (sic) way to eat and some part of my mind broke through and finally said,

"Just do something each day that's better."

I can do something, can't I? Of course I can.That something for me is starting off my day with fresh fruit or a green smoothie. I actually did so yesterday, but that was just a "bonus day" of sorts. Today is the beginning of the actual commitment to do this. I know I'm going to feel so much better!

At the same time, my daughter and I have plans to have a gluten-free day this week. Clearly it's not today. Tomorrow's probably too soon and Friday probably wouldn't work, so I guess Thursday will be the day. I'll see what I can come up with for simple meal suggestions and we can even buy necessary items if we need to tomorrow. She is very used to eating wheat of some sort at lunch and often breakfast, so it could be particularly hard for her. I think people in general tend to get into ruts with what they eat and to pull themselves out and try something different doesn't always feel satisfying!

Btw, I'm still doing my 100-day yoga challenge. Yesterday was the 22nd day in a row. It's never too late to create your own challenge and to join me in either yoga or healthier eating!

Step by step

(LOL. As I typed the subject line for this post, I couldn't help but think of the song "Step by Step" by New Kids On The Block. In case you are too young to know who they are or the song, here is the video :D :)



Ok, flashback moment done with.

I am trying to remind myself of focusing on my health and that taking things step by step is the way I need to do it. I don't have any special recipes or anything to share right now. I've been making green smoothies the past few days to start off my day, although having toast or oatmeal between then and lunch. I've made fruit salads for snack, munched on lettuce just cuz... I realized this morning, though, that I'd consumed about 8 servings of grains yesterday. Ach! (Think how a German might pronounce that. :D) 

With that realization, I made a bigger effort today to curb that tendency. I started my day off with a glass and a half of green smoothie, which actually took me all the way until lunch. (Haha, we had a bit of fun with my green smoothie. I homeschool a teen from another family and when I went to put the remaining smoothie in my glass and came back, he thought I had put water. So seeing it from the corner of his eye kind of startled him as to what kind of disgusting water was I drinking!) We went to the food court for lunch and I decided I would definitely do a veggie lunch, but couldn't decide between Edo Japan or Extreme Pita. I thought about how I would end up with a lot of (white) rice if I picked Edo and I don't know about Edo without the teriyaki sauce, which I'm sure isn't at all healthy, so I decided to go for a veggie wrap and a bottle of orange juice. I get the lettuce, tomato and cucumbers with the grilled peppers, onions and mushrooms. It was delicious, as usual! I just had a piece of toast as a snack and am trying to figure out supper.

Other than that, I've started reading a couple of books to help support me in my steps:

     

I haven't made it very far with Live Raw yet. She has an intro with a section on her journey and then information on what is raw, why raw and suggestions. I'm still in this latter part. So far, I am really enjoying it! Once I finish that, it will be on to the recipes section.

With Veganist, I only picked it up from the library last night. I flipped through it a bit and read one of the stories and did find it motivating to make a greater effort at changing. It's not a recipe book. It's rather a book about why to go vegan, or at least lean in that direction, and includes someone's story in each section. I read one of the stories and truly found it inspiring and motivational. I think this will be a good book.

Changing Focus

My mind has been thinking a lot lately. Not that it doesn't usually ;), but it's been thinking along the lines of how do I change to accomplish what I want to accomplish?

I will not have the -Free Life I long for if I keep doing the same things I'm already doing. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Change has to happen. But it's not going to just happen on its own. I have to change myself. I have to change the parts of me that block me into parts that support me. And maybe add in some new things.

Change can be hard. It requires we get out of our comfort zone and sometimes by a lot. Being out of our comfort zone can feel threatening, scary, nerve-racking and even wrong. We have a mistaken belief that everything feels right when it is right, but that's not always true. Sometimes all that's wrong is that we're just not used to it and we need to grow into it.

There's a lot of talk out there that says that everything we do should feel right. Which feeling though? Some feelings are really instinct talking, or divine inspiration. Absolutely, if that side isn't "feeling it", we should listen. But others are just emotional issues--or even physical issues, like in the case of an alcoholic.  Addicts don't feel right when they're not succumbing to their addiction, so does that mean they should stay addicted? A ridiculous thought! Clearly feeling isn't all what it's about. Some feelings are wisdom and others are just our emotions talking. And it's not always easy to tell the difference.

My point with all of this is that I feel the need to change. I'm tired of not getting closer to my goals. I learn all about things but can't seem to get myself to take action on them. There are all kinds of plans and no action. The only way I will get to action is if I change at least a bit. The saying "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" doesn't actually mean that if you plan it will all just work out. Action needs to be taken, too.

One thing I've realized is that part of my main motivator in changing my diet to a -Free diet has been my weight. My weight is still considered "normal", so it's not really a serious issue, just one of those things I'd like to improve upon. It's been clear in my mind that the water retention and likely fat gain over the past 10 years has been the result of lifestyle, mostly what I eat. They say that in your 30s, your metabolism changes and that's why weight gets put on. But what if part of it is that your body just can't handle the cr*p anymore? I've seen this slow weight gain as a message to detox my diet. Not just do one of those detox weeks or whatever, but really remove the cr*p. Weight is not my only issue: sinus problems, sinus headaches, frequent colds/flu, tiredness, skin issues (acne, rashes, dry skin...), my complexion is no longer bright and vital looking, increased environmental allergies and food sensitivities... Good grief, with this list, my weight should hold no importance! And I know it's not about the weight. Losing 10-15 lbs is not going to make my health any better unless the 10-15 lbs are the result of my health getting better. I know that as I take charge of what I put in my body and aim to be healthy with all the other current issues, the weight will take care of itself.

And yet, what do I do? I check the scale. I don't check to see how long I've had a headache--or when I can last remember not having a bit of a dull ache. I don't check to see if I've got increased or decreased skin issues. I don't check to see how healthy my diet was yesterday. I imagine how I will look when I've lost the weight--because that's what things like The Secret say to do, right?--but don't really imagine how it would feel to be fully healthy. (Do I even know?)

So, I'm changing myself. I'm changing my thoughts and focus. My focus is on being healthy. I know that to do this, I need to pay more attention to really fuelling my body with healthy foods. (And really, let's be honest, if it's not healthy food, is it really food?) I started today at lunch. "What can I eat that will be loving toward my body and help it be healthy?" was my focus rather than simply, "What is there to eat?" or "What should I eat?" I came up with this:

Essentially, a salad (without dressing) in a pita, like buying a wrap from... hm... can't remember the name of that outlet at the food courts. Yes, it's a white pita and not whole wheat. I spent 5-10 minutes at the store trying to find one that did not say, "May contain milk ingredients." (I do wonder how much of my water retention is the result of all these "may contain milk" products. I have gained in the past 3-5 lbs of water weight overnight simply by having milk products, and have equally lost 3-5 lbs over the course of a couple of days when I was careful to cut all milk and any chance of milk. And now I wonder just what is in that pita--is it healthy? Does it have nasty chemicals? I was so focused on it not containing milk that I didn't think about the rest. And obviously wasn't thinking in any way about wheat-free. ;) ) It was vegan until I decided to put a bit of mayonnaise on the one pita flap. I didn't fill it enough, so I was hungry afterwards and steamed myself some cauliflower. Yes, I've had some junk over the course of the day (and paid attention to the headache after the cookie), but I do believe in the mantra, "Progress, not perfection". And more than anything, I can truly feel my focus changing to "What can I do to support my body being healthy?"

This change in focus is going to force me to change in other ways. Like (at least sometimes) not eating some unhealthy thing that I'm craving. Like taking the time to prepare that orange or bowl of grapes or whatever. And despite my talk above about not necessarily trusting when it "feels right", this change in focus and the changes it will lead to does feel right. Gut feeling right. It's not going to be easy, I don't think. Memories of my first wheat-free day from a while back come to mind on how difficult it might end up becoming. But...

It'll be worth it.