Sorry it's been awhile. I decided to be naughty this weekend and totally ignore all my nutrition plan and exercise. So yesterday I got back on track with my eating and today I decided to make up for not working out for 3 days with a workout that completely snockered me. Yeah, I dunno if it's a word, but it is, now.
I want to take a moment and talk about "cheating" or missing a day or not eating perfectly or whatever. My sister said something the other day that totally caught me off guard and gave me a feeling that it was not quite right. I couldn't put my finger on exactly why, but I thought about it for a little while and this is what I came up with.
She said, "Every food is ok as long as you don't go overboard."
This is what I've heard my entire life and I've never agreed with it, but I can't put my finger on why I don't agree with it. After all, throughout the New Testament there are verses on how all food has been made clean, and the food you eat has no effect on the things that really matter, that is, the things of the Spirit and heart.
So I started thinking. And this is the conclusion I've come to. Part of this applies only to Christians, but the food part applies to everyone.
Just as you are supposed to live a holy life to please Jesus and strive to be like him in every way, you will fall short sometimes because we are humans. We fell out of perfection with Adam and Eve when they sinned and so in every situation we have a decision to make on whether we're going to follow a heart of love, or a heart of selfishness. You're never going to be perfect, even though there is a path of perfection laid out for you to follow, until Christ comes and throws all evil back into the pit of hell.
This same principle applies to your diet. You're never going to follow it perfectly because you're human and there are things that you will eat sometimes because you have to, sometimes because you simply want to. There is such a thing as perfect nutrition, but you would have to do some major searching as well as finding someone who could coach you and teach you everything you need to know. That doesn't change the fact that we should try our hardest to eat perfectly and get rid of all the junk food in our cupboards. Junk food is never good. It is never ok. You're not going to get fat if you eat a cookie. You're not going to be sent to biggest loser if you eat some hot wings, but if you completely fall off track and begin to fill your life with food that isn't good for you, you will be fat again. It's as simple as that.
I apologize if this is disjointed, but I'm still sweating and shaking from my workout, and I'm pretty sure my brain is running short on blood and oxygen. haha
So here's the workout and I'll post the link to the tabata timer, again.
http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/05/29/kiss-my-tight-ass-workout/
http://www.beach-fitness.com/tabata/
Happy workout, everyone.
Some random ramblings of a woman who's passionate about just about everything that happens in this life. Health is my major soapbox. My family is my joy. My Savior is my reason for everything, and I hope his light and love shine through in everything I do and say.
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
And so it begins...
Well, I'm kinda past the beginning and the beginning of my blog has kind of caught me in a whirlwind of changes for myself.
As you may have gathered from my last post, I'm kind of ok, a HUGE natural health freak. Thanks to my firstborn daughter who I love more than I can even put into words, I started reading about natural health when she was born because, like every mom, I wanted what was best for my child and this seemed like the best path for us.
So just in the last year since the birth of my second daughter I've really, truly been getting down to business with it. I kind of toyed with it, ate healthy, exercised occasionally, bought organic when I could, etc., but I've decided to take it to a new level as another little baby step on my way to my PhD.
So in this last week I have decided to stop shampooing my hair and I've also started a colon cleanse. Let me tell you, natural health is not for the weak of stomach. I know you just read that and went, "Gross! Time to quit this blog."
But wait! It's just begun. I'm begging you to stick with it just to the end of this entry and maybe I can change your mind.
Let's start with the no shampooing. I've been reading about it for a while and just never really had the nerve to quit washing my hair. I like my hair. I think my hair is beautiful. I can tell when other people's hair gets greasy and it kind of makes me shy away from them a little bit. If they don't even take time to wash their hair, how dirty could the rest of them be? Shake hands??? I think not.
So you can imagine my trepidation when I got in the shower and ignored the shampoo bottle for the first time. I could practically hear it screaming my name. And what about conditioner? I hate combing out my hair already. What on earth am I going to do without conditioner?
So I got my baking soda paste together and rubbed it pretty thoroughly through my scalp. If that's what I have to clean it with, that puppy is getting SCRUBBED. It didn't foam, it didn't work through my hair easily, it didn't feel like a typical wash, but I had made the decision and I was going to stick with it. So after I rinsed out the baking soda, I rinsed my scalp and hair with apple cider vinegar and water.
Wow. What an underwhelming sensation it is to know that I was purposefully putting something in my hair that smelled like stinky feet. Blah. I could only hope it didn't smell that way when I got out of the shower. So I let that soak for a little bit to balance out the ph of the baking soda and rinsed. Now my hair was a tangly, snarly mess and I did not even want to think about how I was going to get it combed out. There was a faint smell of apple cider vinegar, but I figured you'd have to bury your nose in my skull to find out and if you're getting that close, you've got something besides a sniff of my hair coming to you. I decided to blow dry it and then detangle it because I knew trying to brush it while it was wet would just cause more snarls. It was surprisingly easier than I thought to comb it out, and it actually felt and looked pretty darn clean. So I've been doing it for almost a week, now. I actually asked one of my friends to smell it the other night to see if I've just become immune to my own stench, but they said it didn't smell like anything, and it doesn't look greasy at all. I know it's only been a week, and according the the internet (and they don't lie on the internet! lolz) it'll be a few more weeks before things get really nasty and I'll want to wear a head scarf everywhere I go. But a short period of grossness followed by a lifetime of wonderfully naturally wavy, bouncy hair....hmm....I think I can put up with that. My apologies to everyone who has to look at me for those few weeks, though.
Ok...so now that you all know how disgusting my hair is let's move on to the internal cleanse. Right now I'm in the very beginning stages of step one which is a colon cleanse. Since this is my first time doing it I'll probably continue it for approximately four to six weeks. It all depends on what my body feels like.
That's one thing that I will reiterate to you over and over again. LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BODY!!!
I am following the protocol in my favorite "diet" book of all time, "The Coconut Diet" by Cheri Calbom. This book has literally changed my life and is a major part of the reason I have decided to walk down the naturopathic career path.
So, as I said, the first part is the colon cleanse, then I'll be moving on to liver, gall bladder, and kidney cleanses. She promises less cellulite, faded wrinkles, glowing skin and a whole bunch of other stuff, so I'm really curious to see how this is going to affect me. I should probably take a before and after picture, and IF I'm satisfied with the results of the after picture I'll post them for you guys.
So for the colon cleanse I've done sort of a semi-fast for the first few days. Raw food only and only if I get SUPER hungry. After a week or so, I'll add in more meals of strictly raw food and towards the end I'll start putting light animal proteins back in: eggs, yogurt, raw milk, etc.
I'm drinking a fiber shake three times a day which....isn't the best or the worst thing in the world. Luckily it goes down fairly easy and the taste disappears in a few seconds. Then there's a herbal cleanse that I take three times a day, and a probiotic morning and night to make sure that the good bacteria remain in my intestinal tract after so much cleaning. The only thing I haven't worked up enough courage for, yet, is the enema. I promised myself I would do one tonight, so I've got water heating and I'm sitting here procrastinating, trying to tell myself it will be ok. I don't even know why I'm so scared. It's just water, and it all comes back out.
Ok, so I won't go into too much detail about it tomorrow when I post, but I will let you know, noob to noob, if it's something to fear or embrace.
And, hey, if you've done one before and you're reading this, please feel free to let me know what you like, what you don't like, any special tips or "recipes" you've tried and I'll try them out and let all the readers know what I think.
'Cuz, you know, it's, like, a blog and I'm, like, narcissistic and stuff.
As you may have gathered from my last post, I'm kind of ok, a HUGE natural health freak. Thanks to my firstborn daughter who I love more than I can even put into words, I started reading about natural health when she was born because, like every mom, I wanted what was best for my child and this seemed like the best path for us.
So just in the last year since the birth of my second daughter I've really, truly been getting down to business with it. I kind of toyed with it, ate healthy, exercised occasionally, bought organic when I could, etc., but I've decided to take it to a new level as another little baby step on my way to my PhD.
So in this last week I have decided to stop shampooing my hair and I've also started a colon cleanse. Let me tell you, natural health is not for the weak of stomach. I know you just read that and went, "Gross! Time to quit this blog."
But wait! It's just begun. I'm begging you to stick with it just to the end of this entry and maybe I can change your mind.
Let's start with the no shampooing. I've been reading about it for a while and just never really had the nerve to quit washing my hair. I like my hair. I think my hair is beautiful. I can tell when other people's hair gets greasy and it kind of makes me shy away from them a little bit. If they don't even take time to wash their hair, how dirty could the rest of them be? Shake hands??? I think not.
So you can imagine my trepidation when I got in the shower and ignored the shampoo bottle for the first time. I could practically hear it screaming my name. And what about conditioner? I hate combing out my hair already. What on earth am I going to do without conditioner?
So I got my baking soda paste together and rubbed it pretty thoroughly through my scalp. If that's what I have to clean it with, that puppy is getting SCRUBBED. It didn't foam, it didn't work through my hair easily, it didn't feel like a typical wash, but I had made the decision and I was going to stick with it. So after I rinsed out the baking soda, I rinsed my scalp and hair with apple cider vinegar and water.
Wow. What an underwhelming sensation it is to know that I was purposefully putting something in my hair that smelled like stinky feet. Blah. I could only hope it didn't smell that way when I got out of the shower. So I let that soak for a little bit to balance out the ph of the baking soda and rinsed. Now my hair was a tangly, snarly mess and I did not even want to think about how I was going to get it combed out. There was a faint smell of apple cider vinegar, but I figured you'd have to bury your nose in my skull to find out and if you're getting that close, you've got something besides a sniff of my hair coming to you. I decided to blow dry it and then detangle it because I knew trying to brush it while it was wet would just cause more snarls. It was surprisingly easier than I thought to comb it out, and it actually felt and looked pretty darn clean. So I've been doing it for almost a week, now. I actually asked one of my friends to smell it the other night to see if I've just become immune to my own stench, but they said it didn't smell like anything, and it doesn't look greasy at all. I know it's only been a week, and according the the internet (and they don't lie on the internet! lolz) it'll be a few more weeks before things get really nasty and I'll want to wear a head scarf everywhere I go. But a short period of grossness followed by a lifetime of wonderfully naturally wavy, bouncy hair....hmm....I think I can put up with that. My apologies to everyone who has to look at me for those few weeks, though.
Ok...so now that you all know how disgusting my hair is let's move on to the internal cleanse. Right now I'm in the very beginning stages of step one which is a colon cleanse. Since this is my first time doing it I'll probably continue it for approximately four to six weeks. It all depends on what my body feels like.
That's one thing that I will reiterate to you over and over again. LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BODY!!!
I am following the protocol in my favorite "diet" book of all time, "The Coconut Diet" by Cheri Calbom. This book has literally changed my life and is a major part of the reason I have decided to walk down the naturopathic career path.
So, as I said, the first part is the colon cleanse, then I'll be moving on to liver, gall bladder, and kidney cleanses. She promises less cellulite, faded wrinkles, glowing skin and a whole bunch of other stuff, so I'm really curious to see how this is going to affect me. I should probably take a before and after picture, and IF I'm satisfied with the results of the after picture I'll post them for you guys.
So for the colon cleanse I've done sort of a semi-fast for the first few days. Raw food only and only if I get SUPER hungry. After a week or so, I'll add in more meals of strictly raw food and towards the end I'll start putting light animal proteins back in: eggs, yogurt, raw milk, etc.
I'm drinking a fiber shake three times a day which....isn't the best or the worst thing in the world. Luckily it goes down fairly easy and the taste disappears in a few seconds. Then there's a herbal cleanse that I take three times a day, and a probiotic morning and night to make sure that the good bacteria remain in my intestinal tract after so much cleaning. The only thing I haven't worked up enough courage for, yet, is the enema. I promised myself I would do one tonight, so I've got water heating and I'm sitting here procrastinating, trying to tell myself it will be ok. I don't even know why I'm so scared. It's just water, and it all comes back out.
Ok, so I won't go into too much detail about it tomorrow when I post, but I will let you know, noob to noob, if it's something to fear or embrace.
And, hey, if you've done one before and you're reading this, please feel free to let me know what you like, what you don't like, any special tips or "recipes" you've tried and I'll try them out and let all the readers know what I think.
'Cuz, you know, it's, like, a blog and I'm, like, narcissistic and stuff.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Hey Everyone!
This is my first blog post ever, so I'm pretty excited about how this is going to turn out. I'm sure that just starting out things will seem jumbled, unprofessional, and altogether irritating at times. However, as I progress I hope that all you military wives out there will continue coming back to this blog to find advice, support, and encouragement in your daily lives.
Yes, this is targeted towards military wives, but that doesn't mean that military husbands, or anyone short on time looking to live a healthy lifestyle will be shoo'd away. You are all welcome here, but I figured I'd write from a position with which I am familiar.
Ok, maybe not VERY familiar. My husband just started tech school on Monday. He is going to be an F-16 crew chief which is pretty much his dream job. Favorite aircraft, and he's been doing mechanical work since he entered the world. lol. So I may not have years of experience as a military wife, but us newbies might have some good ideas, too. You are all welcome to comment, lend your own advice and tips, and even give some words of correction and constructive criticism if you feel it is necessary.
I AM familiar with being short on time since I have a nearly full time job, two wonderful children, a house to clean, meals to cook, workouts to complete, school to teach (I am beginning home school with my oldest daughter), trips to plan, budgets to work out, church functions, and still find some time to just get away and breathe a little.
So I hope that the advice, real life examples, and videos that I post here will help you all feel encouraged and lend a hand to finding those few minutes a day to take care of yourselves.
Starting out, I will mostly be documenting my journey to be as healthy as possible. My ultimate goal is to have a doctorate in naturopathy, but for now I'm doing baby steps to get there. I will be starting my education as a personal trainer next month, so to prepare for that I have lost 20 pounds since May 11th 2010, I am currently on a cleanse regimen, and hopefully when I am finished with the certification process I will look the part.
I started at 175lbs after giving birth to my second daughter on June 18, 2009. On my 5'8" frame that was well over the healthy range. Growing up in a family where health and weight have always been pretty big issues and having multiple family members with diabetes, I decided enough was enough. I didn't know exactly where to start, so weight loss was slow and discouraging. We didn't have medical insurance, so I had to find my own ways to getting my weight down and making sure I was healthy. I wanted to live a long, happy life with my children without worrying about medications, shots, or medical boosts just to stay alive. A naturally healthy life just gleamed with the promise of being absolutely freeing. Imagine being able to go on a week long camping trip down the beach and not having to bring along insulin, or blood pressure pills. Imagine being able to wake up and go for a swim in the surf without taking a handful of medication, first. I've never had to rely on prescriptions before, but seeing the health of my extended family, that possibility was probably only a few decades down the road. I don't want to be a feeble grandma. I want to be outrunning my grandchildren when I'm seventy. Yes, it is possible to be old AND strong, but in order to reach that level of health I knew I could not put off being healthy any longer. If you are older and you are reading this, IT IS NOT TOO LATE. It is NEVER to late to take charge of your own health. I have read countless testimonials of people who have been cured of diseases that conventional doctors said they would have to live with for the rest of their lives. One of my favorite stories is that of Jordan Rubin. You can find a lot of information about him and he is a wonderfully humble and knowledgeable expert in his field.
It is a personal belief of mine that we should STRIVE to be independently healthy. Now, I am not so naive or narrow minded that I think doctors, hospitals, and medications are absolutely unnecessary and people just use them as a crutch. I know people who think this way and it really ticks me off. Some people just don't have an option. However, many of us have bought into the medical brainwashing and hold false beliefs as true simply because we haven't been told the truth and we haven't been given an option. I believe that most doctors teach on a standpoint from which they were trained, so I do not blame them for the wrong advice they give, or the harmful medications they prescribe. They are simply doing what they have been taught and believe is right for you. The simple truth is that doctors save lives and I am very grateful for their presence in this world.
But what if most of those lives didn't NEED saving? What if YOU could be responsible for your own health without the side effects of drugs or the misery of living with heart disease, diabetes, thyroid dysfuntion, and other weight-related health complications? A lot of freeing yourself from those supposedly "incurable" diseases lies in how much initiative YOU are willing take for your own health. If you like having to take pills and rely on someone else for your daily breath, this blog is probably not for you.
But if you're willing to get up, push yourself for a few minutes each day, and open your mind to an alternative healthy lifestyle, stick around and you'll probably read about some things that will shock you, things with which you may already be familiar, and the motivation and support to start overhauling your lifestyle and celebrating the fullness of life in your healthy body.
Yes, this is targeted towards military wives, but that doesn't mean that military husbands, or anyone short on time looking to live a healthy lifestyle will be shoo'd away. You are all welcome here, but I figured I'd write from a position with which I am familiar.
Ok, maybe not VERY familiar. My husband just started tech school on Monday. He is going to be an F-16 crew chief which is pretty much his dream job. Favorite aircraft, and he's been doing mechanical work since he entered the world. lol. So I may not have years of experience as a military wife, but us newbies might have some good ideas, too. You are all welcome to comment, lend your own advice and tips, and even give some words of correction and constructive criticism if you feel it is necessary.
I AM familiar with being short on time since I have a nearly full time job, two wonderful children, a house to clean, meals to cook, workouts to complete, school to teach (I am beginning home school with my oldest daughter), trips to plan, budgets to work out, church functions, and still find some time to just get away and breathe a little.
So I hope that the advice, real life examples, and videos that I post here will help you all feel encouraged and lend a hand to finding those few minutes a day to take care of yourselves.
Starting out, I will mostly be documenting my journey to be as healthy as possible. My ultimate goal is to have a doctorate in naturopathy, but for now I'm doing baby steps to get there. I will be starting my education as a personal trainer next month, so to prepare for that I have lost 20 pounds since May 11th 2010, I am currently on a cleanse regimen, and hopefully when I am finished with the certification process I will look the part.
I started at 175lbs after giving birth to my second daughter on June 18, 2009. On my 5'8" frame that was well over the healthy range. Growing up in a family where health and weight have always been pretty big issues and having multiple family members with diabetes, I decided enough was enough. I didn't know exactly where to start, so weight loss was slow and discouraging. We didn't have medical insurance, so I had to find my own ways to getting my weight down and making sure I was healthy. I wanted to live a long, happy life with my children without worrying about medications, shots, or medical boosts just to stay alive. A naturally healthy life just gleamed with the promise of being absolutely freeing. Imagine being able to go on a week long camping trip down the beach and not having to bring along insulin, or blood pressure pills. Imagine being able to wake up and go for a swim in the surf without taking a handful of medication, first. I've never had to rely on prescriptions before, but seeing the health of my extended family, that possibility was probably only a few decades down the road. I don't want to be a feeble grandma. I want to be outrunning my grandchildren when I'm seventy. Yes, it is possible to be old AND strong, but in order to reach that level of health I knew I could not put off being healthy any longer. If you are older and you are reading this, IT IS NOT TOO LATE. It is NEVER to late to take charge of your own health. I have read countless testimonials of people who have been cured of diseases that conventional doctors said they would have to live with for the rest of their lives. One of my favorite stories is that of Jordan Rubin. You can find a lot of information about him and he is a wonderfully humble and knowledgeable expert in his field.
It is a personal belief of mine that we should STRIVE to be independently healthy. Now, I am not so naive or narrow minded that I think doctors, hospitals, and medications are absolutely unnecessary and people just use them as a crutch. I know people who think this way and it really ticks me off. Some people just don't have an option. However, many of us have bought into the medical brainwashing and hold false beliefs as true simply because we haven't been told the truth and we haven't been given an option. I believe that most doctors teach on a standpoint from which they were trained, so I do not blame them for the wrong advice they give, or the harmful medications they prescribe. They are simply doing what they have been taught and believe is right for you. The simple truth is that doctors save lives and I am very grateful for their presence in this world.
But what if most of those lives didn't NEED saving? What if YOU could be responsible for your own health without the side effects of drugs or the misery of living with heart disease, diabetes, thyroid dysfuntion, and other weight-related health complications? A lot of freeing yourself from those supposedly "incurable" diseases lies in how much initiative YOU are willing take for your own health. If you like having to take pills and rely on someone else for your daily breath, this blog is probably not for you.
But if you're willing to get up, push yourself for a few minutes each day, and open your mind to an alternative healthy lifestyle, stick around and you'll probably read about some things that will shock you, things with which you may already be familiar, and the motivation and support to start overhauling your lifestyle and celebrating the fullness of life in your healthy body.
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