Do you ever have one of those days where anyone and everyone is on your last nerve? I had one the other day. I felt like Sansa when she *thinks* she hears a noise and goes running to the window to check if anyone is in our driveway and when there’s not, decides to check the window to the back porch, and when there’s no one there she just keeps going back and forth between the two, determined that SOMETHING is out there and it’s pissing her off. That was me, being irrationally mad at the world. Unlike Sansa, I had actual causers, however, had I not been resolute in my desire to be in my idgaf mood, I probably wouldn’t have been so upset by them. There is something encouraging about my mood that day, despite my negativity. My typical response to stress is to shut down, go to sleep, maybe even cry (not very often), so being able to be really angry felt good, in a weird way. I rarely have strong emotions anymore and having them makes me feel human. I had to teach yoga that night and we were starting a new routine, which always stresses me out, and I’m sure, added to my moodiness of the day. I really wasn’t feeling it but when I commit to doing something, I do it. So I went to class and had a great turnout. That alone lifted my mood and by the time I got home I wasn’t cranky anymore and actually felt pretty happy. Have you heard the saying, “You’re one workout away from a good mood?” I can testify to that statement. Although, I must say that it depends on your workout preference for whether or not you’ll really benefit from it, mentally anyway. You always benefit from a workout physically. What I mean is, I don’t enjoy high impact exercising anymore. I used to be a cardio queen but just the thought of jumping and doing burpees now is enough to make me feel queasy. I enjoy yoga though. A walk can also lift my spirits. Exercising doesn’t require some big plan. Just get up. Go do something. It will help, I promise.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Mass Marketing: Is It Influencing You?
Why are we always looking for the next new thing? We as a society are influenced so heavily by mass corporations and I don’t even think we realize it. I went shopping today, July 18, and Kroger had Halloween themed Reese cups out. School supplies have been out for weeks now. I heard at least three commercials for Christmas in July. It’s sickening. There are very few holidays between May and September that they can market new things for. Especially since they’ve been selling summer to us since February. Why can’t we just be happy with the current season or even just the day? What’s wrong with enjoying mid-July just for the simple fact that it’s finally summer. I know not everyone loves summer like I do but if you do, you’ve probably been waiting for it to come and now that it’s finally here, I don’t want to think about Halloween. There’s no reason to buy Halloween candy right now. Do you know what happens if you do? That's right, you eat it and then have to buy more. That’s the entire point. School supplies are out now when school doesn’t start for two more months. I’m not sure if teachers send out a list of needed supplies anymore but if they do, you haven’t gotten it yet because teachers are on summer break. If you go ahead and buy what you think your kids will need now, you may get it right. You may also buy things you don’t need. Wal-Mart is counting on it. I know people who start Christmas shopping in July and sometimes even earlier. I’ve done it before because I like to get things done and feel less stressed. This works only if, come December, oh who am I kidding, come OCTOBER, when they start putting out Christmas stuff, and you have finished your shopping, you actually STOP SHOPPING. It’s been my experience that I end up just buying more because I don’t feel the pull on the purse strings quite as strong because the money has been spent throughout the year rather than all at once. In my opinion, Christmas has lost all meaning and is a terribly commercialized holiday that creates little more than stress in my life. Is that what it should be about? Even in a non-religious manner, Christmas should be about spending time with family, enjoying traditional foods, buying the people you love something because you want to, not because it’s an obligation. We spend too much time, energy, and money on trying to buy happiness, I think. Shopping used to be a go-to of mine when I was feeling sad. Now I have a house full of things, most of which I don’t care about and many I’d like to be rid of. Do any of these things make me truly happy? Very few. Most actually cause me undue stress because now I have to find a place to store them or a way to be rid of them. I could donate them but it’s hard to just give away money. I sell some on Ebay but that requires time. Some days it’s hard to make myself want to even deal with it. So I don’t. But then I ALWAYS feel like there’s something else that needs done. Sigh.
The moral of this narrative is that I need to buy less things. Things can’t make me happy. Experiences, relationships, good memories. Those are what make me happy. Have more of those 💜.
Monday, July 9, 2018
Diet Is Not A Dirty Word
I’ve been struggling for quite a while with how I feel about my body. I’ve gained weight over the last year and now that I’m out of my twenties, it doesn’t come off like it used to. Before you make any sort of comment about how I don’t have any weight to lose, let me stop you. How you feel about how I look doesn’t concern me. Just because you may feel as though you have more weight to lose and that you would love to have a body like mine doesn’t make me feel any better. I don’t have any sort of disorder that affects my judgement on this matter and skews how I view myself so there’s no need for your concern. Please don’t minimize my opinion because of your own feelings. You do you, I’ll do me and let’s get on with it. Everyone has body issues; everyone has something they don’t like about themselves. Remember that.
I’ve been interested in health and fitness for quite some time now, even more so in the past five years. I got a degree in Nutrition Science because I wanted to help others but also because I wanted to learn how to eat to help myself be the healthiest that I can be. The funny thing is that knowing what you should eat and do doesn’t always motivate you to do it, nor is it easy. I go through phases of eating right and then falling back off the wagon. The last time I fell off was right around Thanksgiving last year and I have not been able to hop back on. I started reading a book that I hope is going to change my life. I don’t want to talk too much about it just yet because I haven’t finished it and I haven’t implemented all the changes that it suggests but I’m working on it and I hope to tell you about it soon. I’m a science loving girl and it goes into detail about how different foods, namely sugar and flour, affect the brain and create addiction. It’s fascinating. In the meantime, while I’m reading and preparing for change I’ve been trying to stick to the Ketogenic diet. You may have heard of it being called just the Keto diet. I know what people think when they see the word diet: restriction, frustration, maybe even failure. The premise of this diet is to eat low carbs and high fat. If you don’t know how the body works you may think that eating fat would be counterproductive to weight loss but that’s not true. There are three macronutrients—carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Carbs are our body’s main source of energy. They work quickly but don’t last long, which is why you may get a spike in energy when you eat a carb heavy meal but then feel a crash. Your body uses what it needs to fuel the activity that you’re doing shortly after eating and whatever it doesn’t need for energy, because, say, you’re sitting on the couch and not expending any energy, it converts to fat and is stored for usage later. However, it’s not needed later when we ingest more carbs, which the body uses first. How ketosis works is this, you eat such a small amount of carbs that the body then has to start relying on fat for fuel. Now, you’re still eating fat so it will use whatever is present first, however, eating fat makes you feel more satisfied and less hungry, meaning you’ll eventually start eating less to feel full and the body will start breaking down stored fat for energy at that point. For heart health, “good” fats are the target; unsaturated, not saturated or trans. Another benefit to eating less carbs is that carbs make you store water, giving you that bloated feeling that I, at least, feel every day. When the body moves into ketosis (burning fat for energy instead of carbs), you no longer have those water reserves and feel slimmer pretty shortly afterward.
I’m not suggesting that the Keto diet is right for you, I’m only telling you what I have been trying. The most important part of this whole narrative is that I am trying again. I feel like I’m ready to stop starting over. I have to make real lifestyle changes to have lasting effects. This isn’t at all solely about weight loss for me though. I would like to lose some weight; the ideal body weight for a woman of my height (5’ 5”) is 125 lbs, +/- 10%, which equals 112-137, to be considered in the “normal” category. I don’t care about labels and being “normal,” I just know that that weight range is where I will feel the most healthy. The numbers for ideal body aren’t right for every person or body type. Certain medical conditions can affect your body composition and ability to lose weight. They’re just numbers. I honestly don’t care what the number on my scale says, I only care how I feel about my body and I only mentioned it as a frame of reference. For me, kicking carbs is about breaking my sugar addiction. When I’m ready to talk about what I’m reading I hope that you’ll be as intrigued as I am at how food addiction is a real thing and at the effects that sugar has on the brain.
**If you have any sort of medical condition talking to your doctor before starting a new diet or exercise program is always the right thing to do.
According to dictionary.com, there are 11 different definitions in our American English language for the word diet. Not one of them includes the word “starvation,” which I believe is a pretty common word associated with dieting.
1. food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health
2. a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease
3. such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight
4. the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group
5. food or feed habitually eaten or provided
6. anything that is habitually provided or partaken of
7. to regulate the food of, especially in order to improve the physical condition
8. to feed
9. to select or limit the food one eats to improve one's physical condition or to lose weight
10. to eat or feed according to the requirements of a diet
11. suitable for consumption with a weight-reduction diet
Let’s take a look at this.
1. food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health
I love the last part of the this definition: “its effects
on health.” I think as a society, the majority have
forgotten that there’s a massive correlation
between what we eat—our diet—and how we feel.
The American lifestyle is go, go, go and
convenience takes precedence over nutrition.
Unfortunately, very few “convenience” foods
having much nutritional value.
2. A particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease
I’m not sure that I can put this in any clearer terms;
eating healthy food can IMPROVE A PERSON’S I
CONDITION OR PREVENT OR TREAT A DISEASE.
Pretty important stuff right there.
3. such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight
Ahh, here’s the definition that gets a bad rep.
Limitation. No one’s favorite word. I believe one of
the biggest reasons (and there are many) that
people fail when they try to “diet” is that they think
dieting means starvation and total restriction from
favorite foods. A plan that is set up with those
parameters will most definitely fail. Guaranteed.
When trying to lose weight it’s normal to feel
hungry for a little bit. Your body has adjusted
to eating more than you need but eventually your
stomach will shrink again and those times, such as
drinking water, drinking carbonated drinks,
chewing gum, etc. It’s important to make changes
slowly. Trying to change your whole life in one day
isn’t going to work. Yes, you want fast results but
those results won’t last once you go back to your
old lifestyle, which you will if you haven’t
committed to making a real change.
4. the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group
THIS. This is my definition of the word diet. It isn’t a
bad word. It simply means, “the foods one eats.” If
I’m talking about diet and there’s not a proper
noun in front of it (i.e. Keto, Paleo, Adkins, etc.)
assume that this is what I mean.
5. food or feed habitually eaten or provided
See #4
6. anything that is habitually provided or partaken of.
See #4
7. to regulate the food of, especially in order to improve the physical condition
To improve the physical condition. Feed your body
good food because you love it, don’t starve it
because you hate it. We only get one life with one
body, why not spend our time being healthy and
happy instead of fighting disease and feeling badly?
8. to feed
It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
9. To select or limit the food one eats to improve one's physical condition or to lose weight
See #3 and #7
10. to eat or feed according to the requirements of a diet
This is the tricky part, eating what’s required for
optimal health, rather than what we think we
“need” or want.
11. suitable for consumption with a weight-reduction diet
This includes whole grains, vegetables (and not the
ones smothered in sauce), fruits, dairy (check
nutrition facts on flavored yogurts..most are
LOADED with sugar. 4 grams of sugar=1 teaspoon),
lean meats and water. Water is an essential
nutrient, one that Americans don’t get nearly
enough of. If you don’t like plain water, put some
fruits or veggies in it to liven it up. Or drink
unsweetened sparkling water.
I look forward to seeing what the future holds. I’m excited to be taking control of my health again and I plan to share my progress and regressions along the way. If you take nothing else away from this, at least remember this: we’re all on our own journey. Don’t compare yourself to someone else. They aren’t you, you aren’t them. If you are unhappy with your body, you have to make the change, no one else can do it for you. I’m here to help you, if I can.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)