Going Paleo...and a little "catch-up"

Well, another year has passed, or two...or three.  Amazing how quickly time can fly by!  Some events between the beginning of this blog and now?  Well, returned to the States from Korea, back to the same town, job, etc.  but with a new view on things.  New relationship, followed a year and a half later by an engagement.  Vacation in Mexico, met the in-laws in New York, visited Las Vegas, my family in Montana, New Orleans, San Francisco.  Started and completed my Master's degree in Linguistically Diverse Education.  Added a wonderful new little man to our family - Oskar - a Bernese Mountain Dog.  Got a new job at a very old High School.  Lots of other day to day stuff...

Health?  Up and down - but what matters is that it is up again.  :-)  With Master's degree behind me, and as I begin feeling more comfortable in my new job, I  am again focusing on how to make the most of my health.  Last year we discovered that my fiancé has gluten "problems"  - to what degree we don't know (cause he won't go to the doctor :-) ) but let's just say we are all happier when he stays away from gluten (and dairy).  So, over the last year we have learned how to live more or less without it.  I had gone through a several months of cutting out all sugar from my diet when I first returned from Korea, so I am not stranger to leaving out pastas and breads.  There are a lot of great alternatives available such as rice pastas, gluten free breads, etc. and we were able to do pretty well without gluten (aside from the occasional desire for a good microbrew!  We have, however, developed a strong affection for wine, which has been a lot of fun!)

Fast forward to the New Year.  Both of us had pretty much stopped working out, though we were staying away from gluten and dairy, our diet was not great, and we generally were feeling fat and unhealthy.  Browsing Amazon one day in search of some motivation for the new year, I came across a book The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf.  I was hooked immediately, mostly because the diet recommendations (more of a lifestyle than a diet)  just made sense to me, and it fit nicely into the way that we already eat in our house.

We officially started following the Paleo "diet" last week, and I feel so much better already!  I have read about half of the book, we have started working out more regularly, and really cleaned up our diet.  The first couple of days I struggled a bit with the whole "hmm...I really think I am hungry.  I just ate, but something sweet or salty sounds so good.  Maybe a slice of bread?!"  By this weekend I have lost most of the cravings.  We have eaten really well - guacamole, steak, salmon, salads, scrambled eggs, nuts galore, shrimp and squid.  I even bought a beautiful cookbook Paleo Comfort Foods:  Homestyle Cooking for a Gluten Free Kitchen by Julie Sullivan Mayfield.  The photos are awesome and the recipes are great - can't wait to start making some of them!  We went to Whole Foods this weekend and got some seafood and some buffalo - delish!

What is Paleo?  Well, exactly what you might think.  Basically, the way I understand it so far, it is returning to the way of eating  of our Paleolithic ancestors - hunter/gatherer style - meats, vegetables, fruits, fats, herbs and spices - no grains...at all.  Eating foods that our bodies are genetically designed to eat.  There is an amazing amount of research and information available out there to learn more about eating "Paleo", and I am still in the process of figuring out exactly what it means for us and our lifestyle.  So far, we am really happy with how it is going, and I think it is a great lifestyle change for us both.  I think this is really the way I would prefer to eat, but didn't have a guideline to use.  I may occasionally add some rice, sweet potatoes, wine, but right now I am more interested in the changes that I am feeling in my health and already seeing in my body.  The first week or so I lost a few pounds - most likely just water weight at this point, but it feels fabulous.  I have been really frustrated by bags under my eyes the last several months, and they are pretty much gone, I have more energy so far, and my poor bloated belly is back to normal.  Yay!  Looking forward to the next week, and the week after that, and ...

That's all for today.  Hoping to actually following up and write more regularly about our dietary changes, and resources we are finding that are helpful and interesting.

Coming out of a slump is hard to do...

So, in my last post I talked about how much more conscious of my health I am now, and how my habits have changed. That is true in some regards. Unfortunately, knowing what is good for you and doing it is not always the way it works out. With a maddeningly busy schedule the last few months, the onset of winter, and a bit of depression due to being away from home, I have definitely allowed myself to fall back to a less-than-healthy state. I am trying to pull myself back out of it, but it is always harder to get started again than to maintain healthy habits. I am happy to say that there are certain things about my lifestyle that are just second nature to me - using my home-made household cleaners, taking a good plant-based supplement - but there are so many things that I have to work just a little bit to make a common part of my life; and on those things I have been doing a terrible job lately. I have not been eating very healthy, and probably need to abstain from sugar for a couple of weeks at the very least. I have not been drinking as much water as I should, have been drinking more caffeine than I would like to, am not getting nearly enough rest, and have not been getting nearly enough exercise the last 2-3 months. My emotions have been erratic, and I am tired all of the time. Part of this is due to my schedule, and part of it is just due to the lack of attention I have been paying to my health.

The good news is that I am aware of my situation and winter is close to being over. I am so affected by winter that I have come to dread the 3 months - and kind of feel trapped during that time. S.A.D. for sure! This last weekend was really nice here, though, and I am feeling more myself after spending several hours in the sun. Back to healthy, and feeling better. Just a part of the cycle of life - sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down! :)

In my next 30 years...

I find it funny, now, as a newly-turned 30 year old, that at one time this age seemed so old.  In some ways, I do fear the age, but in so many others, I feel no different than I did 10 years ago.  One of the glaring realities of being 30 is that my body is truly aging.  I see wrinkles in new places, I am constantly picking at my gray hairs, and the general tone of my skin has changed.I have finally reached the place in my life where I know that changes need to be made...NOW...and for good. 

My whole life I have been interested in "holistic" health, in herbs, massage, chiropractic care, acupuncture...the list goes on.  I remember going to the holistic doctor with my mom, and thinking that this is what I wanted to do - someday I would know enough to help other people with their health.  Through the years,  I have dabbled here and there, gone though phases of interest, have taken holistic nutrition classes, read books upon books, looked at naturopath and nutrition programs, an ultimately, ended up where I am:  finally aware of what direction I want my future to go in, and finally committed to making it happen.

It is funny how things have a way of working out far before you can see it yourself.  After a year of questioning and searching,  I have found myself half a world away from my friends and family, in Korea.  Having cleared out the clutter in my life at home, and beginning a job - note the word job - that allows me to focus on my life again, I find myself able to investigate and pursue the things in life that I believe truly define me best.  I have really begun to focus on my nutrition here - and probably for the first time in my life,  I am coming very close to eating all of the fruits and vegetables that are recommended for our diets.  I have spent much of the ample free time I have here in increasing my knowledge of nutrition and holistic therapies in general.  I have committed to almost daily yoga practice, and am actively detoxifying my body after 30 years of being rebellious and eating and doing "whatever I wanted".  I have consiously chosen to replace all of my cleaning products with homemade, non-toxic cleansers, and am systematically going through all of my products as I use them up, and am replacing them with "green", less toxic versions.  I am truly in a place where I am able to make major life changes, and I am so grateful, because I am a person who is distracted easily by the hustle and bustle of life.  For the first time, I can hear myself think, and I can actually follow through and so many of the things that I have tried so diligently over the years to accomplish.

This is, by no means, a "sudden"  change for me.  Health has always been a major focus for me, it is just that I have seemed to always have a roadblock.  They came in the form of emotions, insecurities, immaturity, etc.  I still have many things to overcome here - I am and will always be, an emotional eater, but I am aware of that, and I can better deal with it.  

So, this blog is about the title - Living in Good Health, and about this post - The next 30 Years...  I haven't done a terrible job with the 30 years I have experienced, but there is so much I can do to make the next 30 so much more healthy and happy.