Chaper 2.3: No Cheating! November

Me? An actual certified and practicing teacher cheating in my own imaginary textbook???? That seriously does sound crazy, but let me explain.

I have NOT not been working out, which has been awesome! An hour a day, usually in a class/gym setting, although sometimes I’ve simply snatched a quick run, walked a lot, or done hardcore chores that left me sweating. I feel fabulous–despite the crap I’ve been eating, and let me tell you, some of the stuff I’ve ingested over the last week would make a billy goat look twice.

So is this cheating? Working out as planned, but binging like a brand new divorcee parked at a Ben & Jerry’s? Yes yes yes and YES! It’s so gross! And I know I’d feel sooooo much better if I was taking all the things I’ve learned about food, health & nutrition, and ADDED them to my daily practice instead of just blowing them off! I mean, if I feel about as good from working out daily as I did from eating right, then the combination of the two should have exponential effects!
I can’t wait.

So the plan! Luckily I ended the gross-streak on the last day of October (Halloween chocolate Horror stories, anyone? I’ve got a few…) so I’m starting fresh this month! November is going to be a busy 30 days for me, but with a combination of eating right and exercising daily, it’s going to rock.

November
Exercise every day!

1-4: Vegetarian only & no refined sugar

5-7: Vegan, to get ready for

8-17: Raw food with dad! It’s been months since our last raw food endeavor, and it’s so much easier to eat raw with a partner! By now we know how to do it well though, and it will prepare us for

18-24: A Thanksgiving cruise with the family! On average people gain 5-15 pounds on a cruise (for real!) but if you treat them like spas you can actually improve your well being on them. I’ll have to figure out how to do this well later. Rest assured there will be a full report.

Uh-oh–going to be late for yoga! Until next time, eat seasonally and be well!

Chapter 2.2: Exercise & Pain

There’s a reason for the obesity epidemic sweeping the country.
(Well ok, millions of reasons, many of which have drive-thru windows, but let’s focus on just one for now…)

Working out HURTS.

Your muscle fibers start tearing up, the oxygen in your bloodstream gets used up, and the lactic acid your body produces because of this can make your over-worked muscles feel sore for DAYS.
(These are super-simplified descriptions of highly scientific science, by the way. Check out the links throughout to get info from people more in touch with their inner scientist.)

Now, if you haven’t noticed by now I have an addictive personality, food being at the top of my sin list.
So you can imagine how excited I was when I realized that endorphins are a drug naturally produced by your body to reduce pain–ever heard of the “runners high”?
…could it be possible to replace my addiction to sweets with an addiction to the sweet sweet feeling of running five miles?

All About Endorphins

Endorphins 101: This great guide to all things endorphins makes working out seem sexy. Speaking of sexy, turns out that not only working out, but sex, happy thoughts, art, and chili peppers can also get your endorphins going. Hot stuff!

Others tout the 3 E’s: Exercise, Endorphins, and Euphoria as a team with as much success as the three musketeers.

And if you weren’t already convinced, exercise has been shown to help with depression, according to the WebMD. Check out the awesome benefits of exercise-related endorphins:

Regular exercise has been proven to help:

* Reduce stress
* Ward off anxiety and feelings of depression
* Boost self-esteem
* Improve sleep

Exercise also has these added health benefits:

* It strengthens your heart.
* It increases energy levels.
* It lowers blood pressure.
* It improves muscle tone and strength.
* It strengthens and builds bones.
* It helps reduce body fat.
* It makes you look fit and healthy.

Makes sense that my grueling yoga class last night left me feeling great, despite the pain of repeated plank position. I’ll be ready for more at Zumba tonight!

Chapter II: A New Level in Living Longer

Well, it finally happened. I officially crammed so much trivial information about eating, detox, food and nutrition into my brain that gravity collapsed within me last weekend, forming a black hole which was noticed to devour:
-at least a dozen Reeses,
-a six pack of beer so black most people don’t even like it,
-oreos,
-snickers, and
-a tantalizing trio of dark chocolate truffles.
Other, even more horrifying sights, like the late-night Taco Bell that was consumed, oozing greasy red hot sauce, disappeared into the black hole without anyone even noticing.

Truly horrifying, even despite the health benefits supposed about dark chocolate and dark beer.

Still, there’s something to be learned here!

The experience reminds me of miserably trying to master math. I would think that I could never possibly understand and quadratic formula of chapter 5 until, against my will, chapter 6 came along, which was twice as hard! I could barely get through it, but damn, looking back at my homework from the week before, the quadratic equation sure was easy!
The so the moral of my story: No matter how hard you study or practice eating right or whatever, you will generally continue to suck at it for awhile…until you push yourself to do something even harder, and in that way master your former challenges.

So! Whats the next big challenge?
Exercise!

I’ve been detoxing, fasting, eating raw food, looked orthorexia right in the face and shot back with a weekend of binge eating that says, “sure I might be crazy, but I’m not your kind of crazy.”
I’m sick of thinking about food! I know enough to know better by now if I’m really screwing up, and even plenty of good tidbits, like to always get plenty of omega-3s for great skin. If food was Chapter 1, I’ve learned it all, mastered it, and gotten drunk after the test. Time for Chapter 2: exercising!

Right now I’m keeping things very simple.
My goal is to work out for 1 hour a day.
I’m not talking hardcore sweating-trembling-muscles-at-the-brink-breakdown exercise, I mean brisk physical activity of any kind, with at least a few times a week being more intense.
Today I did some energizing yoga stretches, including the Wild Thing, before going on a long bike ride. Turned into quite a battle with the wind coming over the bay, but the flowers blooming at Moody Gardens distracted me. An hour well spent.

We’ll have to consider this Chapter 2.1 in the Big Book of Living to 2100– just like in math. Let’s see how it goes this week before moving on!