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 2.1: Exercise & Setting Goals

I talked a lot of smack yesterday about I’ve moved on from food obsession, upgraded to Chapter 2 , where I pledged to focus on exercise and get an hour workout every day.

Talk is easy.

Doing stuff is hard.

This is lesson one.

I found right off the bat that trying to wake up early and be jazzed about push-ups was not going to happen. Sure a goal of working out 1 hour a day seems solid and specific, both good characteristics of goals, in my humble experience.

So I thought back to the thoughts that had even led me to my fancy for buffing up as my next endeavor to live to see the year 2100. I must admit a seductively exotic Yoga Journal article (November 2010) about yoga vacations in the rainforest had enticed me to dream of being the type of person who went here:

So my big time dream?
Go to one of these retreats one day. Gotta be in shape for it though! So that’s something to keep me motivated when I begin to doubt my real devotion to living for(almost)ever…and working out an hour a day.

Unfortunately, just envisioning sunset-plumed parrots swooping down on me as I practice my pigeon pose doesn’t get me working out in the morning.
I need a super-duper-mega-ultra goal.
So what’s it gonna be? The goal that trumps the brain-awake but body-sluggish laze of the first waking moments of consciousness in the morning? The vision, including the attached regular and long-term effort?
Becoming a yoga teacher. If you haven’t noticed my now, I’m an uber-nerd. I love school, and to be a certified yoga teacher most of the programs require 2 years of daily practice (30mins to an hour). Awesome looking schools in cool cities like Asheville, North Carolina, Boston, MA and more would be a hoot to spend 3 weeks or so in reading the Dhammapada and learning about yoga massage.
One day.

Till then, my goals, from the tiniest daily goal to long-term yearly goals/dream vacations, are set. Makes it much easier to do my thing on a day like today, when my Zumba exercise class was canceled and beach yoga (a rare pleasure) was deemed impossible due to the tide. Despite all odds, I made it through a cathartic hour-long yoga session at home. Yoga Journal’s November 2010 issue led me through 10 poses to build strength & grace. Good stuff.

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!

30 Dates with my Liver #21: Planning your Future Together

So my liver and I only have a handful of dates left in our month together, and it’s time to start looking forward. Forward to a time when my liver and I can live in harmony through habit, without the daily date and focused attention that this honeymoon period has consisted of.

This is a huge period of transition for me too, so I’m glad I’ve keeping my liver in mind as I figure out my daily/weekly routines for the coming few months. I just quit the bartending job (which my liver REALLY appreciates. Not that I’ll be away from all bars by any means, but it’s a bit too easy to hop on the other side of the bar more than you might otherwise), and I’m about to start a teaching internship while setting up a working painting studio. Suuuuuperrrrr exciting, but being the detail and planning happy Virgo that I am, I’m putting forth a big effort now to make sure my schedule is an infrastructure for success in these enterprises.

So how am I planning for a future that will help me live to 2100 and keep my liver humming along happily?

First off, the virtues of having a regular schedule for your body cannot be exaggerated. Humans are creatures of habit, and if you haven’t put some thought into what your habits are, you may be snowballing into a lifestyle you wouldn’t have chosen, if you had thought to make the choice. Regular exercisecan greatly improve your mood, your looks, and lengthen your lifespan according to the Mayo Clinic. Experts just won’t shut up about the importance of regularly getting enough sleep. The keyword to all of this is regular, and having lived spontaneously for most the past 23 years, doing these things regularly is not something you just suddenly feel like doing, most of the time.

Here is my nerdy nerdy hour-by-hour sample day as I was allotting time for each of the things I plan to do regularly. Your body luuuuuvs routine-when it gets to do the same thing every day, it gets really good at doing that thing, whether it’s sitting around watching T.V. or sending out lots of nutrients to your body at 8:30 am. Your liver particularly works like clockwork-2am rolls around and it really starts working on what you had for dinner (which is why if you were naughty the night before and your liver still isn’t finished by the time you wake up, you might think you’re not a morning person).

So I’m going from working the night shift 2 nights a week and trying to be a day person the rest of the time to waking up every day at the same time! Working out every day at the same time! I’m even figuring out the times my favorite places have happy hour so I can be a regular there too! Woohoo!

My plan of attack for figuring all this out has been:

1) write down my needs for each and every day (# of hours of sleep, exercise, the stuff I want to do, and plenty of time for unknowns)

2) plot these loosely on a sketch of 2 12 hour clocks (I don’t know for sure how all this will play out till I am in the midst of it)

3) list weekly events I’d like to keep up with (visit the weekly farmers market for organic local produce, a Saturday meditation group, dinner with my Aunt on Thursdays, etc.)

4) brainstorm monthly or bi-monthly things I’ll need or want to do (a massage is sooo good for you, wash the car, 5 day fasts at the change of each season)

5) make sure my budget matches the amount of times I want to go out to eat…

Man do I love making lists.

30 Dates with my liver #17: Weekend Getaway

Forgive my absence, dear readers, but I’m just back a weekend getaway to Houston with the liver, a delicious mini-vacation your liver might also love to try sometime.

What were the keys to having a fantastically relaxing, liver-loving outing? Here’s what made this weekend such a helluva holistically good time.

1. Birds of a feather…
When you’re dating, it’s important that your friends like your current flame, and vice-versa, yes? It’s even more true when it comes to your relationship with your liver. After all, even if your friends despise the bad jokes on the table when your date attempts humor, your liver and theirs are all subject to the food you all eat and drink together.
Supportive friends are pivotal in major relationships in your life. They empathize, share stories, and generally keep you on the right track according to the common values you share.
Do you ever talk about health and nutrition with your friends? Not how cute their outfits are, or if who’s losing/gaining weight, but about energy levels, cooking, the benefits and pitfalls of certain foods? How what you’ve been eating affects your practice of working out, or vice-versa?

2. Dinner in the City
Eating out can be especially tricky when looking for human-sized portions and healthful cooking. Temptation is so easy to give into when you actually have to place the order for the fried or steamed rice.
Why bother?
Ease yourself out of the stress of worrying about whether you’ll eat healthy if you’re eating out or what could possibly be on the menu during a liver-detox by enjoying the therapeutic benefits of cooking at home. One fantastic thing about bigger cities are better grocery stores. Hubbell & Hudson, a gourmet grocery my friend frequents for it’s heavenly fresh juice bar and scintillating selection of fruits and veggies, made for an engaging shopping experience:
-fresh Watermelon beet basil and Pear ginger juice while we shopped
-descriptions of the various fruit and veggie options and proposals of how to enjoy them
-grains I’ve been looking for for ages that I’ve only been able to get on the Ukrainian black market
-A simplicity in the modest selection that didn’t overwhelm like some large specialty/high end grocery stores

My friend, who totally approves of me dating my liver and is such a help to strengthening that relationship, suggested stuffing orange bell peppers, which went deliciously. His gluten-free lifestyle lately has really helped his energy levels and digestion, so we had some tasty millet instead of bread crumbs for our stuffing. Roast veggies, including avocado and onion, along with a chopped egg or two, made this dish a real light and summery treat while we ate on the patio.

3. Yoga the night away

So last time we hung out, we thought we had invented this genius new thing-partner’s yoga. Then I discovered in my latest Yoga Journal that this practice has actually been going on thousands of years…so yeah, a little late getting that memo.
Since both of us practice at home, often with the guidance of the free video podcasts on Yoga Journal’s website, we were plenty used to the meditative calm of solo yoga. By partnering up, however, we were able to get feedback on the technique of each pose to improve our solo practice later.

We had a really great moment discovering Fish Pose, an incredible chest opener.

In partner-practice, I had a flashback to being in high school and giggling over Cosmo magazine while reading how to be in relationships, and of course the embarrassing stories. Flash forward to me working on my relationship with my liver (which loves the detoxifying and body-awakening yoga routine), and here I am with a friend again, reading straight out of a magazine (Yoga Journal this time) to learn more about the play by play of the Fish Pose.
I would highly recommend reading aloud with a partner as you work through poses from a magazine or website. Hope your day is going as well as my first weekend getaway with my liver!

30 Dates with my Liver #14: Reminiscing 80′s style

The 80′s rocked. I was born then, after all-my liver too. Tonight we took a moment to appreciate the awesomeness of this era.

There was a lot going down in the 80′s. Some not so good, if you have issues with animal testing and strange chemically things in your food. Unfortunately that’s still going on, so watch what you eat!

A lost art in life these days is the PSA- public service announcement. Unfortunately if you say anything that might vaguely implicate that the meat industry/big corporations of not healthy for you stuff, you get slammed with a lawsuit. Think of what happened when Oprah said she’d never have another hamburger. Here’s a few for the good old times…

All classics. Do what they say, y’all.

30 Dates with my Liver #9: Meeting the Friends

So let’s get hypothetical. Metaphorical. Transformational.
As in, transforming your body from the toxic burden it holds (just ask NPR) to the kind of heavenly body that can ante up for the 2100 Challenge.
Hypothetical and metaphorical-we’re talking about who your date, the liver, would be friends with. I’m talking about the guy who makes you feel all warm and fuzzy when you see other special someones. The king of Valentines Day. The heart.

The heart and liver go way back. In fact, the heart is one of your liver’s best buds. They’re partners, so to speak, in circulating and purifying your blood. 25% of the blood the heart pumps goes to the liver-that’s 2 quarts a minute!
To ensure a healthy happy relationship with your liver, it’s important to get along with its friends. So what can you do for your heart? Get it pumping!

Here are some awesome challenges that keep your heart healthy and your liver happy!

http://www.twohundredsitups.com/

http://www.hundredpushups.com/week4.html

http://www.twohundredsquats.com/

I just did 200 squats just now! That Zumba has been doing my quads good and getting the heart pumping. Next, push ups!