To prep, I’m reading “Light on Yoga,” by B.K.S. Iyengar.  I’m already absorbing so much and am eager to learn more and share.  I’m going to document my experiences here at Balancing Wellness – so more to come!  Namaste!

I got one of those phone calls you never really like to get from my health insurance company last week- my bi-annual Pap smear came back irregular.  The reason I get bi-annual exams is because I’ve been through this before (and I thought I beat it) and my doctor wants to watch to make sure my irregular cells don’t progress to cervical cancer.  Last time we watched it for 2 years, and when it progressed to CIN3, one step below cervical cancer, I had a LEEP procedure and cleared the offending cells. It’s been just over a year and one clear Pap since then, and here we are again.

And while the news isn’t that bad (in fact, many cases regress on their own or are stopped well before they become cervical cancer and there are so many people with such worse health problems that I feel very lucky), it’s still not fun.  Perhaps one of the most annoying aspects is the fact that there are things I can be doing to keep the cells from progressing to a worse state.  But having not done enough research and not been told about preventive practices by my physician (don’t get me started on our current American state of “health” care – it’s really sick care run by pharmaceutical companies, but that’s another post for another day), I’ve been sitting and waiting – letting things get worse. The good news is that all that is changing – I’m doing my research and I’m using my lifestyle choices to make this go away.  As Hippocrates said, “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.”

Our bodies are amazingly powerful, especially when given the right fuel – and I’m determined to do just that. I’ll post more specifics on my diets and experience as I go, but the changes involve juicing; raw, organic veggies at each meal; folic acid, vitamin E, and green tea catechin supplements; multivitamins; aloe juice; lots of water; no coffee but extra white and green teas; dedicated yoga practice; fresh air; less stress and more love!

And the timing couldn’t be better -  I’ll finish my clinical nutrition certificate program in June and get my yoga certification by October, and we have some fun vacations with family and friends planned.  Here we go!

A glutton for gluten

I suddenly have a new respect for people who have severe allergies. Or really just any allergies at all. Everytime I go to a doctor, they do their routine questioning. Do you smoke? Do you drink?  Do you have any allergies? No, yes, and then I respond with my mom’s canned response. “Not that we are aware of.” I was always a little bitter about this. I mean a cool allergy could be something unique to tell people. “My throat swells up when I eat eggplant.” Or, “I get insane hives up and down my arms when I get within 4 feet of licorice.” I guess it really would only be fun if it was something I adequately disliked as well. (hence the eggplant and licorice) I couldn’t even imagine being allergic to peanuts. Seriously. How do you do that? I love peanut butter with all my heart. That is one of those things on my potential mate’s list that isn’t negotiable. That sounds ridiculous. But you must have heard those stories of someone with severe peanut allergies dying from kissing someone who ate something contaminated with a peanut. That would happen constantly. And I suppose feeling like you can’t breathe or swelling up isn’t that fun for a future hubby, at least not on a daily basis. I mean I know love takes some sacrifices. But peanut butter is not one I’m willing to make. And I can’t really ask someone to risk their life just to be with me. Right?

Anywho, after years of doctors telling me I might be gluten-intolerant, and that going g-free might be an improvement in my health and diet; I’ve finally done it. Well, I’ve done it for 7 days. But hey, you have to embrace small victories in life, right? I have a co-worker who has been g-free for over 20 years, so I know it’s possible, even though right now I keep thinking how I’ll never have a Reese’s again in my life? (AHH. What? Surely I can take little exceptions.)

Nutritional restrictions aren’t really new to my life. I became a vegetarian when I was 14. Then started eating fish again then went back veggie and now am back to a pescetarian lifestyle. At some point I read Skinny Bitch and went vegan for 3 days. Then I realized I loved cheese too much, and threw that out the window. I consider myself nutritionally educated.  I have always read nutritional labels. And by always I mean starting from around ninth grade (although honestly I thought everyoone in the world could eat 2,000 calories a day, even when you were 5′2″ growing girl so it didn’t mean much to me.) My nutrition class in undergrad really inspired me to think more about what I ate (P.S. Roberta Anding , you are my hero.) and ever since then it’s been an issue present in my life. Mostly,  I’ve always just scanned at the calories and serving size…trying to mentally break down in my head what “they” think I’m supposed to eat and what happens if I eat the entire package. (You’d be surprised how many individual things are actually supposed to be for 3 servings, so annoying.) Sometimes I looked at the fat, but I was never that crazy about counting fat grams or anything.

Now it’s all a new game. I scan the ingredients and try to figure out ifi anything could possibly be glutenous in some foreign language or hidden with chemical compounds around it I don’t recognize. In general, I’d like to eat things where I could recognize all the names on the ingredients anyways. But this makes it extra important. Trader Joe’s is pretty easy though since I can just scan the shelves for the little g and know what I can choose from. So far I havne’t seen a huge difference in my life. Although my co-worker (the one who was g-free) asked on Friday (that was really 2 days of the new gfree lif, and one of those being an Ash Wednesday fast) if I had changed my diet. I told him I had strated going g-free and he said my aura was really clear and that my eyes were bright. No comments there. I’ll take it as a compliment regardless of how valid or realisitic it is to see a noticeable difference in 48 hours. It’s probably actually because I am working out at a 24 hours Fitness: Derek Jeter. That’s actually the title. Who does that? (Another topic, another day)

Places I have recently learned  where gluten hides for no apparent reason:

Salad dressing. Really? Why? (It’s expensive and I still have a lot of bottles that have gluten in it… so I’m just considering it to be a trace amount and then I’ll only buy g-free ones in the future)

Soy Sauce. Ooops blew that one at all you can eat sush and sake Friday. (Evidently they do have special soy sauce with no gluten, but I don’t carry packets in my purse for obvious reasons)

Beer. Okay, that might not be so hidden. But it is one of the sad ways I’ll have to change my habits. I don’t want to be the girl who always orders wine even when we are at a really casual Irish pub. I mean I hail from a land full of beers. I feel like it’s an insult to Belgian’s finest breweries. But, I suppose that might just be my fate.

]]> http://balancingwellness.com/2010/02/25/guest-post-gluten-free-sis/feed/ 1 Helen http://balancingwellness.com/2010/02/11/tinybuddha/ http://balancingwellness.com/2010/02/11/tinybuddha/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:30:54 +0000 Helen http://balancingwellness.com/?p=446 ]]> I’m a huge fan of tinybuddha. I’m a follower on Twitter (@tinybuddha) and email subscriber and I just love the little moments of peace and wisdom the updates give me during my busy and sometimes stressful days.

Today’s quote was perfect for me.  We’re pretty busy at work right now and one of my biggest frustrations is the fact that I feel like I’m constantly reacting – responding to client issues, requests, and emails all day, all very similar to each other, without really focusing on one client or project for a long period of time. I much prefer being proactive – planning, strategizing and reaching out with helpful insight and ideas.  And even though I can’t do much to slow the pace (our department is hiring and restructuring, I just need to be a little patient!), today’s quote reminded me that changing my outlook might make a world of difference.

“Wisdom consists not so much in seeing as in foreseeing.” -Hosea Ballou

One of the reasons the company I work for has been so successful has been its ability to innovate, to foresee client needs and design programs that grow with them. And while I’m far from lead of product development and definitely always want to live in the present, I want to be more appreciative of all the little lessons I learn and not just see them as daily tasks, but as a way to glimpse into the future.  If we’re dealing with the same things over and over again then we’re not progressing, we’re only seeing, and that’s not how I want to live my life.  (And I’m sure my clients wouldn’t want the same wellness program and issues year after year, after year!)  Attitude adjustments are always easier said than done for me, but I might just print out this quote and put it on my computer to remind me

Garlic

Garlic is a great natural remedy and can be used for almost everything!  It’s detoxifying, can lower cholesterol, helps to eliminate parasites, can be used as a natural remedy for ear infections, keeps away mosquitoes, and helps improve the immune system.  Eat your garlic and read more about it at Spark! Wellness.

Flax

Flax seems to be in everything these days!  My favorite crackers from Trader Joe’s are covered with flax seeds and are soo yummmy!! Flax seeds (and oil) are great for your health: they have anti-inflammatory power, lower cholesterol, supply omega 3s, and may prevent some cancers. Read more at HealthCastle.

Josh is the newest of my favorite teachers and has an amazing presence and teaching style.  I always leave his class with new knowledge and inspiration – a sure sign of an awesome class.  Today after pushing us to perfect our full side plank, vasisthasana, he reminded us of a Hindu quote – that our practice may be poison at first, but it will soon become nectar.

(Me in vasisthasana. I’m getting there – I think I need to lift my hips more. And yes, I’m wearing my FT60 )

I found a reference to the Bhagavad Gita quote Josh was telling us about on the Atma Jyoti Ashram website.

“That which in the beginning is like poison but in the end like nectar; that happiness, born from the tranquillity of one’s own mind, is declared to be sattwic.” (Bhagavad Gita 18:37)

(Note: In Hinduism, sattva is one of the three qualities of nature (gunas); it manifests as balance, purity, calmness.)

In the beginning it is normal for spiritual practice to be boring or even annoying and upsetting. But at the end it will be all sukha: happiness and ease. For it never really is poison, but only seems so to the distorted mind-mirror of those bound in ignorance.

I’m already starting feel like my practice is a nectar, although some asanas and meditation still frustrate me. I’m searching hard for my sattvic happiness!  Happy Sunday

Today, not so good! I started well with lots of fruit for breakfast.  We had lunch catered at work for winning the Halloween costume contest and I should have known the options would be limited.  But I kinda thought that since I work at a wellness company there would be some options.  Not so much, unless you call turkey, roast beef and ham options.  Rather than scraping off the meat and cheese and avoiding the cookies, I dug right in like the fatty I am. Minor setback!

Don’t worry, I’m not giving up.  What good is failing if we don’t learn from our mistakes?!  Lesson of the day: when you really want something, do everything you can to make it happen, don’t leave it in the hands of others.  Sometimes it’s as simple as packing your lunch

My goal is one week – starting today and ending Sunday, but I may extend it to two weeks depending on how I feel.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress and any new recipes I try!  I’m traveling to Texas this week, so it’ll be a bit of a challenge to stick with it, but it’ll be a good test of my will power and creativity!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

No seriously, it’s pretty amazing. It takes your resting heart rate, age, weight, activity level and calculates your fitness level and creates a custom workout plan. You then wear a heart rate monitor when you work out and track your progress.  There are three fitness programs: weight loss, improve fitness and maximize performance, and they calculate weekly goals based on your activity level. Every 6 weeks the watch will evaluate your progress and increase or decrease your goals.  I’m currently working on a maximize performance program that’s about 5 and half hours per week. I have no trouble meeting the overall time, but I definitely get my most time logged in zone 1.

The zones are your heart rate zones – check it out. Click to enlarge. (see, a chart! I’m nerding out!)

Zones 2, 3 and 4 correspond with zones 1, 2 and 3 on the FT60. (Some of the even higher end heart rate monitors track all 5 zones.) I find zone 2 (zone 3 on the chart, 70-80% maximum heart rate) to be the hardest zone to stay in. I’m either walking or running and need to be better about jogging! But the good news is that walking – zone 1 (zone 2 on the chart) – is the best fat burning exercise. Walking the dogs + yoga = lots of zone 1 which = no fat, yay!

It’s really a great way to track your activity and calories burned. I was surprised by how much I got some days and how little other days.  Last week I wore the heart rate monitor for a full day and burned over 2,000 calories. I guess that’s why I can eat so much – I am pretty active for my size!

You can pretty much wear it for anything too. It’s waterproof, so great for swimmers, and I wear it to yoga all the time (I can tell a really good power yoga class from what zones I reach!) and haven’t felt restricted by the watch or chest strap.  It comes in a raspberry color (I think they call it purple – I find it more on the pink side) and black for women, and plain black or black with a red display for men. I got my boyfriend one for Christmas and he loves it too – kinda cool to compare our activity levels and calorie expenditure too.

It’s not cheap, and there are lower-end versions that can perform the essential functions, but for anyone working towards a goal who likes having data and feedback, I highly recommend it!

I have been good at eating healthily, mostly by making salads, sandwiches, soups, and stir fry and I’m hoping to be a little bit more adventurous in cooking some healthy and hearty meals.  I think I need to pick my recipes and make a list…!

I haven’t been very good about my yoga practice or goal of 100 days of yoga. I’m on day 32, so that’s awesome, but I should be somewhere in my 40s – I have work to do!  Weekends are great because there are tons of great classes, but weekdays are a little tough when I have to motivate myself after a long day.  I think I found a time that works, so this week I’m making it part of the routine.  Let’s hope it sticks!

But I have been walking a ton (I wear a smart pedometer that downloads steps to a website through my work’s wellness program, and I get about 8,000-10,000 steps a day – about 4- 5 miles). My schedule is busy: I’m up at 5:45, run with the dogs, feed them, get ready for work, take dogs out for a short walk, head to work, work work work, back home at 5:30, short walk, feed the dogs, yoga, long walk with the dogs, make dinner, eat, tv/work/sleep?  I thrive on lots of exercise (I’m like a puppy too!) so it’s been great for me.

I’m also taking lots of time to rest and enjoy life too! (as are Lincoln and Winston, they love chilling outside )  Hope you are too!