There are only
20 days left on the Whole Life Challenge! My hope is that you are developing lasting healthy
lifestyle habits that will carry on after this challenge is done! Start keeping track of your PRs and "ah-ha!" moments. I will be asking for
Success Stories at the completion of the challenge. And now, sit back and enjoy the musings of CFME B.A. Kara L...
I know it seems counterintuitive, but anything you complain
about repetitively you actually want to produce, because that story serves a
purpose for you. If you complain that you are always going to be overweight,
you probably will. If you say you can never get to the gym, you can’t. If you
say eating clean is too hard, it sure as hell will be. I am sure you get the
drift.
Therefore, when someone offers you stellar advice on fixing areas
that are out of whack in your life, there will always be a, “yeah but (insert
story here).” It is only when the pain of not changing your
thoughts/patterns/beliefs becomes greater than the pain of remaining the same
that you will ultimately make the decision to change. That applies to any area
of your life that you want to improve.
I am not going to even pretend like I have my shit
together…I absolutely do not. But, the one area I actually have a miniscule
amount of togetherness is in the area of food. This is because I actually
cured, suppressed, and/or forgot about most of my various health issues when I
began to truly eat properly (for me).
Truth is, my health for much of my life sucked a fat one. I
got sick a lot as a little kid. I
actually used to make myself sick because I believed that I would do better at
swimmeets if I had bronchitis or whatever (because of the 1 time I performed
super well when I was really sick). That is how powerful your belief systems
really are.
From jr. high and on, I was depressed, zitty, mucousy, and I
got certain infections if I just looked at a medicine bottle (I think a few
females may relate). In my 20s, I graduated to bladder infections (hey, this
Yankee/Red Sox game is awesome from the stadium bathroom). I lived at Campus
Health during college because I slept like 5 hours the entire time. And when I
got older, I could not eat at a restaurant without making sure a bathroom would
be nearby within the next hour. Then in 2009, I learned I had a hiatal hernia.
I would just wake up in the middle of the night and throw up undigested food
and have a fiery burn in my chest. That was super fun and cute. And there was
actually way more…But writing this now, I had to really think about all the
issues that I had going on.
Why? Well, I don’t really have any of those things going on now. Those things
only come up if my diet is bad for a pretty extended period of time. I actually
can’t believe that was my reality for so much of my life. I have not even been
to a doctor (other than for routine check ups) for at least 4 or so years. I
can’t tell you the name of my primary care physician. I can heal pretty much
anything that comes up for me, and so can you.
I know you may not really care about any of that. You may be
like, who is this broad, and what the hell is she is talking about? My point
is, you all have some kind of story.
It could be similar to mine, or it could be completely different. But
you ultimately will realize that many of your various lifestyle diseases/issues
are related in some way to the items you put in, on, and even around your body.
“But Kara, I eat pretty healthy already!“ I am sure you do,
Pinocchio. First of all, what does the adjective “pretty” mean in that
statement? I am not saying you are
lying necessarily, but I am saying that you may not fully realize all the junk
that actually sneaks into your diet (or how often it does). You also may not
realize that what you are eating is not doing you any favors in regards to your
overall health. Funky oils, sweeteners (even in many of those coveted whey
protein shakes), or thinking that gluten free= free pass are just some of the
sneaky things that people don’t always think about. Because we sometimes don’t even know we should….
Fill in the blank with a food name. I cannot live without
____________________.
That is most likely the very food you need to clear out for
at least a few weeks of your life, unless the food you put in that blank was
broccoli or kale.…And I am willing to bet that was about as likely as the Giants
winning the Superbowl.
If your health isn’t in order, you can’t rock your mission.
You won’t have the energy to pursue that new job or project, spend quality time
with your partner/kids, your gym performance will not improve, and you may be
downright shitty to be around a good portion of the time. That does not equate
to a high quality life. I personally don’t believe that you only live once, but
this is your only chance to do so in your current body. If you hate your job,
but you don’t take care of yourself (not eating enough, eating poor quality grub,
sleeping never, or drinking in excess *something I have no experience with
myself), when are you ever going to feel like finding a new one?
Yes, eating better takes more time. Yes, you will suck at
first (especially if you have never cooked). Yes, there is soy, corn, wheat, or
SUGAR in everything and you shouldn’t eat it for a variety of reasons. Yes, you
will think certain things don’t taste that good at first. Yes, you will stand
there in your kitchen and think there is not a f****** thing to eat (I actually
don’t know who is reading this so I feel I should not say that word). But if
you think about it, nature doesn’t ever mess up. It produces some delicious
substances. There is no way we are not meant to enjoy food. We are creatures of
pleasure. I enjoy the hell out of food. And I eat a lot of it when I do eat.
But most of the time, the food I eat actually serves a purpose to my overall
wellbeing.
When you eat well, you are not hungry for hours between
meals. You don’t need to snack or eat every 2 hours. Your energy is steady
throughout the day. You won’t yell at drivers when they cut you off. You will
actually walk your dog instead of sitting on the couch staring at him/her. You
will look 40 when you are really 50. You won’t have headaches anymore. Your eyes
won’t be puffy when you wake up. You won’t smell as yucky when you sweat. Your
partner will like you more if your mood doesn’t suck, and hopefully you can
figure out what that means for you.
If you changed 1 small thing per week until the end of the
year, you could have a whole new outlook on eating by 2014. It really does take
some time to adjust, and you may have to get over a few (or 85) bumps along the
way. But, it is worth a try. You really don’t have to eat the Albertson’s store
bought blue birthday cake with 58 undistinguishable ingredients because someone
brought it to work.
It is so much
cooler to just say, “Happy birthday to the ground!”
Okay, maybe not. But, you really don’t need to put something
in your mouth just because it is there….
