D-Day!
Actually, D-Day was Sunday, the day I started this eating program: Here’s the backstory. Digestion has always been my issue. It seems like everyone has their “thing”- I don’t get migraines or have allergies. As a kid I never got ear infections, and I never had PMS. BUT, I have a “sensitive” digestive system. When I was young I ate a TON of sugar (we walked to school and had multiple opportunities to buy candy along the way. One time the owner of a deli actually called my parents because he was concerned about the amount of candy I was buying.) Then I went through years of disordered eating, and by the time I was an adult my digestive system was a wreck. I tried different diets and cleanses, and finally, ten years ago, after being tested for parasites, celiac, and food allergies (all negative) I took matters into my own hands and and did Rikki Heller’s anti-candida diet. It was SO HARD. You can’t eat sugar of any kind, including fruit, and including most grains. My withdrawal symptoms were massive (I never had hot flashes while going through menopause, but I did have them when I was withdrawing from sugar). An anti-candida diet is VERY restrictive, made even harder by the fact that I’m vegan. There are a lot of animal products allowed on most anti-candida diets, but since I don’t eat those, I’m even more limited. As a matter of fact I had tried anti-candida diets before and couldn’t stick to them. BUT! Rikki Heller’s program is all vegan. She has somehow managed to put together enough recipes so that you can… survive… and actually thrive on this diet. It took a while, but when I did her diet the first time, I completely fixed all my digestive issues. Things went well for a while. I even started adding things back to my diet, like fruit, some more grains. And then, bread (YUM! Why is bread so delicious???) I still avoided anything with obvious sugar, like desserts, but I let sugar creep in in so many other ways. Honestly, all the long distance running I’ve been doing didn’t help. For my long runs and races I was eating sugary gels and all sorts of things I wouldn’t eat in “real” life. The lines became pretty blurred- if I’m drinking a Coke during races, then why can’t I have a Starbucks drink with “just one” pump of syrup? The thing about me is, I can’t do things in moderation. If you give me a bagel, then I want one every day. If you take away sugar, I’ll get addicted to salty foods. Take away Coke, and I’ll get addicted to diet Coke. In short, I can get addicted to anything where they make more than one. It’s not like you can never eat anything delicious again, but in the book, Heller recommends that you come back to the diet periodically, just for a couple weeks here and there, as a little “touch up.” Oops- somehow, I neglected that part of it. I’m that kid who didn’t wear their retainer and now has to have braces put back on. I’ve known for a while that I needed to do this diet again. I though about starting it in the fall, but, holidays!!! Who wants to be on an extremely restrictive diet over the holidays? Then, we went to Tampa- too hard to do while traveling. Then, my race was coming up so it wasn’t feasible. Then we went to Waco… the truth is, I don’t know how I’m going to manage the diet when I travel in July. But, there will never be a perfect time so I bit the bullet. There are two phases of this diet- first, you kill the candida overgrowth, Then, you heal up the damage that was done to your gut from the yeast. So you’re not allowed to eat anything that could feed the candida, and also have to eliminate anything that might irritate your gut. The very hardest thing for me is… you’re not allowed to have black tea. SOB! The only caffeinated tea allowed is green, and I don’t like green tea. It tastes like grass. But, Heller even has an answer for that! She recommends gunpowder as the least-grassy tasting. This is definitely a hard diet to follow. But I have two mantras. One is, “It’s not worth it.” Anytime I long for my Earl Grey, or my favorite chips, or bread, I tell myself “It’s not worth it.” It’s really not! And that brings me to my second mantra, which I tell myself all day long, “Nothing tastes as good as feeling good feels.” Unfortunately I feel like crap right now (I’ve had a headache since Sunday morning) but all will be well. I know that if I stick to this, I’ll feel so much better… eventually. This is a long post, so I’ll get into exactly what I AM eating later in the week. Are you a “moderator” or an “abstainer”?- I’m 100% an abstainer. Moderation is too hard for me. Top photo by Gustavo Sánchez on Unsplash
Weekly Rundown- There’s Hope!
Hi there! When I left off last week, I was pretty bummed about my left hamstring. It was incredibly achy, my chiropractor seemed baffled, and I was starting to feel like I was banging my head against a brick wall. But, I guess it’s true that time (and hard work) heals all wounds. I had some hopeful signs this week! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s get into it… Sunday Leg Day at the gym! Avoiding anything that might irritate my hamstring, I focused on squats and the glute press machine, then ended with 30 minutes on the Stairmaster. Monday It’s come to my attention that the muscles around my left hip (the side with the achy hamstring) are MUCH weaker than the right ones. To correct that I’ve been doing side planks with leg lifts. When I started I could barely do them on the left side- but it’s improving little by little. I also added Runner’s Touch (which works the hamstring, but gently- it’s just bodyweight) and I rounded out this shorter workout with core. Tuesday In the morning I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout, and some negatives on the pull up bar. In the afternoon I had a 3 mile walk on the schedule. It was 95 degrees, YIKES. It was hard to convince myself to get out there, so I brought a bottle of ice water in my vest. Wednesday I started the day with Runners Touch and side planks with the leg lift, then got out for a 3 mile run. GUESS WHAT? My hamstring felt MUCH better!!! The extreme achiness was gone. I still felt it, but not nearly as much. Wow, this run put me in a really good mood! Thursday In the morning I did a Caroline Girvan abs workout, and then after work I went to the gym with my daughter. It was an upper body day, but my lats were so sore from the negatives on Tuesday. I was able to do reverse flys, but other than that it was a push day. Friday Another 3 mile run! For some reason I was imagining that my hamstring would be all better, and was disappointed that I could still feel it a little (patience- not my strong point). I had to remind myself that it feels about 80% better than it did a week ago, and that’s a lot. I’m still doing run/walk intervals, by the way, but increasing the running time. Saturday My daughter and I had plans to go to the gym in the afternoon, but she has a cold so we decided to stay home. I did my usual Runner’s Touch, side planks with leg lifts, and hip stability exercises. And then I did Bulgarian split squats. I don’t usually do those, so when I do it absolutely trashes my legs. So… it was a good week! I have to admit I was starting to worry this hamstring thing would ruin my summer of running (like the calf issue last summer) but now I’m hopeful that it’s going to be fine. How was your week? Was it 95 degrees where you were? (Ha! Probably not unless you live in Florida or Arizona). Top photo by Cole Keister on Unsplash
Summer!
Summer is upon us! And by “summer”, I mean, the time where there is no school. I’m not talking about the weather, because here in Florida, it will be hot and humid until… November, probably. Today (Friday) is the last day of regular school; next week is finals; and then we’re done. I’ve listened to several podcast lately about summer planning- Best of Both Worlds, Happier, Girl Next Door- and I was inspired to do my own summer planning. In the latest episode of Best Laid Plans, Sarah talked about Kendra Adachi’s seasonal playbooks, planning notebooks for each season. I was tempted to get the summer one, but then realized I have several blank notebooks. I could just make my own “summer planner.” On my day off, I sat down happily in Starbucks and put the months of June, July and August into my summer notebook. (Although- I’m in a quandary. Is August still summer??? School starts again on August 11. But my son will be home at that point until September. I’m confused. I then put all the things that I know for sure are happening into the calendar. You can see on July 12 I put “Round Top.” That day I’ll be in Round Top, Texas, for the last concert of Paul’s summer festival. Then, he and I will drive the three hours back to Waco, grab his stuff (which will be in storage) and… drive to Chicago!!! We’ll stay with my sister and BIL for a couple days, and then leave Paul’s car (and no doubt some boxes of his things) with them, and Paul and I will fly back to Florida. That will be my “big adventure” of the summer, but I haven’t bought plane tickets yet, so I didn’t want to put it in my planner until I’m sure of the dates. What else? Well, I’m going to make a summer reading list. And running-wise, it’s going to be my “summer of speed,” shorter runs but more speed work. (Of course, this is what I said LAST summer, and then wasted the whole summer battling a calf injury, so we’ll just see what happens). I’m also going to focus on better sleep (for real, this time) and… sigh…I’m going to do a TEMPORARY restrictive diet to fix the digestive problems I’ve been having. I’m not looking forward to that, but I AM looking forward to feeling better. I’ve done this diet before, so I know it works. Details on that coming up soon. You’ll notice there are no trips to the beach or barbecues planned. Summer isn’t an “outdoor” season in Florida. But, no school means I can sleep later- no lunches to pack- and no driving my daughter at 7 am. Woohoo! Bring on the South Florida summer. Are you doing anything to make the summer distinctive or special? Do you have any trips planned? Top photo by arty on Unsplash
Books!
I feel like my reading life has become very joyful since I finished Pillars of the Earth. It’s like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I can read anything I want- I can read something funny, or silly! I can read something short! Ah, freedom. For our trip to Waco, I brought along these books: On the Currently Reading podcast, A Most Agreeable Murder was promoted as “If you loved Pride and Prejudice but wished someone had been murdered, this is the book for you.” WELL! I think Pride and Prejudice is perfect as is, no murder needed (although if someone HAS to be murdered, maybe Lydia…) but I do love a good murder mystery. A Most Agreeable Murder seemed right up my alley. It has all the elements of a Jane Austen novel- an entailed estate, a mother desperate to marry off her daughters, a ball, and an eligible bachelor… who ends up poisoned to death. What more could we possibly want? The first 3/4 of this book was really fun, and then it just became ridiculous. It’s the first book of a series, but I wouldn’t read any others- it was a fine airplane read though, quick and easy. The Long Way Home is the 10th Louise Penny book. I know this will be shocking, but I don’t LOVE Louise Penny. I really enjoyed her earlier books, then didn’t enjoy them as much as I went on, and stopped after #9. But lately I’ve been seeing her latest and having FOMO, so I picked up the series again. I’m about halfway through this one, and I’m enjoying it. I’ll write more about it when I’m done, along with an explanation of what I don’t love about her writing- I know I’m in the minority here. While we were in Waco we had some time to kill on the morning of graduation, so I took my husband to one of my favorite spots, Fabled Bookshop and Cafe. We spent a couple hours there- I got a “Waco Fog,” ha ha… Earl Grey, milk (I got almond milk) and lavender brown sugar. I mean… when will I get another chance to drink a Waco Fog??? Never. I also bought this: After Kae’s post last week about time, I was thinking of starting a Line a Day journal, in the hopes of slowing things down and putting more focus on each day. What better way to start? Every time I take this out, I’ll remember that I bought it in Waco on the day of Paul’s graduation. Back to books. Paul gave me three books and insisted I read them before our road trip in July: AND, I have some books on my library hold list that I’m excited about- a new one by Anthony Horowitz, Marble Hall Murders, (I can’t wait to read that one!) and also a new one by Wally Lamb. Phew! It’s going to be a fun summer of reading. Do you have anything exciting on your TBR?