My Slacker SeaWheeze Training Continues
This post could just as easily be titled “How Not to Run” because essentially I am a living example of what not to do should you decide to be a runner. Despite having a half-marathon sneaking up on me in these next two months, my runs have become yet another exercise in pursuing pleasure and I’m pretty darn proud of that to tell the truth.
I once read an article asking why people ran. As far as the author could tell, no runners were ever smiling so it didn’t seem like it was any fun. For some reason that stuck with me and in my endless pursuit of enjoying my life I decided I wouldn’t do it if I couldn’t love it.
So my lackluster training for the SeaWheeze continued this week with two noteable “runs.” I call them “runs” because run one consisted of stopping for a solid 15 minutes to swing on the swings at a playground I was passing. What? It looked like fun! Later on in my journey I found a pretty pond and sat by it for a few. I mean lily pads are just so pretty aren’t they?
Last weekend’s run continued in much the same vein when I got sidetracked by the library. I was so excited that it was open that I stopped there to read a book for oven an hour. Once I continued I found a few dandelions I just had to make wishes on, a few deer I just had to make kissie noises at, and a view I just had to take selfies on (see above). The views where I live are just so spectacular so I spent a few breaths in meditation of the beauty around me, and I walked a good portion of the vista point, my favorite part of this particular run.
When all is said and done, my Strava app looks like I took a 6.4 mile run in 2:57. 27 minute miles?? Ok so I forgot to turn it off at the library. Oops!! My slacker SeaWheeze training has taken a turn for worst this season, and I’m so grateful for the experience of it all. Of allowing myself to pursue the things I enjoy most. This year I came to two important realizations in my life: 1) It turns out I’m a bit of a control freak. 2) I’m letting all the pleasureable parts of life pass me by in favor of what I “should” be doing. Even on self-imposed days off I plan them to a T. I’ll think, today I’m going to go to a yoga class, play the harp, sit by the stars at night, make a home-cooked meal. It sounds like a nice day, but I’m not listening to my body at all when I create these plans. When the day is done and I didn’t make it to yoga or play the harp, I feel guilty. I feel like I let myself down. But that is so silly! They were my very own rules in the first place! I should be allowed to break my own rules!
So this week, in a beautiful coaching session with one of my coaches I decided to allow myself to break my own rules. As a thank you I had an absolutely amazing weekend that ended with another slacker SeaWheeze training day that was so much fun I was laughing the whole way home. Anyone that passed me must have thought runners have so much fun. And we do! So long as we are doing it because it’s fun.
Plans for the next run? There are none. Although I wouldn’t mind finding more of a balance in my training. I’d love to find fun in the run itself, not just the breaks I take along the way. After all, I have excellent motivation! I’m running the Lululemon half-marathon in August (fun) and I’m climbing Mt. Whitney in October (super fun!). Both will require some steady dedication on my part and I’m absolutely willing to devote some training to both experiences. After all, If running helps me pursue the things I love, it’s a journey that is so much more than just worth it.
Don’t forget: The only person who can keep you from a pleasurable life, is you!! How are you going to enjoy your life today?
How To Tell If You Have Food Intolerances
Food allergies are all the rage these days and I’m not just talking about the anaphylactic, you-might-die kind. Sure those guys are pretty prevalent, but there is a sneaky kind of food allergy that even YOU might have. About 60-70% of the population is estimated to have an undiagnosed food intolerance and it could be just what’s causing all that anguish you’re toting around. Let’s take a look and see what your culprit is.
What are Food Intolerances?
Food intolerances are an immune response to something your body perceives as a threat. You eat a slice of bread and your body says “Hey! You’ve had enough of that stuff! I can’t keep fighting it off!” Not that it has anything to fight off to begin with. Wheat isn’t inherently bad. It’s just that moderation thing getting to us again. So you know how if you eat too much sugar you get diabetes and cancer and all sorts of not-so-fun things going on? Once in a while your body can definitely tolerate it. But over and over your body starts to hate it.
Well the same goes for just about everything you eat. Eat it once in a while and your body will just hum along nicely. Eat it every day and your body starts to not be able to handle the load. It attacks. And that attack could look very different between different people and different times of your life. For example, when I was a baby, I was colicky, a sign I now know was related to a dairy intolerance. As a child I developed lots of ear infections, in my teens I got strep throat a lot. As an adult, I dealt with constipation, then eventually intense “am I going to die?” type stomach pain. The same intolerance, different symptoms. There is no rhyme or reason to it. There is no “If you get strep throat you have a dairy intolerance.” It’s not like that. It’s more of a, what are you eating every day that could be causing your symptoms?
What Causes Food Intolerances?
You see food intolerances are caused by eating too much of something. They accumulate overtime and progressively get worse. We didn’t used to have this problem for two reasons. First, we ate a varied diet and never had to worry about getting too much of a particular thing. Second, GMOs are kind of against us. They make that dose of whatever you are eating even stronger so it takes a shorter amount of time to exacerbate in your system.
Thankfully, you can easily do an elimination diet to find your culprit. In fact, just take a look at what you eat every single day and notice if they have anything in common. Eat cereal for breakfast every day? Jot dairy and wheat down. Just to make things simple, if you live in America, it’s most likely one or multiple of the following: dairy, eggs, corn, soy, almonds, peanuts, wheat, and seafood.
How Can I Tell if I Have Food Intolerances?
Next step: Avoid all of the above triggers for seven days. That’s only a week! You are totally capable of that. How do you feel? Better? If so, it’s likely you have a food intolerance. We just have to find out which one. On the eighth day add one of the culprits back. Then remove it again. On the ninth day, add a different culprit in, then remove it. And so on. So say, for example, you get major tired after lunch every day. You go on an elimination diet for seven days and suddenly you feel great, you’re onto something. They say on the eighth day you have a sandwich for lunch only to zonk out again all afternoon- wheat could be your deal.
Will I have Food Intolerances for Life?
Now don’t stress out too much. A lot of people don’t even want to know they have a food intolerance because they don’t want to give it up (I’m talking to you cheese lovers). But for most people they find that their intolerances are shallow, not deep. Meaning that after avoiding their trigger for 6-12 months, they can add it back in on the occasion and their body tolerates it nicely. Maybe once a week or once every three days works without symptom. But the second you get back on the everyday train your body starts to build up that immune response once more which means you’ll be back to some crazy (and maybe different) symptoms.
Should I Get a Blood Test?
If you do your elimination test only to find it inconclusive, that’s when you’ll need a blood test. What’s going on here is that you either have a combination of intolerances, which can be really tricky to figure out, or you have such a strong reaction that it will likely take a whole lot longer than a week to heal. I went the blood test route to discover I was allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs, and beans, a combination I would never have figured out on my own. On top of that, it took six months off my triggers before I started to feel better. And as is the case with most food intolerances, you’ll often feel worse before you feel better (your body goes through withdrawal-like symptoms!). So it can be extremely difficult to self-diagnose in that situation.
Go the elimination route first. If that doesn’t work get some blood work done up. I recommend a basic 96 food panel that measures both IgE and IgG antibodies. Either way it’s worth it. You’ll feel AHHHMMAAAZING! Like I do now! See how that works?!
Image Credit: Vegan Macaroons by Vegan Feast Catering on Flickr
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It’s Finally Here! Ditch your Birth Control!!
I’ve been talking about it forever, but after six months of planning and prep it’s finally here. You now have everything you could possibly need to ditch hormonal methods of birth control and get onto more natural methods. And it all starts with my guide!
New! Ditch your Birth Control Guide
My new (and very pretty) Ditch your Birth Control guide is finally here!! Sign-up for my weekly newsletter to learn the downsides of hormonal birth control methods, what alternatives are available, what to expect when you’re getting off the goods, how to transition seamlessly, and how you can avoid babies naturally using the Fertility Awareness Method.
New! Ditch your Birth Control Workshops
Once you’re off the hormones, you’ll need an effective method of birth control that doesn’t hinder your natural cycles. Enter the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM)! FAM is contraception au naturale and it’s pretty simple really: Use a barrier method when you are fertile, go barrier-free when you’re not! I’ve introduced countless women to this sexy, natural method of birth control and I can’t wait for you to be a believer too!
Sign-up for one of my Ditch your Birth Control workshops for an intimate understanding of how you can use your beautiful body to avoid babies naturally using the Fertility Awareness Method. You’ll learn everything you need to know to chart your menstrual cycles and enjoy safe, sexy, birth control for life. Bring your man!
New! Get Personalized Charting Support ~ $98
When you are first setting out on your charting journey it can be really helpful to have a FAM educator provide personalized charting support for you and your man. For $98/month, we’ll meet monthly for 50-minutes to review your chart, answer any questions you have, and make sure you are on the right track. You’ll also have unlimited access to me via email to answer all those questions that are bound to come up.
Head over to the Ditch your Birth Control page for all you need to get going!
Thanks so much for your patience while I perfected this little program. I’m so excited to help you get more in touch with your beautiful feminine body!
Image Credit: Flickr
Read MoreShould We Have Kids?
My sister-in-law just became the first person I know to get pregnant. She’s having a baby! I am so excited for her and her husband that I can hardly stand it. I couldn’t sleep at all last night after I found out and I even managed to have a minor baby freak-out on my husband when we discovered the news. All in a days work.
Of course, once my happiness and joy subsided I instantly joined the freak-out team. I’m 28 years old and constantly tell my friends that if they are young and want kids they shouldn’t wait. Yet here I am, been with my man for 10 years, and baby-free. I always wanted it that way though so it was ok. I thought I would never have kids! But I also didn’t know I would feel so conflicted now that my husband’s sister has filled us with such joy for her and her budding family.
I suppose I’m a little backward in my thinking compared to most women. Whenever I’m around kids for longer than a couple hours my natural birth control kicks in reminding me to be careful next time I’m ovulating. The other side of the coin is that I really want to be pregnant. Is that odd? I want to know what it feels like to be part of creation. To feel a child growing in my belly, to go through the pains of labor, to experience the miracle of life. I want to know what it’s like to give birth in the comfort of my home surrounded by friends and family during a crucial life moment. But after that, I cannot for the life of me picture my life with children. I strongly dislike cartoons (even Pixar ones- I know it’s weird). Driving kids around sounds like the worst possible afternoon for me. I hate going to fairs, PTA meetings and children’s sports games. I don’t enjoy playing hide-and-seek. So I’ve always wondered if I lack the maternal instinct altogether. Of course, it could have been my birth control talking. Certainly now things are a bit different.
Not only that but my husband and I have radically different views on our hypothetical child situations. He’s pro-vaccine, I’m against. He’s pro-school, I want to unschool. He wants to give them the world, I want them to bring the world to themselves. There are things we agree on. We would read the bible every Sunday as a family, but wouldn’t take them to church. We would let them play outside all day and get muddy as all hell, but we would avoid sugar.
There’s also logistics. We live in a gorgeous one bedroom house and I’m never leaving it. We would have to build a room downstairs which is, while cool, a money issue. My husband travels quite a bit for work which would put me on kid duty (and I’m the sort that would absolutely need a break!). And it would also need to happen fairly soon judging by the way-too-much I know about the possibilities of pregnancies later in life. Of course if I did want children, I would want to be a young parent so either way it’s an issue.
A few moments after discovering the exciting news, my heart sunk in an “omg what if we miss out on this whole parenting thing” and it really hasn’t left me. What if we miss out on something great just because we didn’t know it was great? I know this part is common. A lot of couples have children because they worry they will regret it later if they don’t. But isn’t that a weird reason to want kids? Because of regret? Not only that but a regret we haven’t actually felt yet? I always thought it should come from more of an “I’ve always wanted to be a parent!” feeling. But maybe it doesn’t?
In the end, I feel it’s a decision I cannot make, at least not now. If it were up to my own mind, or my husbands, how could we possibly come to a conclusion on this story? Any children that come into our lives could only come from our hearts, or God’s. So if I do have a child it will probably be for one of two reasons: We meet a child that needs to be adopted and can’t say no. Or we decide to be a bit more lackadaisical in our birth control. I could see a moment in the not-so-distant future where we are more open to the possibilities of a new life, and start doing less in the way of stopping it.
For now though, I’m so blessed to get to become an auntie and I never knew how emotional this would feel until it happened. I can’t wait to meet the new addition to our family and to get to celebrate with my sister and brother-in-law. It’s such a beautiful thing, to create life, and I’m so excited for the joy in all of our hearts as we anticipate this new family member!
Image Credit: Baby Portraits by Randi Deuro
Read MoreIs PCOS Curable?
One out of every four women is experiencing some form of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and since those ladies seem to be emailing me up a storm these days, I thought I’d address the topic! So first off: is it curable? Western Medicine says no. But me? I believe you can absolutely heal your ovaries and I can’t wait to show you how!
PCOS can be a scary diagnosis without a whole lot of solutions. In fact, often the only solutions offered are drugs, drugs, and more drugs! And the star of the show? My arch-nemesis: birth control pills. But all this does is sweep the symptoms under a rug.
What if later on you want to get off the hormones or start a family? PCOS will be right where you left it, and often in a worse state then it was before. Starting the healing process now can make a huge difference in your reproductive health as well as your overall wellbeing.
The only way to heal PCOS and its associated symptoms is to get at the underlying cause of the hormonal imbalance. Sure, weight can be a factor. In fact, 50% of women with the syndrome are overweight. But while many believe weight to be a contributing factor, I believe it’s a symptom, not the cause of the problem.
While there are several factors at play in women with polycystic ovaries, two prime candidates account for the bulk of the problem: (1) Insulin imbalance due to dietary factors, and (2) feminine imbalance due to emotional factors. Both are totally within the capabilities of your beautiful body to heal. Let’s look at both.
Click here to read the rest of the article on MindBodyGreen
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
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Hi, I'm Elle
I help women ditch their birth control and heal hormonal imbalances holistically! Free Ditch your Birth Control Guide
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