Life Is A Balancing Act

Today was a good day, a busy day, an everything day. It was one of those days where you just have a little bit of everything to do. Went to the gym, did my work, entertained the bug man, paid bills, answered e-mails, arranged a get-together for my work colleagues... later I’ll be plugging in to some training, and I’ll be starting work on my new blog space. Yes, it was a good day...

Even though yesterday I ate pasta. A lot of pasta. With homemade bolognese sauce. And mozzarella. And it was all very delicious! I was doing so well over the last week, following my schedule of protein shakes and cellular cleansing. But for some reason on Sunday it was decided that I would make pasta for dinner. I enjoyed every bite with very little guilt. Notice I said “very little”... I did feel some guilt for choosing this meal. I wondered why I chose to eat this high calorie comfort food. Turns out, I never did finish my meal, as I was completely stuffed half-way through!

Today I walked it off on the treadmill - 2.85 miles, 305 calories burned. Tomorrow I’ll try out the elliptical machine, maybe do some abdominal work too. Life is about finding balance, is it not? It’s about becoming aware of the reason we do the things we do, and taking action to begin to make choices that will serve us better. And it’s about enjoying the journey, taking in all the sights and sounds along the way, and being adventurous and brave enough to take an unfamiliar path that may lead us somewhere new and exciting. 

Today was a good day... it was a day of accomplishments, connections, and awareness, and it was a day I can be proud of. 

The "Cure" is PREVENTION

Written 08/26/10

Drug companies have found yet another way to ensure repeat customers. In today's edition of USA Today, an article highlights a "rare breakthrough that could revolutionize treatment" of melanoma. This is GREAT news for those diagnosed with melanoma. Prior to this new breakthrough drug, melanoma took lives within nine months of the diagnosis. This is certainly devastating for those affected, and their families. But a new drug has been shown to shrink the melanoma tumor, thus extending the lives of those affected, and making it possible to treat the tumor as though it were a chronic disease.

What does this mean? This means that for years after the diagnosis, the person with melanoma may be able to lead a relatively normal life, with the accompanying side effects of "fatigue, rash and joint pain... [and] non-lethal skin cancers." It is not known how many other side effects will be experienced and documented after this drug is on the market. We do know that this will be a highly expensive drug. How do we know this? Because all "promising" drugs are expensive, sometimes costing $10 per tablet or more. As our energy is drained from this new drug, so will our pockets be drained.

The KEY to health is not a medication. The key to health is PREVENTION. Our bodies have become starved of nutrition over the decades, thus leading to chronic illness. Your doctor will prescribe a pill to treat the symptoms of that illness, but rarely, if ever, will you find a doctor prescribing nutrition to treat what was the root cause of the illness in the first place. Vitamin D3 in and of itself boosts the body's immunity, making it stronger and able to resist illness. Vitamin D3 is also the link between calcium and bone health/strength. Not just calcium alone! Internal vitamin D is also activated by the sun. When we slather sunscreens all over our bodies, we prevent the activation of this critical vitamin. It is well known that 15-20 minutes of unprotected sun every day is enough for activation of vitamin D. It is no surprise that there has been an increase in rickets, a condition of the bones where the bones are soft and they bow; a condition found in babies as they begin to bear weight as they learn to stand and walk.

And I could go on and on about sunscreens, but I'll save that for another time.

Linus Pauling said that the root of all illness is a mineral deficiency. Did your doctor ever prescribe minerals? No, because he or she does not profit from them. If their patients became healthy, the doctors would go out of business! And did you know that the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of vitamins and minerals is just enough to ensure minimal health? If the doctors stop prescribing medications because their patients are becoming healthy, the drug companies stop profiting. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Don't you owe it to yourself to do your research about whether a medication is really the right choice? For those who have been diagnosed with some illnesses, sometimes a medication is the only way. But you deserve to at least consider a holistic route before you jump in with blind faith and pop those pills.

Broken Garage Doors... and other excuses

Yesterday I was supposed to take my first Zumba class. It was scheduled for 7:30 pm, and I had planned to leave at 6:45, get there for 7:00, do a quick 15 minute warmup on the treadmill, and then jump into the class. 

That didn’t happen.

I realized at 6:13 pm that the class was at 6:30, not 7:30, so I sat there looking at the schedule, wondering for about a minute and a half “will I make it in time?” No... yes, if I hurry... no, you’ll have to drive pretty fast to get there in time... yes, go for it... no, you won’t make it, but you could go anyway and at least get some cardio on the treadmill... just do it... go... leave now!” So I got up, grabbed my stuff and walked out the door and opened the garage door. 

Which didn’t open. 

I pressed the button again, and it went down and up an inch, where it stopped. Strange. Tried it again... and again... and again. Same thing every time. What was it some genius said a long time ago? If you keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results, you’re not the brightest bulb in the box... or something to that effect. So I went out the front door, got in my car, and tried it from the car. Nope. Same thing. The light of this bulb is dimming fast. 

Around 6:40 I decided I’d stick around the house, because I really didn’t understand what was going on with that door, and I didn’t want to leave with the possibility that it might actually open on its own, and leave the contents of our garage in plain view for everyone to see, and pick through if they wanted. Oh, yes, please, come pick through my garage! I’ve got so many items up for grabs: boxes, old stuffed animals, clothes that no longer fit, an old rickety plastic table, a mattress cover... and later in the evening I even discovered a multitude of black widow spiders! 

Wait... this feels familiar. I’m acutely aware that I’m using the broken garage door as an excuse to stay where I’m comfortable. To not go to the gym where I may be faced with uncertainty. Or sweat. Or muscle cramps. Or just plain hard work. And I made peace with myself and my excuse, and this time I didn’t beat myself up... as hard as I used to. 

So I made a pact with myself that, no matter what, I would take that Zumba class this morning. I did a 15 minute warm up on the treadmill (and, for those of you who don’t know what Zumba is, you really don’t need to warm up first). I chatted with a few women  as I waited for the class to start, and they were saying that “so and so is doing this class, she’s pretty good”. And then when we got in there, one of the women said to me “that’s not our usual instructor,” and I heard someone else say “she’s really tough.” 

Oh crap. Of all the Zumba instructors of all the Zumba classes in all the world, I had to walk into hers. Did I mention this is my very first Zumba class?

I’m usually up for a challenge, but c’mon, I’ve seen Zumba videos, and I really, really think I’m not ready for this. But I’m also not about to give up and quit early. What was it I said the other day? Oh, yes, this: 

“When you get the opportunity to dance, are you a wallflower, sitting on the sidelines? Or do you JUMP at the chance to do something unknown, and maybe even a little scary, even if you don’t know the steps? Not knowing the steps can be exciting! Today, EMBRACE your adventurous side and do something you never thought you’d do before!” 

That’s what I did today! I certainly did not know the steps. Every minute of that high intensity, heart pounding, calorie burning group workout felt like ten minutes of tortuous sweat and breathlessness to me! Fifteen minutes into this torture I took a quick drink, and I seriously thought “you know, if I left now, they’d understand, they know it’s my first time, they’ll understand, they won’t care.” 

But I chose to stay. Because I’d know. I’d care. 

You should have seen her go! That instructor was all over the place with her moves. It was quite the challenge just to keep up with her pace, let alone “get” the steps she was doing. And you should have seen me, moving all over the place, arms and legs flailing about. And as I’m sweating and breathing hard and flailing about, all the time I’m thinking “I’m doing it! I may not be doing it correctly, but I’m doing it!” 

So, even if you are approaching uncharted waters, considering doing something unknown, even a little scary, just do it anyway! I’m not the same person I was five years ago. I’m not the person I was a year and a half ago. And I sure as heck am not the same person as I was three days ago when I joined that gym! Every chance you have, I encourage you - no, I URGE you - to JUMP outside that box, break down those walls that you’ve felt so comfortable having surround you for so many years, and do something that you never thought you would do! 

You’ll be so happy you did, and you’ll be so proud of yourself! And yes, it’s okay to be proud of yourself! 

Holy Beads of Sweat Batman!

If you know me at all, you know that I absolutely dislike gyms. I absolutely do not like the artificial sounds and smells (um, and the organic smells too). The electronic buzzing and whirring of the machines, the music they play overhead, the public restrooms. I just don't like it one bit! I would much rather be on a challenging hiking trail in Sedona, or walking along the beach in the morning on the hard, wet virgin sand. But today I did it. 


I went to the gym.


Planned to take a class, but there weren't any going on when I got there. So I got on the treadmill. And wouldn't you know, as soon as I started walking I got a cramp in my leg! Oh come on! Are you kidding me? I stopped a couple times and rubbed it a little, and thought "I'm going nowhere fast doing it this way." And really, I was going nowhere fast. I was on a revolving belt, going in circles beneath my feet. 


But I stopped rubbing, and I started walking. And the music had a pretty good beat to it. Hmmm, this feels good... a little warm, but I'm not even out of breath ten minutes into the walk. Let's kick things up a notch! So I increased the angle, increased the speed, and started moving my arms, dancing a little, even singing along. Seriously! I'm doing this, and all these people start coming over to the treadmills, the ellipticals. Are they watching me? Yeah... THERE'S the sweat! And I started feeling the burn, and feeling a little winded. But that didn't stop me!


Today, after not exercising since 2005, I walked 2.82 miles and burned 283 calories! WOO HOOOO!! My back is a little sore, but the cramp in my leg stopped when I kicked it up a notch!


Now that's progress! 


Tomorrow night... ZUMBA! 

Anxiety Sets In...

Today I received the e-mail from Isagenix informing me that I have been officially registered for the IsaBody Challenge. The challenge starts today. But I haven’t taken my “before” photo yet because my husband won’t be home until Friday. I don’t have a USA Today paper for date verification. And since I decided to participate in the IsaBody Challenge half-way through my first of two cleanse days, I didn’t measure myself. Already I’m feeling anxiety. I’m starting off on the wrong foot!

This morning I went to my local gym and took a tour, and as I was guided around the place I started feeling like I was watching myself from afar, sort of like an out of body experience. This isn’t me, I’m not really doing this, and I don’t know why I’m kidding myself because I’ve never followed through with these sort of plans before. As I sat down at the sales desk and reviewed my options of a month to month membership, or an 18 month contract for $6 less per month, the anxiety set in again. Would I even go to the gym every day, let alone continue going for 18 months to make that option worth my while?

I decided that I didn’t have to concern myself with these details. They’re all going to work themselves out. So what if I didn’t measure myself - I’ll gauge things by the way my clothes fit. Or, I’ll measure myself tomorrow. Who cares if I didn’t take the photo on the exact day that I started! My husband will take it when he gets home. These things matter, but they don’t matter as much as my belief in myself. 

After I put in a day’s work, what will my priority be? It will be “me time” at the gym, in a Zumba class to energize my body that has been sitting in a chair all day long; or it will be a yoga class, to calm my frazzled mind. 

Today, I have defined what it means to take time out for me. This is a first. And there’s  no anxiety about that!

The Challenge Is On!

I don’t know if it was an epiphany, or whether it was all the little things that occurred in my life over the past 18 months, that made me say “I’m doing the IsaBody Challenge!”. But today I decided. When I took the first sip of my Cleanse drink in January 2005 I weighed 220 pounds and wore a size 18 pants. In four and a half months I had released 68 pounds and wore a size eight! I was elated! So much so that I celebrated quite frequently! I gained about 8 pounds back, but remained pretty stable. I was surprised when I realized that I had stopped craving the ice cream and pizza that had been the main staples of my diet for I don’t know how many years!

In 2007 I made choices that did not serve me and I chose to stop cleansing, stop drinking the shakes, and stop eating healthfully. My cravings for pizza and ice cream returned, and I gained back most of the weight and became depressed, and in March 2009 I sat in my doctor’s office in tears as I realized that I can’t live like this any more. It was either “not live”, or “do something.” At this time I weighed 203 pounds and wore a size 16. I already had hypothyroidism. My cholesterol was at an all time high, my blood sugar was bordering on high, and I had been diagnosed with insulin resistance. That’s another term for “pre-diabetes.” My blood pressure was also creeping up. As a registered nurse, this made me very uncomfortable. I was 46 years old and heading down a very slipperly slope, following in my father’s footsteps, and his father before him. It was that very day that I decided to integrate Isagenix into my life again. 

This time the weight came off more slowly, and I hit plateaus more frequently. But I persevered and followed the 30-day program, and eventually I broke through all the plateaus. That is until recently. 

It’s been about six months or so since I released 59 pounds, and I’ve been at a plateau since then. I’ll put a couple pounds on, take a couple pounds off. My weight is stable. I’m quite pleased with my progress and my ability to manage my eating by choosing healthy foods. Until today...

Today I said “enough is enough!” I reminded myself about the journey I have been on from the moment I was born... the decision in 2005 to take a different path with Isagenix. Has my journey been easy? Well, releasing the weight was easy, but the inner transformation has been painful and enlightening and frightening and uncertain and  exciting all at once. I was once someone who was very introverted to the point of isolating herself from social connections, someone who was insecure and afraid of “stepping outside the box”, a scared little girl who cried every day of her life because there was nothing else to feel. In the past five years, I took a step at a time, testing the waters, sometimes jumping back two steps for fear of the unknown, for fear of what waited for me in the deep dark waters. At times I remained paralyzed by the fear, running away from possibilities and opportunities. But in the past couple of years I started saying “who cares” and did it anyway. I started looking the fear square in the eye and challenging it - and myself - to move forward, to take risks. It no longer mattered whether I was good at what I was setting out to do, whether I had all the skills to perform at my best, heck, it didn’t even matter whether I knew anything at all about what I was about to do. I just started doing it! And in doing “it” I am becoming a person who I really, really like. 

So today I DECIDE to embark on the next part of my journey. As I began to transform my body, I transformed my inner self. And the new “me” is ready to take it to the next level, and complete the transformation. Funny thing... I have always been so good at going the extra mile for someone else, giving my love until my heart ached, going out of my way to make something possible for someone else. Today, I DECIDE that I am worth going the extra mile for myself!