Patting Myself On The Back

I think that one of the most important habits to get into when you're working on achieving a goal is giving yourself credit for successes along the way.

I had a GREAT week this week (fitness-wise, anyway). On Monday (had the day off for MLK Day), I went to Power Hour, a cardio/weight class at my gym. It totally kicked my ass, but I still got up Tuesday morning to meet my trainer. After 40 assisted pull-ups (yes, forty, as in four-zero), I was wiped. I hadn't done a single pull-up since the Presidential Fitness assessment in 5th grade, so 40 (albeit assisted) pull-ups was a HUGE accomplishment.

I went back to the gym for a great hour long workout on my own on Thursday, and today I went to Bikram Yoga for the first time in about a year. It was the most positive, uplifting Bikram class I've EVER been to. The teacher was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and really gave individual attention to everyone in the class. And it was only $8!

After my company health fair scare (where I was told that my bad digestion would surely be my demise), I was motivated to go into high gear, as well as really reassess how I eat. The iridologist (who "diagnosed" my bad digestion) suggested an alkaline diet. After some initial online research, I bought 3 books about it on Amazon. Normally I'm skeptical of any one "cure-all" method of eating, but this seems pretty solid: it basically just advocates eating 80% "alkaline" foods (which are basically the healthiest things there are - spinach, kale, fruit), and 20% "acidic" foods (which is basically everything else).

I definitely feel like I'm a healthy eater. I LOVE green veggies! But when I REALLY take a good hard look at what I eat, the majority of it is NOT fresh veggies and fruits. I certainly include those when I can, but I'd say my diet is more 20% fresh veg/fruits and 80% other stuff. Just a little research on eating alkaline made me acutely aware of how hard it is to FIND veggie and fruit rich foods! I stopped into the bagel store after Bikram (because my post-yoga green juice was NOT cutting it in the fullness department), and ended up eating half of a tuna salad melt on a whole wheat bagel. Not the worst thing in the world, but a far cry from a big bowl of kale.

Try to think of the last time you were at a restaurant and saw "giant bowl of lightly wilted greens" on the menu. If they ARE there, they're likely sauteed in butter or cream. The world is FULL of "acidic" food - bagels, pasta, meat, rice, blah blah blah (all my faves, I might add). But this little bit of knowledge is really helping me focus on packing as many nutrient-rich foods into my diet as possible.

The bad digestion issue (which was brought up today in Bikram when my teacher said that "yogis believe that 98% of all illness comes from constipation–it's like the UNIVERSE is trying to tell me something!), combined with my recent self-diagnosis that I have low levels of vitamin B (again, this is based on online research, and the fact that when I drink Kombucha, or even Red Bull–both CHOCK full of Vitamin B–I feel like I'm on uppers; seriously, it's like mild cocaine to me), has made me really refocus on what I eat.

I will never NOT struggle with wanting to eat nothing but buttered noodles. That's life. But with a little knowledge under my belt, I can start to make better choices, little by little.

For now, I'm patting myself on the back for doing a respectable 4.5 hours of exercise this week (not counting walking around). And I'm about to go make an alkaline-friendly meal to pack for lunches this week: kale and lentil brown rice pilaf with nuts and dried fruit. Yum!