At the end of last year, I had given up hope on healing my body. I felt like I had done everything right – I eat a clean diet, minimal sugar, followed a leaky gut protocol for 30-days, reduced my workouts, and had significantly reduced my stress. But my face remained the same and it seemed other things were starting to pop-up — dry skin around my hairline and muscle fatigue in my shoulder which can be bad at times. I had researched a low-sulfur diet, but honestly it was so restrictive I was hesitant to implement it – okay I don’t want to. I basically told myself, screw it until the renovation is done because at the end of the day, I think it is the culprit for most of my issues. Full disclosure – I don’t clean often and with the reno it is ALWAYS dirty that I don’t see the point.
We passed!! The NYC NTP class did it! It has been 3 weeks since passing my final for my NTP certification from the NTA! Ah, now what do I do with all my free time?!?!
Well, guess what isn’t resolved? Yup, face rash not gone, still red and getting itchy again!! (yeah the kitchen reno isn’t done either, but I have very little involvement in that)
Do you have to eat every 2 hours? Get HANGRY if you don’t? Are you able to go go go all day long then crash once you actually sit down? Require a giant glass of wine/beer after work just to “unwind”? Use working out to beat yourself up as a stress relief? Have trouble falling asleep? Wake up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back asleep?
This defined me. Family and friends knew meals and snacks were a necessity if you didn’t want the bitch to come out. Missing a meal was never an option.
I eat saturated fats and cholesterol, with no regrets! Over the last few months since starting the NTP program, I’ve had a few people ask me regarding my fat intake. Our media has demonized cholesterol over the decades and now we are terrified of saturated fats and cholesterol. I do not understand how our government and media allowed this – literally making us unhealthy and sick. But on the positive side, there is a shift occurring, people are starting to take their health in their hands and eat fat and less processed foods.
Today was a wrap on the 2017 triathlon season! Since my first one last year, I have fallen in love with this race. I completed 3 Tris this year – one was suppose to be an ocean swim, but due to rough waters it was cancelled (Islandman Triathlon in Avalon); another in a pool which I’m not a fan of the serpentine style race (Lititz RecCenter Triathlon); and a lake which was awesome, even if my shoulder was acting up and I had to breast stroke the entire distance (Marshman Triathlon in Marsh Creek State Park).
Like all my half marathons, I really do need to start properly training for these events. I do believe going to CrossFit a few times a week does help build strength and endurance, but CrossFit does not prepare you for sitting on a bike for extended period…Luckily you can swim however you want so there is always breast stroke. I would actually like to do better so I really need to start freestyling and conserving my energy for the other 2 legs. Maybe next year I’ll properly plan and train for any Tris I decide to compete in….I do always say this for whatever race I sign up for…one day tho!
Day 7 of no sugar, gluten, dairy, or alcohol. Eating healthy doesn’t mean you can’t have delicious and tasty food!
Only 1 day of slip ups which for the most part were out of our hands…look I know we could’ve CHOSEN to not have alcohol or dessert, no one was MAKING us consume these things. But stressing out about our food choices will not benefit our bodies either. So yes, we had beer (Zach) and champagne (me) and ate desserts (shared mini desserts and didn’t Repeat the same one). The food at the wedding was amazing and I’m sure there was sugar and hydrogenated fats in there, but I didn’t stress about it. We did make the conscious effort to not eat bread at dinner and didn’t stuff ourselves. So I’ll take that as a win while dining out.
Starting today, for the rest of the month – NO GLUTEN, SUGAR or DAIRY! My snacking has gotten out of control the last few weeks, the worst part is that I’m not even hungry! I’m just eating because I need a mental break and do something else.
I’m fully anticipating this week being a little crazy. My client has some pretty insane deadlines for the end of the month and items keep getting added. However, there are a few things that are non-negotiable to me: SLEEP (7 – 8 hours!), FOOD, & EXERCISE. Regardless of what is going on, I need these to get through the day.
Over the past 3 years, I have learned meal prep is key to not eating out and/or binge eating. I’ve become quite the snob when it comes to eating out as I prefer my own cooking and if we are going out it better be something to die for!
With a lot of trial and error, I think I’ve become pretty efficient with food/meal prepping. It was definitely a struggle at first, but at some point I realized that I didn’t have to make complex recipes and FAT is critical to making a delicious meal. The only thing required for the week were basics and doubling everything now that the husband has realized the benefits! Also, making large dinners guarantees leftovers!!
With all the stress I have in my life, the last thing I thought I was effecting was my digestion. Hell, for the past few years I’ve completely shifted what I ate and how I thought about food. I thought I was doing a pretty damn good job of eating the right foods to provide my body the fuel I needed to perform optimally. Enter NTA and a wrench in my daily grind…I have come to the realization that over at least the past 2 years I have been “thriving” off of cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline).