In June, I made the decision that I needed to make some changes to take better care of myself. I had arrived at the conclusion that although I had healthy intentions 90% of the time, I was still without energy, deep sleep, and balance. I felt used up, like the most vibrant years of my life were gone...floating around somewhere in my past before I became a mother. I didn't even know what I needed or wanted for myself, let alone how to ask for it.
Restoration and sustainability were in order if I was going to live a long, healthy life. I knew that I had a choice, and choosing not to choose is also a choice - a choice of deliberate procrastination. The only person who could restore my health was me, and the only person who could keep me from being healthy was me. This was the birthday present I was going to give myself, and the only present that I wanted. My birthday is today, August 27.
Then, in July I blogged about it. I looked to others who've made the same choices in their own lives after startling wake-up calls. I blogged about some of them. We are everywhere, a growing support network of people who believe that it is never too late to gently take control of the way that we treat ourselves.
I began educating myself & reflecting on this network. I thought of the multitude of personal trainers, the people who flock to farmer's markets, the dieticians, the counselors, the running clubs & fitness centers. I considered a lifelong friend who works as a physical therapist at a county hospital, who is in even better shape now than she was in high school as she got her yoga certification and began teaching free yoga to breast cancer survivors. I considered my mother, who has a knack for gardening - who grows bell peppers from the seeds of other bell peppers she has harvested & battles the deer and gophers daily for her cantaloupe. I know that I do not have the time, energy, or skills to be able to accomplish what these women accomplish, but I began to realize the large extent of choices I have available to me. In the month of June, when I made this decision, I saw two of my female coworkers become diagnosed with adult-onset diabetes. I reflected on the fact that in the vast majority of society, onset-diabetes is a choice.
I slowly began to lose my appetite for much of what I used to crave. Although I love a Dorito, I got less and less excited about my cheat meals that I originally looked forward to all week. I still indulge, don't get me wrong, but the craving has subsided considerably. In most cases, the cost just doesn't seem to be worth the benefit anymore.
To force myself to bring my lunch instead of buying it, I started walking daily on my lunchbreak. I increased the number of days that I exercise, but most importantly I changed the quality & intensity to include much more resistance training, along with cardiovascular exercise to intensity - if its not burning, its not working. To balance my time & responsibilities, I kept my daily workouts to only 30-40 minutes. I saw results. My sleep drastically improved, my energy levels began coming back, and I finally shed the 15 pounds of pre-pregnancy weight after 5 years. It is now up to me to sustain healthy living for the remainder of my life, and continually seek out the resources and the network I know is there. It's a daily choice.
Here are some sobering facts that I stumbled upon while educating myself. They were always there, but I didn't seem to pay attention until they became important to me:
- 1/3 of all US children and 1/2 of all black children born in the US after the year 2000 will develop early-onset diabetes. Diseases we thought we had conquered as a nation one-hundred years ago, such as rickets, are reappearing due to micro-nutrient deficiencies because of today's fast food diet.
- Obesity is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, beating-out smoking. It is the primary cause of heart disease, onset-diabetes, breathing difficulties, sleep disorders including sleep apnea, & gastrointestinal conditions.
- My children's generation is the first generation that will have a lower life-expectancy than the generation of their parents due to the illnesses above.
- A child of age 10 diagnosed with onset-diabetes will lose seventeen to twenty-six years of his or her life. Ironically, one out of three toys given to a child in the US comes from a fast-food restaurant. On any given day, one-quarter of the US population visits a fast-food restaurant.
- In the year 2000, the US Surgeon General declared obesity an epidemic. In that year alone, obesity cost our nation $117 billion in medical care. 64% of the US adult population is considered overweight or obese.
- 17% of the global energy crisis is due to the energy spent on the food system's globalization. 18% of the energy crisis is due to personal transportation.
- Our nation's food system is unbelievably vulnerable due to it's centralization - this is a national security threat for terrorism. We saw this with the accidental contamination of spinach, apple juice, and peanut butter. When we wash the nation's salad in one big sink, many people become sick quickly and easily when contamination occurs either accidentally or deliberately.
- In 1970, the average teenager consumed twice as much milk as soft drink. Today, the average teenager consumes twice as much soft drink as milk.
And, here is my food for thought...willpower does not work. Deprivation leads to shame. We try & we try to avoid the wrong foods. Then, we give in and over-indulge, & then we shame ourselves for not being stronger. When we do this, we are cutting-out instead of adding-in and then beating ourselves up over it. Start not by subtraction, but by addition. Add a liter of water to your intake until you're at 3 liters daily. Add in a 30-minute walk until you've got a regular daily exercise program, add massage, add a quality multi-vitamin, add education. Add nutritionally-dense natural foods as you like, enjoy, and discover them. As you gently work these things into your system, they softly & naturally push out the desire for that which corrupts the system, restoring balance.
If you're interested, here are some resources that I find insightful:
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