Posted on

Happy New Year! 2010 in Review

Happy New Year to all.

I will be back to normal posting soon. In the meantime, here is an overview of wonderful things that have happened this past year…

Last year’s resolutions.

I wanted to learn a new language (didn’t do this), go to Hawaii (yes!), I cultivated patience, I ate more fried rice, ate less meat, I didn’t drink more Kombucha, I did drink less diet soda (overall), and I ended the year on a yoga streak (though I’m not sure I did much yoga throughout the whole year).

The Warrior Challenge (intenSati).

This was a month-long challenge to do 3+ classes a week of intenSati at one of New York’s poshest gyms. I had fun, and learned a lot.

Good conversations with good friends about behavioral change.

jan 30 2010 001

And also about drinking tea (yum) and eating kabocha.

Eating Fats.

The great fat experiment went well overall. I learned a lot about what my body needs. One thing to note is that it needs (a lot of) animal fats, so I will try to include more this year.

Trying acupuncture.

This was for stress and hormone stuff. Unfortunately at the time I wasn’t ready to commit to everything that I needed to do for acupuncture to work properly, so I quit after two sessions. I may give this another shot sometime though.

How Much Protein Do I Really Need?

This post was written as a response to anyone who doubts that vegetarians (or even vegans) can get enough protein on an animal-free diet. I don’t know the answer to this – I know that I need animal protein, but maybe not everyone does. My opinion on protein has changed (for the better) since I wrote the post. I’m now more into a high-fat, moderate-protein, and low-carb lifestyle.

Random favorites.

Including macrobiotic meals and fast food. I try not to limit myself too much.

Trailmaking and Wedding Planning.

Bobby and I went to NJ for the weekend and helped my dad build a trail. Lots of fun – hoping to do more things like that this year.

IBS Management.

I came up with a plan for my IBS – my IBS Management Plan. I didn’t stick to it as much as I would have liked. This year one of my resolutions is to get it under control as much as possible! Recent changes in my eating (eating more fats, fewer grains, more protein) have helped a lot.

Job changes – from full-time to part-time… (And back to full-time again, later in the year.)

Which meant more time to blog, more time to take a class (linguistics), and more time for my favorites like papaya salad and fresh cherries.

Discovery: eating mindfully.

Which later on led to…

And then, oh yeah…

I GOT MARRIED!

We were married in a Quaker meeting house and the reception was in my parents’ (beautiful) side yard. Here is my other wedding recap. (Guest posts listed there – had lots of good ones!)

Then we…

Went to Hawaii!

We had two glorious weeks on the beaches of Maui. Oh how I want to go back.

Walking talk (about how it is awesome).

How to Get Glowing Skin (very popular post).

I turned 24.

Had to have a kabocha scone for dessert on my birthday.

Project Food Blog.

(Didn’t get very far.)

The Hunger Diaries happened.

It died down pretty fast 😉

My Macro Plate Recipe.

Finally revealed it.

College-visiting with my sister.

(She got into her first choice! Not Brown, which is where we went that weekend.)

Highlights of the Fear and/or Sanity Weekend.

We took a weekend trip down to DC – so fun. Love the short hair.

And again… happy new year!

Posted on

The Hunger Diaries: My (Brief) Take on the Matter

If you haven’t already heard about the major blog drama going on, here’s the scoop: Marie Claire published a rather scathing and one-sided article criticizing “The Big Six” (six popular healthy living bloggers). The author, Katie Drummond, accused the six girls of exhibiting disordered behaviors and being bad role models for their readers. I have lots of things to say, but I’m going to keep it brief and ask for your thoughts.

I happened to blog about what I usually eat in a day today; good timing. Read my “Non-Hunger Diaries: Part 1” if you didn’t check it out already.

The Hunger Diaries: A Second Look

  1. The Big Six have definitely been inspiring for many, including me. If you are struggling with some of the behaviors the article talks about, like overthinking food and exercise, feeling guilty for not eating right, and having poor body image – I know first-hand that these blogs are helpful. These girls put themselves out there and have been incredibly honest and open with their lives; they were role models for me and others. Now that I am in a place of moderation I honestly don’t read those blogs that much because I don’t need them anymore (!), but I do not think that they were harmful. Instead, they were inspirational.
  2. Everyone struggles. Don’t judge before you walk 2 moons in someone else’s moccasins. When someone admits on the internet (the internet is written in INK, by the way, so it is hard to retract things) that she is having trouble with something, that is not an excuse to take that problem and blow it out of proportion. These girls were just being honest and opening up a discussion.
  3. Yes, there are some concerning issues brought up in the article. But instead of attacking the girls, why not offer some constructive criticism or some freaking compassion! If you are struggling, the last thing you need is someone yelling at and condemning you.
  4. Blogs are SUPPOSED to be obsessive. You aren’t going to blog about something you’re not passionate about, so there is going to be a level of obsession in any blog about anything. Do people criticize Stuff On My Cat for being obsessive about stuff on cats? No! Because that is what the blog is about.

    5. Source

That’s basically it.

The reasons that I blog the way I do (not everything I eat, not everything I do at the gym, and not every detail of my life) is because it’s not helpful for ME to blog that way, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad for others to do it. I don’t need to give all the dirty details to set a healthy example. My hope for people reading THIS blog is that they will walk away with some nuggets of inspiration, and hopefully…

  1. Tools to practice moderation in life.
  2. Some yoga tips.
  3. Ideas to be chillax about both food and exercise while staying thin.
  4. Ways to learn to eat intuitively (again).
  5. A bunch of New York healthy restaurants to try.

There are different ways of inspiring people and I think that most “healthy living” blogs out there are just trying to help (themselves or others). See the other bloggers’ responses here. These ladies are beautiful and fabulous.

What are your thoughts?

Posted on

Energy Sculpt, Best Breakfast, & A Healthy Gut

A Cardio & Scone-y Morning

Coco is here! This morning we went to my gym to take a class called Energy Sculpt. I had never taken it before and had no idea what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. Here’s the breakdown:

  • 30 minutes cardio with a step (this was really fun – not too repetitive at all, which is what I usually dislike about step/cardio classes)
  • 20-25 minutes combo of yoga and strength training. We were surprised (and pleased) when the cardio segment ended with down dog, warriors, and fun weight routines. He did not make the sets go on forever and I really enjoyed all the exercises.
  • 5-10 minutes abs and a brief cooldown. I hate abs, but at least this part didn’t last very long! And cooldowns are my favorite part of any workout.

After the workout we enjoyed the showers and headed back to my apartment for a breakfast of Whole Foods baked goods. I have a new favorite thing – the “no sugar added blueberry scone“. It doesn’t have any sweetener at all, so it is really more like a buttery blueberry biscuit. It looks like this:

Source.

Scones & Intuitive Eating

I haven’t talked much about intuitive eating lately, but I am very happy to say that it’s going well. It’s important to enjoy things like blueberry scones because by having what you really want, you stave off the cravings that usually come later.

Not to say that we should always indulge in our cravings. A balanced, healthy diet is important – so if I have too many scones I will probably balance it out with a nice salad or some fresh fruit. It’s all about balance! Moderation is hard, but worth it.

Do You Have A Healthy Gut?

Bobby sent me this great article yesterday and I just had to mention it today; normally I would have saved it for What’s Up Saturday but I want to elaborate. It’s written by Dr. Mark Hyman (author of those “Ultra” books – UltraWellness, UltraMind, UltraMetabolism, etc…).

The gist of the article is that many ailments that people suffer actually come from having a digestive issue (even if you never notice any stomach problems) – things like acne, asthma, allergies, obesity, fibromyalgia, and more. Dr. Hyman says that modern medicine defines illness based on symptoms, which can be inaccurate or incomplete. If you have a chronic problem you should check out your gut and make sure it’s healthy – you might be surprised at what you find.

He notes a few examples of people that have had long times of illness (20+ years) only to “magically” cure themselves by getting rid of a crazy bacteria living in their gut. Some of the symptoms that were cured include autism (maybe misdiagnosed, but something like it), severe behavioral problems, migraines, and sinusitis.

He goes on to talk about lots and lots of research linking gut flora and inflammation (inflammation = our body’s response to pathogens) to chronic illness. Some intriguing findings in the article.

He closes with 5 Steps to a Healthy Gut and Body:

  1. Eat a high-fiber, whole foods diet. His favorites are beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables because they support the good digestive bacteria.
  2. Avoid/limit sugar, processed foods, animal fat, and animal protein. The harmful bacteria feed on these.
  3. Avoid antibiotics, acid-blockers, and anti-inflammatory drugs.
  4. Take probiotics. They improve digestive health and can help get rid of allergies and inflammation.
  5. If you still have problems (or if you’re just curious) consider getting specialized tests and working with a natural doctor to make sure your gut is functioning well.

What do you all think? Here are my thoughts…

#1: Duh. I wholeheartedly agree that these should be the bases of the human diet.

#2: Agree that sugar and processed foods are bad; I’m iffy on animal fat. I think butter is great and I have seen fabulous results from eating more butter and including minimal amounts of animal protein in my diet. The key here I think is that you shouldn’t have animal fat/protein at every meal.

#3: In general, I think that antibiotics are overused. They are a wonderful wonderful thing when used properly and in moderation. Many lives have been saved. But when we overuse and overprescribe drugs, our bodies get confused and stop working they way they should. I have taken antibiotics exactly 3 times in my life, which is very very rare nowadays.

#4: I’ve taken probiotics off and on and sometimes I think I see improvements and other times I don’t notice anything. I do think that if I want to see results I would have to be consistent. I know that Clare has had great success with probiotics.

#5: I generally avoid any medical test that is not absolutely required. Ha.

Posted on

What’s Up Saturday – 9.4.10

As I write this I am on a bus down to Washington, DC. Last night I was gchatting with one of my best friends and decided to take a short and very spontaneous trip down to visit her. See you soon Coco! The last time I saw her was at my wedding which was over a month ago. (Coco’s recap is here.)

But more on that later. It’s time for another weekly roundup post.

In Salad News

Around the Blogs

Other Randoms

That’s all, folks. I owe you a skincare post next week, and probably more stuff on intuitive eating. I also have a great guest post coming up too!

What’s up for you this weekend?

Posted on

How Much Should You Eat?

***Update***

Do You Remember *Everything* You Ate?

I originally wrote this post because I thought that I was eating a lot less than I actually was! So I decided to try eating more to see what happened and maybe increase my metabolism a little. It turns out that I *was* eating enough already, but I wasn’t really realizing how much I ate 😉 I’m silly that way.

Keep reading if you’re interested in my original post!

**Original Post Below This Line***

For a long time I’ve been thinking about how much I eat, and I’m not sure it’s enough. But trying to eat intuitively makes you realize these things so I am going to do something about it.

How do you eat intuitively when you know you have to increase what you’re eating?

I don’t think it’s truly possible. But you still listen to your body and react even though you’re increasing the amount you eat, and you make note of how you feel before and after eating, so you can figure out what your body likes (and dislikes). You definitely don’t binge in an effort to up your intake.

You have to remember what Mimi reminded me in a comment this weekend:

Veering from intuitive eating is not a failure – it’s part of the journey.

This can be helpful when you are trying to eat more:

(Source. A real soft serve cone, vanilla and chocolate swirl, with multicolored sprinkles. Just like I used to have when I was a kid.)

How do you balance intuition with what’s best for your body? Are they always in agreement?