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:
- 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.
- Avoid/limit sugar, processed foods, animal fat, and animal protein. The harmful bacteria feed on these.
- Avoid antibiotics, acid-blockers, and anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Take probiotics. They improve digestive health and can help get rid of allergies and inflammation.
- 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.
