It's now been about two and half years into this health conscious trek and things are going pretty well. I've managed to keep my weight in a normal, healthy BMI range (for me, is 144lbs-174lbs) for the past year, staying anywhere between 160-170lbs. For my height (5'11''), that's really good. Especially since I've been exercising for fewer minutes than I have in my entire life, but with higher intensity. (HIIT or Peak 8 training, as it is known.)
Nevertheless, this process has had its ups and downs. During Lent this year I felt absolutely fantastic, as I was on practically a 90-100% raw, plant-based diet. After Easter, however, I introduced some vegan and cooked food, and started to feel fatigued and run down. I don't blame the cooked food entirely since I'd also experienced high raw days and still felt off. I decided to look into the common deficiencies of raw foodists and vegans, and Vitamin B12 ranked high. So I ate some (fried!) seafood and more meat on occasion throughout the summer, and that seemed to help. But then I started to get a little achey in the joints. Coupled with diminished exercise, family stress and not getting what my body really needed, I was feeling frumpy and worried that I'd lost that great feeling of vitality I'd grown to love just a few months prior. I decided the diet needed a clean up and to look into Vitamin B12 supplements.
It's been about a month on the Vitamin B12 supplements and I'm feeling really good. After about two weeks I completed a seven day water and juice fast, and was able to manage it well. Now that I'm back on a high raw and vegan diet AND exercising more consistently, I've got that awesome feeling back, especially after an interval workout. I joke with my husband that my skin "feels like it's breathing"when I get off the treadmill; cool and radiating, like I've got icy hot on it. The truth is, with all the greens and superfoods like spirulina and chlorella we're eating, my skin IS getting more oxygen. So I'm not off base there.
Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health speaks to these issues of feeling like crap even if you're eating healthy. Take a look at his suggestions in getting bloodwork if this means you. As I've told many friends who have tried the raw and vegan diets with or without immediate success, "Do what feels right for your body! Go slow! Or maybe not yet!" There are wonderful books that will back up the science behind eating a certain way, but if you don't feel good that way for extended periods of time, then it's probably not right for you. Or right for you right now.
I never ended up going to the doctor since my energy bounced back, but I am curious what proficiencies or deficiences my bloodwork would show. Perhaps that will be a future post.
But this is the reason Charissa and I named our blog "Get Dense." The irony behind improving health, in general, seems obvious, right? Eat better and exercise. Duh, yeah?! But there's always room for individual, unique situations--and one ought NEVER feel guilty about it if it doesn't match a particular dietary lifestyle. That's why God gives us doctors, nutritionists, naturopaths, personal trainers, and the ability to read, etc., ...to help us. While these services are never a guarantee to feeling better and healthy, it's just nice to know that people care for our bodies and minds, that we can take steps in the right directions, and all the while God is attending His mercy to our souls through these vocations. Because, let's face it, even when we suffer, are sick and in pain, and die, this is a sign to our neighbor of the sin and evil in this world, which God uses to point us straight to the ultimate remedy and cure, the cross.
Everyone, to one degree or another, is hooked on the feeling of wanting to be healthy and feel great. Who could blame us? Yet the only real guarantee in this life and hereafter is God promising and providing means for our spiritual health of salvation, forgiveness and eternal life daily in Jesus through Word and Sacrament.
The rest is just gravy.
Wait. Not gravy . . .smoothie. :)
Nevertheless, this process has had its ups and downs. During Lent this year I felt absolutely fantastic, as I was on practically a 90-100% raw, plant-based diet. After Easter, however, I introduced some vegan and cooked food, and started to feel fatigued and run down. I don't blame the cooked food entirely since I'd also experienced high raw days and still felt off. I decided to look into the common deficiencies of raw foodists and vegans, and Vitamin B12 ranked high. So I ate some (fried!) seafood and more meat on occasion throughout the summer, and that seemed to help. But then I started to get a little achey in the joints. Coupled with diminished exercise, family stress and not getting what my body really needed, I was feeling frumpy and worried that I'd lost that great feeling of vitality I'd grown to love just a few months prior. I decided the diet needed a clean up and to look into Vitamin B12 supplements.
It's been about a month on the Vitamin B12 supplements and I'm feeling really good. After about two weeks I completed a seven day water and juice fast, and was able to manage it well. Now that I'm back on a high raw and vegan diet AND exercising more consistently, I've got that awesome feeling back, especially after an interval workout. I joke with my husband that my skin "feels like it's breathing"when I get off the treadmill; cool and radiating, like I've got icy hot on it. The truth is, with all the greens and superfoods like spirulina and chlorella we're eating, my skin IS getting more oxygen. So I'm not off base there.
Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health speaks to these issues of feeling like crap even if you're eating healthy. Take a look at his suggestions in getting bloodwork if this means you. As I've told many friends who have tried the raw and vegan diets with or without immediate success, "Do what feels right for your body! Go slow! Or maybe not yet!" There are wonderful books that will back up the science behind eating a certain way, but if you don't feel good that way for extended periods of time, then it's probably not right for you. Or right for you right now.
I never ended up going to the doctor since my energy bounced back, but I am curious what proficiencies or deficiences my bloodwork would show. Perhaps that will be a future post.
But this is the reason Charissa and I named our blog "Get Dense." The irony behind improving health, in general, seems obvious, right? Eat better and exercise. Duh, yeah?! But there's always room for individual, unique situations--and one ought NEVER feel guilty about it if it doesn't match a particular dietary lifestyle. That's why God gives us doctors, nutritionists, naturopaths, personal trainers, and the ability to read, etc., ...to help us. While these services are never a guarantee to feeling better and healthy, it's just nice to know that people care for our bodies and minds, that we can take steps in the right directions, and all the while God is attending His mercy to our souls through these vocations. Because, let's face it, even when we suffer, are sick and in pain, and die, this is a sign to our neighbor of the sin and evil in this world, which God uses to point us straight to the ultimate remedy and cure, the cross.
Everyone, to one degree or another, is hooked on the feeling of wanting to be healthy and feel great. Who could blame us? Yet the only real guarantee in this life and hereafter is God promising and providing means for our spiritual health of salvation, forgiveness and eternal life daily in Jesus through Word and Sacrament.
The rest is just gravy.
Wait. Not gravy . . .smoothie. :)
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