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Okay Internet, I need help. After consulting my favorite doctor (Google), I have turned up zero results. I sort of feel like Hermione when the library failed to reveal what a horcrux was.

Here’s my predicament: My baby is allergic to TV.

I don’t know if she is actually allergic to the TV, but within 20 minutes, she exhibits hay fever-like symptoms: runny nose + red, puffy, watery eyes. This happens at home (where we only have a mini-DVD player), at Grandma’s, at Auntie T’s, and anywhere that has a boob tube.

Have you heard of this? Any ideas? Do your family members have crazy, unexplainable symptoms?

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The Whole9 Five Movements Series. Dallas and Melissa asked 12 fitness folks which five movements they would do for the rest of their lives if they had to keep it to the bare minimum.

Gotye cover by Walk off the Earth. This song is ridiculously popular to cover and this is by far my favorite. Five people on one guitar? It has 4,571,955 views and I’m fairly certain 300,000 are from our house alone (3yo asks regularly: Mama, I want to listen to the didn’t have to cut me off song)

Rant 64: The House That Stumptuous Built by Krista Scott-Dixon. Language is saltier than I prefer, but the message is powerful. Get some exercise (no matter who/what you are) and quit worrying about other people.

How My Son is Raising Me by yours truly on Modern Alternative Mama. My thoughts on how I wanted to raise a perfect child. And how I have a lot more growing up to do than he does. PS Happy Mother’s Day!

I don’t talk much about exercise on this blog because, shhhhh {furtive glance}, I don’t really like it.

BUT…I do like being insulin-sensitive and not insulin-resistant. So exercise, I must.

To commemorate my 30th birthday, I decided to do 900 push-ups. For 30 days before I turn 30, I am doing 30 push-ups each day. I’m at 570 and the lessons are abundant.

1. Practice does indeed work. I could do 2 push-ups before I started and my form was horrific. After building more strength, I can now do 5 with very pretty form (and I suspect at least 20 if I was still doing them the way I started). I’m hoping to hit 10 by my birthday.
2. I don’t have to be sore to get stronger. I’m essentially doing a Grease the Groove program and my favorite thing is getting stronger without getting sore. Some people love that hurts-so-good feeling after a workout, but my pain threshold is about -8.
3. I like skill work. Getting strict push-ups under my belt makes me want to perfect my double-unders too. They are both coming along nicely. Met-cons, on the other hand, hold less appeal than ever.
4. Sleep matters. I can hardly get enough depth on one push-up when I don’t get at least 8 hours of sleep. My body moves inefficiently and even the simplest movements are an impossible feat.
5. I need to reassess my goals. I always thought my ultimate goal was to be fit. In reality, I want to want it (probably because I think it’s the right thing to want), but there’s something else motivating me. I just don’t know what. I suspect it has something to do with natural movement opportunities and nothing to do with gym time.

I am enjoying this little experiment and may continue it with other skills once my push-ups are over. On the radar: pull-up, OH squat, deadlift, clean, and Turkish getup.

What is your workout routine? Any tips for a fledgling exerciser like myself?

I love being pregnant. While all my friends are paying homage to the porcelain god and hardly walking due to swollen ankles, I feel like a million bucks. I wore heels to work the day before my son was born and was doing squats when my water broke with my daughter (10 days overdue). After feeling like death with PCOS, pregnancy surprisingly balanced out my hormones.

A woman due a month after me mentioned how unfair it was that I had boundless energy while she could hardly pull herself out of bed. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized just how bad I felt everyday; that I always felt pregnant. While she was having 9 months of misery, I was getting a 9-month respite. My miserable existence was so normal that I had no clue I was missing out on a more fulfilling life.

When I started living a Paleo lifestyle, I had a similar awakening. Symptoms I never even recognized as symptoms disappeared. I’ve been on this Paleo journey for 22 months and am still often surprised at all the “normal” problems that crop up when I go off-track.

A few of the weird things that I’m noticing, from head to toe:

• Split ends and broken hair. especially prevalent at the top of my forehead where my bangs begin.
• Oily hair.
• Dizzy when I stand up too fast.
  
• Floaters. I start to see neon green and neon yellow circles and crescents.
• Eye crusties.
• Itchy nose. Those stinkin’ seasonal allergies return.
• Chapped and white lips. This was not actually eradicated by Paleo, and required good quality fish oil to make my lips silky smooth. If I stop doing either, they are chapped again.
• Yellow teeth. Not highlighter yellow, but definitely dingier.
• Film on my teeth. Brushing, flossing, and mouth wash don’t get rid of it.
• Zits. Ugh. Look at my face and you will see my diet.
• Sweat less. This may a good thing for others, but not for me. I’ve got an iodine deficiency and already don’t sweat enough (and therefore don’t detox as efficiently).
• Back pain. Almost two years ago, I hurt one small area on the right side of my back doing a split jerk. After a few days eating poorly, that pain starts to return.
• Breaking nails.
• Hangnails.
• Cracking knees.
• Bruise easily. Particularly on my calves
• Feet smell. And not just because I wear Vibrams, which surely doesn’t help the matter
• Cold all the time.
• Inability to do a push-up. I can’t do very many legitimate push-ups, but I can usually do 2-3 in a row if I haven’t been practicing. Unless I’m eating rice krispie treats, and then I can’t even manage to do one.

Besides the PCOS, you might think this would be a pretty convincing list to never stray from the good food path. Someday I will stop making these discoveries…But until then, it’s a really powerful lesson to me that what we eat affects our bodies in ways we never even considered.

What are some of the weird symptoms (that you never even knew were symptoms) you get when you eat sub-optimally?

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I’m back. Finally. I’m in the throes of final exams, final projects, and a new (full-time) job where I have a leadership position. Hopefully I can get back on this here old blog for a few posts. And if you have emailed me in the past couple of weeks, I’m starting on those tomorrow.

In the meantime, we are still eating Paleo and I thought I’d give you a little peak into my kitchen.

We eat a lot of produce in our home. I’m not very good at knowing how much money we spend or how many hours we cook, but I took a moment to write down every fresh vegetable and fruit we ate for a week. Here are the results of one nursing mom, one CrossFitting husband, one hungry 3yo and one 1yo who doesn’t eat very much produce at all in order to protect her gut:

• 8 lbs carrots
• 1/2 bag snap peas
• 2 red peppers
• 4 oz fresh basil
• 2 heads cabbage
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 2 heads cauliflower
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 head red leaf lettuce
• 5 bunches broccoli
• 6 zucchini
• 8 avocados
• 1 butternut squash

There you have it. This list doesn’t include any fruit because we aren’t eating much of it lately. My baby can’t have it, so we try not to make her too jealous. It also doesn’t count pickles, coconut products (flakes, butter, milk, etc.), olives, raisins, or canned green beans, but gives a pretty accurate count of how much produce we typically eat.

How does this compare to you? Are you eating way more, way less, or does this look about right?

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I have been out of town, but thought I’d pop in to share a few fabulous links. I’ll be back Tuesday. See you then!’

Don’t Make My Mistakes: The 10 Things I’ve Learned from Doing CrossFit featured on CrossFit NYC: Powerful tips for beginners and experienced alike.

School Lunch Ideas at Everyday Paleo: And if you don’t have school-age kids, this could easily be Work Lunch Ideas.

Four Natural Ways to Treat Restless Leg Syndrome by Dr. Tim Gerstmar at Aspire Natural Health: When I was pregnant and pre-Paleo, I could have sworn Club crackers and hamburger buns gave me restless legs. I’ve often wondered if it was the wheat…

DIY Cash-System Wallet Tutorial by Debra (contributing writer at Modern Alternative Mama): I love staying out of debt and Dave Ramsey recommends using cash with an envelope system. I don’t like the envelopes because my two Littles are always tugging on me in the grocery store. If I could figure out how to thread a bobbin, I think I would be sewing this asap.

One of my rejections was that I wasn’t chosen as a contributing writer for Modern Alternative Mama

But the next day, I got great news: I WAS selected!

Read my first post today about exercising with kids through play, which is a follow-up of last Tuesday’s MovNat lessons.

Spoiler: You may see some video of my kids exercising in a MovNat-ty kinda way.

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Sweet Pictures of Female Athletes at Fitness Fabulous: This blogger is so dedicated to their workouts. I’m always impressed–with the wods and the gorgeous photos of strong women.

Addict II Athlete: Helping clients recover through fitness. Inspiring.

Smart Moves: Core Fitness For Women at Wellness Mama: “Women have special needs when it comes to core fitness. Anatomically, we are built differently than men.”

Preparing Meat 101–Chicken Edition on Strong Made Simple: An easy way to cook chicken.

4 Years of Living – Paleo on Everyday Paleo: Four. For real.

How did this happen?

On a windy January day in Las Vegas, I found myself asking, “How did I get in this tree?”

It was one of those refocusing, defining moments. Me–the quintessential non-athlete–trying to activate muscles I never even knew existed and swing my leg onto an uneven tree branch. With total clarity and flow a la Csikzentmihalyi, I felt powerful. Nay, I was powerful. I’d transcended the limiting beliefs about my capabilities and was acting on my true nature. This was MovNat.

My love affair with MovNat began on Halloween day, 2010. I was at Robb Wolf’s Paleolithic Solution Seminar in Houston and Erwan Le Corre (MovNat founder) was visiting. His quiet and humble presence drew me in. I could feel his energy and I observed him the entire day. Simply striking.

We hardly spoke–an unfortunate mistake on my end since he was entirely approachable. He smiled for, cooed at, and doted on my 4-month-old baby who came in twice to nurse and make googly eyes at all the Fitness Hounds in the room. But since I’d never heard of him or MovNat, I didn’t recognize my opportunity. I could feel that he was doing something special, but didn’t know how to say: “Hey Mr. Erwan, I can read your energy and my intuition is telling me you are going to change the world and my life.” The more I learn about him and his mission though, the less embarrassed I would be to make that statement.

From that point forward, I pined for a MovNat seminar. I wanted it badly despite my vehement dislike for physical activity and conventional exercise. I have absolutely no confidence in my athletic capabilities and believed MovNat could be the key to helping me become more physically adept. I almost registered for the session right after the Ancestral Health Symposium, but working out with a bunch of Paleo fitness fanatics was too terrifying of a prospect. Fourteen months later, my intuition finally won me over and I registered for the Las Vegas workshop.

I almost didn’t go. Two days prior, my baby got sick. And goodness knows I was looking for an out. But she healed miraculously and I found myself working out at Legacy Park with seven men.

7 Lessons

1. My body is strong and beautiful. Brian Tabor (MovNat instructor) moves like a cat-gazelle crossbreed. It’s glorious to watch and I found myself in awe when he would jump onto a trash can or leap through the air, landing in a diving roll. As we moved throughout the day, the bodies of the participants (including my own) transformed into something similar. Strong and beautiful, even if they were untrained or still building their physical fitness. Because they are human, they have the capacity to move naturally. There is an underlying strength that may have been forgotten, but it is present nonetheless. And that is beautiful.

MovNat Las Vegas. The strong and beautiful bodies.

2. It’s all in my head. The first person I saw was Paul. He is an enormous mass of muscle and was wearing a shirt that looked like something from the periodic table (It read “Ow: The Element for Pain“). I looked over at my husband and shook my head saying I couldn’t do this. I wouldn’t fit in here. I don’t like exercise, I am not strong, and I really really really hate pain. He let me blabber until I could pull myself out of the car. But there was nothing intimidating about these guys. There was an atmosphere of camaraderie (of which I attribute to Brian’s ability to build a safe culture in such a short amount of time) and my fears dissipated by the end of the breathing exercises. Any ability I thought I couldn’t develop was all in my head. I could do this. I was made to move.

Our true nature is to move

3. I am afraid of my body. I was born massively pigeon-toed and required special shoes to shape my hips. The shoes were removed early and my hips/coordination are still paying for it. Even more, I got glasses in second grade (bifocals in fourth) and my optometrist said my poor depth perception would prevent me from ever being able to play sports that involved hand-eye coordination (i.e. anything with a ball). These early experiences shaped the last 20+ years of body image and I never got to know my capabilities very well. The unknown is frightening, so my body was frightening. Even at the end of the workshop, I was still timid about catching a ball (thankfully Robert went easy on me).

My special shoes

4. My children are inheriting my fear. The biggest motivator to finally get to a workshop was watching my children. Because I parrot the safety mantra “Be careful. Don’t break that. That’s dangerous” all day long, my kids started to exhibit more fear and timidity. I was creating a very pseudo-dangerous world for them. At the park, I would have minor panic attacks when my son climbed the big rocks because I was afraid he would fall and crack his head open. I always envied my husband’s ability to just let our kids be kids. But because I didn’t know what my body could do, I didn’t know what my children were perfectly capable of either. Luckily, that’s starting to fade.

My 3yo son climbing those big scary rocks.

5. MovNat is for moms. And everyone else, yes, but I’m particularly interested in moms. I don’t know how to play with my children very well. I’m great on academics and great at loving them, but having pure, unadulterated fun is hard for me. MovNat showed me how to awaken my body, play with my kids, and create stronger bonds with my Littles. Eight hours well-spent. More on this next Tuesday.

Hiking Zion barefoot with the baby wrapped in a sling on my chest

6. I could stand to do a few more squats, lunges, and push-ups. Sigh. No surprise there. From a purely functional standpoint, it would be in my best interest if I gained a bit more strength. I was able to hold myself on the pole, but couldn’t shimmy my way up at all.

Paul on a pole in a totally non-Las Vegas kind of way

7. Exercise ain’t so bad. Please don’t tell. I have spent so long hating it, I am almost having an identity crisis.

The Best Part of MovNat

…was walking away a new woman. I found someone who was hiding deep inside of me, and I really like her. More confidence, more joy, more love.

And in case you’re wondering…When I finally managed to pull myself up onto that tree branch with the help of the mighty Brian Tabor, everyone cheered enthusiastically. I am so proud.

Big thanks to Brian, Robert, Tim, Phil, Phil, Omar, and Paul who all helped me find myself that day. And to think I almost didn’t get out of the car.

"Education should help man become the best he is capable of becoming, to become actually what he deeply is potentially." --Abraham Maslow in Religion, Values, and Peak Experiences.

The physical benefits of Paleo are well-lauded on this blog. There’s no question that Paleo is the reason my family enjoys better health and it’s worth every two-hour vegetable chopping session, despite my occasional murmuring.

But the real reason I live a Paleo lifestyle and feel it is crucial for my children lies in Maslow’s statement: to become actually what I deeply am potentially.

In the throes of PCOS and infertility (me), autism and therapy (my son), and the possibility of Crohn’s/ulcerative colitis (my baby), my physical trials blinded me. They were all-consuming. Constant survival mode. To imagine my greatest potential or any future at all was futile, because frankly, I didn’t know if I would reach tomorrow. The days were long, the nights were filled with crying babies and a crying mother, and every day was a new day…of just getting by.

With PCOS, the apex of my potential was Not Getting Sicker. Not exactly the childhood dreams of becoming the first woman president. But I couldn’t aspire to anything else; I was drowning in insulin resistance and weight retention and autoimmunity. Someone who is trapped underwater can only hope for air; anything more is irrelevant, and I needed air.

Paleo allowed me to emerge from the murky depths, eventually treading water, and finally leaving the sea of despair altogether. The cataracts obscuring my visions have been removed. I can look at the world with fresh eyes for the first time, seeing the opportunities for what they really are.

I have greater hope because I am no longer destined to a life of female cancers. My son can spend Wednesdays at playgroup instead of occupational/speech therapy. My daughter is still recovering and I can envision a life for her that is not defined solely by bowel distress.

There were more moments of happiness than sadness in my life prior to Paleo; that is my nature. But becoming more than a woman with PCOS wasn’t part of my joy.

Now that PCOS is behind me, there is a clarity about who I am that was never there before. I had glimpses of it my entire life, but I can finally embrace it and actually be who I deeply am inside. My children can, too. And that’s the real reason I eat Paleo.