Friday Link Love: From Addict to Athlete

23 Mar

There is so much great content out there. Here’s a sampling of what I’m reading when I’m not writing.

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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.

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7 MovNat Lessons from an Uncoordinated Stay-at-Home Mom

20 Mar
All gorgeous photos courtesy of the incredible Omar Foster. If you are in the Las Vegas area, check him out at Camp Fit Force. All photos of my gorgeous children courtesy of my phone.

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.

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Becoming What I Deeply Am

14 Mar

"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.

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Aunt Flow Never Visits: The Period Post

8 Mar

"Mr. Hall, I was surfing the crimson wave."

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Melissa Joulwan calls it hormone poisoning. Cher from Clueless calls it the crimson wave. Whatever your euphemism, a monthly menstrual cycle is part of the female experience.

Unless you have PCOS.

Sure, there are women who may have regularity sans birth control, but 8 periods or less per year is a possible indicator of PCOS.

A Late Start

In 8th grade, my best friend Romi used to tease me about how I wasn’t mature. I finally lied and said I started my period just to keep it from being a regular topic of conversation.

Two years later when I was just under 16, I finally went to the OB/GYN (upon recommendation of my voice teacher, of all people) because my period was non-existent. The doctor prescribed some birth control pills and said I hasn’t started because I was athletic (ha! misconception of the century).

Everything I learned about my body, I learned from my friends at school and the school nurse. So basically, I knew bra sizes started at A and that was about it.

I was so confused about birth control and how it worked. We had the Internet, but accessing it for answers to all of our problems wasn’t quite the norm yet and our set of Encyclopedia Brittannica offered absolutely nothing helpful to me. I don’t know what I thought–maybe a baby would spontaneously show up in my uterus or something–but I was terrified to take those little pink pills.

I looked at the package every day for a week and hid them in my super-secret-hiding-spot lest any of my friends found them and thought I was not a virgin anymore. I was so embarrassed and uncomfortable (and really needed the birds and the bees talk, evidently).

Finally, I prayed I wouldn’t have to take them and I started my period that same night. Which also happened to be the same night my horde of girlfriends was going to see Titanic in the theater. All I remember about that night was Kate Winslet flying at the end of the boat and wondering how one movie could be So. Long.

The End. Right?

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Now that I was finally a woman, I thought everything was fine and paid no attention to my monthly cycle. From that first period until I was 29, I only had 11 non-medically-induced cycles. About one per year. Even during the three years on birth control, my period was unpredictable and didn’t always come during the placebo week.

My friends couldn’t have been more envious and I sure saved a lot of money on hygiene products. So what’s the big deal? Just be grateful, right?

The big deal came when I couldn’t have children. Of course, no period was a big deal before the doctor encouraged in vitro, but I was ignorant to that fact. The convenience of always being able to go swimming was not worth the infertility.

I started myself out on a mission to have a monthly cycle. It was the only measurable way I could see that would indicate I was a healthy woman. The doctors I visited only seemed concerned with getting me pregnant and wouldn’t adequately respond to the queries about what I needed to do to be healthy.  Even if I could have a baby, I wasn’t going to be pregnant forever, so I needed a more permanent solution. Docs offered up birth control, but I intuitively knew it wasn’t addressing the real problem. I didn’t want to be on birth control because I wanted an entire football team of children, but I also hated the way it turned me into Mood Swing Extraordinaire. That couldn’t be normal. And if it was, I was opting-out.

Paleo and Periods.

Can food change my menstrual cycle?

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Once my baby turned 15 months (13 months on Paleo), my body started to regulate itself again. In 6 months, I’ve had 5 periods on my own–nearly half of my lifetime record. It is a celebration every time. Of course it’s not fun (and I can now understand why women scorn the inconvenience), but it’s an indicator of proper function. Even if I don’t want to deal with it, my body was designed to do certain things. This is one of them and after years of being abnormal, it’s a relief to be working.

I also don’t experience any pain or cramps anymore, which is a miracle in my world. Prior to this, I would lay on the cold tile, crying because of the pain. I missed class and called in sick to work. When I gave birth to my baby naturally, the contractions up to about a 6 were equivalent to the cramps at my yearly menstrual cycle. To be gone is a very welcome thing, and I would happily choose a period 12 times a year to avoid those cramps again (unless I’m giving birth).

I can’t explain the science of what Paleo did to get my ovaries-a-rockin (and I don’t even believe Paleo is a cure-all), but I have a strong inclination that removing toxins and replacing them with nutrients had a pretty positive effect on my entire body system, female processes included.

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On Failure and Self-Worth

6 Mar

Sometimes Homer Simpson can read right into my soul.

I failed twice last week and guess what? It’s not the end of the world.

Perhaps others already learned this lesson, but for me, failure IS the end of the world. I am a high achiever handicapped by a big-time Jonah complex. I choose challenging tasks, but never so challenging that if I tried my hardest I wouldn’t succeed. That’s probably one of the reasons I can’t ever seem to max on any lifts. My head always gets in the way.

In my efforts to eradicate binge eating and disordered eating from my life, I’ve been trying to fail more. Or more accurately, I’ve been doing things that I’m not positive I will succeed at. When I start a 30-day nutrition challenge, one drop of honey makes me feel all is lost. I spiral into a week-long binge fest because my brain tells me I’m going to fail. And since I hate failing, that’s a great excuse to give up.

I’m making conscious efforts to quit my no-fail addiction. I submitted a proposal to present at a holistic living conference and my submission was denied. I also applied to be a contributing writer at Modern Alternative Mama. I haven’t heard back, but since the application said all selected writers would be notified by Friday March 2, it’s safe to assume I was not selected.

Last month, I didn’t get a job working with Balanced Bites and the month before that I didn’t get a job working on the Chris Kresser team. I didn’t even get interviews (the first time in my life).

The Red Monster

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My son woke up last night, terrified of a red monster in his closet. He was too scared to face what might be in his bedroom, so he ran into our bed and clung tightly to me for hours.

I have my own red monster that taunts me: Failure Means You Have No Self-Worth.

Coming face-to-face with Failure riddled me with anxiety. At the end of the day…turns out it’s not so bad.

I’m still alive, completely unscathed. I’d rather not make a habit of it, but failing isn’t the end of the world.

This little experiment in self-actualization liberated me. Failure was never the problem. I was prisoner to a thought
that somehow, failing at a task defined me as a failure in life. I met my scary red monster in the light of day to realize it was never scary to begin with.

 

What’s for Paleo Breakfast?

1 Mar

A typical breakfast of sauteed collards topped with curried meat and veggies

My husband was recently asked what he eats for breakfast and he casually listed a couple of things, one of which was cabbage and raisins.

Afterward, his gym owner pulled him aside and laughed, saying, “Hey man, we can’t expect everyone to eat cabbage and raisins for breakfast.”

What a wake-up call. About three years ago, I remember trying to figure out how to get more veggies into my breakfast, and all I could come up with was canned pumpkin mixed into my oatmeal. If someone would have suggested cabbage and raisins? Ew.

I am still well-aware that the standard breakfast is comprised of grain-product, juice, and milk, but after 18 months of Paleo, I must have forgotten it was weird to not eat that way. Even your mama is going to think that’s a strange breakfast.

Jumping the Hurdle

One of the credits to the Paleo community is that most folks have reframed their idea of what breakfast looks like. Our family has definitely hit that place, having a much higher tolerance for Food as Fuel. My three-year-old wakes up in the morning and grabs a container of vegetables and some leftover meat out of the fridge. He doesn’t think twice about how strange it is; breakfast is just another meal he eats when he’s hungry.

The Most Important Question About Breakfast

When I’m really intentional about my breakfast, it answers the question: Which foods make my body feel the happiest?

For me, eating meat and greens first thing sets me up to have a day with minimal cravings (if any). My brain thinks more clearly and my energy levels are higher.

Eating fruit, on the other hand, makes me crazy-moody for the rest of the day and I can’t think about anything but candy until bedtime.

This means my go-to breakfast is usually leftover vegetables and meat (cooked with coconut milk and curry) served over sauteed greens. It gets a little boring, but it sets my body up to have a really good day.

The Paleo Breakfast Trick

There isn’t one that I’m aware of. Basically, it’s coming to grips with the fact that breakfast looks pretty much the same as dinner. And if you live at our house (the land of leftovers), it almost always looks exactly like dinner.

Do you have any special Paleo breakfast tricks?

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Sarah Fragoso on Paleo Summit-Today Only!

27 Feb

Sarah Fragoso from Everyday Paleo talking kids and family at the Paleo Summit

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I get a lot of questions about how to make Paleo work with a family.

Today, Sarah Fragoso from Everyday Paleo is a featured speaker at the Paleo Summit. Her presentation–Paleo, Kids, and the Family–has great introductory advice for making the transition into a Paleo family. If you are considering the transition but are a little overwhelmed, head on over.

The format is a radio interview with a slideshow, and it’s only available (for free) until midnight PST. You have to register for the online conference, but that’s free too.

Enjoy!

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