Learning a LOT

So, my Guru, Sri Dharma Mittra, always says that you have to apply "angry determination" when you are trying to master something.  For a long time, I mentally substituted the word "fierce" for "angry," because I'm from the South where anger is frowned upon.  (So messy, doncha know.) But I started thinking about this whole food/sugar/ food industry/Big Pharma/Monsanto/diabetes/bee death/factory farm MUCK that I'm trying to climb out of and you know what?

I'm ANGRY.

I am.  I feel like I was kind of fed a pack of lies all of my life based on nothing but PR and greed, and now I'm having to utterly retrain my body --I'm having to go through RECOVERY --just to get back to the health I was born with.

Seriously?  That is really messed up.

It's taking a lot of bandwidth to educate myself on the real way to eat for my personal optimal health.  I'm having to become an expert on nutrition because there is really no one else out there with my best interests at heart. Not the FDA, not the Paleo people or the vegan people or, Lord knows, the Monsanto people.  There is a lot of information and SO MUCH misinformation.

Here are some basics of what I'm learning, now that I'm (mostly) detoxed from sugar:

Most sources I've seen recommend that an average woman take in no more than 24 grams of sugar per day, whether naturally occurring or in added sugar.  This means a retraining of my taste buds, but it's worth it. For me, staying below that level means no bloating, no sluggish, weird brain fog, and inches dropping off of my waistline.

Most sources recommend eliminating refined flour completely. It is apparently in everything I have ever eaten, ever. Well, okay, maybe not as ubiquitous as added sugar, but it's up there.  And the body interprets it as sugar, so it's really bad news. My body really hates refined flour. I'm currently in the process of trying to figure out if it's gluten in general that causes such an inflammatory response, or just the refined flour itself.

In order to keep the blood sugar steady, you have to eat a little bit of protein with every meal. I'm in the process of finding out how much that is for MY body. Experts differ in their recommendations.

Ditto, healthy fat.  I routinely eat 1/4 of an avocado with my meals. Other good sources are coconut butter, almond butter, seeds...

So, those are the things I'm doing now.  I already eat a vegan, plant-based diet, but I am trying to be smarter about it. And I'm starting to get little glimpses of the radiant health I am seeking.  I'll keep you posted!

Begin Again

So, yesterday, I ate whatever my brain wanted.  Someone is being mean to me and I let that hurt my little princess feelings and I was already flattened by the suicide of Robin Williams and the stories of war and famine and disease and I had an emotional response and just ate whatever I wanted.  I even ate a piece of cornbread that wasn't vegan, knowing that I was making myself sick.

Today, I feel TERRIBLE.  Terrible.  Like I've been in a car wreck.  My joints are inflamed and tender and I'm really stiff. I, yoga practitioner and instructor, can barely touch my toes right now. (It doesn't help that I dropped the blender on my toe and may have broken it. Injury to insult.)

So, here's the thing: you fall off the horse, you get back on the horse.

Today, I'm getting back on the horse.

Because this particular horse gets me where I want to go.

Everyone has to find and define his or her own horse. That's your life's work right there: finding  the horse that gets you where you want to go. In my case, I want to find my way to radiant health. I think my vehicle to get there is diet and yoga and meditation and mindfulness. I'm dedicating the next six months (the ramp up until I turn 50) to remaking myself cell by cell until I get to optimal health.

I'd also like to gather stories of others who are doing the same, or who have already found their particular horses.  If you have an inspirational story to share and might agree to being interviewed for my next book (a compilation of stories like these, plus resources, research and my own story of moving through chronic pain to optimal health,) I would love to hear from you.  Shoot me an email at barb.cooper@gmail.com)

Namaste.  Thanks for riding along,
Barb