Exercise

They say that slow and steady wins the race, right? Well my slow and steady race to health has been paved by some frustrations and some mental fatigue, but I’m still in it to win it!

This past summer, I worked on the Outer Banks, living on the beach with my husband as recreation directors of a campground. It was a fantastic job and the community of people we worked with and lived beside couldn’t be beat. We were also privy to some delicious potlucks and amazing seafood, as well as a weekly hot dog lunch and ice cream. After successfully introducing almonds and all spices, I wanted to be able to eat socially again. So I decided as long as I kept it gluten-free, I could try to be flexible once or twice a week. At first I didn’t stop re-introductions; I just kept a great journal and knew to be mindful. The reality is that if I eat something once in a week, I rarely react to it, as long as there’s no gluten involved.

But by the end of the summer, I had an incident that has frustrated me in my food adventures, and I still haven’t quite recovered. At the end of a week of potato reintroductions (which I thought were going well), I walked on the beach, barefoot, for the first time in a long time. I pulled a muscle in my feet in a way that made any walking painful. And instead of taking a few days to get over like it usually would, it took weeks. My daily beach walks (in sneakers) were replaced by slow strolls on the pavement, if that. And while my first realization was that I must be sensitive to potato, when it took many months and my muscles STILL hadn’t fully recovered (my feet did, but I’ve still got unexplained tension in my shoulders and such that I’d previously lost with my diet changes), I started wondering if it was the cheating or if it was something else.

So I stopped worrying about it for a while. I’m eating gluten-free, and I’m limiting potatoes and corn and anything else I haven’t re-introduced formally yet. And I’m trying to work up the mental and physical energy for more reintroductions.

When we hit the road again, leaving Florida, I may decide to try another reintroduction. I know I need to do more. I’d like to limit my cheats more this year. But food freedom is tough to navigate, especially when I still feel pretty great overall. I’ve gotten new meds for suspected Sjogren’s from my rheumatologist, but I haven’t started them yet. I’m told they’ll make me sweat. We shall see.

In better news, I’ve been doing well with maintaining my cardio and my weights haven’t been to shabby. I’ve also been doing an excellent job of eating organ meat at least a few times a week. (Publix is a wonderful source, and organ meat is so cheap!) So I have lots to be proud of. I’m hoping to integrate more meditation this year as well, and I’ve set some ambitious work goals I hope to achieve.

Did you set any resolutions this year? It isn’t too late! I’d love to hear what you’re doing to improve your health.

When in early 2016 I began a daily exercise practice, I wasn’t sure how long I could stick with it and I certainly didn’t anticipate I would be writing a health blog six months later. Nevertheless, I’ve now known for more than a year that I wanted to find a way – or ways – to help people to be their healthiest selves.

At first I considered becoming a personal trainer or getting certification to teach a style or brand of exercise that I loved. I still would love to do that someday, but after a lot of research I decided that wasn’t currently the best use of my money and time. Given my work following the auto-immune protocol, I started this blog to document my health journey as well as the progress I made even earlier through exercise and a mindful approach to my health. I’ve considered becoming a health coach someday as well. But currently, I’m at a bit of a crossroads.

In my life, I love to do a variety of things. I’m self-employed with a variety of work. I love the arts, food, the environment and improving the lives of the people I care about. I love to write and edit and to help people get organized. And I would love to make more money doing these things.

So how do you monetize a health blog where your focus is on making common sense choices, developing habits and on learning to know your body? Besides gaining a following and having advertisements, it seems like my best path would be to create a “system” with resources for people to follow or a book to read. And I’m not there yet, and I’m not currently sure if/when I’d be the best person to do that.

So one of the choices I’ve been considering for many months is to become affiliated with a health company and market their products. M2M companies aren’t my favorite thing, but it would give me a clear path to income IF they had products I could stand behind. I’ve been courted by at least four companies in the last year, and I’m leaning toward one of them, because I can see a clear path where I can test some of their products on my diet and because although they offer a “shake”, their overall approach to fitness can be made to align (perfectly, I think) with mine.

But I wonder how I will be judged if I make this leap. I know people have enjoyed reading about my health journey, and I will continue to share it. I would just have additional offerings for those who are interested. And maybe I could find a way to “coach” people who don’t need the products too, if they cared to listen?

I’d love your thoughts. This had been on my mind for months and I’m trying to decide if I’m ready to make the leap!

(Pictured below are some recent meals in my life!)

Slow and Steady

Pondering Next Steps in Health