(Disclaimer: I am not endorsing anything with this post, only sharing my continuous journey, and would encourage anyone to simply research any idea on their own for better health.)
When we were in Mexico, we took Salvatore to a local cancha where there was an old, rusty see-saw. His curiosity was sparked and he really wanted to try it, despite my pleas and warnings about the oldness and rustiness of it. I did still work, and he had pants on, so I let him try. Upon sitting on it, he realized he needed a partner to make it work. I gave him a little push and tilt. He loved it and commented that he needed his whole body to make his side work while I only needed to use my hand to push the other seat up and down. As a person, my mind finds connections to life in these situations all the time, and as a parent, now I speak them aloud. Well, talking to Salvatore is like talking to my soulmate, he understands and can practically finish my sentences with wisdom way beyond his years.
The lesson that day was that sometimes you don't need a big thing to push or change you, all you need is a little tilt. For when you start to tilt, you automatically tilt a little more. Sometimes just tilting or leaning towards what you want helps you get to what you want. This reminded me of my healthy journey that I started a few months ago. It started with the desire to clear up my skin and relieve my allergies naturally. I started searching the internet for remedies and diet suggestions, and found out too much info, too much to process and deal with, so after many steps in all crazy directions, I started to tilt to one thing and that thing led to another and another.
Here are the changes that I continue to make:
1. Hardly any soda. I drink it rarely now, and hardly crave it, making water my #1 choice.
2. No more dairy in the form of milk, yogurt or cheese. While I have cut out milk and yogurt completely, I do still eat cheese on pizza and some feta if it's on a salad. No soy milk either. The majority of the stuff I read about soy from the U.S. anyways is enough to prove to me that I don't need it and relying on the extra protein from yogurt, especially Greek, is also not good for most. They mention high levels of casein in yogurt being harmful to your body. I was hoping that eliminating dairy would clear up my skin and allergies, but it didn't. What it DID do was totally alleviate the cramps and heavy menstruation that I suffered with. That's enough for me.
3. Blending and drinking more green leafy veggies. Most mornings, I blend kale, watercress and spinach in my blender with two tablespoons of Flax Seed and Chia Seed. I add one fruit and water to make it smooth and delicious. Really, it's delicious. I wouldn't TOUCH kale before this, but mixed with all this, it is really really good. Why blend them up? I eat salads each day, but learned that plants have thick cell walls, thicker than animal cell walls. Thicker means it's harder to rupture. In order to get the most nutrients from plants, it is best to rupture as many of the cell walls as possible, and chewing alone doesn't do it as well as blending. Plus, drinking it in the morning is really fast and easy. The flax and chia seeds give it the protein that we need.
4. Quinoa instead of white rice or pasta. I do still make rice and pasta, but with quinoa in the mix, I still add peas, carrots, corn and broccoli to it, and we are eating it more and more.
5. More exercise. I read a long time ago that the pounding motion from jogging, running, dancing and such continue to build strong bones. So I am more concerned about my bones now, versus my physical outside appearance of muscle and cellulite, of which I have both.
These changes have been gradual and all but disappeared when we went on vacation. That's ok, though, I just need to tilt towards what I want and it will happen.
I've read some of the information listed above here. I wish I could have documented more of what I read, but as you all know, when you search for one thing on the internet, it can lead to a huge web of other searches, and then you forget where you started! But it's easy to find things on a healthier lifestyle. I do not wish to be extreme, and I'm not looking to lose weight. And despite all the proof, I won't ever completely give up sugar. I do want to work on cancer prevention, heart disease prevention, and to be a great role model for my children and students on what healthy and happy look like in all packages.
What makes you tilt in a better direction?
