Ahhh. Mastication. I’m doing it right now. In public. I’m in a whole foods, just masticating away while I look at all of these bearded, flannel clad Denver men. Mmmm… If you can’t tell, I’m a child, and I still find that word’s resemblance to the word masturbation HI.LAR.I.OUS!

But I’m not talking about playing with your naughty bits in public. I’m talking about chewing. It’s something that most would argue is necessary for human survival. Without it, you’d need to invest in a really good blender, or see if Alecia Silverstone is free during your meal times.

In a book called the Science of Psychic Healing, that I’m reading right now, chewing is discussed at length and is considered to be one of the major healing techniques in yogic medicine. The book’s title might sound a little hippie dippie, but the word psychic is meant in the energetic sense, not in the Miss Cleo sense (omg… that was my second legit Miss Cleo reference of the day… score!). I’m not sure if that sentence made this post sound any less hippie dippie, but oh well.

It’s a fact that chewing is great for your digestive system. Most reference books recommend that you chew anywhere from 25-35 times for each mouthful of food. It might sound gross, but your food should have the consistency of baby food, without any chunks. Digestion starts with your saliva, and you have to let the saliva do it’s job.

Chewing tips:

• No distractions: Don’t do anything else while you’re eating. If you’re multitasking, it will be much more difficult to concentrate on chewing. Don’t combine your eating time while you’re writing your administrative assistant resume. Both tasks will suffer.
• Count at first: Those numbers aren’t incredibly important. But if you begin keeping track of how many times you have to chew your food before it becomes the right consistency, you’ll have a better idea of how long it should take you to eat.
• Take small bites: Larger bites take longer to chew and (to be completely honest) it’s really gross to have to chew that much food to the right consistency.

Do you chew?

Ever since I was released from yoga camp last week, life has been a tumultuous mix of ups and downs. Most of this could be tracked back to the diet changes I talked about last week.

Amendment: My body doesn’t function well with dairy, gluten or too much sugar (even if it’s not processed). Last weekend, I decided to consume some beer, gluten, sugar and dairy. I rationalized putting those things into my system on the basis that I had been so good and that it was much better than what I did to my body before the training. Unfortunately, my body didn’t get the rationalized memo. Come Monday, I was a certifiable mess. I began experiencing a great deal of emotional stress, which is truly laughable. I spent a month enduring nothing but emotional stress, and I didn’t feel like it was controlling me in the way that this temporary bout of sadness and anxiety did. I threw a fit about work. I had a meltdown about what I was going to do with my life. And physically, those few short days took an incredible toll on my body.

The bloating and emotional changes were so apparent, that one of my fellow yoga trainees was quick to notice. She commented on the bloat, and we talked through the things I had been consuming lately. She said that I had lost my sparkle, and I knew she was taking it easy on me.

I took a trip over to Whole Foods on a mission. I didn’t want to experience this anymore. I grabbed some almonds and apples and

headed over to a shelf filled with RawMeal that was on sale. It was something crazy like $21 off the original price. I looked over the label and saw that it contained everything that you could ever want in a meal:

Containing 26 superfoods from RAW organic seeds, sprouts and greens, RAW Meal provides 34 grams of protein, 9 grams of fiber and a healthy 2.5 grams of fat making it an excellent choice for “weight conscious” individuals. RAW Meal also offers 20 Vitamin Code vitamins and minerals providing at least 100% of the Daily Value of 16 key nutrients. (Garden of Life)

RawMeal raw, vegan, gluten-free, and had no fillers, artificial sweetners or nutrients, and no preservatives.

Taste

It’s not gormet, but it’s good for you. It’s totally drinkable and it makes you feel great. I wouldn’t call it tasty by any means, but I’ve already started to get a taste for it. My body must know something that my taste buds don’t.

Fullness

I’ve been drinking mine in the morning at around 7 or 8 a.m., and they’ve been keeping me full until 11 or 1 depending on how much I’ve eaten the day before. With 33 grams of protein, they’re great for keeping you full if you have an active lifestyle. Perfect if you’re hitting the books to get your forensic psychology degree or if you’re a busy yogi.

Time & Effort

That’s really where this stuff shines. I don’t have time to sprout, juice or forage for the perfect raw ingredients to ingest every day. This stuff gives me everything I need in a minute or less. You don’t even need a blender. Just throw it in a blender cup, shake it up and go!

Have you ever tried RawMeal? What did you think?

Photo via notyouraverageordinary

Hey there fellow nuts! I’m so glad to be back with you. It has been the craziest month I’ve ever lived through and I’m still here to tell the tale. I was getting trained to be a yoga instructor, falling in love with Denver and literally being the healthiest I’ve ever been. The funniest part about the whole thing is that I was too exhausted and busy to appreciate it.

So, in true health nut fashion, I celebrated my month long health-a-thon by spending the past week in an unhealthy rampage. I ate pastries like a police officer on the beat. I’m shocked at how good it has felt to release the reighns on the whole thing while I figure out what I’m going to keep doing and what I’m really done with. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to bring my newly tested lifestyle into affect. It’s going to be awesome.

Keepers 

Over this past month, I’ve lot of things that I’m really proud of. I’ve made a lot of changes that are going to shape the rest of my life. Here’s a comprehensive list of those things. I’m going to hang onto these, because I’ve tested them, know they work for me and that they increase the quality of my life.

1. Deep breathing: Every time I catch myself not breathing, I get right back to it. It feels amazing to breathe deeply all of the time and I can’t imagine life without my breath.
2. Posture: I tuck the tailbone and pull my low belly in. I roll my shoulder blades down the spine and as I breathe in, I telescope my ribs up. There’s no better feeling in the world than sitting and standing tall.
3. The following restrictions: coffee, processed sugar, and cigarettes are forever off my list. I played with processed sugar and I smoked a cigarette, and both of those are something that I’m really willing to keep out of my life forever.
4. Daily yoga: Nuff said

Toss It

There were a few things I discovered this month that just don’t suit me.

1. Veganism: It doesn’t work for my body. This month taught me that. My body works better with a small amount of animal protein in it. That might make writing for my vegan blog a little interesting, but it’s just the way it’s going to be if I’m going to get crazy strong and healthy.
2. The following restrictions: Alcohol (special occasions and fun stuff) and caffeine (mama loves her tea). I’m only 26, and while I know what’s ultimately healthy for me, I also know that I can party in moderation and not beat myself up over it. That took me a long time to figure that out, but I’m happy with that decision for now.
3. Lack of Sleep: My yoga guru is a huge believer in the phrase, “you can sleep when you’re dead.” I’m not a huge believer in that philosophy. Mama also loves her sleep.

So, with those rules in effect this week, I hope to feel a little more comfortable at my level of health.

Have you ever really delved into your health choices to see what does and doesn’t work for you?

Yaaaaaaa-motha-effin-aaaaawn. I’ve been adjusting to my new yoga sleep schedule, which means early bedtimes, and crazy early rizing times. After waking up at 5 a.m. this morning, I found it pretty difficult to function. I basically forgot that I was in the shower and stayed in there forever. I was all discombobulated when I was coming up with blog topics and writing ideas. I was spacing out like it was nobody’s business which made the old dude at the coffee shop assume that I was making eyes at him.
I tried to tell myself that this was new, and that I should just push on through and allow this to take it’s course. But with heavy eyelids, I turned to the interwebs to see if sneaking in one teeny tiny nap, just this once, would really be all that bad for me. I didn’t want it to unravel the work that I’m doing to stay on my newly set sleep schedule. I didn’t want it to drag me down for the rest of the day. So, would it?

I mean, this is America where naps are decidedly only for college kids, slackers, sick people and invalids. They’re a big time suck and general lazy waste of time. Right?

It turns out that while I joined the rest of the free world in judging the nap, other, smarter folks were out studying it. They’ve concluded that everyone could benefit from a good long midday sleep.

In one study, the napping habits of 23,000 adult Greeks were examined and researchers found  that regular napping could help you avoid heart disease. According to the Greek nap study, if you can squeeze in three regular naps per week, you’ll decrease your risk of heart disease by 37%. In waking life, we produce more of the heart taxing and stress boosting cortisol.

Not only does it have long term health benefits, the short term benefits of the nap are increased alertness, creativity, stamina, focus and memory and decreased stress.

If you’re starting to feel veeery sleeeepy while you’re reading this blog post or applying for some easy scholarships, the verdict is in. Naps rule! Even if you can’t squeeze in the most beneficial length nap (90 minutes), any length of nap is better than no nap at all. So, if you’ll excuse me… I’m going to get my nap on.

Do you nap?

I have a pretty stressful week ahead of me. I’m working my butt off so I can get everything done by this weekend when I fly to Denver for yoga teacher training and I already feel like I’m behind. I have a final skit to complete for my second city class. I have class tomorrow and I promised to help a buddy make a funny video on Friday before I fly out. I’m doing this all without caffeine, nicotine, or a glass of wine.

Even with all of that going on, I feel pretty great. I’m doing daily yoga and that’s keeping my stress under control, and is helping me stay balanced for the most part. But there have been little bouts of self doubt and unconsciousness. And during those times I’ve noticed an awful old habit reigniting under the current circumstances: nervous eating.

One minute, I’ll start worrying over whether the house I’m staying at in Denver is inadequate, and whether or not being so far from the training center will sabotage me. I start thinking that I’ll miss the bus, miss class, and fail the program completely. The next minute I’ve got my hand in a bag of dried figs and I’m dipping them into a jar of peanut butter. The minute after that, I’m making peanut butter date truffles.

Then I start thinking about how terrible it is that I’m eating like this. I begin to worry that I’m not ready to be a yoga teacher if I can’t stop compulsive eating. The next thing I know, I’ve eaten a bunch of mini candy bars out of my mom’s fridge. By the time I snap out of it, I feel gross and like I just spun out of control without being able to slam on the brakes.

I know better than all of this. I’ve tackled a bunch of bad habits these past few months. I quit coffee, cigarettes, and booze. But, for some reason, I’m having a hard time kicking the food monkey off my back. Why is this one so difficult?

Do you ever find yourself nervous eating?

Are you ready to get a little health nuttier this week? Good, then let’s detox!

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve become a big believer in the detox. I did a whole foods ayurvedic detox last fall to prepare for winter/applying for a ton of athletic scholarships, and really loved it. It was like hitting the reset button for my body. I’m not talking about drinking chicken broth for a week. And please, god, please don’t master cleanse your way into a coma just because you read the words “Let’s detox!”

I’m talking about cutting out all of the junk, and relaxing, to let your body oust nasty toxins that have accumulated over the season. Let’s be honest, we could all use a nice detox after the holidays. Those months of stress, sugary treats, processed foods, and overeating have accumulated over time and are taxing your system whether you realize it or not.

Most of the time, you don’t realize that you need to detox until after you’ve done one. Then you’re like, “Holy dang!” And that’s what you’ll be saying if you spend next week, detoxing with me. I already got a head start, but I’ll lay out the rules so you can follow along.

What to Eat

This is a simple detox. There are no menus, shopping lists, or weird ingredients involved.

You just eat:

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Nuts/seeds

You don’t eat:

• Meat
• Dairy
• Processed foods

It’s that simple. You pick veggies you like, mix them up however you want. The same goes with fruit. Now, I’d say that about 75% of the fruits and veggies you eat should be raw. All of them should be fresh and you should buy organic whenever possible.

This detox is about getting your body on track, not about losing weight or depriving it of calories. Make sure you’re eating enough all day long.

What to Drink

When you wake up, before you eat anything, slowly sip on a glass of warm water and lemon. Throughout the day, continue to drink warm water and lemon. You can also drink decaffeinated herbal tea, like peppermint tea. Drink lots of water. If you’re going to drink juice, make sure it’s fresh, no sugar added and organic.

You don’t drink:

• Caffeine
• Soda
• Alcohol
• Dairy beverages
• Anything heavily processed
• Anything with added sugar

When to Eat

Do thirty minutes of light exercise after you drink your warm lemon concoction. You can go for a walk, or do a bit of yoga. After this, eat breakfast. I like baked grapefruit or chopped pears and figs.

Wait 3-6 hours until your breakfast has digested before you eat lunch. If you need to snack to keep your blood sugar up, slowly eat a small piece of fruit. Lunch should be your largest meal of the day. I’m a huge fan of incorporating avocado and walnuts into a giant chopped salad.

Keep dinner light. Veggie soup or a salad and veggie broth will do.

How to Eat

Eat slowly and fully chew your food (25-36 chews for each bite). After you’re done eating sit for 5-10 minutes before you go on with your day.

Now who’s with me on this detox?

It’s been a rough and tumble week since I gave up caffeine, but it’s been absolutely gloooorious! Yes, you heard me right. I gave up caffeine.

I know last week I talked about sugar’s resemblance to crack cocaine, and vowed to give that up. But caffeine is one of those things on my list of don’ts for yoga teacher training and I wanted to be used to it by the time March rolled around. I’ve also been cutting down on the sugar, and have really only had fruit and honey since Monday, as far as the sweet stuff is concerned. All in all, it’s been a good week for the health nut inside of me.

I’ll be the first to admit that the first few days sans caffeine were absolute hell on earth for me. I’m a bottomless cup of coffee person, and I don’t fool around when it comes to getting that thing refilled. I honestly can’t remember a time when I had “a cup” of coffee. I considered my caffinated teas “weak sauce.” And even though I had cut down on my energy drink consumption quite dramatically over the years, I still called Sugar Free Red Bull “The nectar of the gods.” So you can see how this might be difficult for me.

The first day, I was notably tired. After a couple of cups of peppermint tea, I had to finally give in and head for a nap. It was amazing. I woke up a couple of hours later feeling like I could take on the world. Day two was painful, the headaches just would not quit. Again, nap time solved everything. Day three was probably the worst day. My head felt like it was going to split in half. I could barely see straight because the pain was so awful. I slept for several hours just to avoid the headache that day. But on day four things started looking brighter. The headaches were gone and I could finally see the benefits. I no longer needed to go to the coffee shop. I was no longer forced to spend 5-6 bucks a day on coffee. I felt liberated.

I see the world in a completely different way now. I plan ahead more effectively because I know when I will be tired and absolutely won’t be able to do the work. I listen to my body and rest. I go to bed at a normal hour. I never get the shakes. It’s been really fantastic.

But without morning coffee, I felt a little bit lost. So what do I drink in the morning now?

Warm water with lemon and ginger: In Ayurveda, you’re taught to drink warm water with citrus to stoke your digestive fire (agni). It’s really comforting and zingy.

Natural Calm: It may sound counter-intuitive to drink this in the morning, but I find that drinking 1 teaspoon in the morning keeps me from rushing, and 1 teaspoon at night, quells any anxiety that has accumulated throughout the day.

Tea Blend: Peppermint, red raspberry leaf/Dandelion leaf/St. Johns Wart… For more about my tea blend, check out my herb blog.

What do you drink instead of caffeine in the morning?

Goodbye my sweet(s).

In light of last weeks finding about sugar and it’s chemical resemblance to crack, I figured that it might be time to cut back on the sweet stuff.

Last week, we reported (oooh journalisty!) that your body can handle 2-4 teaspoons of sugar per day. A teaspoon of sugar is the equivalent of about 11 grams of sugar. That means that you’re limited to 22-44 grams per day, if you want to be good to your digestive system. If you want to be really good to your digestive system and your student loan bill, skip drinking the coke and apply for a Coca Cola scholarship instead. If you want to be bad to your digestive system, make something from Epic Meal Time and give it a go.

But when you think about it, 22 grams of sugar really isn’t all that much. I had a protein bar today with 14 grams of sugar in it and a half of a can of vegan chili that had about 6 grams of sugar in it. There was a gram or two of sugar in the organic peanut butter I ate out of the jar (I’m a huge fan of doing that). So I’m already up to at least 22 for the day.

Here’s the sample meal plan for tomorrow’s low sugar day:

Breakfast:

Steel cut oats with pumpkin and cinnamon or

Two fried eggs and half of an avacado

Lunch:

Spinach Salad with mixed veggies and oil and vinegar

Dinner:

Side Salad with mixed veggies and oil and vinegar

Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Butternut Squash

or

Veggie Stir Fry (You could probably add meat, but I write a vegan recipe blog, so that’s out for me)

Desert: Bah. Yeah right… Perhaps a spoonful of peanut butter and some herbal tea. It’s better than being a sugar crack wh*re I guess.

Snacks:  I’m going to try to head over and grab some cashews and almonds sometime tomorrow afternoon.

I found this great article from Slate magazine from a woman who gave up sugar, and I think going the low glycemic index route, is really the only way to go. Perhaps I should try to figure out what the words low glycemic index mean. I think it means I’ll probably need to get some brown rice and quinoa tomorrow as well.

So, I’m still working on getting in the swing of things as far as creating the food journal is concerned. I start out every day on track. So right now, I just have a bunch of pictures of oatmeal and apples. But I’m committed to it. I want to get it right and put it together for you guys next week. Part of me wishes I could be there to see how grossed out you get when you see some of the stuff that I put in my gullet. The other part of me is terrified to see it with my own two eyes.

Instead, I’d like to talk about caffeine today. I’ve been cutting down on my caffiene intake over the past several months. Back in the day, when I was an executive administrative assistant (about eight months ago), I was downing about two energy drinks a day. Oh, and those usually sandwiched a couple of cups of coffee. Honestly, it didn’t seem to affect me that much. It felt normal at the time.

It had been a long while since I had an energy drink, so I impulsively grabbed a sugar free Red Bull from the grocery store today.

I can’t describe how crazy I feel right now. I’d already had a couple of cups of coffee and just finished the energy drink and I feel like I’m flying. I can’t really concentrate because I’d rather be dancing around the apartment to dub step. Something about being this caffeinated makes it impossible to stop moving at all.

I really only indulged in a Red Bull because I’ll have to give up caffeine all together next month, before I enter training for my yoga teaching certification (booyah!). I was having one of those, this is going to be the last time I’ll be able to suck the nectar of the energy drink gods.  If I would have known that it would turn me into a jittery mess, I may have steered clear.

The thing is, that I did some research and found out that energy drinks really don’t have that much more caffiene in them than coffee does. The Mayo Clinic lists them as having about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of joe. So, why does Red Bull make you feel like you have wings?

Does anyone know the answer to this question?

Photo: Corinne Tobias (a.k.a. willworkforfoodgirl... a.k.a. Health Nuttier writer)

There are two things more than I love more than dieting. Okay, I could probably list a billion things that I love more than dieting. But the two things I was thinking of were food and photos. I can never keep track of calorie counting, not even for a day. Weight watchers made me feel like a fat accountant. And cleansing just feels too taxing on my system (that was a Freudian accounting slip… that must mean almost tax time kiddos!). But I still have some work to do to get my body back into pre-holiday-pie shape, so when I heard about photo food journaling, I thought… Bingo! I can do that.

I LOVE taking pictures of food. It’s like my favorite thing to do. That may sound sad, but I’m seriously into it. I started doing it for my vegan recipe blog a few years ago, and I absolutely love doing it. It’s why I cook. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t cook half of the stuff I do if I knew I wouldn’t be able to take 30 pictures of it when it was done.

So, enough about my love of food pictures, let’s talk about starting a photo food journal. It’s simple. You just take a picture of every single thing that you eat.

There are so many things that I love about this idea. First off, it forces you to take a look at every single thing that you’re putting into your body. Plus, in theory it would also ward off binging. I mean, you can’t very well take a picture of something after you’ve eaten it. This means that you’ll have to put a little thought into how many of those chips you’re going to have before you go to town on them. Fill a bowl, snap it. Fill another bowl, snap it. Fill another bowl, and you’ll probably start thinking that you’re eating too many chips.

I took a test run yesterday but left out my midnight snacks like a real cheater. But starting today, I’m going to photo food journal the hell out of  my life to see how it goes. Wish me luck!

As evidenced by my last post, I’ma gettin’ back on track. Not only am I getting back on track, I’m taking the fast lane (I’m that jerk in the car pool lane with a blow up doll… metaphorically).  Suckers!

And man, it already feels sooooo good. I’m not in a perfect place, but I’m working my way towards a hella good place. I’ve been alternating yoga and P90x the past few days. I’ve been standing and working at the same time. I’ve been dancing and working simultaneously. I’ve been doing yoga while working. In short, I’ve become super-health-nutty-multi-tasker-extraordinare over the past week. Recently after a long day of work/running around exploring/getting ready for the holidays, I was feeling burnt out and ready to shove my face with whatever holiday treats were around. It was tiring and depressing.

I’m glad I got off of that track. I’m already feeling the benefits of eating better and being active. Now I’m mostly eating a different version of this satisfying and colorful wonder salad. You can stuff a wrap with it. You can toss it on a bed of greens. You can sub out avocado for tuna depending on your mood. You can make it spicy. You can make it sweet. You can make it while applying for a few easy scholarships. Okay, you get the point. This recipe is amazing and versatile… Why wouldn’t it be? Yours truly invented it. If you can call taking the only healthy things in your parent’s fridge and mixing them all together, you can call me the Thomas Edison of salads.  It’s amazingly tasty at any rate. I’d suggest you give this healthy vegan recipe a go (tuna version pictured, avocado version is vegan).

Ingredients:

• 1 can tuna/ 1 avocado
• 4-5 small sweet peppers/ 1 red or yellow bell pepper (diced)
• 1/4 cup sugar snap peas (diced)
• 3 T Raw Olive Mufalata (this guy’s stuff is the best)
• 1/2 clove raw garlic (diced)
• 1/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes (optional)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix it all together and let it sit in the fridge for an hour if you can wait that long. It’s worth it to give it the time. The flavors will intensify over a short period of time.

Awesome, right? Did you make it? Did you dig it? Are you back on track this year?

Last night, I rang in the new year in a completely different way than I usually do. NYE is normally about letting it all go, getting crazy and wearing something sparkly. And as much as I usually love all of those traditions, I thought this would be a good time to take the health nut up a notch and have a super health nuttier New Years Eve.

I did this for a few reasons. One reason was because as much as I love going out and getting crazy, I always hated that I started off my year feeling like crap. I’m getting a little older and a little wiser and as such, I realize what a complete waste of time hangovers are and would like to reserve them for a few times during the year. I also realize that unless I’m kissing someone I really want to kiss, it’s not really worth it to lip lock a wasted stranger. Another reason was because I’m a new girl, in a new city and while I love the people I’ve met so far, I was looking to see what the crowd of people were like who didn’t want to go drink their faces off during the ceremonial shift in time (spoiler alert: that crowd is awesome). One more reason on top of that is because I really love yoga and I hadn’t had a studio practice in the months since I relocated.

The result? Amazing. I got to try a new type of yoga called Forrest Yoga that I would highly recommend if your practice has gone stale or you want a practice that’s challenging and empowering. It was wonderful. Then we had a super healthy picnic feast. After that we got our minds right and set our intentions for the next year in an intention ceremony. It was intentiontastic!

Did you have a healthy new years eve?

Last week, we tried to decode why we have such disdain for certain parts of our bodies that leads to full on body issues. After writing that post, I found a couple of interesting ideas that add to that discussion.

One thing I came across was the study of Fijian women and body image after the country got cable television in 1995. Fijians have always had few body image issues and the ideal Fijian woman was a bit on the heavy side. After the nation got cable, the number of eating disordered skyrocketed and teenage girls were 50% more likely to have an eating disorder or to be on a diet than girls without TV. This shows that television has a direct impact on body issues in young women.

But it might not be just about our TV. Women tend to pass on their body issues like a virus. When we say,”My thighs are huge and disgusting,” we pass on the idea that large thighs are disgusting and that yours are just as bad as mine, if not worse.

At any rate, we don’t have to suffer from negative body issues any longer. One of the keys to being a health nut is being happy where you are but knowing that there’s always room for improvement. Here are three simple tricks to start thinking differently about your body.

1. Think function: Skinny legs don’t win marathons, jog 5k’s and bike 10 miles. Strong legs do. Instead of stressing about the way your body parts look, think about what you want to be able to do with them. Set a list of activity based goals (i.e. thru hike the appalacian trail, do a handstand). This will get you thinking about what your body can do for you, not what you see in your body. The requirements for becoming an FBI agent don’t include having a dimple free rear end, but you will have to do your fair share of physical testing. Quit getting so 007 down on yourself and get to work!
2. Love your worst bits: Do you hate your tiny boobs? Could you kill your weird hip bones? Do you want someone to take a liposuction tube to your pooch? Most of the advice I found says to avoid even looking at these parts and look for your best parts. I disagree. The only way to love your whole self is by loving the “bad” bits too. Play with your flab when you’re alone in the mirror. Don’t scowl at it, let it make you laugh. It’s silly. Think about how much money you save on bras with your tiny ta-tas. Watch those weird hip bones move when you dance naked in the mirror. They’re kind of cute in their own way, right?
3. Take a minute to feel: Before or after you do all of this dancing and goal writing stuff, take a minute and stand with your eyes closed without any clothes on. Take five minutes to scan your entire body and get in touch with how you’re feeling. Go from the crown of your head, to your little baby toe and analyze each part of your body. If it doesn’t cause you pain or discomfort, then you shouldn’t waste any more time shunning it or working yourself to death trying to get rid of it.

How do you get comfortable in your own skin?

I think that a lot of people, health nuts included, have a misconception that if you’re obsessed with your health, it really just means that you’re obsessed with your body.

I was thinking about the issue of having body issues today when I got out of the shower. I was toweling of my knees and I thought, “Man, you never hear people complain about their shins, or their earlobes, or their crown of their head.” I’m sure I’m not the first person to ever think of it that way, but it got me a wondrin’. What makes us have issues with certain parts of our body. Is it really the media, models and diet commercials? Is it something that we pick up from our mothers? Where does it come from and why is it that we all focus on the same parts of our body when we obsess over how aesthetically pleasing they are.

Health care professionals have different opinions on why many women and men suffer from body issues. I really like this explanation from Judy Lifestone, a psychotherapist.

“Body image involves our perception, imagination, emotions, and physical sensations of and about our bodies. It s not static- but ever changing; sensitive to changes in mood, environment, and physical experience. It is not based on fact. It is psychological in nature, and much more influenced by self-esteem than by actual physical attractiveness as judged by others. It is not inborn, but learned. This learning occurs in the family and among peers, but these only reinforce what is learned and expected culturally.

In this culture, we women are starving ourselves, starving our children and loved ones, gorging ourselves, gorging our children and loved ones, alternating between starving and gorging, purging, obsessing, and all the while hating, pounding and wanting to remove that which makes us female: our bodies, our curves, our pear-shaped selves.” – Judith Lifestone, M.F.T.

However, the Social Issues Research Center makes a good point as well. They note that we care about our appearance because we have to care. Pretty people get further in this world, make more money, are more likely to be found “not guilty” and are generally treated better than everyone else. In that mindset, it really doesn’t matter why we have body issues, we only know that in the current system we must act on those insecurities and mold ourselves into a form of beauty that could improve our standard/quality of living.

Some think that the act of critiquing our appearance is driven by evolution, and that it’s our way of preening in order to attract a mate.

At any rate, it seems that body issues are a pervasive part of the way we look at our health. It may be society or it may be an innate human quality. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. If you’re looking for a career, you can rest assure that if you figure out how to be a dietitian, you have your work cut out for you. Next week, we’ll lay the foundation for good health by discussing ways to improve the ways we look at our bodies.

What part of your body gives you the most grief?

I've been eating stuff like this for several days. This was a pre-syrup photo op. Imagine it with several hundred extra calories.

My, oh my, oh my. Today, I started writing a list to a friend of mine in Panama. I was half bragging about all of the holiday goods I had eaten the past few days. I was half joking about how ridiculous it was to have so much food around. I was also trying to be hilariously self-deprecating about how much I was indulging. That Man vs. Food guy didn’t have anything on me the past few days. I could have taken him on pound for pound. I subscribed to the mantra: ‘eat, drink and be slightly annoyed.’ I’m usually bad at the whole manufactured merriment thing, so I do what I do best. I eat!

I’m admittedly kind of a Grinch about Christmas and I tend to over-eat, over-drink and generally over-indulge during the holiday season. Every year I convince myself that it’s really the only thing I enjoy about the holiday, so I just latch onto it and try not to think about all of the things that suck about the holiday.

I love to cook, bake and even though I’m a health nut with an amazing vegan cooking blog, most of the year, I take things to the limit during the holiday season. I didn’t hit up McDonald’s or anything, but I practiced self destruction in a more baked goods kind of way. I made a french toast casserole filled with butter and sugar and egg nog (’twas the night before awesome!). I baked some vegan cookies (but I didn’t eat any of those). I chowed down on pecan pie, chocolate covered pretzels, lemon bars, chocolate cake, banana bread, tiramisu, cookies, some kind of rolled up cake thing… and that was just one desert time. My meal schedule was ridiculous. It basically went as follows: eat something every fifteen minutes.

So, it’s no surprise that my health nuttiness swung in the opposite direction these past few weeks and I feel like an unhealthy nut, rolled in butter, covered in brown sugar, and renamed praline. It’s definitely time to get back on the health nut train. I’m always really good at making up for bad holiday behavior, but does anyone have a tip on how to stop it from happening? I’d love to rock a more preventative attitude next year.

Health Nuttier has a new home at healthnuttier.com! Yay for domains! This is literally my domain. Bookmark it. Facebook it. Tweet it. Bop it. Add it to your RSS feed. Do whatever you want with it. My domain es su domain, mi amigo.

Anywho, I’m sitting here, contemplating getting another piece of late night pizza, because I know it will be my last slice for some time. I’ve been on one of those rare and defeating downwards unhealthy spirals. I blame it on this blog. I had some technical difficulties, had to shut her down for a few weeks and ever since then, it’s been out of control.

I was traveling in a country that runs on fried food (I guess that could be a lot of countries). I did what vacationers do. I ate too much, had a few too many national beers, started smoking again.

Arghhhhh to those dirty little fire sticks! I know. No lecture necessary. This is about the billionth time I’ve quit. My first time was when I was an administrative assistant in college and that was ages ago. But it’s cool. I quit again five days ago and it’s been smooth sailing. It’s funny how that works. It gets harder to start up again and easier to quit each time. It’s the first time I’ve felt that way about cigarettes in my life. Perhaps this time it will stick.

So that was my last piece of midnight pizza for awhile (hopefully forever). Because tomorrow, I’m going to start P90X. I’m not usually a work out video fan. I’m not even really a ‘work out’ fan. I put air quotes around it. That’s how much of a fan I am. I like yoga, walking, disc golf, trail running. You know, like, fun activities. If you tell me it’s going to be grueling and rewarding, I’m out. ‘

But I did one workout with my brother over thanksgiving break and I was sold on the whole P90x thing. He’s super ripped 5 weeks in and it was fun as hell. I’m ready to get started as soon as I wake up.

Here’s to new domains, healthier bodies and getting back on track!

Have you ever done P90x? Did you dig it?