The Year of Health

Ok, I just have to say this because I am telling everyone I know… I climbed I rope last night! A really long rope. I climbed all the way to the top all by myself! Of course, I  have only ever received instruction on how to go up. Never had I bothered to ask how to get down. Luckily I managed to descent unscathed, albeit not gracefully. BUT WHO CARES!

So anyway – I want to check in with how my January health challenge is going with detoxing my nutrition apocalypse December and getting back on the wagon. The thing I have struggled with most is controlling myself from taking on too much at once. I’m convinced I have a touch of A.D.D. My brain never shuts up, and I constantly think of all the other things I should be doing in addition to my January goals:

“I should develop a bedtime routine.”
“Why don’t I eat liver regularly?”
“I should be doing a structured strength program.”
“It would be good to start meditating daily.”
“I don’t walk enough. I definitely need to walk more.”
“Why don’t I make bone broth on a weekly basis!?”

But that’s the point of this year; to build all of those wonderful, health producing habits one at a time. When I feel myself spiraling into the shoulda, coulda pit, I tell my brain that “no means no” and I write the idea down and put it out of my mind for the time being. If I’m not firm with my brain I’ll take on too much, get overwhelmed, and ultimately not end up making any changes at all. And then I will have paid $18 for this domain name for nothing. And will need to pay $18 for another one: www. theyearofEPICFAIL. com.

Overall, I feel 100x better than I did on January 1. My stomach feels calm, digestion is good, my sleep is much deeper (that’s what she said), energy is stable, and I feel more in control of myself. I plan on doing a better job tracking my daily activities for the last week of the month, and I have a couple of fun detox things to try in the next week as well… like a ginger bath. I’ll let you know how that goes.

So for a status update on my daily detox activities:

1. Eat a crap-ton of green vegetables – at least 5 servings a day. Doing pretty well with this. Eating green veggies with breakfast has really helped. You should try it, and people will think you’re really normal and cool. This was my mid-morning snack at work the other day:

Nothing starts my day better than some emails and 4 CUPS OF BROCCOLI.

2. Drink water – 80 oz. of water a day. I’d give myself a B+ for this, mostly because I’ve slacked on my tracking mechanism. I believe I’m hitting this goal, but because I’m not tracking I’m not 100% sure.

3. Supplement for detoxing. A+! I am working with my BioSignature practitioner to determine my supplement needs to get the most out of my detox period. Most importantly I am taking the following to support digestion, because toxins have to have a way to…ahem… exeunt: HCL and digestive enzymes, probiotic, fiber, and Calcium D-Glucarate. I take supplements with every meal, and I rarely eat at home. Of course, I don’t want to carry around giant bottles of supplements, so every couple of weeks I make tiny plastic baggies of pills based on what meal they go with, and carry them around with me. I look like I deal drugs out of my purse, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

4. Green tea instead of coffee. I have successfully replaced my morning coffee with green tea. As much as it pains me to admit it… I feel a lot better without the morning joe. Curses! This was one thing I was hoping wouldn’t happen because I looooove coffee. But I do feel much better in the morning without it. I also no longer feel like I have to have my caffeine fix immediately upon waking to feel alive. That was not the case when I was drinking coffee on the daily. I’m basically morning Beyonce now… an independent woman.

5. Estrogen detox. I have been doing some additional supplementation to support ridding my body of excess estrogen. I will be able to see if this is working when I got have my BioSignature reading done on Saturday. The crappy part about this one is that I believe it is making my skin break out, which is a bummer. This one will take another week or so to see if it’s working.

6. Limit toxic intake.  Doing well with this one! I’ve been buying organic greens, most of my meat was already organic, and I have been having fun experimenting with some new toxin-free makeup and products. Because I’m doing a lot of leg work in that arena, I’ll do a review of my findings.

Did anyone else set New Year’s resolutions? What approach are you taking to ensure they stick around? Bueller… Bueller?