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I’m going to talk about food today. And I’ll preface it by reminding you that am I not a nutritionist and I don’t play one on TV, but I think I’ve learned a thing or two over the years and more importantly, I think I possess some common sense.
So food – we’ve talked about it here before – tried to define its uses – as comfort, a way to connect with others, a method to share friendship and love, and finally, as fuel for our fabulous bodies. We know that some people (me) love food and others not so much. We know that some people (me) eat more when we are under stress and others (bitches! – just kidding) don’t eat when they are under stress. We hear phrases like, “healthy relationship with food.” And we understand the opposite. Food is life and for some in this and other countries, there is an incomprehensible lack of food. I read recently about a group of schools here in Denver who have programs to make sure school children have something to eat on the weekends when they are not in school – they bring home backpacks of food to feed their families. We’ve talked about all of that, but I don’t believe we’ve ever defined food.
Defined food? What in the world? Yes – I think we need to spend some time defining food. You see, I don’t think we have a great grasp on what is and isn’t food. We so loosely define food as anything we put into our bodies and I’m here to argue that most of what we eat isn’t anything close to food.
I want you to get up for me, go to your kitchen and look in your refrigerator and pantry. What’s there? I want you to think about your last meal – what was it? Be specific – can you name all the ingredients of the items you put into your body? Are you eating real food or processed, engineered stuff masquerading as food? How many meals a week do you eat out or “pick up?”
In my view – food is anything that was alive at some point. Everything else is a substitute. I’m not the first person to say this and I won’t be the last. But do you ever think about this? I think about it – a lot! I guess more than some because I cannot eat gluten and so I find myself reading labels religiously, questioning restaurant staffs, and considering where the things I put in my body come from. My question for you is – do you do the same? Do you read labels – and I don’t just mean a glance at the first few ingredients, but really read labels? And if so, how much of what you put in your body has two or fewer ingredients? Yes – I said two or fewer.
What if we made a pact to only eat whole foods for the next week? On top of that, what if we agreed to only eat things we make ourselves this week? Too hard? Don’t have time? Not interested?
I’ve done this before – both things actually and I will tell you that the impact on my body was nothing short of miraculous. My energy level, my lean muscle mass, my sleep patterns, my mood all improve if I just stay away from packaged goods. It’s an amazing thing to take preservatives and additives out of your diet. First of all, you can’t believe how great real food tastes! Fresh, whole foods can’t be beat in flavor, texture, sight and smell. They are more satisfying and of course more nutritious – I think of it as getting more bang for my caloric buck when I do this. My body performs better with whole foods than with packaged “stuff.” And by preparing all my meals and snacks in my own kitchen, I know exactly what I’m putting in my body – I have complete control over every bite.
Right now I’m imagining you telling me that this is “too hard,” you are “too busy,” and (I love this one) that your family will never go along with this. It can be hard and you are busy – but I’m not asking you to milk a cow, make cheese or even harvest your own wheat – I’m not asking you to make bread or kill the pig. I’m asking you to cook the oatmeal – the old fashioned kind – instead of opening an instant package. I’m asking you to peel your own vegetables, air pop or stove pop your popcorn and make your own sauce. I’m asking you to consider where your food comes from and see how it feels to eat simply for one week. If you want chips – peel a potato and bake some in the oven. Don’t feed your kids chicken nuggets unless you’ve made them yourself this week and hide the chips, candy and other garbage in the garage or trunk of the car – just for a week. Skip restaurants this week and meet friends or colleagues for coffee or tea instead. Or like me, make dinner and bring your friends to you. And simply see what happens. For just one week – simplify your diet and see what happens. Then report back.
So what do you think – are you in? Ready, set – eat.
Do you wake up in a good mood? It’s a rare morning I don’t wake up happy. But there was a time when that only lasted about four minutes and then the day ahead came rushing at me and I had a sense of, if not dread – at least displeasure about what would come next. I was overwhelmed most of the time and always had a to- do list much longer than I could manage in one day. Mostly that list was devoid of anything for or about me. Meaning, I might have had household chores and other personal things on the list, but there wasn’t a space in the day to just connect with myself. Pilates helped change all of that but it’s still a daily conscious decision to make time in each day for me.
If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that I start each day doing Pilates. I don’t answer the phone, teach anyone anything or check e-mail before I work on my own body. This gives me focus, ensures I have time and energy for my workout and sets a tone for the day. But there is something else I’ve been doing for the last year that is all about me – and about starting my day with a few minutes of simple joy. Here’s how it started…
Almost exactly a year ago I woke on my birthday in an incredible mood. I was making my bed and a song I love came on the radio and I just started dancing – naked. I danced around the room with abandon and it made me laugh. I liked the feeling and decided at that moment that I would dance every day of my 42nd year. And I did.
Now if you know me, you have first-hand experience of my total lack of rhythm. I am not a dancer and never will be. But something about just privately letting go to some great music can really drive my energy and put me in touch with a more basic side of me. I think we all wake up and start thinking, planning and sometimes fretting about what has to get done during the day – for many of us, it’s almost like “the race is on!” We hit the floor and push go and never stop to be in the moment. We are all continuously focused on what comes next. But when I stop and just dance, for two minutes in the morning, everything that “comes next” is off the table. I’m just dancing for a few minutes, but it’s like a hiatus in what can become a really hectic morning. Think about how much fun it is to just dance – with nobody looking. Are you getting it?
Now add in “naked.” Yes, I’m not just dancing, I’m dancing naked. Let’s see if I can explain well enough to convince you to try it. Most of us don’t spend a lot of time naked. And I’m not suggesting you need to join a nudist colony or flash the neighbors, but being naked is freeing and it allows you to be in touch with your body. And frankly, you don’t worry much about how great a dancer you are when you are naked. If there is another way to not take yourself too seriously please share it with me – dancing naked is all about being joyful and silly and in the moment. Picture a little kid of one or two – as soon as they get rid of those clothes they run and dance around the house with abandon. Somehow as adults we lose that abandon.
Did I mention the “in front of the mirror” part? Oh yeah – that’s part of it too – you don’t need to stand in front of a mirror the entire time, but make sure you get a good look at yourself – dance around the room – stop in front of the mirror – laugh at how goofy you are – pick out something you love about your body. In fact, pick out five things you love about your body every day. It’s all part of the deal. You see, dancing naked is a great way to become comfortable with your body and to get used to the way you look naked. It’s much harder to criticize and pick yourself apart when you are a moving target – and we need to look at our bodies every day and to look without a critical eye. Notice the changes your workouts and nutrition have made. Notice that some days you look better than others – but that every day you are absolutely beautiful – after all, if you are able to dance naked – you have working parts – they might not be twenty year old parts anymore – but they are working parts and you should rejoice in them.
Yesterday morning I started a second year of dancing naked – why don’t you join me – well, not join me but you know – go ahead and just dance naked.
Sometimes I have a huge inspiration that drives me towards my blog topic and other times, I don’t exactly have writer’s block but I also don’t have a subject shouting at me. This week is the latter – perhaps because I sometimes worry that I am repeating myself over and over again or perhaps because I’m in a bit of a reflective mood myself. But in any event, here goes…
I’ve been finding lots of extra stress out there in my travels – maybe it’s the post-holiday blues or the fact that it’s winter or simply a beginning of the year ramp up that has everyone on edge. My clients all seem to be working harder than ever – are busier and having a more difficult time pulling themselves away from work to get to class. When they do get to me, their little brows are furrowed and their bodies are showing all the signs of a rough day.
But it’s not just business stresses that seem to be weighing on everyone. I think the New Year brings new expectations – the need to re-evaluate our lives and make changes. But with those changes, we frequently put a little extra pressure on ourselves. I think what happens is that as soon as we decide we need to make a change – job, house, nutrition, exercise, relationship – we want that change to happen immediately. We are disappointed in ourselves if two weeks into the year we haven’t accomplished all our goals. Kind of silly I know – but patience is a virtue that’s difficult to embody.
All of that said, let me ask you to do a body/mind/spirit check. What are you feeling? If the answer is stressed, disappointed, melancholy or uninspired – let’s figure out together how to get through this period and actually reach our goals without giving ourselves an aneurism in the process.
The first thing I try to do in situations like this is to start fresh every day. This means keeping in mind the things I love about my life/current situations. For me, one of those things is how much I love my job – how lucky I feel to have my work and personal life (and any overlap) filled with the most amazing, interesting, and giving human beings on the planet. I look at my health and wellness and what my body can do and give a little shout of joy. Next I approach my goals with a one day at a time approach. Before Pilates, I was the princess of living in the future – everything was about where I wanted to go, what I wanted to accomplish – it was all planning. Now, I try to be the queen of in the now. And part of this process is letting go of the things I can’t control. Trusting that if I do my best – make my best decisions – behave towards others in a kind and generous way – work smart – pay attention to the details and to what is going on not just around me but also within me – life will unfold as it should.
I don’t know about you but I get into trouble when I try too hard. Any situation I try to force only causes me frustration, angst and disappointment – but when I live my life every single day as if it was just that – a single day – those days pile on top of one another and my life and goals fall into place. I try not to allow the expectations of others to impact me too greatly. I don’t allow the bad mood someone else is in or their plan to foil mine. Now for me, that’s easier to do. For example – if my clients are in a bad mood – I just work them harder – sort of break that bad mood. I know that when your co-worker or boss dumps their mess at your feet, you can’t simply put their legs in table-top and go on with your day. But look at those little interruptions as your daily challenges – conquer them. And then, the next day, refocus your goals and mark one more day off in your journey to achieving them.
So the point – if I’ve got one is this. January blues run rampant – don’t let the holiday let down or the fact that you haven’t lost 20 pounds in the last two weeks or you didn’t get that new job or promotion yet throw you into a funk. Just get up tomorrow, stretch, get out of bed and start again. After all – if you really thing about it, it’s always the journey that’s the fun part. So, get to it – go have some fun!
The first full week of the New Year seems like an ideal time to talk about patterns and habits. It’s funny how we don’t realize how much we run on auto pilot or how set in our patterns we are until we try to change them.
I am all over creating good patterns and getting rid of bad ones – it’s a huge part of what I do every day with my clients – try to identify their patterns and help with awareness and changing those that aren’t good for them.
The funny thing is that I don’t always realize how set in my patterns I am. Yes, I am obnoxiously aware of my physical patterns – I know that I don’t like to use my left hamstring and drop my left hip. I know how I respond to stress and more than a body should about how certain foods and weather conditions impact me. I know the patterns of my body and, as it relates to stress, I guess somewhat, the patterns of my psyche. But what I wasn’t aware of was how set in other patterns I am.
If you follow the blog, you know that I moved about a month ago. I was resistant to the move and made some major decisions as I looked for a place to live in a very short period of time. Specifically, I didn’t want to leave my neighborhood. And even though I searched a much larger area, my goal was to be in about a six block radius of my old place. I landed in a place one block west and almost one block south of my home of over two years. Unpacked and ready to adjust to my new world in about 24 hours, I started back to work, my regular cardio routine and all other parts of my life. And this my friends began almost two weeks of going home to the wrong house. Really. At least once a day I drove past my new street and found myself doing a u-turn as I almost reached my old house. More than a half dozen times I would return from my four mile walk through the neighborhood to make one wrong turn – again, in relationship to my old patterns. I had to consciously begin to tell myself how to get home, where I lived and start to set new patterns. Happily, I got this disturbing behavior under control before the owner of my old house moved back in – so I didn’t have to explain stalking-like behavior!
As I think about patterns and habits, I find myself reviewing what I do and why I do it – and the end result is that I become comfortable in a habit and yes, even lazy and just allow myself to go on auto-pilot.
What about you? Do you have certain habits, patterns and comfort zones that are your fall-back positions? If so, which of those patterns are good for you and which aren’t? They say it takes something like 21 days to create a new habit – I guess I’m proof that it also takes at least 21 days to break an old habit. The thing is – it’s our lack of attention and/or focus that causes us to rely on patterns and habits and a big part of Pilates is about awareness.
Try a few things for me. Start noticing things like your foot placement when you stand or sit, your eating habits, how you fall asleep or wake up and look for any patterns. Start paying attention to how your body feels at certain points of the day or the week and see if you can link any of your physical patterns (including food intake and stress) to those responses/reactions. And then consider trying to change those patterns. You see, if I’m living proof of one thing – it’s that awareness can change patterns.
So instead of just making a New Year’s resolution, make a pattern change. And to my old neighbors, cut me some slack if you see me doing a u-turn near the house – sometimes the auto-pilot is hard to turn off!