Self Care
Mental, physical, spiritual maintenance
Curious if you’re eating enough? Use a simple calculator and find out now
A few years ago, I wondered to myself, “Am I eating enough?” I was really cranky, getting injured during regular exercise, and feeling all-around burned-out. Have you ever felt cranky, burned-out, and like you’re having more aches and pains than normal? Signs You Aren’t Eating Enough If you said “yes!”, you might be surprised to know how many calories you actually need to fuel everything your body does – from firing neurons in your brain to going for a jog. Here are some quick signs and symptoms that you may not be eating enough: You’re dragging a** all day. Everyone and everything is annoying to you. Even when it’s not cold, you’re…
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How to Eat When You’re Injured
Have you ever put in weeks (or months) of hard work, only to be sidelined by an injury? Whether you run long distances, play in a volleyball league, or chase you kiddos over playground equipment, injuries can happen to all of us. And, the timing is never right. You might have your food dialed-in for training or being active, but do you wonder how to eat when you’re injured? Questioning Nutrition During Injury Nutrition-wise, now what? How do you eat in a way that preserves muscle, promotes healing, and lifts your spirits? (Let’s face it, when laid up on the sofa instead of out doing your favorite activity, you need…
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More Powerful Than Supplements – 5 Ways To Boost Your Immune System
There’s a lot of talk around how to boost your immune system every fall, and it’s reached a fever pitch this year. Retailers offer a ton of different supplements, tinctures, and devices that claim to jumpstart your immune system. While a quick-fix sounds great, kickstarting your immunity is not that easy. Our complex immune system is truly remarkable! It fights off illnesses and can distinguish between “good” and “bad” bacteria. At the same time, the immune system is smart enough to tell what is self, not self but not dangerous, and not self and dangerous. In order to be strong enough to fight off invaders – and smart enough to…
10 Simple & Effective Workday Exercises
Have you ever stood up from a chair and felt your muscles tighten like vice grips around your shoulders, back and legs? Maybe your legs even “fell asleep”, or your wrists ached from over-mousing. It’s easy to lose track of how long I’ve been sitting in the same position and find myself with tight and angry muscles. Over the years, my husband and I have done some inventive things to keep our bodies from seizing up during marathon meetings, road trips, or even movie marathons. I’ve tried double pigeon pose, in office chair, with lumbar pillow (FAIL. I do NOT recommend.). He’ll bust out a few sets of pushups and…
Healthy Not Healthy 4 – How Society Promotes Disordered Eating
How We – Women, Culture – Justify and Promote Disordered Eating If you’re new to the “Healthy Not Healthy” series, here’s a two-sentence summary: I just finished two of years of extremes: stress, exercising, and undereating; which resulted in hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA) (among other things). The “Healthy Not Healthy” (HNH) series discusses the how and why of HA, as well as my mental and physical recovery. If you want to read the previous three posts, they are: HNH1 – An Introduction HNH2 – What Happened? HNH3 – Diagnosis Quick Diagnosis Update: I got my bloodwork back from the OBGYN, which confirmed that I do not have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).…
Healthy Not Healthy 3 – Diagnosis
Part 3: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) or Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA)? I had my first amenorrhea-related OBGYN appointment this week. In hindsight, I’m wondering why I wasn’t referred sooner. Twenty-two months without a period, one Pap smear, two physical exams, two pelvic ultrasounds, and an MRI later – I’m referred to an obstetrician-gynecologist for a disorder of my reproductive system. My primary care provider is awesome, so I feel like I should have advocated for myself and asked for a referral sooner. Even more ironic is that I started my first period in nearly two years on the exact day of the OBGYN appointment – what?! Since I was beginning to…
Healthy Not Healthy 2 – What Happened?
Part 2: Stress + Intense Exercise + Not Enough Food = Slow Decline Have you ever woke up one morning and wonder “how did I get here?”. That happened to me more than once recently – I was frequently exhausted and in pain, my relationships with my spouse and kids were degrading, and I had a million “super important” things to do. Denial or ignoring what our bodies are telling us usually doesn’t make problems go away, although that’s what I did for a while. My body kept reminding me that it needed attention and then started to shut down. In this post, I’m outlining the sequence of health and…
Healthy Not Healthy 1 – An Introduction
Introduction How trying to be perfect made me sick See that picture of a strong, lean, smiling person? She’s (I’ve) got issues. To most people, my body appears to be in top physical condition. What the picture doesn’t show is the detrimental, beneath-the-skin effects of chronic over-stressing, over-exercising and under-eating. To give some context, here are a few health issues I’ve experienced since early 2018: I got shingles at age 39, lost about 10 lb (down to 110 lb on my 5’6” frame), and had exactly zero menstrual cycles. On the bright side: during this time, I managed to have a wonderfully challenging professional life, run a 10k personal record…
