Revival of the Warrior Princess

I have never had to diet. I have always been healthy & allergen free, so I have never had to restrict what I ate. I had the metabolism of a hummingbird, and HAD to eat all the time, spaghetti at 2 am was a norm for me. My body, over the years, has taken any abuse, mishandling, or  neglect with grace, and carried me proudly and without illness. Until now...

 Being over 40 kicked my ass.

I have had some issues stemming from my accident and nerve trauma, and over two years I have been trying to deal with traditional medicine. That did not work at all. Mainly though, I am looking at the state of my muscles, that used t be lean and strong. I did say  USED to be. I often get “but you are older”, but really,  I have seen/met some ass kicking 7o year olds that would put me to SHAME...age is no excuse! My body is getting weaker, and I think it is more the “lazy ass & wrong fuel syndrome” than age. With lazy I don’t mean just exercising, as I a move a lot without dedicating it exercise...I also mean the habitual nourishing: the comfort food, fast food, BAKED goods (I am a sucker for anything baked), wheat.

My gut intuition is telling me that now is the time to make a change, before things get even worse. Putting the medical healing aside, I think this will aid my digestion, my concentration, and raise my sluggish energy level. I also want to prepare my body for the Tough Mudder, my ultimate goal :). Will post some measurements below for good measure (no pun intended).

I have devised the “30 day Revival of the Warrior Princess” plan to get eased into a different way of nourishment & movement.  I wrote it down, as I am not a very consistent human being...It takes 30 days to start a new habit....

1. Modified Primal plan...
Buckwheat & Peaches, with butter
I don’t do well with extremes & restrictions, and don’t believe extreme diets are good for me. I am not a diet, even though 5-10lbs are totally expendable. :)....Since I want to build lean muscle and eat more protein, the Primal or Paleo plans (though both are different) have given me a base, and I am adding in my Weston Price (Nourishing Traditions) knowledge. I am also a type O, if you know about the blood type diet, I should hunt my food and eat it on the fly....aieeeeeeee........Artemis is my Goddess.....do you see a thread here? My food priorities will go: lean meat or fish, veggies (mostly green), fruits, nuts. I will also eat some ancient grains, and bread, though both minimally and only baked by me. No wheat, only spelt, buckwheat, quinoa. Only fermented dairy: joghurt, kefir. And again, minimally. No sugar. Not sure how I am going to handle ice-cream....

2. 6-8 glasses of water.  Gosh, I stink at drinking enough. I can go a whole day and end up asking “Did I drink anything but coffee today?”. It runs in my family, and I seriously believe I am constantly dehydrated. So, to remind myself, I am devising a ring/band thing to keep me on track. More to come on that. Part of my water consume will be my Spirit Cleanser or Health tea to help cleanse the blood & body, and nettle infusion.  I don’t do vitamins, so this will give my body extra minerals.

3. Go to bed before 12am. I will try.

4. Daily 20 (squats, toe crunches (this is for my ankle/foot injury), ankle rolls), and 15 min of heart raiser (this is intense heart rate upping...not just my dh driving me up the wall).

5. Daily 15 minutes to reflect on Heike....journal, draw, read, snooze...this is MY time behind closed doors. Period.


I won’t bore you with my medical history, and it really only fascinates myself and my mother :)....but I will give you the jist, in case something similar inflicts you.

I have had burning nerve pain for over 4 years, and it stems from nerve trauma from an accident I had when I was 21. I also have muscle atrophy in one leg, the leg that suffered the most trauma. Together, this leads to pain, sleepless nights, weakness & stiffness in the leg, muscle atrophy (the strong leg carries the weak one), misalignment, etc. I have been through acupuncture, medicine, etc. “I” believe I can cure this with healing food & herbs, and that is what I am journaling and proving now.

Here are measurements of my two calves, with I hope to balance within six months of healing food & training:

Left leg: 14 inches
Right leg: 12. 25 inches.

Quit a bit of mass missing.

Even though I mentioned I am NOT dieting, and I am grabbing this belly fat by the britches and kicking it out:

Waist: 33 inches  (maybe it will wander to my chest :)....a girl can hope).
Weight: 143lbs (this will likely not fluctuate too much, may even go up as I gain muscle vs. fat)

phew.

I will start doing some very consistent “use your body as a gym” training outside, rather than continue to go to the gym, but that is another post.

There you go, Beautifuls! Want to join me?

Much love,
Heike

Labels: , , , , , , , ,