Thursday, February 23, 2012

Tacos, Tequila and...a Juice Fast? Oh, My!


Dear Diary,

Listen to this:

Consistency is important but you don't have to be perfect.  Health is about keeping in an overall "right" direction.  Will you travel the same straight highway everyday for the rest of your life?  Snoozeville!  You'll take the scenic highways and even stop at Honky-Tonk bars.  You may have a beer and chips in the afternoon followed by a shot of tequila for dessert.  This is life - it's sweet, fun, unpredictable.  I am not perfect and I never will be.  Perfect is beige.  I am red hot!  So are you.  Red and Wild.  You don't politely sit at tables - you dance on them.  And after last call you get back out on the heath highway.


That's right from the book I'm currently reading, Crazy Sexy Diet (Kris Carr).  Nice timing for me, since I had my own little dose of tequila over the weekend.  I LOVE THIS BOOK.  Kris Carr doesn't give you permission get lazy or to give up.  She gives you enough information that choosing NOT to eat healthier after reading it would be harder than choosing to do so. (She outlines the dangers of eating the Standard American Diet, appropriately acronym-ed SAD, with such conviction that continuing to eat - and feed my children - in that way on a regular basis would be akin to choosing to take up cigarette smoking knowing what we now know about nicotine).

BUT...Kris is light-hearted and fun and funny and also reminds us that there's more to life than nutrition and if eating this way continues to stress you out, it may not be worth it.  SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING.  The goal is not perfection but balance.  As my friend Elizabeth so beautifully reminds me on a regular basis (one of the many reasons I adore her) is that we have to "be gentle with ourselves."  What a beautiful way to put it.

And I heard it again at the doctor's office yesterday while subjecting myself to a long overdue physical.  While describing my treadmill routine (sneaking it in between early morning feedings, earphones on, house alarm set, baby monitor facing me so I can see if it flashes red), she applauded my health-conscious efforts but reminded me that exercise is meant to reduce stress not increase it.  Eek!

In everything I do, I try to do it best.  Determine what I can reasonably accomplish and then push it a little further.  I mean, in order to get myself back into running, in the way that I was before I got pregnant, I decided to sign up for my first marathon in the fall.  Hmmm...I hope I did that for the right reasons.  Or that I end up with the right results (a bright pink check mark on my Bucket List and a rediscovered love for running) and not an injury.

That intensity's fine for a week.  Or even a month or two.  But forever?  It's pretty hard to maintain long-term.  So, I'm trying to remember that I want my New Normal in terms of nutrition to become just My Norm.  Our norm.  Nothing to stress about, nothing to worry over, just the way we roll over here in our little brick house.

But outside these doors, my kids can have birthday cake.  And hot lunch a couple times a week at school.
And...as I proved on Friday night, I can still have a margarita, WAY too many chips, about a pound of guacamole, fish tacos...and get right back on the Green Lemonade Saturday morning.  My Health Food Halo felt a little tarnished, even after a seven-mile run Saturday, so Sunday felt like a good day for a detoxifying juice fast.  Shawn and I did a one-day fast as outlined in Crazy Sexy Diet and felt REALLY REALLY excited about each and every green food we got to actually chew the next day.  Perspective.  Balance.  Maybe?

Still figuring it out,
Becky

1 comment:

  1. I'm so grateful for your post - and for you.

    You're so right, Beck. Amazing health is not determined by what I do 20% or even 30% of the time. "Health is about keeping in an overall 'right' direction."

    I love that you're getting a handle on this, on finding your balance between sticking to the rules and living a crazy sexy life. I'm striving this week to focus on the things I'm doing right, like my daily 6 a.m. date with my juicer.

    I'm feeling kind of optimistic. I think I just might be able to figure this out ...

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