Chewing on Thoughts about Juicing
Fruit. Vegetables. Juice. Juicing. Liquid gold. Cleansing. Fasting.
I recently read an article in one of those checkstand magazines about dropping weight and cleansing your body through a two-day juice fast. It wasn’t your typical 300-calorie fast but included whole avocado in the mix. It sounded sane. And I did feel like my body needed a good cleanse.
Yesterday I embarked. Because how better to start the new year than an all-liquid diet?
I dutifully drank my smoothies, teas, waters, and juices. However something was missing. I wasn’t hungry physically but my body was yearning.
I told myself the yearning was detox. My body crying out for the bad. That I should feel awesome by not giving in. I was AWESOME.
But something was missing. And yes my body did want those processed foods it had gotten to experience over the holidays. But that wasn’t it. It was something else.
So I poured myself a bowl of kale miso stew. Barely any calories. Besides the miso and spices, it was just broth and vegetables. And since vegetable broths were allowed on the cleanse, and vegetables were juiced and blended, I figured it was the same thing.
With one exception.
As I chewed through the thick kale in the stew, the whimpers from deep within were calmed. I began to truly feel satisfied. Satiated. Happy.
It turns out, the process of chewing my food. That’s what I was missing.
This morning, instead of juicing and blending, I chewed. I may still juice some of my foods, but I realize that while I may get a lot of benefit out of a cleanse, I won’t feel satisfied. And as morbid as it seems, I want to be satisfied with my choices each day. Because while I may eat healthy to stretch my time here on Earth out as long as possible, the truth is that we don’t know how long we have. So daily satisfaction is crucial.
That’s something to chew on.
Healthy Food is NOT Expensive (a vent)
As 2012 resolutions begin and people look to lose weight in the coming year, I have seen an influx of posts on weight loss message boards. I read through them, maybe I can help someone, or someone can help me. But I stop. I get frustrated. Because some people don’t want help. Well not real help.
A frequent complaint I hear is that healthy food costs too much. It gets under my skin. It makes me flustered. Because it’s not true.
If you only bought processed crap labeled “healthy” then yes, I guess it is expensive. That label comes with a price. But that’s not really what’s healthy.
And as I get frustrated and angry and want to kick and scream because I have gotten into yet another Internet battle with someone who refuses to believe me. Who doesn’t want to shop the staples. Who deny that my couponing for healthy food is real. Who refuse to check out healthy-eating budget blogs like Poor Girl Eats Well, DianasaurDishes, and MeloMeals.
I stop.
And a wave of emotions wash over me.
I feel sadness that we live in a world where people don’t know how to cook dry beans. Who have never made their own tomato sauce. Who think the only way to eat “healthy” is to buy cardboard boxes with manufactured chemicalbombs labeled as the healthier option.
And so I continue to engage. To hopefully help those who haven’t had the opportunities I have had. Who have been “health-washed” by the food industry giants.
The $1 menu at McDonald’s is not cheaper than a well-rounded meal.
I promise.
Reflecting on Resolutions
A group of friends and I email each other. We all met on a weight loss message board. And today, one of the girls shared our list of resolutions for 2011. Had we met them yet? And within that link was a link to our resolutions for 2010.
The resolution I made for 2010 was made in a drunken state but involved running. I wanted to run a marathon. And complete 2010km over the year. Great resolutions until I injured myself the day after I made the resolution. I was out of commission and spent most of the year rehabbing my leg.
So for 2011, I decided on a more general resolution. I wrote:
“I am just focused on enjoying the year, making it the best I can, and staying healthy”
Did I meet this resolution? The year itself had some ups and downs. However, I ended it feeling better about myself and my life and in general knowing more about my health and how to better it.
For 2012, I have set similar goals for myself:
When hotels seems more familiar than home…
Courtyard by Marriott in Illinois
Doubletree Hilton in California
Springhill Suites by Marriott in Minnesota
Courtyard by Marriott in California
Springhill Suites by Marriott in Alaska
Springhill Suites by Marriott in New York
Fairfield Inn by Marriott in New York
There was a time when I spent a weekend sleeping in my own bed. However, it hasn’t been recent.
You may have noticed a trend. Because even when you travel a lot for work, there is something reassuring about knowing the layout of your hotel room in the dark. Of knowing what the bed (should) feel like. What the towels and shampoo and coffee will feel, smell, and taste like.
Even in the constant state of change there is consistency for me. However there is also a sense of impersonality. The pictures hanging on the walls are “local” or “themed” to “personalize” the experience. But nothing can be as personal as the warm purring bodies of four-legged friends trying to climb on your face so you will wake up and feed them. Or the steady snore of your best friend laying next to you dreaming.
I bring things with me that remind me of home. Things that might seem strange or out of place, but provide visual, tactile, sensory memories of the family I leave each weekend. It makes the travel a little less difficult. And personalizes my foreign but familiar weekend abode.
Twitter Lesson Learned
One of the lessons I learned this weekend via tweets from another session was that I should set time limits on my social media. So I am giving myself one hour to tweet. During that time I can also play on Facebook. And that’s it! I can divide it up into up to three segments during the day. Today it worked out pretty well, despite the notifications popping up on my phone and in my email. During the tournaments I might let this rule slide but I need to allow myself to unplug from the constant stream of information.
Now to figure out rules to limit television and get me on my feet more! Suggestions?
Day Two. Reframing Fail. Community Win.
Morning. Looming clouds in the distance. Walking. Beach. Sand. Surf. Freeing.
Workshop after workshop. Writing. Finding the story. Video. Tweeting. Learning.
Lunch. Anxiously awaiting the mobile eats. Disappointment. Trying to not be upset over not being able to eat. The difficulty in reframing and being positive. Losing focus. Feeling like a victim. The wrong approach. But the one taken.
Gathered with positive bloggers. A short walk and a lot of options. Filling real food. Fabulous conversation. Spirits raised but anxiety lies low. Hiding to finish work and regroup. Emotions run high. Difficulty remaining positive.
Wine. Food. Blog. Fun workshop. Lots to learn. Friendly faces. Not short sentences with quick escape routes like many encountered.
Dinner. Anxiety returns. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Trying not to bitch. But waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Anxious. Hungry.
Salad: Without cheese. Tasty.
Entree: Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Entire table has finished eating. Can’t help the negative feelings that return. Frustration. Plate of vegetables with nothing else is served. Vegetables are good but there is more than just vegetables.
Twitter on the big screen? Shows others had more. Amplifies the frustration and anxiety building. Just wanting to feel normal is dying to scream out. Friends come to rescue. Garbanzos arrive.
Dessert: Fruit on lettuce. Nothing on it. Nothing. Arrives long after others have eaten. Food is community. Feeling like a community of one.
Pain. Night cut short.
*****
It’s frustrating to be in a frequent state of low-level pain and to not know what causes it. To have it flare up and not be able to control it. For everyone wanting to help and offer opinions to the point of being overwhelming. Frustration because in the quest to be normal and have fun, turns into feeling like an outsider. One year ago I wasn’t the strange kid. Now I feel like a negative ball of energy is fighting inside of me, only amplified by being here. But I will keep trying to work on reframing. Takeaway from a session on the third day will be reframing to consider a life of inclusion instead of exclusion. To reframe. To walk away with the positive.
A must read for health food fans!
I have been reading a delicious book that I encourage foodies and the socially conscious to check out.
Can’t wait to make the recipes I am reading about but I am loving the themes of healthy eating, loving yourself, and caring for the world around you.
Blech – Sick on Vacation?
It only makes sense that the longest break I get is also the first time I get sick in forever. Go figure! I used to joke that the reason I never took a vacation was because my body wouldn’t get a chance to get sick because it was too busy. Despite it being totally unhealthy, I think there may have been some truth to it.
Aside from sleeping tons, I am also drinking a fair amount of tea, making sure I take my vitamins, and eating an umeboshi plum a day. Hoping to be better by tomorrow so I can get some more cleaning done. Would love for this place to be shiny before I head back to work on Monday!
What are your non-drug cure-alls?
Someone was reading my mind last night…
I started this blog after a number of conversations with coaches in the high school and college community. When I was in college, there were coaches studying and writing about how unhealthy the lifestyle of debate can be on it’s participants. That was almost a decade ago. However, even today there is a push to increase the focus on creating a healthy environment.
While no one may be reading my blog yet, a college debater who knows I am attempting to live healthier, directed me to a college debate forum focused on the Healthy Debater Initiative. To my surprise, I found an email I had written to another coach had been shared with the community about healthy eating tips. How cool is that! While my eating habits have changed (I rarely eat animal products), I still follow most of the guide.
It is good to know that there is a movement at the college level for a healthier debate community. I hope the high school community will take notice and work to improve our environment as well. I am probably on a plane to Chicago as this post is being auto-published. After we check-in to the hotel, my students and I will had to the grocery store. I have a shopping list from my assistant coach who arrives later in the evening and will create my list on the plane. Tomorrow I will share the stash with you, so you can get an idea of what this Healthy Academic is eating.
A Critical Self-Examination of the Health of Competitive Forensics Coaches
You don’t know me, but I wanted to tell you that I am an addict. I spend most weekends feeding my addiction. Most of my friends are addicts as well and often when we get together, our addiction is all we can talk about.
Twenty or more weekends on the road. Summers spent in dorm rooms and classrooms and libraries. Monday through Friday spent with adolescents, discussing research methods, delivery styles, argument structure followed by weekends with those same students at exotic locations like Lexington, Kentucky. Nights spent in chain hotels that all eventually blend together into a home away from home. Addiction. All of it.
If you haven’t figured out what I do by the title of this post, let me explain. I teach high school communication studies courses and coach a debate team. This means that I teach classes all week and then spend most weekends at debate tournaments. Many of these tournaments are located in other time zones which means that my high school students and I are hoping on planes, trains, and automobiles to get to destinations where we play academic mind games all weekend in high school and university classrooms. I spend almost every weekend during the school year at tournaments and during the summer I attend one or two more plus a couple of residential summer debate programs at various universities.
Debate coaches/teachers don’t do it for the money. That’s clear. Don’t ask what my hourly wage would be because I broke it down one year and almost had a breakdown. We do it because we love engaging students in the research and critical thinking that debate requires. We love watching our students discover new arguments for themselves and communicate those ideas and advocacies. Plus our students sometimes win things and that makes us proud. Finally, after awhile, the debate community becomes a part of our extended family and going to tournaments in like a family reunion.
My sane friends, the ones who don’t do debate, and strangers often say, “I don’t know how you do it!” Well after some prodding, I decided I would spend the next year telling you how. This weekend, one of the largest and most well-known high school tournaments in the country will take place in Illinois, and what better time to start a daily blog than right before a high-stress event?
I was hesitant to create this blog. I had a personal blog that didn’t have my name attached. A few students found my blog and I panicked and shut it down. There wasn’t anything too personal, but it was weird and I didn’t like it.
I knew that writing this blog would put me out there. People will read this blog and will know who I am. And I had to make sure I was okay with that. I have decided that the purpose of this blog was more important that the minor discomfort of putting myself in the virtual public eye.
Debate is a competitive activity but a sedentary one. Combine long periods of research and debate rounds with incredibly late nights and early mornings. Fast food, caffeine, travel, lack of sleep and little down time all contribute to a lifestyle that isn’t healthy. I am not the picture of health and I am not alone. While many debate coaches do focus on health, our career path has obstacles built in by it’s very existence.
This summer, a debate coach I knew personally passed away. He wasn’t the first debate coach to die too soon and he probably won’t be the last. But his death was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. I began to examine my life. I have made an effort to live a healthier life, taking up running in 2009 before getting injured, and making healthier food choices. However the lifestyle of a debate coach is demanding and the stress of the job means that sometimes I don’t want to prepare a healthy meal or hit the gym. And this stress can snowball into a pattern that is less than stellar.
I won’t make any promises of perfection. This isn’t a “change my life” blog. But rather it is the examination of a communications teacher/debate coach who is trying every day to do the job she loves while protecting her health to the best of her abilities. I recognize my job is a health-hazard. But I don’t think it always has to be. So I have decided to document my life for one year. From the travel to fitness to daily struggles to views on debate topics to just about anything else that life throws at me. You are invited to join my adventure as this coach documents my attempts at improving my health while being the best teacher/coach I can be.
The Healthy Academic 