#erinbelle

I've been in my own head. Ive been discouraged, non motivated and on the road to being totally depressed. It happened slowly, bu it also crept up on me quickly, to the point that I didnt fee like i could do anything. 

First, I had a tooth pulled. A abscessed, terrible tooth that needed to go, but the problem is i started antibiotics. I hate antibiotics, they are so bad for you and screw up your gut health. I also wasn't allowed to do any real physical activity for a few days because of the bleeding. So there was the start to my downfall.   2nd- vacation, in Mexico no less. I thought it would be very easy to keep eating healthy and keep on track but i was very wrong. I took a few things with me, but they only were a small addition to the meals we had every day. We stayed in an amazing 9 bedroom house with a bunch of other couples of the wedding party, and we had our own cook every day. I spoke with him the first day and told him my concerns and that I am a vegetarian. He seemed to think i was an alien, but he agreed to have things i could eat for every meal. The vegetarian options he had turned out to be all mostly dairy based, (which i dont eat either), or was a tortilla and some overcooked, super processed refried beans. After 5 days, I was so bloated, sick to my stomach and dizzy that I honestly couldnt wait to go home.   Being someone who used to eat anything and everything, I hadnt realized that over the course of the year that ive been eating healthy, clean, and dairy-free vegetarian, my body has become so accustomed to being taken care of a certain way, and when i tried to just shut my mouth and deal with what was placed in front of me, as to not be the one chick in the house complaining about food, i got terribly sick. I just cannot eat dairy anymore, nor do I want to. I just had no idea the havoc it would leave on my digestive system. Not only was I eating things im not used to, but i wasn't getting even a sliver of the nutrients my body needed.

I got back from Mexico on the 7th. Today is the 21st. Its only been a couple of days now that I have been back to normal. Thats intense.

Also, I have not ran, gone on a walk, or done any exercises since BEFORE my trip. For all of these things combined, I haven't even been on this blog in weeks. I was ashamed of myself and started even thinking that I would never get motivated to be active again, and feel like I used to. I've even been slacking on my health coaching school work. Its started to make me really sad, negative and just not feel like myself. 

Today ive decided to kick my own ass and snap out of it. Enough is enough. I can do whatever  I want. I can feel sorry for myself, or i can get in my kitchen, I can get my running shoes on, and I can start feeling healthy and happy again. So Im choosing to do whats right for me. I let myself fall but what counts is that you get back up.

FAT.

I think its pretty ridiculous that the word used to describe a person who is overweight, or what you call yourself when you feel bloated, is actually a nutrient. Yes, fatty foods, especially animal fats and fried foods high in saturated and trans fats are seriously detrimental to your health in many ways, but "fat" isn't the main issue in the American diet that makes people "fat". I read yesterday a really interesting study done over the course of about 10 years on the effects of fat on women and breast cancer links. The study was inconclusive, (a big let down because it costed millions)  It was inconclusive because of the way the women ate. The ate very low fat diets. But were still overweight and unhealthy as anyone youd ever seen. This was due to the fact that they followed the oh-so confusing meal plans that millions of people do every day, thinking they are doing something healthy for themselves and their family. They made meals with products labeled "low fat" or 'fat free" . Its not their fault, and so many people do this unknowingly because you are told to believe, by commercials, magazines, and the pretty boxes, that low fat and fat free is the healthy choice! See, when you take something like potato chips, and you make them fat free, you have to add something in the place of the fat, otherwise nobody would buy the cardboard like product. So tons more salt is added, some nice little chemicals are loaded in, lots more flavorings, even sugar. So sure, the "fat" is gone, but what you're left with is something that is far worse than full fat potato chips.  This goes for "healthy" frozen meals, "diet" sodas and snack bars. These arent real food. These are so processed past the point of even resembling food already, the you sent it into the lab, they figure out how to make it "fat free" figure out what frankenstein practices will work on it to still make it taste good, and there you have your "healthy" meal.  Hmmm, i wonder why the women in the study were still getting breast cancer and other serious diseases while not eating much fat at all?....... Well, you cant target a single nutrient in someones diet as the culprit for disease. Yes, when someone eats too much sodium it can cause high blood pressure and lead to coronary  diseases. But you have to think about what lots of sodium is in. Someone isnt eating 100% whole grains, and tons of fresh veggies, with 900+ milligrams of salt on them. They are eating some sort of processed food, where the sodium is so camouflaged, they have no idea.And they are doing that 3-5 times a day, every day. This is why saying if you EAT fat, you will BE fat, is wrong. I am not an overweight person and I eat fat in almost every meal, every day. I eat tons of nuts and seeds, i eat lots of peanut butter every day, i drink lots of full fat almond milk,I eat avocados, olive oil, coconut oils and so on. I also eat lots of whole grains, leafy greens, fibrous vegetables and fruits and the fats I eat are not processed or refined, they are natural occurring, HEALTHY FATS. You need fat, it is an essential part of the human diet. If you ate 0 fat, your hair would fall out, you fingernails would shrivel up, your skin would hang on your bones, not to mention the horrible damage being done inside, to your brain, and all other organs in your body. Fat is not bad. The wrong fats are bad. Learn the difference, be a food detective, know what you're putting into your body. Read up on good VS bad fats. Know how to read food labels, better yet, eat foods that dont need lables! You know, the ones that come from the earth, not a box.  :)

xoxo

I say monthly update but I really havent been super consistent. But then again I dont even know if anyone reads this stuff, so oh well :)

This health journey has so many twists, turns and bumps in the road. I think that people assume when you project a certain image of health or fitness that you are untouchable, and its somehow easy for you. So not true. Ive been fighting with myself in my head over and over for the past couple months. I will have a week where I feel really awesome, i run every day, like how i look, make all the right food choices and feel invincible. The next week I feel lazy and dont do much exercise, allow myself too many cheat days and start to think I look bad (even though i look the same) then i tell myself im not as good as all these other fitness and health people, that they are more inspired than me, stronger than me, and will always be better. 

I think one of the most amazing things that has come with this whole thing is really getting to know myself. My body. How I think. What things trigger certain paths of thought for me. How to REALLY take care of myself. Not just project the image that I do. I can post images all day long of healthy food, abs, people running, and yet, if i am being negative to myself in my thoughts, none of it means a thing. Primary foods in your life should be your relationships, your spirituality, your mental health, your daily movement, your inner joy. All other foods are secondary to your health. Health isn't about salad and crunches. Its about being a well rounded, happy human, with faults, that you accept. Its about being a good friend, an understanding person, a good listener. Its about making the right decisions day to day that will nourish your soul, not just your belly.This is what Ive come to realize and it makes this whole experience so much more fulfilling for me.  This past monday was my birthday, and along with a birthday come treats, foods you wouldn't ordinarily eat, and in my case, a vacation too. I was faced with a fight in my head telling me that even though it was my birthday, it would be weak of me to eat a cupcake, or whatever. I ended up telling that voice to shut the hell up. I ate a cupcake. I ate a donut. I even got a chocolate croissant at the airport. They were all delicious and im not mad i ate them! I enjoyed my birthday and i let myself be human and enjoy treats. That is called LIFE. There are going to be times when you dont eat perfect. There  will be times when you dont exercise as much.Or at all. Whats important is to get back going after your break, and to not feel bad about your break! If i had deprived myself of those things, i really dont think i would have felt great about myself. I think i would have felt sad for not having the birthday i wanted.  Anyway, point being, enjoy life. Life can be bumpy and confusing, it can be a huge up and down climb. So of course any journey will be that way. Including your health journey. 

Im pretty disturbed by some of the advice im seeing on some of the "fitblr" pages I follow lately. Telling people it's totally fine to eat bacon and sausage every morning and to just do an extra work out. Thats not how it works. You cant out run a terrible diet.   Bacon and sausage are some of the worst foods you can consume, literally. This is not coming from the vegan me, this is coming from the me that has been studying heart disease, overall health and the effects of animal fat and protein on the human body. I too would love to eat bacon, its tasty, but Im not going to subject my body to that. Consuming animal protein has been proven time and time again to have horrible effects on the body, like:  High blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, auto immune diseases(!) strokes, depleting of essential vitamins, colon and other serious cancers (just to name a FEW) 

We literally ARE WHAT WE EAT. As soon as the animal is slaughtered the decaying process begins. Even after its shot with tons of chemicals to ward off disease and color change, the meat still is decaying. The energy I want to fuel my body with is alive, flourishing energy.Energy closest to sunlight I can get, IE- plants. Not dead tissue that has to be charred for my body to even start pretend to digest it, and then the cooking process has created carcinogens that I too would digest. If we are meant to eat meat, why do we have to cook it for it to be safe for us to consume? because we aren't supposed to eat it. Human digestive tracts are LITERALLY herbivore tracts.   

Intestinal tract length. Carnivorous animals have intestinal tracts that are 3-6x their body length, while herbivores have intestinal tracts 10-12x their body length. Human beings have the same intestinal tract ratio as herbivores.

Stomach acidity. Carnivores’ stomachs are 20x more acidic than the stomachs of herbivores. Human stomach acidity matches that of herbivores.

Saliva. The saliva of carnivores is acidic. The saliva of herbivores is alkaline, which helps pre-digest plant foods. Human saliva is alkaline.

Shape of intestines. Carnivore bowels are smooth, shaped like a pipe, so meat passes through quickly — they don’t have bumps or pockets. Herbivore bowels are bumpy and pouch-like with lots of pockets, like a windy mountain road, so plant foods pass through slowly for optimal nutrient absorption. Human bowels have the same characteristics as those of herbivores.

The meat is also full of antibiotics, sedatives, growth hormones, and chemical feed mixtures. Most of the antibiotics produced in the USA go into the feedstuff of animals. Why? To keep them alive in the absolutely horrendous conditions in which they live their short, stunted lives. When you eat their "pink" flesh, those chemicals go into you. The antibiotics kill off most or all of the good bacteria in your long intestinal tract. That's why meat-eaters are usually sick with one or more illnesses and degenerative conditions.

The undigested meat isn't always expelled by the body. Instead, the putrifying flesh becomes an inner lining for the long instestinal tract -- swelling its normal diameter from, say, 1 inch, to as big as 10 inches. Day after day, year after year, decade after decade, that undigested flesh becomes a black, rubbery substance known as mucoid plaque. It lines the intestines like wallboard, and prevents normal digestion. An obscenely obese person may have only a tiny channel or tunnel through their enormously compacted intestine.

"oh but hoooow will I ever get my precious protein I need to lift?!"

A cup of lentil or mung bean sprouts contains 10 grams of protein. Green-leaf vegetables contain completely usable protein, with all the needed amino acids. The world's biggest and strongest animals -- gorillas, elephants, hippos, giraffes, and rhinos -- all build their tremendously strong bodies with vegetable protein.

Yes, it's very easy to eat WAY too much animal protein. But since meat contains 5 to 10 times the amount of protein (compared to veggies), it's almost impossible to stuff yourself with too much vegetable protein.