Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Doing Something Different Part 2


BE GOOD TO YOUR BODY - I think we get really bogged down about our bodies. The fact of the matter is, not a one of us is our body. We aren't even our brains or minds. Your brain is part of your body, your mind is inside your brain, and also a part of your body. I may have lost a few of you by now, but recognizing and owning the fact that you are the consciousness asking the question, rather than the meat sack that is answering it, makes this whole body-taking-care-of thing a lot easier. It's like taking care of a pet. A needy, whiny, lustful, sometimes annoying pet. And you know, when a beloved pet is not doing well it's really hard to get anything done.

Whatever size you are, accept it. Wear clothes that fit it, have a style that looks good on your body, and don't obsess over trying to change the size or shape of your body. That's step number 1. Steps 2 and 3 aren't about changing your size and being thinner and thinking that thin=happy/healthy/attractive, but rather about functionality. 

Accepting my body's size does not mean that I eat whatever I want and don't give a shit about exercise. Accepting my size means that I eat for a healthy mind and productive lifestyle and exercise to make sure my brain is getting enough blood to make everything work; rather than being entirely focused on, as Margaret Cho has said "trying to fence in my body".

For me, my ideal diet limits sugar and other simple carbohydrates (grains, potatoes, etc), maximizes vegetables, and gluten is completely eliminated in any and all forms, but especially those forms which contain sugar. That's not about losing weight (but it would be a nice side effect up to a certain point), it's about my health. Gluten kills me; sugar is an addictive substance that I need to stay away from; vegetables are good for me and need to be in everything. Meanwhile, exercise increases blood flow to my entire body, limiting the damage done by whatever sticky-wickets are involved in fibromyalgia (or accidental wheat exposure), AND makes me smarter by increasing blood-flow to my brain.

Your ideal care plan is going to be different, but I would highly recommend doing some reading of actual books (not blogs). Lights Out! by T.S. Wiley is a good place to start learning about how evil sugar really is; I've also heard good things about this book, although I haven't read it myself. I would also recommend talking to your doctor about food allergies. Wheat allergies/sensitivities are way more common than people want to believe, and while Celiac is still taught to med students as being so rare that they will probably never see it; it's actually fairly common but most people don't have or know they have symptoms until after trying a gluten free diet for a while and suddenly everything is in color.


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