My 20 Day; Out with the Bad, in with the Good, Straighten Myself Out, Modify my Habits, Detox Thing

“You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, 'I release the need for this in my life'.”

~ Wayne Dyer ~

My 20 Day Out with the Bad, in with the Good, Straighten Myself Out, Modify my Habits, Detox Thing

Today is the halfway point of my 20 day out with the bad, in with the good, straighten myself out, modify my habits, detox thing. It is not a diet except in definition because your diet is what you eat, not what you do without. A lot of people don’t understand what I am doing (aka, eating real foods, cutting out processed food and sugar and alcohol) to which I attempt to educate them if they are so inclined. I am “doing without” putting garbage in my body which is also helping me get my head clearer because I am not beating myself up for feeling bad about what I am eating or drinking and in turn eating or drinking because I feel bad. I have also been throwing in some short meditation sessions as well.  

As I stated in my last post; I have been sliding down a slippery slope of eating things I knew were not good for me and having a couple of drinks a night. All the time “justifying” bad habits because I was feeling depressed, tired, or just not good. Knowing all the time that the items I was putting in my body were causing some of the physical symptoms while feeding the bad feeling I was having mentally. Since life is cyclical you would think that we would cut these habits and trends off quicker, but most times we are too smart for our own good. When we are having a bad day; we will climb an extra flight of stairs, take a walk later, and do better tomorrow and so on until these behaviors are the new habit.

I have only had one really bad day when I thought I might fall hard off the wagon and that day was yesterday. My sister and I have a saying that depression is like “losing my speed and going to my dark place” which is where I was headed yesterday. Luckily I drove straight to the gym and ran a mile on the track and did 100 Bosu push ups with my “angry music” blaring into my head the whole time. This did not fix everything but it got me through the rough spot enough to go home and have dinner and stay on track. I have found that installing stop gaps such as working out, running and sometimes just deep breathing helps me immensely to temporarily stop a behavior.

All of this rambling stuff aside I just wanted to update anyone who might be interested in my progress. Some subjects that I am pondering for future blogs; my recent volunteering at a no kill animal shelter called KC Pet Projects, bans on things that people don’t understand like Pit-bulls and a trip to Minnesota to pace a friend on a 100 mile trail race, and a possible birthday hiking adventure. Stay tuned and thank you for reading along!      

20 Days of Synergy for Mind, Body and Spirit

"When the mind, body, and spirit work together, I believe anything is possible."

~ Criss Angel ~

20 Days of Synergy for Mind, Body and Spirit

I am in need of a radical refocus of mind, body, and spirit. I have been anything but focused and continue to push through each day somewhat misguided. Not only struggling with nutritional and exercise decisions but my energy has been so low and difficult to remain positive. The best way to describe it would be like a forecast; mostly cloudy with patchy fog and ever present chances of quicksand. Granted I have made some small improvements but not anything close to what I should be making. Knowing myself the way I do, I realize cutting back or small adjustments will be useless at this point.

So, radical change it is then. Beginning on Monday February 9^th I will begin a 20 day sugar detox. I have done this before and it allows be to lay down specific guidelines and to be strict with myself. It will include processed sugar, processed foods, and alcohol. I created a list of acceptable and off limit items as well as a few things that will be allowed in controlled circumstances. I have also decided to try to add in at least 15 minutes of meditation each of the 20 days.

Challenge areas will include but are not limited to; feeling tired (ongoing from not sleeping well), doughnuts and pastries that are brought in to work, stress from my crappy job, and a couple of beers after work. I do not plan on using these events or thoughts as excuses like I have been doing, I intend to be aware of them and act accordingly instead of reacting to them. Therein lies the challenge ahead of me.

Much like most things in life I have been in a cycle of the outcome being the result of my reaction to an event. The only way to change the outcome is to change the reaction to the event since it is usually difficult to change the event itself. This is where I hope the meditation comes into play. I will not be looking for miracles through meditation, but instead, I will be working on creating space to allow me to react in a more desirable and healthier manor.

By cutting processed sugar and foods I am hoping to shock my body and brain into making better decisions and feeling better as well. Thus, breaking the bad decision cycle where I can say to myself “oh well, today is shot anyway” or using my poor energy level as an excuse. I don’t know about you but the worse I feel either mentally or physically, the worse my decision outcome is. So it drags me further down. This brings be to spirit; feeling better both mentally and physically with some space created around myself and my stressors. The better I feel, the better decisions I make.

What could be so hard about doing something for 20 days? Well, doing something for 20 days that’s what! I guess starting Monday I will be taking one day at a time for 20 days. Watching what I eat and drink, continue with workouts and running, meditating and spending time with the dogs at the shelter making the time they wait to be adopted as good as it can be. Stay tuned and if you have to deal with me in person for the rest of this month…sorry and thanks!