A New Leaf

Spring is coming. I know it is. I am watching the water dripping down from the deck above as the snow melts through the cracks. The sun is warmer, brighter and more enduring. 40 degrees seems "warm." Spring is a time for new resolutions, growth, and change.

I am looking forward to continuing with my F.I.R.S.T. "Run Less Run Faster" 18-week half-marathon training program. I am just into week 3. I ran 18 km yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny, clear day with temperatures topping out at a balmy 47 degrees. I should be a faster, more efficient runner by mid-June. We'll see.

I also look with great anticipation to receiving my "transitional" running shoes--the Vibram KSO's that I ordered in January. Due to high demand, they have been on backorder and are scheduled to be sent mid-March. I can't wait to start running barefoot, although I have to say that I'm not looking forward to any attention it might draw to me. I'm not doing it to stand out, be different or rebel against Nike. I just think it's a very desirable, more natural way to run. And I've read that it can allow a person to run 5% faster than if they were wearing running shoes.

Another welcome change will be the introduction of a new Excalibur top-of-the-line food dehydrator and a Hurom juicer that I purchased with money I received from doing some web programming. My Nesco has been very good, but waiting 4 days for Kale chips, dehydrated broccoli and spirulina-goji berry cookies is just too long! I look forward to making a lot more dehydrated goodies like corn chips, flax crackers and homemade fruit roll-ups on a regular basis. And as for the new juicer, I am preparing to go on a major "Juice Feast" lasting at least a week, preferably a month or longer. I'm not sure how well that will compliment my athletic training program.

I have been adding all the upcoming events to my calendar. It's going to get very busy. We have a big Kindergarten music program and dance recital coming up. Track season officially gets underway on March 15th and I will have at least one of my two teenagers participating in that. Hopefully two. Plus, lots of races coming up, from 5K's to 10K's to my first 20K on July 3!

I started my garden today. I planted most of my vegetable seeds in starter pots. I planted kale, spinach, lettuce, bell peppers, pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Swiss chard, basil, cilantro, dill, cauliflower, broccoli, summer squash, and asparagus. I also planted some echinacea. I just need to get some cucumber, Roma tomato and zucchini seeds. I wanted to get my lupine flowers started, but I can't find where I put the seeds I purchased last fall. :(

I am glad the snow and ice are melting. I relish the sun's warm rays filtering in the many windows of our home. I look forward to hearing and seeing the river flowing again (and an end to the snowmobiles, motorcycles and four-wheelers zooming by on the ice at all hours of the day and night). I look forward to gardening, running, eating healthier and all the other many blessings that the nicer weather brings with it. April 4th is Easter Sunday, another symbol of life and hope. Spring is so full of promise and potential. I hope everyone takes this time to re-evaluate, renew, and restore; that we all make an effort to turn over a new leaf.

Baring My Sole

I love being barefoot. I only wear socks if the temperature dips below 25 degrees or so, but I can never wear socks to bed. I spend most of the summer months sans shoes. I keep a spare pair of Birkenstocks tucked in the pocket behind my driver seat in case I need to go into a store or do something that require shoes, but my preference is for perpetually naked feet.

I have envied runners such as Zola Budd and Abebe Bikila who have chosen to run barefoot, and in doing so, have excelled at their sport. I look at the litter-strewn gravelly shoulders of the roads and the broken-stick-and-tree-root-laden trails that I run along and think that barefoot running would not work for me. So, I have tried several different types of running shoes that would provide me with enough room to wiggle my toes (a wide toe box) and enough padding to cushion my underpronating, high-arched feet. After a lot of trial and error (along with several blisters, calluses, black toenails and sore knees) I settled on the Asics Nimbus 11's. I can't help but wonder, though, what it would feel like to run free--unencumbered by shoes.

I have made a New Year's Resolution for 2010. This year I will run barefoot! I am awaiting the restock of the Vibram FiveFingers KSO's. These will be my "training" shoes and my inclement weather foot cover. But I WILL run barefoot in AT LEAST one road race.

Barefoot running seems to be getting a lot of press these days. In this past Sunday's newspaper insert, Parade Magazine, there was an article entitled "Is It Better To Be Barefoot?" which spoke about the benefits of running barefoot. I also recently read and article in Runner's World magazine, "Should You Be Running Barefoot?" Runner's World also has a Barefoot Running Forum on their website where like-minded minimalists can get together to share their insights and experiences. The evidence seems pretty overwhelming that feet were designed to perform their best without shoes. It makes perfect sense to me and I am eager to test out the theory, but not right now when it's 20 degrees and the roads are covered with snow and ice. I am looking forward to Spring and the availability of the Vibram's.

I have to wonder, though, will it put more strain on knees? Will my feet ache from the constant contact with rocky asphalt? Will I be able to improve my speed and form? So many questions and only one way to get answers: wait and see. Only 75 more days until the "official" start of Spring, although I hope to start my barefoot journey well before then. I will keep you posted.

Intervention

I have to say, I find it absolutely amazing how non-vegan, non-runner, non-like-me people can criticize my healthy lifestyle. Inversely, it would be considered entirely inappropriate for me to openly criticize another person for having diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity and/or an overly-sedentary lifestyle filled with poor nutritional choices. It is socially unacceptable to tell someone they are "too fat." So why would someone consider it acceptable to say to another person: "You are too thin!" or "You are too obsessed with healthy eating." I have been victim to these types of "interventions" and this is my response.

As my life has evolved and I have become more and more enlightened through my incessant research and education, I have taken my knowledge and practically applied it to the way I live my life. I have taken previously-ingrained bad habits and replaced them with good and healthy habits. For example, I used to reward myself with a bag of Cheddar Cheese Combos and a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Beer. Now, I would not put that garbage into my body. (Well, I might have some beer once in a GREAT while...but definitely NOT the Combos.) Now, my idea of rewarding myself is giving my body something ultra healthy like a spirulina-gojiberry cookie, some yummy kale chips, or a green smoothie. And I would be indulging in this sort of "reward" not because it was Friday or because the kids were at the grandparents. The reward would be a compensation for successfully completing a 10 mile run in less than 90 minutes. My mind has changed because I have discovered what is best for me. My body has changed because I do what is best for me. I have taken my beliefs and made them into my habits. Since when is being "too healthy" a bad thing? Or more realistically, one must ask the question, "Is it possible to be too healthy?"

My happily overweight brother-in-law has an expression he likes to use regularly in regard to healthy living: "You don't live longer. It just feels like it." For him, eating nothing but nuts and berries would be torture. So, to imagine being forced into a raw vegan lifestyle, he imagines an ensuing misery. In reality, I have no desire to live to be over 100 years old unless it is God's will. Longevity is not my goal. I could get attacked by a wild bear tomorrow and my life would be over, regardless of how healthy my eating and exercise habits are. Rather, my goal is to live the healthiest I can possibly be each and every day of my life. There is nothing worse than to see people with chronic, degenerative, debilitating diseases which rob them of their livelihood and eventually lead to a slow and often painful death. If I have the tools to prevent going down such a path, I am going to use them! If I am ever stricken by such a disease, at least I will know that I have done everything possible to prevent such an occurance and have no regrets about living a lifestyle which contributed to my demise.

I have been told by well-meaning family members time and time again that I am "too skinny" and/or "I worry about you." I am at an ideal weight for my height and frame. My BMI is totally within normal limits and I even had a full blood analyis done to verify that my raw vegan lifestyle has not adversely affected my health in any way. I started running two years ago and have placed first in my age group in several races. I have gone from being someone who couldn't run a block without becoming winded to a well-conditioned athlete who is capable of running a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in under two hours. I am proud of myself and of what I have accomplished. It's too bad that my family is too "concerned" about me to share in my joy or offer positive encouragement.

As far as being "obsessed" with my healthy lifestyle--if I were truly overemphasizing my running or eating, I wouldn't have time to clean the house, do the laundry, drive the kids to all their activities, read stories to my preschooler, go to concerts and movies, work in the garden, watch t.v. with my husband, read books and magazines, or work on my websites. I cook "regular" food for my family and do not force my raw vegan choices on them, but always leave it as an option (an option which they will sometimes voluntarily choose). I believe that I have found a nice balance and have been successful in prioritizing my responsibilities to both myself and my family. It seems that the only people criticizing me are those who are "on the outside." Maybe these people are secretly jealous because they have been unsuccessful in following a more health-conscious protocol in their own lives. Maybe they wish they could fit into size 2 jeans. I don't know what their "deal" is, but I've had more than enough of it!

I am happy with my body and my diet. My husband loves the way I look. My kids aren't complaining about me being too busy with running or food preparation to care for them. We are all quite content. Why can't everyone else be?

Universal Truth

It may be something you've heard a million times or just once in passing, but it resonates with you on such a deep level that there is no denying its veracity. It's when you pick up a book and continue reading from the table of contents to the index in one sitting--intellectually devouring each word like comfort food for the soul. It is when you are stopped cold in your tracks by a television or radio program that seems to be speaking directly to you--specifically and eerily addressing something you've always suspected but never had confirmation of. It's when you meet a stranger that you feel as if you have known all of your life. It's a connection to something much, much larger than yourself. In fact, it's the awareness of a connection that exists between all of life and a feeling that you are an integral part of that connection--that you belong. It is the belief in a philosophy that perhaps you'd never been exposed to, but somehow you haven't a shadow of a doubt regarding its tenets. It is knowing and believing without requiring proof. It is faith on its purest level. It feels like being home. It is Universal Truth. And once you are enlightened by it, you can never unlearn it, even if you try. It remains a permanent part of who you are.

For me, Universal Truth came as a continually nagging interest in the "occult." I read every book I could find on spirituality and alternative health. The first time I really remember being able to put my finger its resonating pulse was when I read Sylvia Browne's "Adventures of a Psychic." Then there were Neal Donald Walsch's "Conversations with God" books. There were dozens more as well. However, it was a passion I could not fully express in my Judeo-Christian Western Civilization based lifestyle without facing a conflict-inducing series of misunderstandings that I had no desire to confront. But as many times as I tried to deny the facts with which I had previously been illuminated by, the Truth remained present, merely hidden beneath the bushel basket of societal norms and expectations.

Why am I afraid to fully express my inner Truth? What unseen force is holding me back from allow my inner illumination to glow? To matter-of-factly proclaim off-the-wall ideas automatically puts one in a state of alienation and brand them a "freak." While I had no objection to being labelled a "weirdo" as a young dependent teenager, one cannot as easily assimilate the same behavior into adulthood where it's much more conducive to blend into the background and seemingly move through life effortlessly rather than boldly oppose "the system" in an attempt to swim upstream.

Even though I possess knowledge of many Universal Truths, it is not something I choose to always overtly express. I have learned that sometimes it is better to keep one's opinions and beliefs to oneself externally while consistently maintaining one's internal principles at all times. Once a person has become enlightened by the Truth, they can never fully go back. They have been changed for ever. Yes, they can live in a way that does not resonate with their enlightened knowledge, but it will inevitably create internal conflict. The Truth always remains. The Truth always prevails. When one is fully able to live the Truth, the Truth will set them free.

Whether it be spiritual, dietary, moral, fitness, health-related, intellectual, or emotional truth, I believe there is ultimately only One Truth. We all inherently possess knowledge of it within our very cellular composition. When we find it, we will know. In the meantime, we will continue to search.

Low-Carb Vegan Diet Article from Runners World Magazine

Low Carb Vegan Diet Produces Impressive Results

The New York Times and other outlets are reporting on a study that gives high marks to an Atkins-like diet (low carb) that isn't very Atkins-like at all because the subjects consumed a vegan diet rather than a high-meat diet. The dieters lost 9 pounds in a month, and their cholesterol levels improved in a healthier way than another group that followed a high-carb vegetarian diet. Source: The Archives Of Internal Medicine. Read More

It's great to see support and awareness for low-carb vegan diets in the athletic world, especially in the world of running where pancake breakfasts and spaghetti dinners are still touted as traditional and almost mandatory pre-race activities.