The Secret is in the Combination

Last week when I was on vacation, I tried to do a couple of things to make myself feel better. I have been feeling so EXHAUSTED lately, and exercise and sleeping well was not seeming to work. So, this is what I tried and it seems to be helping a bit:

I went to my yoga instructor for a food coaching session and talked about my eating patterns. We discussed that I should mainly try to eat fresh food-nothing in a can and nothing in a box. I went to the store and bought tons of fresh groceries including veggies and tons of salmon. She suggested that I try to completely cut bread and wheat out of my diet. (I'm trying, but it's very, very difficult!).

I researched "anti-inflammatory foods"-just because. Anti-inflammatory disease runs in my family and there have been a few times that doctors have mentioned that they think I might have some sort of anti-inflammatory disease, so I thought that it wouldn't hurt me to load up on food that is naturally anti-inflammatory. I plan on writing another post about this, so I will come back to the topic later when I write about it tonight.

I was eating pretty well for a couple of days and then I went out to lunch at a restaurant with my boyfriend. Believe it or not, but I had diarrhea all day long after eating at the restaurant. I'm really trying to notice how my body reacts to healthy food and how it reacts to junk food!

I also started taking a multi-vitamin and pills with omega3 fish oil every day.

I cut out coffee and just drank green tea all week. I'm noticing that it gives me that "boost" that I need, but without the jittery feeling that I get if I drink too much coffee.

I went to an acupuncture session. I'm also writing a blog post about my experience, so I'll save that for later. The acupuncturist wants me to come back one more time this week.

I went to yoga three times-beginning yoga, kundalini yoga (tons of breath work and I think that I hated it) and restorative yoga (which was tons of relaxing, stretching and made my body feel good). Supposedly the acupuncturist told me that if I keep up yoga that I will feel much better because yoga opens up natural pathways in your body for energy to circulate. Only time will tell, right? I haven't been to yoga in almost five years and it was surprising to me how easy it was for me to remember some of the moves. I plan on taking a couple more group sessions and then I really think that I might want to take some private lessons again.

I also walked my ass off last week. I walked for an hour most days, and on Thursday and Friday I walked for an hour and a half. I signed back up for the gym and on Saturday I went to work on the treadmill. I busted my ass on that treadmill for an hour and a half at a decent incline and a pretty quick speed. On Sunday I went hiking for two and a half hours.

Sunday evening I noticed that all of my walking and yoga somewhat "got to me" because my body was feeling really exhausted, so I decided to completely take the day off from exercising on Monday. I'll get back to it today-hopefully! I have a pretty long day and am crossing my fingers that I still feel up to exercising after the end of the day.

Sunday evening I was taking a shower and I thought, "I feel a little better. What might be causing it?" And I'm at a loss for words. I think that it has to do with all of it-walking, yoga, acupuncture, relaxing, eating better, sleeping well, etc. Before I was just walking and was not sleeping well or eating well, so I have got to keep up the combination of it all because I think that is the key to feeling better.

For anyone who is already healthy, my epiphanies might seem slightly ridiculous to you, but to me it's a huge step!

Have a nice day!!
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