Hug for Your Health

Listen, the world needs more hugs.

You can give them.

And you SHOULD.

http://paleoforwomen.com/4-reasons-people-who-hug-are-healthier-and-happier/

Self-Care For The Depressed

Yes to everything written here, from one who's been there:

Self-care includes a lot of adult-ing, and activities you want to put off indefinitely. Self-care sometimes means making tough decisions which you fear others will judge. Self-care involves asking for help; it involves vulnerability; it involves being painfully honest with yourself and your loved ones about what you need.

I am reconstructing my ideas about what it means to take radically good care of myself. I am making it a priority, to the detriment of other priorities, because I have to come the realization that my life depends on it. I will tell the truth about my present self-care, even though I have zero assurances I am getting it right. Because a) getting it right is not the point (but God, do I love to get things right), and b) the other thing nobody tells you about self-care is that it’s nearly impossible to know if you’re doing it right, until months later when you either find yourself feeling better or shittier.

https://themighty.com/2016/09/self-care-how-to-take-care-of-yourself-when-you-have-depression/

On Self-Care

I love this phrase: socially exhausted.

I’m not going to call myself an introvert because I find the term has become overly popular lately, with online quizzes that label anyone who doesn’t want to put pants on sometimes or likes to relax quietly after a night out as introverted. If I had to put a name to it, I might call myself “socially exhaustible.” I can function in social situations, even enjoy myself, but getting to know new people or spending time in crowds or groups drains me pretty quickly. I love the people I love and draw strength and joy from them, and I do genuinely like learning more about new friends, but I need some regular and intentional me-time if I want to continue functioning.

If that sounds like you, READ DIS:

https://ontheuplift.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/self-care-for-the-socially-exhausted/

Steps Toward Normal

A continuation of her prior post, which I shared last month:

It is so important to note that my unhealthy lifestyle was not the cause of my problems, it was just a symptom of a larger issue, not being true to myself and not living an authentic life. I think this is the case with most people who adopt unhealthy eating and workout patterns. A larger issue or stressor is causing them to use exercise and nutrition in a negative manner to control whatever they are feeling powerless over. Like an injury, unless you address the root cause of the problem, you will never find a permanent solution, and will likely experience one setback after another. I eventually recognized this, and made loving my authentic self and living my life openly a huge priority. After all, doing so was a choice. This is when all aspects of my life changed for the better, including my workouts and nutrition.

http://www.meghancallawayfitness.com/my-blog/owning-it-part-2-how-to-create-a-healthy-lifestyle-after-spending-years-having-a-dysfunctional-one

People Are Medicine

There is something to this, I feel the truth in my soul:

If social isolation and betrayal (especially by people very close to you) facilitate and even trigger addiction, then healing and building meaningful relationships (complete with the requisite vulnerability) might be a partial “cure” for addiction. 

What a beautiful idea: people are medicine.

http://dallashartwig.com/people-medicine-addiction/

Avoiding the Ugly

I am sad to say this was pretty much my life for far too long:

Side effects from this one-size-fits all fad diet and brutal workout schedule may include guilt, shame, self-loathing, decreased self-esteem, spending obscene amounts of time working out and thinking about food, decreased energy levels, binge eating, obsessive habits, and other undesirable consequences.

http://www.niashanks.com/ugly-side-health-fitness/

One Story, Among Many

How one woman got her mental shit together and learned to focus on her health, and enjoy fitness, not just try to "fix" her appearance.

Your triggers may differ, your process may differ, your end result can be the same.

http://www.meghancallawayfitness.com/my-blog/owning-it-how-finally-being-true-to-myself-helped-my-workouts-and-nutrition-evolve-for-the-better

Everything NAILED

This post covers everything I typically rant about in a thorough, well-written, non-profanity-filled*, manner:

An Introduction To Female Fitness as We Know It

When it comes to attaining a svelte, athletic, and powerful physique, while simply feeling confident and healthy, women have to overcome a massive barrage of mental and physical hurdles. Unfortunately, in today’s physical society, including our fitness industry, women and young females are incessantly pressured or shamed into feeling like they should work out, or diet, solely to change their appearance. That they should strive to become a smaller, skinnier, more ‘’feminine,’’ and subservient version of their current self. Though that may seem a bit rash, this is the harsh reality that we need to start facing in order to make a market difference for the future.

In women’s-focused fitness marketing, you will generally hear or see the words – “diet”, “shrink”, “lose”, “tone”, “sculpt”, “calories”, “detox”, etc. However, rarely do you hear/see the words “stronger” and “fitter”, “adding muscle”, and “gaining confidence”. 

*But it's still good, really:
https://drjohnrusin.com/the-dangers-of-todays-female-fitness-industry/

Kids & Specialization

Dearest parents, your child will be best off if you assume that your little one is NOT the next sports superstar, and you let him/her lead a normal, well-rounded childhood.

I know it's hard not to put all your belief in your precious darling, but not one person has ever claimed parenting to be easy. Hard decisions are daily, are they not?

Dr. James Andrews, who has performed countless career-saving surgeries on top-level athletes and is perhaps the most famed sports surgeon on the planet, was recently quoted in the Orlando Sentinel as saying, “Don’t treat 6- and 7-year-old kids like they’re professional athletes. They’re not ready for that level of high-intensity training.”

He extended that message for youth athletes at older ages, pleading for time off between seasons and within sports to help curb the rash of injuries incurred by young athletes.

http://www.admkids.com/news_article/show/637413-fomo-and-youth-sports-specialization

Fitness Industry: Do Work, Son

EFF YES. So much potential to change lives, so many instances of poor execution.

"Part of why people are anxious about exercising is because we are supposed to be sexy and physically perfect when we do it. We see images of women in tiny shorts and crop tops and this makes people feel inadequate," Adams says. "Research shows that the more we are exposed to images of physical perfection, the more depressed and angry we get. This doesn't motivate; it makes us feel worse and we want to hide."

At the other end of the spectrum, we're bombarded with unflattering pictures of fat people and 'public health' messages about how they're going to die untimely deaths. And as numerous failed anti-obesity advertising campaigns highlight, fear and shame don't help people make healthy decisions in the long term.

http://m.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/how-the-fitness-industry-turns-people-off-exercise-20150601-ghe05b.html

You Are Not A Giraffe

A fascinating discussion of anxiety from an evolutionary perspective.

On any given day, most of your choices as a giraffe—like what to eat or where to sleep or when to avoid a predator—make an immediate impact on your life. You live in what researchers call an Immediate Return Environment because your actions deliver immediate benefits. Your life is strongly oriented toward the present moment.

Now, let’s flip the script and pretend you are one of the humans vacationing on safari. Unlike the giraffe, humans live in what researchers call a Delayed Return Environment.

Most of the choices you make today will not benefit you immediately. If you do a good job at work today, you’ll get a paycheck in a few weeks. If you save money now, you’ll have enough for retirement later. Many aspects of modern society are designed to delay rewards until some point in the future.

http://jamesclear.com/evolution-of-anxiety

Athlete + Injury = Despair

I have been in these sad-sack shoes far too many times in my life, and I'm not remotely the world-class athlete Amelia is.

Muscles heal. Bones grow. It’s the mental part of injury that haunts us – that keeps us awake at night. It’s the demons and the voices in the head – the fear that we’ll “never get back” to where we once were, or we “threw away all that hard work and training” or that we were in the “best shape of our lives” and now can only sit by as first-row spectators to watch as we lose our muscle, our endurance, our speed, our V02Max, and, at the core of it, our sense of self and our confidence.

And, if you really, truly, love your sport, what eats at you day and night is the overwhelming sense of losing a part of yourself. You mourn those missed opportunities. Toeing that start line. The joy of a hard training session and the feeling of accomplished soreness. You feel…lost. A ship without an anchor. Or fries without ketchup.

http://www.ameliabooneracing.com/blog/rehab/identity-injury-and-the-athlete/

Side note: I actually met her when we were crewing BK out at Tahoe, and she was a chatty, friendly soul whose boyfriend was also racing. I had no idea who she was, but in talking with us she merely said her "background is in adventure racing" which cracks me up to this day. Modest, much?! She was on the motherfucking cover of Runner's World at that very moment!! She is the World's Toughest Mudder!

Anyway, this is a good read about how to deal when your life seems to crash down because you can't [insert your beloved hobby here].

Screw the Aging Process

Nailed it:

People tend to resort to the “sexy” fitness and diet trends because they promise quick results that not only go against the science of strength training and nutrition but also are not sustainable. The “unsexy” takes some effort and planning; it’s so much easier to take a diet pill, make a shake, or follow a juice cleanse (even if it doesn’t work in the long run!) instead of to prepare a healthy meal with real foods and follow a regular exercise routine that includes strength training and some high intensity interval conditioning. People say they “don’t have time,” and don’t want to put forth the effort.

I encourage you to avoid focusing on the pictures of this super-fit woman, which are irrelevant to the actual content of the post. Sure, she looks amazing, but the whole point is that she's healthy as fuck - which is entirely achievable for all of us.

http://markfisherfitness.com/blog/fit-and-forty/

Biggest Loser Baloney

Kelly Coffey writes amazing things.

You should read them all.

Here's a good one to start with:

https://www.thrillist.com/health/nation/biggest-loser-study-a-formerly-obese-personal-trainer-reacts


I believe I've touted her before, but if not that's my monstrous oversight...go immerse yourself in the wonder that is she: http://www.strongcoffey.com/

Oh, Those Hormones

The battle between "only calories matter" and "only hormones matter" has gone on far too long.

As always, it's more complicated than either option.

Here's some good, simplified information to clarify it for you:

There is no denying a fundamental law: a calorie deficit needs to exist in order for your metabolism to dip into stored energy. But how you get there—how you create that deficit and how you play with your metabolism day after day to keep it from adapting and slowing down, not to mention manage cravings, energy, and appetite surges that can occur when you blindly cut calories—that has everything to do with hormones.

https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/insulin-cortisol/

You Cannot Be Quantified

This post is a moderated take on the "quantified self" trend.

We, as a society, are awash in data. In 2013, we as a collective whole had produced 90% of all of the data ever produced in the 2 years prior. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is not at 99% with a bunch of trailing zeros.

Of course the health and fitness industry is aware of this and producing items to take advantage of the trend, allowing you the humble user to track all sorts of things, from steps per day to blood oxygen levels, and then compare them over days, weeks, and months. This is typically lumped under the banner of “quantified self.” Suddenly, it’s all about what we can measure and objectify.

 http://whole9life.com/2015/02/biohacker-conference/

I myself just got out of it a year or two ago. I was all over calorie tracking, both input & output, and seeking to measure every component of my health. For YEARS.

I have glorious spreadsheets planning and tracking and evaluating workouts, nutrition, sleep, time nature, averages, conditional formatting, you name it. I basically did, manually, what these magical little wearables can give you via the cloud in an instant.

In a word: exhausting.

Initially it was helpful stuff, giving me a whole-life viewpoint of places I needed to improve. I learned that time in nature is a HUGE factor for me. So is social time. So is complete downtime.

But eventually, it turned into seeking perfection, finding failures (which I can now see were "failures"), and unending spiral of frustration, until I simply walked away entirely, to save my sanity.

Now, what about you? If a device on your wrist or an app on your phone encourages you to move more, or rest more, or eat better, whichever nudge you need - then that's great! Use it!

But when it becomes a rabbit hole of obsession, tracking and measuring and evaluating and frustrating...knock it off. Throw it all out and just live. You can't keep increasing your steps and your sleep and perfecting your nutrition forever. You have to level off at a place that is easy, healthy, and sustainable, and simply stay there. And you'll get there by putting the proper habits into place.

These wearables are tools you can use to build healthy habits, but once you have the healthy habits in place, you simply don't need the tools any longer. Pass them along to someone who does.

Keep this perspective, and avoid the rabbit hole, my friend.

Shame on...Almost Everyone

Dallas Hartwig is a genius, yo. And I just discovered he has his own blog, which I am currently devouring.

Here he writes up a great post about how subtle tidbits of body-shaming are used to promote just about anything & everything, and it made me rage-y to recognize how pathetically often these tactics are used - and accepted.

http://dallashartwig.com/bone-broth-shame-book-sales/

Eating Disorder, or Disordered Eating?

I've often wondered if the difference was a matter of severity or what. Turns out, it's a matter of fitting into the precise definition of an eating disorder, or no.

Stefani lays it out: http://paleoforwomen.com/the-difference-between-eating-disorders-and-disordered-eating-and-why-it-matters/

This helps me understand that I did not technically have an eating disorder. But if the definitions expanded just an inch, then yes I did. In fact, I had every symptom she lists as disordered eating.

If only people were better about recognizing these borderline issues as a real problem, I think we could make things a lot easier for those who aren't technically fitting the definitions. I was not a borderline mess, I was a legit hot fucking mess. I needed help. I did not know how to ask for it, because I was not anorexic or bulimic, the only two eating disorders I understood.

Please educate yourself, and your loved ones, and maybe help prevent future hot messes from floundering for years.

What's Wrong With The Fitness Industry?

A lot, yo.

Here is a fantabulous rant about various aspects of it.

Strap in, it's a long one - but worth it.

The narcissistic atmosphere of the fitness industry and the focus on the aesthetic has combined with our lack of understanding of human psychology and motivation to destroy our ability to improve people’s health and fitness.

...

WE ARE DRIVING THEM AWAY. People want to belong to the group. To do what everyone else is doing. We live in a culture that loves to believe in individuality and that everyone is unique. Unfortunately, this is just not true. People actually want to fit in, not stand out, and be a part of the group. That is basic human behavior. 

http://strengthcoachtaylor.ca/uncategorized/the-most-important-thing-i-have-ever-written/

How To Eat Cake Again

Let Them Eat Cake: My Weight Restoration Story

This is fantastic reading for anyone who is tired of the diet cycle, and wondering if they dare to get off. My experience has been true to this one.

Let me tell you what happens when you finally get skinny: You still can’t eat cake.

You still can’t eat cake. You still can’t wear crop tops. You still can’t skip yoga without feeling guilty. You still can’t order the cheesy pasta. You still can’t enjoy pizza. You still can’t fuck the love of your life without self-judgment. And — did I mention this? — you still can’t eat cake.

You spend all this time and energy being hypervigilant so that one day, you can cross the “UGW” finish line into ease, into relaxation, into normalcy. But that day never comes because no matter how far you run, the course ahead of you grows longer — or, at least, the obstacles along the way change.

 http://www.ravishly.com/2016/02/02/let-them-eat-cake-my-weight-restoration-story