I don't know who came up with that phrase but I really like it! This is the first full week that I've been drinking 3 smoothies a day and I can't believe the difference! I feel a lot better. Even when I eat a regular meal at dinner time I still drink my homemade smoothie to make sure I'm getting enough fruits and vegetables.
What I find interesting is that we are raised in America learning about the food pyramid. Well guess what? The food pyramid isn't necessarily the best way to live your life. Whereas carbohydrates aren't necessarily the root of all evil like some dieters believe, they are also not necessarily what people should be using as the cornerstone of their diet. Fruits and vegetables are actually better choices. The provide and abundance of vitamins and nutrients that can help us lose weight and stay healthy.
So second night of doing the relaxing yoga stretches and I finally feel like I slept most of the night! I got about 6 hours of sleep before waking up for some reason my subconscious doesn't feel like divulging. I'm taking that as a good sign. Hopefully if I keep up with it I'll get to the point where my body relaxes and I can sleep a whole night. Some of it may be discomfort as I've noticed if I move wrong while sleeping I can jar my ankle rather uncomfortably. Hopefully solving the ankle problem will solve my sleeping problem!
Onto the ongoing bane of my start to 2013 the ankle. Still stiff. I think the sudden cold snap aggravated it honestly. Last night instead of going to the gym I met up with my friend Kirstin and we had dinner (it was relatively healthy I think) and then went for a walk instead. I noticed today that it's feeling much better so I'm starting to think that I've been overdoing it at the gym perhaps. Even though I've been sticking to low impact I might have to ease up a bit. I visited the doctor on the 28th of last month and he told me 1 month so I better try to listen better I suppose.
It is made infinitely harder due to the amount of time I've spent this week looking at different marathon training routines. I swore this year I wanted to make a change and I really think getting into running is one of them. I've become addicted to fitsugar.com. One of their articles is called: 6 ways to become a better runner and it has a bunch of links to other articles about hydration, diet, proper form and training routines for marathon training. I REALLY want to try these! Unfortunately I think that's going to have to be after I come back from my vacation. Another two weeks of no sports, no impact exercising puts us into the beginning of February and then there's only two weeks before I leave on my first "adult" vacation with my good friend Kirstin. If I re-injured myself before going to The Philippines I might actually cry!
In other news my awesome mother sent me a care package! I've yet to find anything but whey protein in Korea so far. After lamenting about it to her at the beginning of the year she packed up two jugs of vanilla soy protein along with a bunch of vacation clothes into a box for me! I don't know what I'd do without my wonderful family and friends!
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Why sleep?!? Why?
Well I'm still not getting enough sleep and it's frustrating me a bit. I did manage to sleep 5 hours before waking up at like 2am. It is frustrating. I've had insomnia before but this stretch of it has been long and I'm definitely tired of being tired. The weather has been incredibly cold too which is not helping my ankle. All things considered this has left me really wishing the week would end already. After saying that I am not ready for the week to end yet...
I didn't go to the gym yesterday my ankle was so stiff. I think I'd convinced myself it was almost better since it hadn't been hurting, this was a reminder that when a doctor says 1 month, they mean 1 month... NOT TWO WEEKS CARA... It seems to be feeling better today so I'm going to go but I'm restricting myself back to the bike. Seems that's the only thing I can do that doesn't bother it.
In other news I was reading an article today about the human body and willpower. Midnight munchies a common problem? Don't feel like eating healthy at dinner or working out after work? It might not just be that you're tired. According to new psychology studies we use our willpower everyday for every little decision we have to make and we appear to only have a certain amount of it per day (Reach Any Goal). I found this really interesting because on some levels it does really seem to fit. I feel like I have a lot more willpower and stamina in the morning and then as the day goes on the desires to do unhealthy things seem to get stronger and stronger. The human ability to control our impulses and desires seems to weaken so if you have major decision to make or planning that needs to be done do it in the morning!
I didn't go to the gym yesterday my ankle was so stiff. I think I'd convinced myself it was almost better since it hadn't been hurting, this was a reminder that when a doctor says 1 month, they mean 1 month... NOT TWO WEEKS CARA... It seems to be feeling better today so I'm going to go but I'm restricting myself back to the bike. Seems that's the only thing I can do that doesn't bother it.
In other news I was reading an article today about the human body and willpower. Midnight munchies a common problem? Don't feel like eating healthy at dinner or working out after work? It might not just be that you're tired. According to new psychology studies we use our willpower everyday for every little decision we have to make and we appear to only have a certain amount of it per day (Reach Any Goal). I found this really interesting because on some levels it does really seem to fit. I feel like I have a lot more willpower and stamina in the morning and then as the day goes on the desires to do unhealthy things seem to get stronger and stronger. The human ability to control our impulses and desires seems to weaken so if you have major decision to make or planning that needs to be done do it in the morning!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Day 1
Since I broke my diet yesterday, today is once again day one..... Grr.... Actually it's not that bad. I realize realistically people can't be perfect and I'm definitely far from it. I have also already planned to break my diet this weekend as I will be out of town, my goal is to make the healthiest food choices possible and to get my gym time in before hand.
Last night I went to the gym for about 2 hours. I did 40 minutes on the bike (2 more weeks and then I can try the treadmill hopefully), stretches and then an upper body workout. It was a good workout but boy the gym has gotten crowded! Looks like I'm not the only one trying to keep a resolution!
What I have also realized recently is that Korea is even more of a food culture than America, which I didn't think was possible. Meal time is considered a time to be with others, you don't eat alone, it just doesn't happen. There are some restaurants in Korea that won't serve just one person, their menus are set up for 2+. It is difficult to take yourself out of that aspect of the culture without them feeling sorry for you. I had noticed this to some extent with the Head English teacher at my school. He is a vegetarian and therefore usually had to prepare his own food as just about everything in Korea has some meat in it ( FYI Koreans don't think seafood is meat, so be warned if you ever come to South Korea and ask for a vegetarian menu you will likely get seafood). Experiencing it has been a different matter all together. I think it will probably continue to be a rather large adjustment as most of my coworkers know I love Korean food and so they want to share what they bring! I am lucky though in that my coworkers are incredibly nice people. Yesterday I didn't have my gym bag with me so Su Yeon reminded me to make sure I went to the gym!
One thing I definitely do need to work on immediately is my sleep schedule! I typically go to bed but find myself having a difficult time falling asleep no matter how tired I am. The smoothies have been helping with my energy level because of the protein and vitamins but I still find myself tired and not wanting to get up in the mornings. I started working out earlier in the day (right after work) to make sure that it wasn't that the exercise was hyping me up. To combat this problem I bought some walnuts this week for my afternoon snack instead of almonds as walnuts are a natural source of melatonin which is supposed to regulate sleep. I will eat a handful of these this week. I also found a yoga workout from Fitness Magazine that is supposed to help with relaxation: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/yoga/poses/yoga-routine-before-sleep/. So starting tonight I'm going to try this yoga routine before bed to see if that helps.
Last night I went to the gym for about 2 hours. I did 40 minutes on the bike (2 more weeks and then I can try the treadmill hopefully), stretches and then an upper body workout. It was a good workout but boy the gym has gotten crowded! Looks like I'm not the only one trying to keep a resolution!
What I have also realized recently is that Korea is even more of a food culture than America, which I didn't think was possible. Meal time is considered a time to be with others, you don't eat alone, it just doesn't happen. There are some restaurants in Korea that won't serve just one person, their menus are set up for 2+. It is difficult to take yourself out of that aspect of the culture without them feeling sorry for you. I had noticed this to some extent with the Head English teacher at my school. He is a vegetarian and therefore usually had to prepare his own food as just about everything in Korea has some meat in it ( FYI Koreans don't think seafood is meat, so be warned if you ever come to South Korea and ask for a vegetarian menu you will likely get seafood). Experiencing it has been a different matter all together. I think it will probably continue to be a rather large adjustment as most of my coworkers know I love Korean food and so they want to share what they bring! I am lucky though in that my coworkers are incredibly nice people. Yesterday I didn't have my gym bag with me so Su Yeon reminded me to make sure I went to the gym!
One thing I definitely do need to work on immediately is my sleep schedule! I typically go to bed but find myself having a difficult time falling asleep no matter how tired I am. The smoothies have been helping with my energy level because of the protein and vitamins but I still find myself tired and not wanting to get up in the mornings. I started working out earlier in the day (right after work) to make sure that it wasn't that the exercise was hyping me up. To combat this problem I bought some walnuts this week for my afternoon snack instead of almonds as walnuts are a natural source of melatonin which is supposed to regulate sleep. I will eat a handful of these this week. I also found a yoga workout from Fitness Magazine that is supposed to help with relaxation: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/yoga/poses/yoga-routine-before-sleep/. So starting tonight I'm going to try this yoga routine before bed to see if that helps.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)