. . . Shoes, I know . . .

I was relaxing (translate: vegging out with a glass of wine) this afternoon, watching an old episode of Sex and the City (SATC).  It was the one where Carrie gets a job writing for VOGUE and Candice Bergen plays her editor.  As Candice is reading over her article submission she questions whether or not Carrie knows anything about shoes, to which Carrie responds, “I may not know men, but shoes . . . shoes, I know!”   This struck a chord with me on this particular evening.

You see, by looking at me you may not think I know much about health, well-being, or nutrition. . .however, all of that, I KNOW!   But if I am not doing, do I really know?!   Deep, huh?  I can recite why partially hydrogenated oils are bad, why spirulina is good, why I like to juice (albeit, occasionally).  I can tell you why I believe in paleo, but I am NOT living it.

Like anyone, I have good days and bad, but on the whole . . . I am not doing enough.  Knowing is reflected in doing.  If you know and do not do, you do not KNOW!   That’s just how it works.  What came first, the chicken or the egg?  Who cares, eat the egg – its a perfect protein . . . but I digress……….I know I can be successful at anything I set my mind to, but if I refuse to take action the knowing is all for not, yes?  Work with me people.

My sister has recently taken up paleo and she is achieving AMAZING results.  She has RA and she’s trying to ween off her medication.  While weaning, her pain increased–I happened to catch her at the perfect time to introduce her to the world of paleo.  She has been quite successful, her pain is relatively manageable, for now, and she looked AMAZING at our family reunion.  (She always looks amazing, but we all know what paleo does for our skin, so you get it.) 

She knows–and she’s DOING–that’s how I know she knows.   I spent the family reunion eating toooooo many unpaleo foods.  But WHY?!?!  I KNOW better.   I think part of the problem lies in the fact that for all intents and purposes I am relatively healthy – you know, as healthy as someone clinically obese could be.  I have not created a compelling enough argument for change, obviously. 

To paraphrase Mr. Tony Robbins (that’s banana hands from Shallow Hal, for you less “enlightened” individuals), when your desire for the vision of your future becomes more compelling than your current state, change occurs . . . soooooo, how the heck do I make that happen?!?!   (Mind you I just completed a course in strategy in my graduate program.)  So what to do, what to do?! 

How about I apply some of the tools that I learned in my strategic leadership class?!  Ding, ding, ding!!!   We have a WINNER!!!  Knowing what I know about health, nutrition, and strategy development, I am GOOD to go on developing a compelling future for my life.  Rock ON!   Keep an eye out for all my techy, businessy, strategy stuff.  It’s gonna be awesome!

The Silent Killer…Perfectionism

Sure there are the more famous silent killers out there like hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and the like.  Dangerous?  Most definitely!  However, I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that I think perfectionism is perhaps the most dangerous and deadly silent killers of all.  Now some of you may be thinking — come on, Holly, now you’re just being ridiculous…  Am I?

How does perfectionism kill?  The need to be perfect can be paralyzing at times.  Instead of trying to live a more healthy lifestyle and change little things over time a perfectionist is more likely to take the all or nothing approach.  So, for instance,  if I’ve told myself I’m doing the “no carb thing” and then I make poor decisions I’m less apt to forgive myself.  Rather than accepting the mistake and moving on and committing to make better choices next time, I’ll beat myself up.

Sure, it makes no sense…  I wouldn’t dream of speaking to my closest friends, or enemies for that matter, the way I speak to myself.  Why must we be SO hard on ourselves?  I know I’m not the only one who suffers from this little “flaw.”  This poor decision for breakfast may snow ball into an all day food bender topped off with a lazy evening in front of the TV, when really all I needed to do was SOMETHING to take a step in the right direction.  Why is it so easy to fall 10 steps back and so difficult to take one step forward?

In an effort to combat a life time of perfectionistic ways I am committing to the following:

1. Be gracious with myself and others.
2. Keep commitments to myself.
3. Adopt an “if it scares me, DO IT!” mentality.
4. Celebrate at least one WIN per day.

The following are commitments I am making to myself for the week of 2/13/12.

1. Workout 5 days this week for a minimum of 15 minutes.
2. Transition to the PALEO way by eliminating all grains.  (Dairy to follow next week! Ease back into it.)
3. Mail off all the paperwork necessary to apply for grad school.
4. Create a list of 5 short-term and 2 long-term goals.  (One cannot have success without accountability, right?!)

That’s it, just FOUR tiny things that will set me well on my way!  Stay tuned…

Paleomeo, paleomeo, where for art thou….

Life is all about relationships, right?  Oh, wait… “they” were probably talking about relationships with people when “they” said that, huh?  What about the human relationship with FOOD?!

I went on the dreaded master cleanse several years ago and that was the first time the I began to realize what an integral role food plays in everyday life.  I remember thinking — Do I go to lunch with my co-workers with my jug of lemonade mixture in tow or just drink water and lemon? — What the HECK do I do with all this free time after work? — What am I going to eat when I can finally have solid food again? — GOD, I miss Doritos… I don’t want to eat one, I just want to lick the cheese off the chip, that’s not cheating right?!  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

For the greater portion of my life, probably since the age of 14, I have been on a diet.  If I wasn’t on a diet, I was scolding myself because I should have been dieting.  Since when did a diet become something people go on and off of…  Why is there so much power given to the word?  My goal is to become that person for whom a diet is just what they eat and not something they are on, not something that controls their life.  I want to make peace with food, peace with my body and peace with my mind.   This blog will capture my journey…