My mushy year…

2013. The year I experimented with my body. I made a conscience decision to see how my body would react if I didn’t give it so much attention. To those who know me, you know I have spent a great deal of my life working on eating healthy, getting plenty of exercise, learning about my soul’s journey, etc. All the stuff a life is made of.

I’ve been told by doctors that the chances of me getting by without having cholesterol issues and blood pressure issues are slim to none. Both sides of my genetic pool run amok with heart disease and the little fellows that accompany, like diabetes.

So in March of 2012 I had biometric screening completed (blood work). Sure enough, there were the signs of elevated lipid panels (cholesterol), elevated glucose levels (diabetes) and my blood pressure was hanging over the comfort range most of the time. I said to myself…what the heck. I’ve been working hard at keeping this at bay and I’m not seeing the happy and joy joy from doing all this work. I felt great and that was a big deal for me, but the science was screwing with my head.

So I chilled….

I got mushy…..

I changed the way I looked at life. Over the past year, I’ve eaten what I want. Now, before we get carried away, understand that I’ve got a very good understanding of food. I choose to eat organic, local, something raw every day, no processed foods, nothing canned, mostly nothing frozen. I consider myself to have a strong knowledge base on loving the food you put in your mouth. So, eating what I want may not mean the same to you as it does to me. The point is, I stopped obsessing and went for pure enjoyment, eating the foods that I enjoy which, by the way, include sugar and chocolate.

I changed the way I exercise. Again, I’ve been a personal trainer for many years and I understand body mechanics. I understand the importance of getting the body to move in comfortable ways and sometimes not so comfortable ways, but necessary for the challenge of keeping the mechanics oiled and fluid. I stopped obsessing about it. I woke up in the morning and let my body tells me what it needed. Sometimes my mind would tell me to curl up with a book instead of running my own personal boot camp in the basement, but that is my mind, not my body and I know the difference in the message.

I turned 60 years old yesterday. As planned, I’ve had biometric screening completed again to see the ‘results’ of my mushy year experiment. My glucose levels are down to normal, my cholesterol levels, although a bit ‘high’ are down and my HDL (happy cholesterol) is high enough for me not to be concerned at all. A1c (diabetes) is within normal range and my thyroid function is outstanding.

The biggest change I made was in my attitude. Life is for joyful living. Sure, it means taking care of yourself. Doing what feels right to you. Sometimes you need assistance to figure that out. I’m blessed with knowledge and a passion for staying off allopathic medicine and I’ll do what it takes to figure out how to combine eating with gusto, exercising for the joy of movement and challenge, and understanding that the body is meant to, eventually, die off and make space for new energy. I’m not going to be here forever. Anti aging doesn’t mean as much to me as aging with grace, joy and having fun. And, for those who know me, you know that is not a small order to fill. I was not born with the happy gene. I had to grow that too. I’ve enjoyed my mushy year. I may just have another one!