Results of my gluten-free experiment

Hey. I know I haven't written for a while, but do not let that fool you into thinking I've quit on my journey. I fall off the wagon every now and then, sure, but sometimes it's just all a bit too much. Like for the last 3 months, in which I've attempted to go gluten free based on what I read in the books Wheat Belly and Grain Brain. In these books, the authors suggest that nearly everyone is to some degree gluten intolerant, with various effects resulting. Also that certain common illnesses may be traced to gluten. Illnesses like diabetes, Alzheimer's, most auto-immune diseases, etc. I figured it can't hurt to try it and set myself a goal of 3 months. By the end of the 3 months, any benefit should be noticeable. And then there should also be an effect if I go back on gluten, right?

So. Over the past 3 months, I have had low energy (expected but not for this long), a horribly bad mood and temper (again, expected but the books claim this passes after a few days to a few weeks), not insignificant bloating and no improvement over my general health. I have a long-standing thyroid issue and I noticed no improvement.

Today I went back on gluten. I had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and bread and cake at a party we went to. I was pleasant and not constantly irritated the whole time. The authors of the books above would say this is the opiate-effect of gluten. My bloating has decreased. I felt good. I have a very slight headache right now but that could be due to pretty much anything at this point. Also that grilled cheese was like the best thing I've eaten in weeks. I can't wait to eat normal foods that I've been avoiding. Also, have you ever tried gluten-free bread? It is horrible. Seriously.

I will see over the next few days, but I think I have concluded that gluten free is not for me. I still want to limit my wheat intake, but cutting it out entirely was a negative experience in all ways.

Back on the wagon

So I fell off the wagon for a bit there. I've been sick. Not like deathbed ill or anything, but even a bad cold takes a while to get over when you're still waking up every couple of hours to soothe a baby. I decided what I really needed most was to rest, not force myself through an arbitrary fitness regimen. I'm starting MuTu again today and have been upping the walks. I hope to have enough energy soon to start walking in the evening again. I quite enjoyed that. Tonight's thunderstorm, however, probably would have dissuaded me from starting tonight regardless. Soon. I'm just climbing back on the wagon. No need to overdo it all at once.

A week off

After a bout of sickness and various random body pains, I decided my body needed some rest and have since decided to just take a whole week off to recuperate before starting again on my exercise plan - MuTu (Phase I) and 30 Walk. I've felt a bit guilty about taking time off but I really deep down feel like my body needs this.

Oh no heels!

So I've been doing my MuTu core exercises and walking as much as I can - breaking in my new Xeros at the same time (really breaking in my feet to the Xeros rather than the other way around) and so that's all good news. I also got my Yoga Tune Up balls and started working through The Roll Model book by Jill Miller - hoping to one day finally be rid of hamstring pain and tightness.

And that's all well and good. But yesterday I had an event. One of my friends is moving off to another country so we went out for dinner. To a nice place - it even has a Michelin star. So I took this to mean it must be fancy and I should dress up. Ha. After having one of those tv-typical girl moments of going through my entire closet looking for something to wear, I realised I had a problem. See, I'm a casual kind of girl. I've been wearing hand-me-down maternity and nursing clothing for the better part of two years now. This wasn't a case of having a huge wardrobe full of suitable attire that I just wasn't in the mood for, as the tv situations usually portray. This was like, I have three pairs of pants that fit me. All of them are jeans, but one pair is black. So what can I wear with black jeans and coming down to one top that wasn't simply too casual. And then I needed footwear. My bright blue, worn and torn Vivobarefoot Evo Pures were clearly out... too casual, and too ratty. My newer pair in grey was still too casual. Obviously the Xero sandals and Fivefingers were out too. So much for barefoot shoes.

I had little choice in the matter. If I wanted to at least hit dress-casual, I had to go back to my old shoes. Heeled shoes. I haven't put on a heel more than about twice since I got my first Vivobarefoot shoes last year. And both of those times were near the beginning of this alignment journey and I still noticed that I felt my boots were too narrow. Fast forward past toe-spacers, barefoot shoes and barefoot living and intentionally trying to spread my feet and anti-heel to last night.

Just walking down the street from my house to the tram stop hurt my ankles, which are no longer accustomed to any weird imposed angle footwear. The front of my hips felt strained because I was no longer walking properly, but rather falling. I felt like I had to turn my foot outward to try to get the most width. It was not comfortable. The arch of my left foot is still unhappy and I think I'm going to grab a Yoga Tune Up ball and massage my feet again as soon as I get up from writing this. The experience really bought home to me how important this alignment journey really is. Heels are evil. Truly. And I think, like a smoker that has a cigarette years after quitting only to find it no longer holds any appeal anymore whatsoever, that I am officially done with heeled footwear. Even 'sensible' heels like my Docs.

Sadly, I came home to an update from a friend who's getting married this summer - that she was looking at shoes for the wedding party (including me) that 'only' had an inch-and-a-half heel. Gaaaaa! I was hoping I could pick my own shoes! She can dress me however she likes but surely my feet are my own to accommodate?! Noooo!

More determined than ever to switch to barefoots and all zero-drop footwear, I went onto the Vivobarefoot site last night for the first positive of this story: 25% discount on all footwear (not already discounted) if you order by Sunday!!! Free shipping over 100 euros and free returns (not that I really plan on returning anything, but still good to know). So, once that arrives, assuming they fit, I'll have suitable footwear for going out again.  Yay! Now to talk to my bride friend about 'suitable footwear' for her wedding... maybe I can talk her into Barebottoms! Wouldn't that be cool?

Mommy Tummy options etc.

So my first and only real walk this week was Friday, when I realized at 5, we hadn't even been outside. Yikes. In my defence, The Little Ninja has been ill this week and we were taking it easy.

So I took the Little Explorer out in the Tula carrier and we wandered around the neighbouring neighbourhoods for about an hour. I might have overdone it. But anyway.

I then decided to jump in with the MuTu System to restore my core after having my babies. Hopefully it'll work and I won't look like this (kinda still pregnant) for the rest of my life. So you wanna guess what one of the main tenets of the programme is? Right. Walking each day.

The programme is 12 weeks long and I officially started Friday, so it is on. Come on, internet, hold me accountable! I'll let you know how it goes.

Harder than I thought

My main work in the last couple of weeks has been a heightened awareness of my alignment. I also reread Move Your DNA. But I've been totally swamped driving my kids to various appointments and looking after them and basically have not found the time to do much walking or additional movement. That said, I have been working on my sticky spots. A bit. The hamstring I went to physio for last year is acting up again... not quite as healed as I hoped. And now suddenly my shin hurts. Well, actually in movement it feels more like my soleus, but it's the front of my shin that fels particularly tender when I feel around. This is new. Like, since today. I've bought The Roll Model on my kindle and as it is about self-myofascial massage, I think I'm going to skip out of the Diastasis Recti book and start on that to see if it'll help. 

I want to walk more and I really wish I lived somewhere I like to walk. In that regard, my old flat in the city centre was way better than our little townhouse here in the suburbs. The flat before that one, too. I could walk to a FOREST from those places. Now... I guess I could drive back there.

Good alignment news for the Little Ninja, I got our Xero Shoes sandals kits in the mail so we can look forward to healthy sandals this summer, and since he broke his arm and can't bike or scooter with his cast, he has to walk everywhere. And walking is good. And necessary. His cast comes off in another week, though, so I have to get as much in as I can before that because that will totally mark the end of the walking for him. :/  Maybe I can get him into hiking this summer. In our new sandals. :)

Fading fast

Hmmm. It might be because I haven't set a good SMART goal (like the whole walking every day for a year thing I linked to earlier), but I seem to be slacking on my 'more movement' and 'better alignment' goals.

What I've done this week:
- more gardening. And that is a whole body workout, no mistake.
- more child-wearing.
- wearing correct-toes and my happy feet toe spacers
- more focus on how I move and sitting in chairs less.
- rereading Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief and Whole Body Barefoot
- hanging from/playing on the jungle gym at school

I want to try to go a week without chairs but I don't know how that would play out in reality. Is it even feasible in this culture/my life? Maybe a week without chairs except for eating. That sounds significantly more reasonable already, doesn't it? I think I'll try to minimize chair use - or maybe log when I am sitting - before I try a full week.