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.

Moving more

The past three days have been a whirlwind of nutritious movement. Tons of vitamin M (movement) and a fair share of N (nature), too. I did my hanging at school, went for a brief walk through the park and home along the water on a dirt path, chopped down one tree, sawed down three more,turned the soil beside my fence, planted 11 berry bushes, walked to the children's farm, vacuumed and took down the laundry while wearing the baby and all this on top of the usual stuff like walking to the store for groceries.

In case you were wondering, sawing down a tree is way easier than chopping it down. Not as much fun, perhaps, but definitely more efficient. 

In other news, the double whammy of Easter Egg Hunt excitement and changing the clocks ahead will likely doom our Easter Sunday to a day of whining and hyperactive misery. So I'm off to bed early (for me) so that there might at least be a chance that I won't be the one whining and miserable. Fingers crossed!

Week 1

So this past week I apparently haven't blogged at all. Oops. I remember starting blog posts several times in my head, but then I neer got around to typing them. Essentially, the first few days my extra movement consisted of short bursts of speed to catch trams and speed walking to get TLN to school on time (or to get to the school to pick him up on time). I strolled and stood a lot in my 3 trips downtown - the movement of shopping. Not really stellar performance, I suppose, but starting a new routine comes with bumps along the path.

I have been wearing my alignment socks to bed each night to try to spread out my toes (https://www.my-happyfeet.com/) but I still wake up in the middle of the night with aching feet and pull them off.

I also ordered (and received) a pair of toe correctors (http://www.happy-toes.eu/), which have the same general function as the alignment socks, but are designed to be worn while active (as opposed to the socks which are for resting use). I've been wearing them around the house with bare feet for a few hours at a time.

I also practiced with the baby carrier (and the baby) - I figured out how to get The Little Explorer loaded into it on my back on my own, and carried her around the house to practice. Unlike The Little Ninja, she seems to like being carried like this and I see this as a good movement booster in terms of added weight bearing once the weather gets a bit warmer.

Still focusing on lining up my feet, hips and torso while standing and walking. I've also realised that I hold a lot of tension in my abdomen. I'm trying to relax that whenever I think of it.

Jumping in

So I went for another walk today after I dropped off The Little Ninja, with The Little Explorer in the stroller again. I followed a paved path today and tried to focus on my alignment - leaning back, feet pointing forward, not stretching my arms, pushing off with my toes. The path that I followed has a set of workout equipment along it and I did everything! Ha! Just kidding. I wimped out of a lot of it and the stuff that I did do wasn't spectacular. I did manage the inclined monkey bars - going down. This was after hanging for 30 seconds at the school playground, which I already do every day unless it's raining. I tried pull-ups... ha. haha. Clearly my upper body strength disappeared sometime after high school, when I could easily do 20. Though that was like 18 years ago now, so what did I expect?! the best I could do was 5 halfway up with some leg support/assistance. I couldn't go all the way up because I'm not tall enough. Maybe I should add that to the school workout - the bar's lower, but I don't want to look like a total loser in front of the school, failing at chin-ups.

Anyway. I've been feeling my back muscles since I woke up so maybe I've been overdoing it a bit. The long walk on Saturday, the walk yesterday, the stretches I did last night... Whatever. It doesn't HURT, so I'll just keep doing as I have been.

In other news, my Tula baby carrier arrived today, and I put the Little Explorer in it for a bit to try it out. It seemed okay but I think she'll prefer riding on my back. I don't want to try that without the Recyclist to help me until I get it all figured out. I then put the Little Explorer in the baby k'tan facing forward to make cookies with the Little Ninja. :) Just to build strength. She's wiggly though, so it wasn't a terribly long carry. Still. Every little bit helps, right?

Walking almost barefoot

One of the main points in what I've learned is that traditional shoes, even comfortable ones or those made for sports, are terrible for your alignment. Read the books for the full story, but essentially, we evolved to walk upright on our feet. We did not evolve to walk in shoes, particularly ones that rigidly enclose the foot and raise the heel above the toes. So while in our modern world, we might feel we need shoes for protection (which is debatable, in truth - there seems to be a growing movement of barefooters from what I can see online), we don't need the cushioning, rigidity or heel, and in fact these can be detrimental to our foot development, foot health, body alignment and movement patterns.

Enter minimalist, zero-drop (no heel) shoes, or 'barefoot' shoes. As the name suggests, these have no heel at all and a lot less 'protection' for your foot. They allow a great deal more foot movement than traditional shoes and thin-soled versions allow you to feel the ground a lot more - hence the 'barefoot' feeling.

I've never been a huge fan of high heeled shoes because I've always found them uncomfortable and I am all about comfort. That said, until I started this journey, I wouldn't have considered my running shoes heeled. But they definitely are. And my Doc Martens are even worse!

So the first thing I did was go out and buy some Vivobarefoot shoes. They have a super thin, super flexible sole, and lots of space for my toes to move around and spread out. They are, hands down, the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. I had no idea that walking with no cushioning whatsoever would feel so fantastic. Even on concrete. They also have excellent grip, which I appreciate on the sometimes slick streets.

I've been wearing these for the last few months, pretty much constantly because every time I put on one of my old sets of footwear I notice right away how uncomfortable they seem in comparison. There's really no going back. Even my Sketchers, which I used to think were fabulous, are now confining. My Docs feel too high and rigid. It's crazy.

Anyway. Another of the main points is that walking is really, really important for our health (and alignment). I recently read a blog about a woman who went for a walk every day for a year and blogged about it and how great it was. You can read it here: Walk the Year. While I don't want to competely copy her, I think walking each day sounds like an excellent goal and I am making it part of my journey, starting today.

Today, after walking my son to school, I walked out to the nearby greenbelt and followed a few unpaved tracks until I started to get really hungry, so I headed home.

I've read that walking is supposed to be calming, but most of my day-to-day walking really isn't. It's rushed, hurrying somewhere and I constantly get irritated by the oblivious people around me. I get sidewalk rage regularly. Basically, I don't really associate walking with a calming experience, rather a stressful one. I don't stroll, I power-walk, winding around human and other obstacles while pushing my daughter in her stroller, often with my son on his scooter nearby.

So this walk wasn't like that. It was in more natural surroundings, rather than between buildings. It was more relaxed, not rushed. I wasn't going anywhere specific, so I had no need to get there any faster. It was... calming.

I tried to focus on my alignment but that was difficult on the unpaved sections especially where I had trouble pushing the stroller. I think I might need to start practicing with the baby carrier to gain some endurance. Carrying the baby should make me stronger in general and help my shoulder alignment because I will be able to let my arms swing naturally rather than always hold them out in front of me to push the stroller.

Off to do some general corrective exercises... bye!

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my new blog, which I plan to use to document my progress in my alignment journey. Basically, I've recently been reading about body alignment and movement and how it affects your body (essentially, everything written by Katy Bowman, my alignment guru, including her blog at nutritiousmovement.com and blogs of her associates).

My actual alignment journey started a few months ago, when I first read Katy Bowman's books, starting with Every Woman's Guide to Foot Pain Relief, then continuing on to Whole Body Barefoot and Move Your DNA. Since then, I've really started looking at the way I use my body and trying to improve my alignment and overall health.

In this blog, I want to record what it is I'm doing, what changes occur as a result and just some thoughts about what I'm doing in general. If you want to read along, be welcome!