Last blog!!

Um so I just got strep throat last Thursday & it's been a bit of a discouraging setback from thinking I was on the up and up from mono but I should recover pretty quickly as I'm taking penicillin. I took 5 days off of exercise to try and get better and I started running again today. Overall, I think I got better as fast as I could this semester and can't wait to continue to try and take care of myself and exercise. I want to feel good and healthy going into my wedding (which is 81 days away :) and if I keep things up hopefully I'll be on the right track. I'm going to miss everyone, this was an amazing class!

Progress Report

Over the past 3 weeks I've exercised 5 days each week for 20-50 minutes each time. I've been loving it because I'm mixing things up by hiking and biking in addition to running. I've also continued to feel better health wise and want to take extra care as finals and paper/presentations start to get extra sleep and REST* 

Articles that support REST*

Below are links to some interesting articles that explain the health benefits of REST*:

Benefits of Sleep

Benefits of Hydration

Benefits of Eating Fruits & Vegetables

And lastly a recent clinical study shows that Ester-C^® increases Vitamin C levels in your body for up to 24 hours compare to traditional vitamin C. I started taking Ester-C about a month ago and I think it's what helped me get of the mono hump. Click here to see the article and here for the brand's website.

Progress Report

Yay, I've been feeling better and exercising 5 days a week for the past 2 weeks! I've been running, walking the dog, hiking and hopefully will start to bike/swim more.

My inspirational roommate

My roommate, Kate Henderson, has been a very good role model in how she takes care of herself. She eats almost vegan and takes care of herself well by going to bed early. Consistently seeing her soy products in the fridge remind me that I don't need to always be stocked with ground beef and chicken to please my fiance. You see the struggle I have :) Anyways, she has taught me a lot about substituting healthier ingredients in everyday meals and being more disciplined about going to bed at a descent time and for this she is an inspiration.

REST* & Exercise Update:

REST* has been going well, the only thing I've been slacking on is my fruit and veggie intake cause I ran out of money for the month for food and didn't have a good stock of f/v for the month. Also, I've been exercising again! I've been running, hiking or walking at least 4x week for anywhere between 20 min-1 hr. And lastly, my mono/anemia  seem to be getting better! I started taking iron supplements and Ester-C (the most absorbable form of vitamin C) about 1 month ago and I think they've really helped. 

Someone who has been supportive

As I attempted to REST* more and live a healthier lifestyle my fiance has been super supportive by even changing his lifestyle habits so that it would make it easier for me to meet my goals. He's from the South and when we first meet he loved his fried, fatty, processed and simple carbs. He literally never used to eat fruit and only a few vegetables! Steak and potatoes kinda guy. Now he's been eating fish, fruits, vegetables and even wheat instead of white bread, haha Anyways, he's also tried to help me go to bed earlier by him also going to bed earlier so we can't hang out late. Lastly, we just decided that we're gonna run the LA Marathon together in May as a goal to get us exercising more. We're both two college athletes gone lazy so we're gonna try and get unlazy together again. He's also helped me learn to enjoy exercise/athletics more for the sheer act of doing it rather than just the benefits. He has encouraged me to not only to be healthy but has also made me a better person. Yes, this blog is entirely to sappy but to top it off you can check out our wedding website http://www.mywedding.com/thadandlaura

Update 3/10/09

I've been exercising more yay and feeling better, kicking that mono! Can't write anymore cause I'm studying for our midterm tomorrow.

Link to Websites with Useful Information

So I've been trying to give up sweets for lent although I've had sweets two days since then already ): However, I do feel like I have been eating healthier overall and sleeping more. I even went to Borders the other day and browsed the nutrition/healthy eating aisle and looked at a bunch of different books. After looking at vegan books, detox books, aryuveda books and raw food books I learned a lot about the benefits of eating more nutritiously and saw that I could take a little from each way of eating to create a customized healthy way of eating that I could actually keep up. I also bought a book on the healing power of herbs and plants. Below I've posted some links to website describing some of these diets and their benefits

Raw Food

Why Detox

Different Types of Detox

Vegan Site

Aryuvedic Diet

Update

Below is my log of how I did each day this past week (feb 17th-23rd):

Tues: 2 liters of water, 6 f/v, no sweets (high sugar, empty energy foods), bed at 12 (8.5 hrs of sleep), and took all vitamins

Wed: 3 liters, 5+ f/v, 2 cupcakes :(, bed at 11 (9 hrs of sleep), vitamins check

Thur: 2+ liters, 4 f/v, 1 BIG slice ice cream cake :(, bed at 11:30 (10 hrs of sleep), took all vitamins

Fri: 2 liters of water, 3 f/v, another slice of ice cream cake :( :(, bed at 11:30(9 hrs), vitamins check

Sat: 2 liters of water, 4 f/v, chocolate soufflé, 11:45 bed (9.5 hrs), vitamins check

Sun:  2.5 liters, 5 f/v, no sweets, 11:30 (10hrs), vitamins check

Mon: 2+ liters, 7 f/v!, no sweets, bed at 11:30 (8 hrs), vitamins check

Also, I just found out after class last Wednesday that I now in fact do have mono, dun dun. So I guess that's why I've been needing so much sleep ):

3 Barriers to Change

Some barriers I am running into that are making it difficult to stay on track include: 1) not keeping daily accounts of how I am doing with REST*, 2) eating unhealthy because I do not cook meals ahead of time, because I'm out of the house or really hungry cause I haven't eaten at regular meal times and lastly, 3) staying up till midnight or one on the computer and snacking because I prob don't take enough time during the day to have "alone time" and it's my only time to relax and do a little wedding planning.

The way I'm going to try and overcome these barriers include: 1) begin keeping a daily journal on water intake, f/v intake, sugar intake, hrs of sleep and if I took my vitamins/supplements. Then I will post my daily progress each week and not just my overall weekly general progress. 2) When I have any down time (perhaps Sunday evening before the week starts) I will try and cook a few meals for the week and I can also begin making my lunches the night before if I know I won't be at home during lunch the next day. This should help with eating at regular meal times and eating more fresh healthy foods, also when I'm out I can search for healthy alternatives. 3) Lastly, I can work on going to bed at 11 instead of 12 or 1 by doing wedding planning on the weekends only or during the day when I have time but not in the evening. Instead of going on the computer which tends to make me anxious and is easy to stay on for a long time I can make sure I take time to reflect and pray each night before I go to bed. I could also have my fiance call me every night at 11pm to make sure I'm in bed, sometimes the extra accountability can go a long way. 

 

Simple Status Update

Just a quick status update. Jan 25-31 I began feeling better and worked out 4x(20-45 min) during that week. Then came last week Feb 1-7 in which I did nothing whatsoever to exercise, not simply because I was lazy but because I kinda rebounded and am feeling really crappy again. So I will still be taking it week by week to see when I can incorporate physical activity. For now, I will still be focusing on the RESST acronym. Below is how I've been doing overall the past four weeks on each section:

R (rehydrate): good! each day I have been able to drink at least 2 liters of water (not to hard of a goal, I normally drink a lot of water anyways)

E (eat f/v): The majority of the days in the week I eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, I've been short apx. 1 days each week. The "eat less sugar" aspect of this intervention has been harder than I thought and I've been doing poorly in both tracking and eating less sugar if anything I've probably been consuming more sugar even though I'd really like to work on this :(

S (sleep): I've been sleeping at least 8 hours every night (w/ the exception of apx 1 night a week) but I want to set a new goal of going to bed earlier (11pm at the latest) and not just going to bed late and waking up later.

S (stay away from coffee/soda): nope haven't been doing this but I think my interventions to broad and I already have one "S" anyway so can I just get rid of this one? :)

T (take multi-vitamin/ B daily): check, missed only 4-5 days in past month

Motivation for Change

When I initially heard we were going to have a personal project to improve nutrition or physical activity I was excited. I was planning on trying to get back in shape this semester anyway for various reasons and this project would be a good way of keeping track. My motivation for trying to take care of myself more and being more active is because it just feels better. I feel less tired, more alert, I have more energy, feel healthier and have more self esteem when I take care of my body. In addition, I am getting married this coming July (yay!) and have been putting off getting in shape for the wedding for sometime now. For the past five years of my life I ran cross country/track & field in college so I know what it feels like to take extra special care of my body (sleep, nutrition, etc). Since I stopped running last spring, however, I also now understand how crappy it feels to stay up late, eat poorly and not exercise. I'd much rather prefer to experience the benefits of exercise and taking care of myself, however, doing it is the hard part. So for motivation when I don't want to follow through I'll try and think of how bad it feels to be out of shape and not take care of myself and also how I want to look good for my fiance (did I really just write that). 

Situations Arise that Make it Difficult to Achieve Goal

In addition to already being sick, last Friday (jan 16), I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled last minute due to serve pain. I couldn't do too much after the procedure or eat any solids and the only thing I had in my house I could eat was ice cream, duh duh dun. So all I ate pretty much for three days was ice cream, fruit juice and more ice cream, definitely meeting few of the healthy "RESST" goals I set. After the weekend I began to recover and record RESST indicators again and achieved all of them for the first half of the week. However, in the middle of the night on Thursday (jan 22), I woke up to my fiance's call and an hour later we were in the ER. After staying up all night, Friday morning he had an emergency appendectomy surgery. The saga continued but we were finally discharged and now resting. 

I give you this long story to make the point that many things can and do arise that challenge people's ability to stay on track with the goals of an intervention. Getting my wisdom teeth out and not having sufficient food I could eat lead me to a diet of probably over 250g sugar/day during my three day recovery. Then my fiance's crazy appendix  prevented me from sleeping for 36 hours straight. My doctor told me the only way to recover from my virus was to sleep lots, stay hydrated, eat well and take it easy, none of which I've done over the past three days because of being in the hospital and taking care of my fiance. I'm not to sure any of these "challenges to my goals" could have been prevented and, from a Program Directors point of view, it is important to understand that participants in a program or clinical trial also have to deal with LIFE :)

Goal and Plan of Action

Goal: 

So initially my 16 week goal was to do 2-3 triathlons and in the process get in better shape. However, since then I found out I have a viral infection similar to mono that I've actually had for a month now and which could last for a couple more months. This sickness is no doubt related to working myself into the ground last semester. To say the least I was way over committed and as a result was unable to take care of my mental, physical and spiritual health. Therefore my new goal has been slightly tweaked and will have two interventions. I will start out by "getting better again" and this will be achieved by sleeping 8-10 hrs/night, taking naps, abstaining from coffee and soda, drinking lots of water, taking my vitamins daily, eating healthier (more fruits and vegetables and less sugar) and not overcommitting myself.  The second intervention will be once I start to get better to continue the healthy lifestyle habits but in addition to increase my levels of exercise. The action plan below will provide a more detailed explanation.

Plan of Action: 

Overview:

Intervention 1: Week 1 - Week 16 (RESST)

Intervention 2: Week TBA - Week 16 (Exercise)

*RESST  (an acronym  to remember my goals in phase one standing for R: re-hydrate, E: eat fruits and vegetables, S: sleep, S: stay away from coffee/soda,  T: take vitamins

Details: 

Week 1 - Week 16

Re-hydrate: drink 2 liters of water a day, Eat: 5 servings of fruits/vegetables a day and eat less sugar, Sleep: 8-10 hours a night or more if not feeling well, Stay: away from coffee/soda, Take: multi-vitamin w/ iron and B-12 daily 

Week TBA - Week 16

Continue to follow and track RESST. Re-access health status and beginning Intervention 2 "getting in shape" once I feel stronger by incorporating 15-30 minute walk/jog 3 times a week. Progress will be based on how quickly I recover from feeling too weak/ill to exercise. Once I begin exercising I will revise my timeline from Week TBA to Week 16 to make sufficient progress to my final Week 16 "getting in shape goal."

Week 16: (final goal)

By week 16 my goal is to be exercising 5 days a week, a minimum of 40 minutes each day. In addition, I plan to still be following the RESST acronym and to have recovered from my illness and in the process simplified my life for better overall health.