It has just been one of those months, long work days, busy weekends, fun celebrations, a mini-vacay and some travel thus resulting in every aspect of my health-wellness balance being thrown off. Try as I might, week by week, day by day, my good habits get pushed to the wayside due to time, fatigue or just plain fun.
I think we all ebb and flow in our wellness, sometimes we are just too busy in life to focus on eating right and working out daily, finding time for centering and balance. I know I am guilty of it, but the reality is it takes work. Eating well, being a conscious consumer, practicing with intent and purpose, finding focus and center, all take time and energy that in the summer I would rather devote (although temporarily) to beach days, taking the boat out on the water, hanging out with friends, enjoying a few too many summer cocktails and enjoying these brief few months of beauty we get here in Maine.
It amazes me now how little time and how very minor deviations from my norm effect me tremendously. Sure I haven't been eating as clean as I should, I am not practicing yoga daily, but if I think of in comparison to before I became a gf, lf, meat-free, conscious consumer, it is a wonder I ever felt good. Such minor shifts from my norm now, are so much more noticeable to me than when I was a gluten lactose eating hound.
Now I get a few days of crazy and every part of my existence is thrown off kilter. I don't sleep as well, I don't feel rested and energized throughout the day. I eat weird things, although my "weird" is entirely subjective now. It amazes me that I have found what "good" and "normal" feel like simultaneously for me, I instantly know when one starts to slip.
Sure I have been enjoying my past month, we bought a boat, there has been ample celebrations, hey it is the summer and with that comes cook outs, hang outs and weird foods. And it was my birthday! All of this comes with foods I almost never eat like meat, copious amounts of dairy and sugar and of course alcohol. There is something about the summer and ice-cold cocktails that go hand in hand and cocktails and celebrations go hand in hand too (hey I'm allowed one vice right?! I don't get many options). It is only after repeated weekend celebrations, where I feel sluggish and groggy which almost never happens for me; even when I cut out coffee, I always have boundless energy. Alcohol although yummy, especially this new found passionfuit blended mojito I recently found, has it's limits and if you are aware enough your body tells you when to cut back.
Lately, I have been having restless sleep, groggy mornings that are hard to shake, irregular and inconsistent bowl movements, absolutely no desire to workout (which comes hand in hand with not having enough energy), craving weird foods and making poor food choices. And now, a stress mark I get when I am super stressed, typically at work, has reappeared because my body is stressed. My insides have been telling me for a few weeks now, take it easy, back off, and I have knowingly been ignoring this little hint, pounding my wheatgrass, acidophilus, L-Lysine, B-Complex and Vitamin C, but still the little scaly dry patch appeared. Damn! OK, OK, I surrender, body that insists on making it perfectly clear that I can no longer ignore what it is has been telling me for the last few weeks. ::grumble, grumble::
I keep finding an excuse to not do a juice cleanse, but the wait is over, I can no longer deny what my body is telling me, so I shall start my long awaited juice cleanse this week. I like juice cleanses because they force to you to focus on your health and well-being. They ask so little of your body, yet so much of your mind, but the focus, centering and discipline that comes after a good cleanse re-centers every part of me. I am actually looking forward to this cleanse. I have gotten to a point where I just feel icky and no amounts of working out, drinking a daily green juice or copious amounts of water can fix.
So I stocked up on tons of local organic greens and fruit yesterday, join with me, or follow along, I am thinking 5 days this time, 3 just doesn't feel sufficient to counter the month long extravaganza. For more on juicing see my post on Juice Cleanses in February. Juice pics to follow.
