peace through healthier living

So, the net effect of all this MSc exam stress has been as I predicted: complete and utter failure by my body to cope. The chronic fatigue became CHRONIC FATIGUE, making everything such an effort, like trudging through life in a concrete suit. Everything slipped out of order to the bare minimum for survival. I started eating sugar again (to be honest, with no ill effects) and my house is a shambles and I could barely dress myself or get out of bed. None of this is new. I have been here before. Somehow we get through these things.

It kind of messed up my trip to Morocco, though, because when I wanted to be doing yoga or surfing, I was actually forced to sort of be a convalescent. And then when I came back from Morocco, what I thought was Africa Belly turned out to be none other than an energy-sapping kidney infection.

Well, a week and some Cipro later, I seem to be on the mend now. The time is right to finally redress my work/life balance and sort myself out. Cut back on most, but not all, of the sugar. Start exercising again: I haven’t even sat on a horse in over two months!

To this end, I am going to try my damnedest to do some proper yoga every day. I’ve been good, this week. I even went to my formerly-usual Wednesday yoga class this morning. The trick is to get some physical activity and get back into shape without doing too much and exhausting myself once again. So I am restricting myself to yoga only until July, then I will take the horseriding back on, and perhaps a little running.

I also ordered two magical things on Amazon and received them today: Udo’s Choice Beyond Greens powder and half a kilo of chia seeds. The greens powder is a really good way to get lots of nutritional benefit in one glass of drink: Omega 3′s, digestive enzymes, fibre, nutrients. I was a bit leery of what it would taste like, but I mixed it with my usual soy milk and it is really quite nice, not unlike chai.

The chia seeds are even more packed with Omega 3 than flax seeds, and easier to digest. They have more Omega 3 than salmon, more calcium than milk, not to mention that they are packed with antioxidants and fibre. You can do all sorts of weird things to eat them since they turn into little gel blobs when soaked in water (which in turn helps to keep you hydrated). Generally I just put a tablespoon of seeds in a bottle of water and let them soak before giving it a shake and drinking it, you hardly notice that they are there. Otherwise you can soak them in less water to make a sort of pudding, or just sprinkle them over cereal or yogurt.

Ironically, I found out about these from my mom, who is usually the last on the bandwagon, but got into chia as a result of reading Born to Run, a book about a native Mexican tribe of super high endurance runners, who have been running through the ages. One of their secret weapons? Chia seeds! Since she is a marathoner, she immediately ordered some, and I tried hers last time I was in the states. You really can add them to just about anything you eat.

To that end, I have a butternut squash downstairs that needs using up, so I might make these pumpkin chia muffins (but using stevia instead of syrups, of course, no fructose, please!).