Fertilehealthy

Today I’m going to lie to you! And I want you to expose the lie! The lovely Dee at Life Should Be Stereo Each Day did this fun meme and being the copycat that I am, I just had to do it too!

The rules are:

- Link to the person who tagged you. Done.
- Post the rules on your blog. Done.
- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. Done.
- Tag six people and at the end of your post, link to their blogs. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you want to do it or not.
- Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. If you are going to do it, please leave me a comment.

The twist here is, one of the statements is a lie! You have to guess which one and let me know in comments.

1. English is not my mother tongue.
2. I used to have a pet snake in high school.
3. I attended 7 schools, 1 college and 2 universities.
4. I met my current husband via the internet.
5. I used to have a job that required me to regularly ride ostriches.
6. I’m a natural blonde.

Okay, lying over!

Yesterday’s workout nearly killed me! I could barely move after waking up from my nap! This morning it was just the muscles around my ribs that were still sore, so I decided to do it again! Sucker!

Jan, the regular Pilates instructor, had a dentist appointment, so there was a substitute. I did not like her. I don’t know if she was offended by my size and lack of ability, but she never touched, corrected, helped or even really interacted with me. That offended me! And that class was nowhere near Basic. But I tried and I think I did really well. Jan will be back next time. As for that girl, well one day I’ll be thin, and she will still be dumb!

Pilates was swiftly followed by another 5 minutes on the elliptical. It’s still hard work for me, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. Then 20 minutes on the treadmill, greatly helped by the Dixie Chicks! I was ready to quit after 10 minutes, but I pushed through and even though I walked pretty slowly, I finished my 20 minutes. My heart rate was at the top limit of my safe zone,  so I shouldn’t have walked any faster anyway. I finished off today’s exercise with 5 minutes of arm ergo.

Tomorrow I’m just doing an hour long Aqua class, and on Sunday I’m resting.

I caught myself both yesterday and today turning to the elevator at the gym, to go upstairs to the Pilates studio. Fortunately I stopped myself in time and took the stairs both times. It’s just a bit unseemly to be taking the elevator at gym, don’t you think? Although everyone always vies for the closest parking slots!

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One of my favourite books of all time is The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. It was made into a very good film in 1988, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Tomas, Juliette Binoche as his naive wife, Tereza and Lena Olin as his sensual mistress, Sabine.

Tomas is a renowned brain surgeon in Czechoslovakia and marries the young innocent Tereza. But he is also insatiable in his appetite for women and they are only too happy to surrender to him. He has a long-standing relationship with Sabine, an artist. Then the communists invade and their lives change. Tomas and Tereza are in danger of arrest and are forced to flee. The three of them end up in Switzerland.  The triangle continues, until Tereza can’t take it anymore. She decides to return to Czechoslovakia. In her letter to Tomas, she tells him that she can’t stand the freedom, this unbearable lightness of being. She needs the oppression. It’s all she knows and she misses it. Switzerland was too much for her.  (I won’t spoil the rest of the movie or book for you, if you don’t know it. It is really good and if you can lay your hands on it, please see or read it.)

Yesterday Felicia asked whether we are subconsciously afraid of success.  Afraid of being free from the burden of obesity?  Would that be a motivation for sabotaging our weight loss efforts?

This is something I’ve thought about before. And sadly experienced. About 10 years ago, when I weighed a whopping 32 kg (70 lbs) less than I do now, I joined Weigh Less, a well-known slimming club in South Africa. One follows an eating plan, based on food groups (outdated science!), meticulously weighs one’s portions and attends weekly weigh-in and motivational sessions. They are BIG here. My ex husband and I joined at the beginning of December and immediately started losing weight. We resisted the festive food orgies and followed our plan. We weren’t doing any exercise, but were doing well nevertheless. This was one of the best times in our troubled marriage, because he was basically off the booze most of the time.

Over time I lost about 25 kg (55 lbs). People noticed and I started getting lots of compliments. I felt more attractive and basked in the attention. Then Ex fell off the wagon completely. And, with my new-found confidence I thought that I could surely leave this fat, drunken slob, who was forever losing his job and never taking responsibility for anything. I could do better. But that would mean admitting that I had been wrong in marrying him in the first place, vindicating my family.  And to me that meant failure.  I was more attached to being right than to being good to myself. So I stopped losing weight and regained the lost pounds. I was too afraid to leave my husband and I was afraid of being thin. Instead, we attempted to get pregnant. As if that was ever going to work!

Just like Tereza, I found the options available to me too intimidating. I needed the security of the familiar. Even if that meant living under oppression. I did not have the guts for freedom, for Switzerland. I needed to be fat and unattractive, so that I wouldn’t leave my husband or cheat on him.  I went back to Czechoslovakia.

Since we separated in 1999, I have made numerous false starts at a healthier lifestyle. But deep down inside me there’s something about being this weight that works for me, something that keeps pulling me back to my “prison”. Dr. Phil calls it our pay-off. I’m not quite sure what it is yet, but since I’ve done a whole lot of emotional housecleaning and work, I am very alert in case it should rear its ugly head. It can expect to be whacked into last year! Because I know that it can never, ever be more important than the reasons I want to lose weight and be healthier. Nothing is more important for me than regaining my fertility and vitality. Nothing!

I’m going to Switzerland, and I’m going to love it! I’m going to shine in my new life. Live without fear.  See you there!

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Towards the middle of last year, I did a course of 10 private Pilates classes at a local studio, and then joined the group classes for a month. In that time I could literally see my body changing. It felt as if I was getting more and more flexible every day. Then I stopped going.

Today I started Pilates classes at my gym, and even though it was Beginners Level, I was rubbish! Inflexible and stiff. My muscles had atrophied completely. But I loved it! The hour flew by and at the end of it I was tired, but happy.

Then I put my shoes on (exhausting in itself) and jumped on the treadmill. Oh how that sucked! I was just not feeling it today. I was tired, so I settled for a modest pace and got on with it. (I wished I could throw my towel over my head, for some reason). I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the recumbant.

My plan was to go to the mall this afternoon, but I am just too tired. I have to buy food for supper, but it will have to be from the convenience store. There is just no way I’m trekking through a mall today. In fact, I have been falling asleep at the computer. I’m going to have to lie down for a nap now…

I’m still stoked that I did it, though!  Tomorrow I’m doing it all again!

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The first thing I saw when I opened my computer this morning was that Heath Ledger had died.  Why, for heaven’s sake?  I’m very sad.  He had my hormones applauding in both A Knight’s Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You. 

The second thing I saw was a post by Jenny (101 Reasons I Hate Being Fat, the first weight loss blog I ever read), reporting that her fiancé had died.  This is incredibly sad!  And so unfair! 

I felt like crawling back to bed at that point, but stayed on and caught up with my blog reading.  Then I went to gym. 

I had decided beforehand that today was the day I was going to try out the elliptical.  My word, that was hard!  I did 5 minutes of elliptical, 20 minutes of treadmill and 5 minutes of arm ergo.  I wanted to cycle, but couldn’t get my leg over, so I realized that I’d done enough for one day. 

I’ve booked Pilates classes at the gym for tomorrow (11h00) and Friday (10h30). They only take 12 people per class, so booking is essential.  I’ll do the Pilates, followed by 30 minutes of cardio. Next week I’ll alternate between Pilates, Aqua and Hydro.

The new MP3 player is great and I kicked butt in the gym.  Just not very high.

Now I must go and pay some attention to my husband…  cook his supper, etc.  My ovulation is coming up, so I have to be extra nice, you know…

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My all-time hero is John Robbins, who gave up untold riches (as heir to the Baskin-Robbins empire) to follow his dream of making the world a gentler, healthier place.  I have most of his books, and he always leaves me in awe with his integrity and caring attitude… I even have an audio cassette of him. He inspires me so much! He writes about health, diet (lots of raw food again!), but really about how our food choices affect our environment and our conscience, and ultimately our future as a species. He’s been called the Prophet of Non-Profit. I love him. I LOVE him!!!

Mary-Ann Shearer, her husband Mark and their three young daughters were all suffering from severe allergies, recurring ear-infections, digestive problems and Mary-Ann struggled with depression and PMS. She started reading about health, applying what she’d learnt, and bit by bit her family’s health improved to the extent that they have not had a single doctor’s bill due to ill health in the last 20 years. She wrote “The Natural Way” and many other books since. Her message is simple: Eat as much fresh, raw fruit and vegetables as possible and avoid the things that are bad for you. Exercise regularly and drink good quality water. She has been called South Africa’s Healthiest Woman and if you see her, you’ll know why. Please visit her website, subscribe to her newsletter and check when she may be giving a talk near you. She is truly inspirational and her plan is the one I like to follow, since it’s so well presented and her books cover everything you could possibly want to know about healthy living.  Her latest book “Perfect Health The Natural Way” is now available in the USA from Amazon.

The largest health study ever undertaken covered 30 years and thousands of subjects. They call it “The China Study”. Dr T. Colin Campbell and his colleagues investigated the diets of the healthiest people on earth and compared it to the SAD (Standard American Diet). The findings? People who eat food as close as possible to its natural state have almost zero incidence of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, infertility, auto-immune diseases, etc. In fact, in many languages there aren’t even words for those conditions. And no, it’s not due to their genetic make-up. When these people emigrated to the USA, and adopted the SAD, their incidences of these diseases increased to the same level as the rest of the population.

I am very interested to start reading books by Michael Pollan (when finances allow it).  He wrote this very interesting article which appeared in the New York Times about a year ago.  I kept nodding and agreeing as I read. His philosophy is simple: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Countless other people have come to the same conclusion as these people and Norman W. Walker have.  A diet high in raw fruit and vegetables, combined with healthy fats, some nuts and whole grains and minimal (or no) animal products, provide all the nutrients, in the correct forms and combinations to be assimilated by the body, to not only keep us going, but to reverse disease and regenerate the body.  And really, this is important to me.  You can be thin and sick.  Or thin and infertile.  But I want to be thin and very healthy!  Not to mention fertile!  Hence this blog’s name…

But don’t panic, I’m not about to start wearing tie-dye, sport dreadlocks, hug trees and grow sprouts on my windowsill, never allowing a steak to cross my lips again… It is always best to make gradual changes, and I will elaborate more on that in future posts.

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