Good Eats
I have been realizing lately how therapeutic running has been for me in many different ways. One thing it has done has helped me become more in touch with my body. It has also helped me learn to appreciate it and love it for what it can and is capable of doing. I think that's one reason why I love Saturday's long runs. This is the time I am able to see what I can really do and what my possibilities could be. I have also learned to talk more kindly to myself. I am constantly needing to be aware of my thoughts as I run and encourage myself and talk nicely. It's amazing how you may feel that you are exhausted and need a small walk break. But if you tell yourself, "just run to the light" then when you get to the light you realize that you are not as tired as you once thought. Before I didn't like my body as much, and thought of it more as a means to get from point A to point B. I see now that I would not talk as nicely as I should have to it. I would criticize parts that I thought were not working as well, or that didn't look the way I wanted them to. I also realized that I didn't listen to it as much, and just thought of it more of a nuisance as it would get sick a lot, and prevent me from doing things I wanted to do. But as I have been running, as I have become more aware of different feelings I may have always been experiencing, but didn't realize in the past. I have been learning this summer how our body is always trying to communicate with us. Whether or not we choose to listen is another story.
Saturday after lunch I noticed that I began to get a bad headache and experience other symptoms. I began to realize that these were the same feelings I experienced when I took my Crohn's medicine that I had taken myself off of. I began to think about this as what I ate, I generally eat everyday. I was confused and wondered if I had always felt this way after I ate and just ignored it or didn't realize what was going on. In a sense I began to realize that not everyone feels this way after they eat, and this may be one reason why I tend to struggle in the afternoons after lunch. I'm not feeling well, and don't realize it (how sad is that). I began to do some research online and discovered this is a sign of a food intolerance. I didn't realize this. To me I only looked at how my stomach reacted and whether or not I could keep the food inside of me. Perhaps my body has been trying to tell me that it doesn't like a certain thing, but I haven't been able to notice this or make the connection before. I was frustrated as I didn't know what it was that I ate that made me react this way. I also realized that I really don't know what I could or could not eat. I always went by what others told me, or from books. These have helped in the past and have helped me get to where I am today, but I wanted to know for myself. So today I started an "elimination diet." This is where you eat in a sense 'minimum food,' like vegetables, and some fruit and meats for a few weeks to cleanse your body of all the other foods and then introduce one new food every few days to see how I react with it. You are also supposed to be aware of cravings you have, as you tend to crave or eat a lot of the foods you shouldn't. (that could be a whole other discussion on why this is). I'm excited about this, as I will really be able to see how I respond to the foods and what helps or hurts me. Of course to initiate this idea I decided to get some ice cream on Saturday. Yeah, I learned that ice cream is definitely one that I can't eat as it makes me break out in mouth sores (who knew mouth sores were a sign of food intolerances).
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