The beginning...

So, the beginning will start with the end point of my veganism.  It was later 2009, I was seeing my then boyfriend (now husband).  I really have no explanation for it, I just started craving meat.  I actually craved Whole Foods Turkey sandwich.  If you ever had one then you know it's just plain and simple, YUM!

I ate one every couple days, just so my stomach could "handle" processing meat again.  I had a funny ritual when I ate it too.  I would pull the crusts off and eat them last.  They were chewy and slightly soggy from the mayo, so tasty!  Weird, yeah, but I would never call myself normal!  It didn't take long at all for my stomach to get use to eating meat.  Though, when we would go to his parents house for dinner they still thought I was a vegetarian and wouldn't have enough meat to go around.  I adapted and they slowly remembered I ate meat again.

I weighed more back then (30 lbs.) and was getting more into running.  It was perfect since D was a cyclist.  He would go out to ride and I would go for my run.  I remember running back then use to take me forever!  Now it's nothing for me to go out and run a "quick" 8 miles!  Haha!!

D didn't have the best eating habits.  We would go out and eat pretty healthy, but his idea of meals were cereal in the am, toast with nutella for lunch and a microwaved dinner with spinach in the evening.  So, I began to cook and spoil him rotten!  What girl hasn't done that?!?

We dabbled in gluten free several times, but the products then tasted awful!  They sure have come a long way in not only taste but texture too.  I can't even begin to talk about all the products there are now.  Everyone seems gluten free now, it's almost comical!

So a side note about that.  I work in a upscale market as a bakery manager (funny right!).  The guests that come in will ask about a gluten free muffin and I will explain cross contamination to them.  They say, "Oh" and proceed to get a regular gluten muffin.  WHAT?!?!  Didn't you just ask me for gluten free!!  Oh boy!

I played around with food choices for a while and ended up getting an office job and teaching yoga, bootcamp and pilates.  All this while training every morning for another race.  I restricted my calories so much I was dizzy most of the time and I was surprised that I could even function.  I tried to get the most bang for the fewest calories possible.  By the time I did my workout in the morning, ate breakfast went to work and ate lunch I had maybe 300 total calories.  Then after work I would teach for 2 hours and eat dinner when I got home.  So, I probably was taking in 800 calories, give or take, while doing all of this.  Did I have an eating disorder?  Yeah, I certainly did!  Though I never said it out loud! (Maybe I just did!)  Now I eat 2000 to 3000 per day, lift heavy weights a couple times a week and weigh 110 lbs.  I still run, but not nearly where I use to.  I stopped over training and all my "freak outs"!

I wanted to feel heathy again.  I was stressed at work and having side effects from the food choices I was making, not to mention chowing down a bunch of tums on a daily basis!  Something had to change!  I was working with a nutritionist and it was helping.  I kept a food log and she would review and make suggestions and encourage me.  It was still hard to get my weight up because my exercise intensity never changed.  It was December 2012 when I stumbled upon Practical Paleo on the Purely Twins website (December 27, 2012).  This is right around 2 years from trying to gluten free and spiraling into a eating disorder that I was trying to bounce back from.

I bought the book and was talking to the nutritionist at my gym about paleo.  It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I just didn't need to count calories.  There just wasn't any counting at all.  WHAT?!?!  I couldn't deal, but I wanted to feel better!  So I jumped in!

That brings us to the beginning!  Until next post..... your moment of Zen!

Kaat Van Nostrand

A beginning in the middle....

Today is another start... a start of something I keep meaning to do.  We have all been there.  We have the grand idea and we have these big plans and then.... (Yes, I love to use ....).  Life, jobs, other projects or activities get in the way of the best intentions and before you know it, it's a year later.

I started a blog a long while ago, the last post was 3 years ago.  I don't think it was going where I really wanted it to go, but ultimately I'm not sure about this one either.

Here is my thought.  I want to talk about being healthy, that's not too hard.  I have learned so much from where I began over 4 years ago when I stumbled onto Diane Sanfilippo and Practical Paleo.  I was/am following Purely Twins and were talking about her new book.  I had tried so many things in the past (not that I was looking to lose weight.... maybe?) and wanted to finally get healthy.  I believe I started to search around about this person and soon bought the book as well as Liz Wolfe's skin care guide.  4 years later, I am still Paleo, though I would have to say more Primal and following Jason Seib's AltShift.

Ok, so who am I and why does any of this matter?  Well, maybe it's to document the process I have gone through from the beginning in hope's that others will learn from my mishaps.  Maybe it's to show what a healthy, strong lifestyle can be.  Of course, I am not saying I am perfect and know everything.  I'm still learning something new everyday.  I want to document that, as well as anything super tasty I make in the kitchen!.  I'm also hoping to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, like those that I currently follow are.

I almost forgot to say who I am!  My name is Heather and currently 40 years old.  I don't mind stating my age since I never "felt" my age.  Unless many are lying to me, I have been told I look much younger.  Yay for my husband, right!  I am a former marathoner.  I qualified for Boston during my second marathon.  I ran Boston the year after the bombings and I have to say what a euphoric experience it was.  I also did a half Ironman (70.3) almost 2 years ago now.  I run now, but mostly just to enjoy the feeling.  2 months after my Ironman I developed a hip fracture.  I went all out too!  My fracture was in the femoral neck of my right hip, worse place ever!  I was diagnosed with osteopenia and have been in the process of building my bone mass.  I have also been diagnosed with Hashimoto's.  I'm blaming the years of being a vegetarian.  I certainly was not healthy during those 10 years!  I can get into all that at another time.  I also have been a yogi for about 16 years and been teaching for 7 years.  I started following Yoga with Adriene in October to get back into morning yoga and more flexibility.

So flash to now.  I'm sitting in my living room, in a small chair typing with my 55 lb. German Shorthaired Pointer Jack, smashed in next to me and my ever loyal Vizsla Stryker across from us on the couch.  It's a freezing rain here in Michigan, I'm waiting for the snow to begin.  It's the 3rd snow-pocalypse here (I work in a upscale market, that's how these things are treated).

So until next post.... here are a few pictures.

Boodles (19 years old - aka - Old Man)

Jack - 8 year old GSP

Stryker - 9.5 year old Vizsla