Being on intimate terms with my body, you think I would listen to it more often. It is just amazing how many of us go through life living almost outside of ourselves. Sure, we propel along through the day in our bodies, but most of the time, we are somewhere else. This is, or was, me. See if you can relate.
I make sure to prepare healthy lunches for my kids, making sure that they include enough calcium, protein, complex carbohydrates (including those fruits and vegetables). I want to take care of their bodies so they can be strong and healthy. But, I often skip lunch, eat it very late or usually grab whatever snacks are handy or whatever scraps the kids leave behind. But my body doesn’t want this. It will respond with less energy, more weight gain, dull skin, more irritability, etc.
Yesterday, I grabbed an awful-tasting cookie that was dropped off by gracious friends simply because I was hungry and had about 10 seconds to eat something before work. My body didn’t want all of the sugar to send it into overdrive, and the cookie wasn’t even satisfying. Previously, I would have just downed it all without a thought, but this time I listened to my body and threw it out after one bite. In fact, the whole package is going in tonight’s trash. Today I have been taking enough time to make sure I get in plenty of skim milk, yogurt and fruit. It is just as easy to cut an extra apple when I prepare some for my kids.
This past week I have been struggling with my knee injury. It turns out that I have torn my meniscus. At the beginning of the week, I had been plowing through my workouts anyway, with the end result being that my body was in a lot of pain and my knee was so swollen that it resembled the Pillsbury Dough Boy, dimples and all. Using different muscles when walking, standing, sitting, etc. to compensate for the injury has put extra pressure on my back, shoulders and hip. My body was screaming for me to stop.
So, instead, I decided to listen. I cut down the frequency and distance of my morning workouts, and with the exception of a couple of seconds to test things out, gave up running for now. I’m listening to my body and giving it time to heal the inflammation. In response, my body is healing much more quickly and allowing me to travel through my day. I may not be moving as fast as I like, but I am still moving.
Two other positive things this week: I purchased my five pound hand weights, and my handy husband fixed the tension control on the free elliptical so the machine is like new (It still actually had some of the original plastic covering on it, that is how new it is).
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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