Intermittent Fasting: Two Weeks Later

Visual Evidence

These photos were taken a little less than 2 weeks apart [July 20th to July 29th], but all future updates will take place at firm 2-week intervals. As you can see, the "pouch" on the front of my stomach is minutely firmer, and my belly button looks wider because of the tautness of the skin. This does not come as a surprise because one of Intermittent Fasting's claims to fame is that the regulation of blood sugar encourages loss of belly fat.

What Worked And What Didn't?

There were a few consistent dietary guidelines I followed:

1. I typically ate from 10:30am or 11am until 6:30pm regardless, but often, I shortened my eating interval to 6-7 hours naturally.
2. No matter what was going on, I drank nearly 1 gallon of water daily.
3. My body seemed to feel better when I consumed one large meal for lunch [sandwich with hummus and veggies], then a small snack [salsa with a few triscuits], and small dinner [cucumber, tomato, and mozzarella salad].

I really was rather surprised at how quickly my body adjusted to not constantly eating. I finally felt like I understood the thirst signals my body was sending, and not mistaking them for hunger.

What's In Store For The Next 2 Weeks?

Yoga, yoga, and more yoga. Of course, the body needs more than just a good stretch, but to be completely honest, the Opdivo is started to mimic Rheumatoid Arthritis as a side effect. I've been given a short course of Prednisone and Tramadol for sleep, but I'd rather treat this with exercise if I can. Running and aerobic activity that puts tremendous strain on my joints is impossible; therefore, yoga is a terrific place to start.

Those of you who have been following my 90-Day Life Challenge will recall that I've posted about yoga once before (linked HERE), specifically about all of the fantastic FREE yoga videos on YouTube. In my post about my Daily Dozen: Personal Routine (linked HERE), I set the goal of doing at least 15 minutes of yoga daily, but I'm setting the bar higher.

*Action: I am going to continue with a daily yoga practice for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Boost Health With An Epic Green Smoothie

I just got back from the doctor, and it looks like I might be starting to experience some auto-immune, musculo-skeletal issues as a result of my chemotherapy. I have 2 choices: 1. Wallow in grief about the ups and downs in my health, or 2. Step up my game in terms of my health. I will post another intermittent fasting update shortly--spoiler alert: I'm down 2.5 lbs. and my doctor is thrilled with my fasting glucose.

This is not going to be a long post, but instead a run-down of the components of my anti-cancer green smoothie, why each ingredient was selected, and how it fits into my diet.

*No blender required*

Ingredients

8 oz. of V8 "Healthy Greens" veggie blend

8 oz. of steeped lemon/ginger tea

1 tsp. of honey

juice of 1/4 lemon

1/2 scoop of Green Superfood alkalizing green powder

Instructions

1. I begin by steeping the lemon-ginger tea while I gather the remaining supplies and ingredients. 
2. Funnel the V8, lemon juice, and steeped tea into a reusable water bottle.
3. Add the 1/2 scoop of Green Superfood alkalizing powder and the squirt of honey
4. Shake the mess out of it until blended.
5. Enjoy the health benefits.

Why Did I Choose These Ingredients?

• V8 "Healthy Greens" - Most obviously, it includes a tremendous amount of dark green leafy veggies blended with apple and pineapple for sweetness. This saves me a lot of time and money, and the taste blends wonderfully with the alkalizing powder. 
• Lemon/Ginger Tea - The ginger in this tea has terrific anti-inflammatory properties, and the ginger on its own would be too spicy for me.
• Lemon Juice - This is very detoxifying for the liver and aids the body in digestion.
• Honey - Honey also has some anti-inflammatory properties, but primarily it has antibiotic and probiotic properties that help my body feel fewer side effects from the chemotherapy.
• Green Superfood Alkalizing Powder - I purchased this on a whim after I was returned home after my brain surgery, and I'm so glad I did. In addition to having the components of a standard multi-vitamin, it also has small amounts of the typical anti-cancer vitamin supplements such as: tumeric power, fennel seed, garlic, ginseng, and dandelion root.

Prepared properly, the anti-cancer smoothie only contains 100-125 calories, but is incredibly filling. To integrate it into my diet, I will use this to break my fast in the late morning. As I have previously mentioned in my post on Intermittent Fasting (linked HERE), my typical 16-hour fasting period is from 6:30pm until 10:30am. Rather than eat lunch very early, snack, and then dinner, I am going to begin with my anti-cancer smoothie and then have lunch at a normal time.

Let me know in the comments if you try this anti-cancer smoothie, and what you added/omitted.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Yoga

Ahh, yoga...Just the thought of it makes me sigh. Yoga is almost like massage therapy for me. It's something that every body needs, and I am finally going to commit to completing at least 20 minutes of personal massage therapy daily. Like earning money on MTurk, I practice yoga off-and-on maybe once a week. For this 90-Day Life Challenge, that's going to change.

While it would be wonderful to go to a local yoga class, I honestly don't have the $100-300 extra to spend. My solution was to check YouTube for a collection of the best FREE yoga programs. Here is a list of the 6 best channels, and my favorite video from each. We have an Apple TV that we purchased when we decided to cut down to just an internet package, and the YouTube app will play these videos.

*Shouldn't need to be said, but I do want to make it clear that I have no affiliation with these channels, I just genuinely appreciate the artists and their contributions to health and fitness.

PsycheTruth Yoga

This is a very yoga-specific channel, but the parent channel PsycheTruth has long been a favorite of mine for many types of videos: Health/Wellness, Yoga, Massage, ASMR, and smatterings of other categories as well. Much of the channel is devoted to using natural, holistic, and/or alternative therapies to aid the body in natural rejuvenation. PsycheTruth Yoga videos are roughly 20-30 minutes. The videos are accessible to beginners as well as advanced practitioners.

Yoga With Adriene

Yoga with Adriene is another yoga channel with short programs geared towards a specific focus. She currently has an excess of 250 videos available. This video is just over 15 minutes, but many of the videos run longer than 30 minutes. I like the way she tailors each routine to a very specific focus. There are some videos geared toward the beginner and advanced practitioners, but most fall in the intermediate category.

Fightmaster Yoga

This specific video is great for when I am already feeling strong and ready to take on a challenging workout. Much of Fightmaster Yoga's channel evokes that feeling. The videos are so fresh, innovative, and energetic, I'm only sad that I don't have the ability to do them all yet. If you are a skilled practitioner, you have to try this channel. The videos also have a tremendous range of duration from 15 minutes to over an hour in length.

Yoga Vidya

Yoga Vidya does not have as large a number of videos available as the aforementioned channels; however, it does have many videos detailing yogic practices, meditation, chanting, and interviews with yogis about meditation and mythology. She also posts lots of instructional videos for individual poses. There is nothing particularly unique about the videos--beginning/intermediate level, 20-30 minutes each--but her voice is so soothing. I like to exercise to Yoga Vidya when I need yoga that is more quiet and meditative.

Do You Yoga

Do You Yoga's videos are all short (less than 20 minutes). They are so simple, and great for a yoga "quickie" when you know you should exercise and don't feel like you have the time.

Yoga Yak

Yoga Yak is such an oldie but a goody. All of the videos are full length, 45 minutes to 90 minutes at the longest I've found. In addition, there are also a lot of videos offering a peaceful soundtrack to add to your everyday life. Nature sounds, music to use for private yoga practice or transcendental meditation. The practitioners are so genuinely eager to share their practice with you. I always feel like I've just attended a class lead by a beloved mentor.

Hope you are able to use these resources to fold a regular yoga practice into your daily life as well.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Intermittent Fasting

This is Day 1 of my 90-day life challenge, and I'm beginning with my weight. Currently, I am 5'3" tall and (according to my appointment on July 15, 2016, I am 214.4 lbs. Obviously, this is an unacceptable weight for someone my size. I typically wear an XL or a 16-18 comfortably. 

To track the effectiveness of intermittent fasting, I will post updates after each of my chemo infusions since this is the only time I weigh myself. Not proud of where I'm starting, but very proud of where I'm going.

Why Try Intermittent Fasting?

Last week, I did a Google search for "diets that improve blood sugar." I'm not diabetic or even close to it, but I do have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome [PCOS], which comes with a healthy dose of insulin resistance. I needed something that I could manage while still mothering my wee-one and working two and a half jobs. And up pops intermittent fasting. I'm not gonna lie, I was extremely intimidated by the idea of not eating for 16 hours at a time, but the logic is sound. My oncologist even thought it would be a good plan for me to try since it's main benefits are: managing blood sugar, retraining your body's response to hunger, and (of course) facilitating weight loss. It has even been suggested that intermittent fasting can lower the bodies risk of certain cancers that are exacerbated by weight gain, i.e. melanoma.

So, What Do I Need to Do?

On a random Google Image search of "intermittent fasting," I stumbled on this beautiful infographic that explains the ins-and-outs of the Lean Gains version of fasting, which is basically 16-hour daily fast, followed by 8 hours of an eating period. The source of this infographic is linked under the image. As you can see, there are many ways to use intermittent fasting for health and weight loss, but I've chosen the LeanGains 16 hours "on" and 8 hours "off," primarily because I want to have lunch and dinner with my family. All forms of fasting recommend some form of exercise before you break the fast in order to use more fat stores and accelerate weight loss, but that is a challenge for a different day.

Credit: The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

So, Is Intermittent Fasting Right for You?

The short answer is, eh, it depends. Since you do not eat for long periods of time, you would either need to have a relatively easy time dealing with the feeling of hunger, or a deep desire to control that impulse. I fall into the latter category. At the same turn, this would not be good for someone with a specific dietary need to eat small meals at short intervals, or for a diabetic person who has not checked with his/her doctor first. 

Additional Resources

• A Woman's Guide to Intermittent Fasting
• Complete Guide to Intermittent Fasting

Well, that's the basics, and like I said, I'll post another update after my next infusion appointment on the 29th. Wish me luck! I welcome any criticisms or commentary on my methods, or any suggestions for improvement.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend