Turn that frown upside down

So I woke up this morning feeling worn out. Not sure why. I'd had weird dreams, which never helps, and somewhere between sorting laundry and listening to Atticus pout because he couldn't get his pee back from the sewer, I felt myself start to collapse inside. I'm not going to make it today.

So I got on my knees and prayed, Father, be my strength today, because I just don't have any. Then I had this conversation with myself:

So I put on my gym clothes and got Atticus and his friend to school on time, then hit the gym. I decided I'd skip the step class and just do 30 minutes on the elliptical, if that--getting there was an accomplishment, so I didn't need to go full-bore. But after I got there and on the machine, I started feeling pretty good. I pushed myself up to higher resistance on the machine, and afterward I felt good enough to do weights, squats, and abs. I felt great when I left. 

Came home, made a healthy kale-berry-whey smoothie, put in some laundry and took a shower. Complete turnaround. I wouldn't say that today was hyper productive, but I washed AND PUT AWAY four loads of laundry, had a healthy lunch, did the dishes, and paid the bills. So I also had a couple bowls of ice cream and we had pb&j for dinner, but oh well. Can't expect greatness every day...

Today could have gone a very different way, and I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father that it didn't. It's a lot easier to "just do it" with His help.

Observation

Getting an MRI* is like being trapped inside a dot-matrix printer. Very 1960s sci-fi.

*Went in for shin splints, doctor found a bone cyst and wanted a closer look. Very likely benign, but we'll know more in a couple days. Considering how much this test is going to cost us, I'm kinda hoping for it to be abnormal--but not life-threatening, of course.

UPDATE: MRI was normal. We'll take some xrays in a couple months to make sure nothing has changed.

A small gripe

You know, some things just rub me the wrong way. Like people putting the Word of Wisdom label on their own personal brand of nutrition. For example, in college I found a book called The Word of Wisdom Diet, which banned meat, salt, and sugar. The recipes were pretty good (Dad's response to one recipe for stuffed peppers: "It would be better with meat and salt"), but I don't think the Word of Wisdom prohibits those things.

Then the other day I came across a new blog called Word of Widsom Living. It's nicely designed, and the photographs are lovely. Their ideas are pretty straightforward and nutritionally sound: eat more whole grain, limit sugar and fried foods, etc. But still it irks me. I mean, the Word of Wisdom doesn't say anything about sugar or fried foods. Would we be better off avoiding those things? Sure. But that's not the commandment.

I have a testimony of the Word of Wisdom, and I admit that I don't follow the guidelines as well as I would like to. But apart from a few specific prohibitions, the guidelines are broad, and for good reason. I believe that it's up to each of us decide for ourselves what the commandment means in our lives. In Relief Society once a woman made the comment that she had some health problems, and through much prayer and study, she understood what the WoW meant for her. She didn't specify details, and I was tempted to go ask, but then I realized that what fits her needs may not be what I need.

So there's my soapbox for the day: your diet/lifestyle program/nutritional guidelines may have much merit, but please don't call it the Word of Wisdom.

Thanks.

Loping through the Lavender

This morning my mom and I participated in a 5K at the Young Living Lavender Farm. Young Living Essential Oils is one of myriad health-related multilevel marketing companies in Utah County, and they happen to have a huge lavender field in Mona, Utah, south of Santaquin and just north of the edge of nowhere. Here we are at the starting line:

The guy in the hat behind us is the CEO of the company, and he started the race with a shotgun. Later there would be a staged gunfight in which he played Wyatt Earp. We left before that event. My mom thought ahead and dressed appropriately in lavender. I didn't. Oops.

Here we are toward the end of the race. I was able to run most of the way (walking no more than 2-3 minutes at a time), so I finished ahead of my mom, who was walking. So I came back and met up with her so we could finish together.

I had to include both pictures, because she looks better in one and I look better in the other. No hope for my hair, though. It would not be contained this morning.

After the race there was muffins and fruit and trying to find our times. They only had the first 300 people or so posted (out of over 1,000), and we weren't on that list. So I have no idea how long it took me.

It was hard--the longest I've ever run--but once it was done I was already thinking about the next race, the one where I'd run the whole time, not stopping even once. Maybe I'll find one in the fall when it's not so hot. It was an odd feeling for this natural couch potato. I can see how people get hooked on this stuff.

Grapefruit? Really?

In addition to diet and exercise, I started taking prescription drugs about a week ago to help lower my cholesterol. But just a couple days ago I noticed a warning on the bottle I hadn't seen before: "Do not eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice at any time while taking this medication."

I laughed out loud. Grapefruit? What could be wrong with grapfruit? And wouldn't you know it, I'd just bought grapefruit a few days before.

So I looked it up online and apparently grapefruit interacts with the enzymes that break down the medication, which can lead to potentially toxic buildup of the drugs in your body. There's no evidence that any other citrus fruit has the same reaction.

So, um, anybody want a free grapefruit?