Tag Archives: Dancing

Shelley’s May 3 Top Ten

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Hello! It’s Friday, May 3, 2019. I haven’t written anything since February I think. So I’m just going to hit the highlights…

BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT – My A1c is below 5.7 and I NO LONGER HAVE PREDIABETES!!

  1. I didn’t run the Shamrock Shuffle at the beginning of March and I’m still mad at myself. I got behind in my training, and then it was bitterly cold on race day. My bad hip doesn’t do we at all in really cold weather, so I opted out. #wimpy
  2. I DID compete in fancy shawl at Buffalo Run Powwow in Miami, OK and I felt pretty good. 🙂 #goalaccomplished
  3. I am now an After-Hours Crisis Screener (in addition to my WRAP Therapist job) and credentialed at our local hospital. Extra clinical hours, additional experience, and supplemental pay. #winning
  4. My social work license is up for renewal this month and I am 3 Ethics CEUs short of my required hours. #help
  5. I’m presently experiencing my 1st allergy attack of 2019 and my right nostril won’t stop running. #soggytissue #WHYjusttherightside
  6. Constant debate of whether I want relief from allergy symptoms with Zyrtec, or do I want to function like a normal being – alert, awake,upright, coherent – and take an antihistamine that doesn’t work as well? #decisions
  7. I already forgot what I was going to write for #7
  8. I have some kinda crazy inflammation, blemish-looking, itchy spots on my forehead that won’t go away. #WhatISthat
  9. The constant rainy and cloudy weather has me using a Verilux lamp at my desk – thank you to my boss for loaning it to me. Helps stimulate Vitamin D production to alleviate symptoms of seasonal depression. #mentalhealthawarenessmonth
  10. I want to go home…yet here I sit….blogging….and procrastinating on some documentation I need to do. #sendhelp #seriously

Ok, back to my notes.

Training Updates And Galloway 5K review

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Hello! I have a little less than 2 weeks left of the 8-week wellness challenge and also a little less than 2 weeks until the Shamrock Shuffle 5K!! I have not missed my 2 sessions per week of weight training, and I felt an improvement in my dancing on February 9, when I danced fancy shawl at the Welcome Back Powwow. I can officially last a whole song without my legs giving out. Last year at the end of the season, I was still only good for 3 starts before my legs went. I felt good enough to exhibition with the young girls and discovered I need to work back up to 2 songs. Lol. The legs went about halfway through, but in my defense, it was a very fast song. 😀

The 5K training is a little different story. I haven’t been able to get 3 workouts per week in consistently. My weight training is my priority, and my plan was to run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However, I’ve been really sore from the weight training sessions, and so Wednesdays have turned into another rest day. And making my training time a priority on Fridays or Saturdays have been challenging for me. I’ve been able to get 2 running workouts in consistently, and then doing a dance practice or walking my doggies when I can’t make it up to the indoor track. Twice the weather has been nice enough for me to run outside around my neighborhood, but running on concrete is tough on the joints so I try not to do that too much. I stay away from treadmills too because it puts an extra strain on my bad hip. So I do what I can, but I am running behind in the 7-week training app schedule. I’m sticking with what I can do though…not giving up. My goal is to run the entire 5K, but if I have to walk some to keep me from getting injured, then so be it. I’ll be honest, I’m gonna be mad if I have to walk. Lol.

I’m not quite sold yet on the Galloway app. It gives you many training options. You can select the type of interval you want to run, but I guess I’m not used to having that many choices. Lol. I’ve used the Couch-to-5K app and I really liked the scheduled build-up in longer running intervals. With the Galloway App, I have to pick my own intervals, which is good I guess, but I didn’t realize I had options to choose from until I plunked around on the app for a bit. I’m not sure I like him talking through my intervals either. You can synch a playlist with the app, but the app will change the speed of your songs and I didn’t care for the sped up version of “River Deep, Mountain High”. The jury is still out, so to speak.

And I derailed myself from my keto WOE for over a week….I’ve got a good plan in place to address emotional or stress eating, but I still need to find a way to stay with my eating plan while in the midst of times of obsessive beading or sewing. When I’m on a deadline or I just REALLY want to get something done because I’m excited about it, my eating goes right out the window. I’ve created a habit over the years where I’ve paired long crafting sessions with “crafting snacks”….meaning sugary or high carb snacks…..I want and need to create a different association between food and crafting.

So there’s my updates!! Still trying to keep myself accountable and getting back on track instead of chucking it all and staying off track. I have a 5K to run and I am going to shawl dance on March 30!!!! Keeping my enthusiasm alive!!!!

Ketogenic Diet Witness

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keto diet blog pic

Here is the blog post I’ve wanted to write for months. I wrote about Intermittent Fasting (IF), giving up artificial sweeteners, gut health, and how effective those things were for me. What I hadn’t written about to-date, is my first experience with the Ketogenic Diet, and now my return to it.

Back in May 2018, after I competed in a shawl dance competition for the first time for an entire powwow, I decided to give the keto diet a whirl. I was getting ready to begin another wellness challenge, and I noticed the benefits of IF and giving up the Splenda on my joints and eliminating my sugar cravings. I follow Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Eric Berg on social media, and I read Dr. Fung’s book, as well as the book pictured above. What intrigued me the most was not the weight loss, but the anti-inflammatory benefits of the diet, and being pre-diabetic still, the positive impact it would have on my labs/bloodwork. I got my labs done and found my A1c had come down another point from a high of 6.1 to 5.9. I have yet to check it again, but I have plans to in May 2019.

When I started keto in May 2018, I experienced what people call the “keto flu”, which is actually withdrawal symptoms from carbohydrates. I made a homemade electrolyte drink that my sister-friend Makyla sent to me and that helped alleviate the flu-like symptoms. Once I got through that, prepping my  lunches was fairly easy because I was lowering my carb intake for a few months prior. I did not do the high fat thing very well….I didn’t use it as an excuse to eat fatty meat and bacon, etc. But I did lost about 5 lbs in my first week. I checked my ketones regularly and knew I was in ketosis. Overall, the keto diet contributed to me losing 22 lbs from my highest weight at the beginning of 2018. The biggest benefits for me were that it gave me good energy all day long, and I didn’t have many food cravings. It also reduced the inflammation in my bad hip enough to where I ran my first 5K in years one month in. I danced jingle dress all summer and even got to the point where I was able to compete in fancy shawl and a few more powwows. I was feeling like my old self. It was very difficult to maintain at powwows, but it is difficult to maintain any healthy way of eating when you are on the road and away from your own kitchen, so that’s not really an excuse.

But I fell off over the summer, and I fell off further in the fall and early winter of 2018. I gained all my weight back because I wasn’t managing my work stress. I was very sporadic with my workouts with Travis and I felt tired all the time. The plus side is I got my crafting mojo back and that felt great!!! I made some beautiful things for my husband and kids and other close friends. I volunteered in my community and continued to attend my Al-Anon meetings and do my step-work with my sponsor. So it definitely wasn’t all bad. I look at it now as a time where I deepened my learning and deepened my work on my personal healing, and how that will help me balance and manage the stress from the challenges that will always be a part of life.

I wrote about joining the wellness challenge the beginning of January. And I started back on keto January 6. I was able to get back into ketosis within 3 days with no sleep issues and no keto flu. And I lost 5.8 lbs my first week back. I haven’t missed a day of training with Travis and I’m working my 5K training plan. We have had some really yucky weather here in KS for the past few weeks, but being in ketosis and reducing the inflammation has made it to where my joints don’t ache at all when the barometric pressure drops. I have so much energy, which is amazing because I’ve had alot of demands on my schedule and personal resources. I’ve been able to meet the demands on my time and energy and feel good about it.

The biggest difference for me is my approach and mindset. I truly believe that keto is working for me because I’ve embraced this Way of Eating (WOE). I’m committed to eating non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and good sources of protein. I’ve read over Whole 30 blogs and articles and one thing that struck me was how the Whole 30 diet does not have any recipes for “whole 30 brownies” or any other substitutes for the sweet and crunchy foods we have a type of dependence on. They said that trying to find substitutes for sweets and starchy goodness while on Whole 30 was like “sex with your pants on”. Lol. That’s where I was on the wrong track before. I wanted the benefits of keto without giving up the foods that were making me sick in the first place. My sister tried to explain this very thing to me a few years ago, but it didn’t click with me then. It has clicked with me now with resonance. I no longer look for recipes for fake sweets like muffins or cakes that use almond flour and a lot of artificial sweetener. Same with coffee drinks and other sources of sugar that I craved before. This time around, the ketogenic WOE is a complete mind-shift. I’m not focused on weight-loss, I’m focused on pain-management and energy. I don’t weigh myself with any regularity because I’m focused on managing the day to day things I want to do to treat my body with respect and reverence. I feel stronger, I can see the definition in my legs returning. And I did a fancy shawl dance practice yesterday and my legs felt great!!!!!

So there’s my keto testament. It’s not for everybody, so I won’t be a member of the “keto-police”, but I am happy to share what it’s done for me.

 

 

 

No More Excuses

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I’ll be honest. I am an awesome, one of the best really, “excuse-makers”.

I can find a reason (read: excuse) for anything. I believe I honed this skill in my early college years where I earned a plethora of “W” (withdraw) and “I” (Incomplete) grades that still show on all my transcripts. I’ve used this skill to account for slacking on schoolwork, graduate papers, studying, housework, balancing my checkbook, sewing, beading, doctor’s visits (such as my annual mammogram), eating healthy, and working out. I’ve gotten by because I can usually pull something together at the last minute. I know my life is much simpler when I force myself out of my excuse-making tendencies, but that doesn’t keep me from making excuses consistently in order to enable my mindset. 🙂

This is a wellness blog. Yet my blogging is sporadic because I’ve come up with some of the best excuses for either not blogging consistently, or not practicing wellness habits consistently. Some of them were very valid at the time….I’ve had good honest reasons why I’ve fallen off the wellness wagon time and time again. But once those reasons or issues have been addressed and I still am not back on the wagon again…then they become an excuse.

So…in an effort to be brutally honest with myself….here are my best “reasons” for the past few years for not feeling like I was capable of practicing healthy habits. 2012 I remember as my last best year for wellness….I was running 5K races consistently and I felt great about myself. So let’s start there.

  1. Hip Osteoarthritis – this was a biggie. The OA diagnosis and the inevitable total hip replacement was huge. Mentally and emotionally it was tough…having to face the prospect on never shawl dancing again or running again. Then the actual hip pain made it hard to workout, and even harder to want to work out.
  2. Depression – this stemmed from the OA diagnosis, the unknown of total hip replacement surgery, not finding a good coping mechanism besides running, surgery recovery, marital issues, a pre-diabetes diagnosis, and job dissatisfaction. I often felt alone and lonely in my depression, which made motivation scarce and just about non-existent.
  3. Career Change – I wanted to get out of community health administration, and out of the 100 mile round-trip daily commute, and go back into clinical social work at a local agency. I needed to job search, study for my licensure exam, and get out of my comfort zone to follow my passion. That was all extremely stressful and daunting and I didn’t know if I could do it.

Those are the major ones. Every single one of them I allowed to take precious time away from me and what I wanted to do take care of me and my family. I was able to find a million excuses for not treating my body and my spirit well out of all of those 3 big categories. All 3 categories all fed off each other as well and just made things seem bigger and bigger and bigger, until I was overwhelmed on the regular.

So here is where I’m at now and where the excuses end.

  1. Hip OA – I’ve had one hip replaced and know exactly what to expect with my 2nd surgery. My recover was, upon reflection, fairly easy due to my age and my physical strength prior to surgery. My right hip has no more pain and normal range of motion. I got clearance to begin training to shawl dance last June, and I actually danced in a fancy shawl special at KU powwow last month. My left hip is still bad but I know with weight loss and supplements, and possibly a cortisone shot, I can put off surgery for another year or so. My arches hurt from the excess weight, but I have good shoes with arch supports for work and working out.
  2. Depression – I’ve been managing the symptoms with anti-depressant meds. I feel much more positive and self-sufficient than last year at this time. I am getting ready to start tapering off my meds now that things that overwhelmed me have settled down. We got a dog and he is the best thing for mental health. He is awesome and brings so much joy to us. My marriage is much better due to praying together daily. I am finding walking very enjoyable, especially with my big puppy. My sleep has improved and I don’t feel the food cravings often associated with a depressed mood. I went on a social media fast and that was an eye-opener…how the negativity on social media can permeate your brain and your mood. My now-elevated mood helps me feel motivated. I downloaded “The Secret Daily Teachings” app on my phone and it always has good positive words that I read every morning.
  3. Career Change – I successfully passed my master social worker licensure exam. I found an awesome job as a therapist at a local community mental health center. I work in a middle school so I work school hours. My job is 3.5 miles from my home. I love this work…the kids are awesome and so are the staff here. I worked through any internal difficulties I was having at my old job and I was able to leave on good terms….which felt amazing.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and my husband and kids gave me gifts all designed to get me healthy and strong again….new runners, new running tops, phone armband. I can’t use time as an excuse because I am home shortly after my kids get home. So I have time to cook earlier, time to get housework done, and time to walk or do something with my kids. I truly have no more excuses. I’m sure I can find some, since I’ve gotten so good at it over the years. I need to use my powers for good and not idleness. Lol. I should turn it around and make excuses TO BE HEALTHY for once.


So TODAY is the day of “No More Excuses”. It’s Day 1. I got my baseline info for Day 1 in the form of weighing myself and taking a picture. 🙂 I overslept this morning and ALMOST caved and said “Day 1 can start tomorrow.” Hahahaha. But I didn’t. That’s a good sign. See, I could have easily used that as an excuse to delay Day 1 but I did not.

I made myself take a few minutes for breakfast instead of running out the door since I was running late. My vanilla strawberry smoothie with cashew milk, vanilla Weight Watchers smoothie mix and 1 cup of fresh strawberries was only 1 carbohydrate serving.  My plan today is either to walk Mickey or ride the new bike my dad got me for my birthday (lack of a bike was a prior excuse to not exercise when my joints were hurting). I have a place to workout at the Sports Pavilion if the weather is bad. They have a nice indoor track and good cardio equipment.

I need to make myself accountable, so I will do my best to jot something here each day. I want to document this new journey. This is more for me than for you, but if you get something positive out of it as well, then that’s a bonus.

Here we go. Day 1. I’ll write later how it goes. #Letsdoodis

 

Some Thoughts on “National Day of Running”

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Today is the “National Day of Running”. I assisted in getting a couple of my friends/relatives running several years ago, and we helped found a local American Indian running group called The Smoking Moccasins. Some highly motivated individuals then created a youth running group for local Native Youth called The Mini Mocs.

I miss running. So I try to run a little bit with Shelby now. I have to accommodate my hip arthritis by changing my stride and my foot strike. Where I once had a mid-foot strike, I now have to focus on a fore-foot strike, so that my feet and ankles will absorb most of the impact. Then I have to shorten my stride to accommodate the new fore-foot strike and also to keep myself low to the ground. I can’t bound like I used to, again in an effort to minimize what impact I can on my hip joints. So I’m running. It’s not pretty and it’s not fast…it’s not even continuous. I feel like an agitated turtle at times. But I am running.

I had some thoughts on running yesterday and updated my FaceBook status. I decided to turn that update into a blog entry since it coincides with today’s running holiday. 🙂

I remember dancing at Prairie Island Wacipi in 2007, the year after I had Sara. We had to contest Sunday afternoon in the blistering heat. It was so hot the heat from the ground just burned right through the bottoms of our moccasins. Our brother Clay Crawford said to me, “Do you and Joe run outside in that Kansas heat? It really must help. Everyone else looks like the heat is getting to them except for you two.” Lol.

What I remember from my running days is that yes, training in the heat (not in the hottest part of the day, but when the heat was still high) helped with my powwow conditioning. Also running outside on the cross country trail. The combination of running outside and on grass or gravel was very effective. When you run on an uncontrolled surface, it strengthens all the little helper muscles in your feet, ankles, and knees in order to keep your joints stable. Ideal training for shawl dancers and fancy dancers to prepare to dance on grass. It kept my ankles from rolling as much they used to even after I had my kids.

I’m seeing videos and snaps of young powwow dancers running on treadmills. My strong advice: If you have a safe place to do so, get outside and find some grass or gravel to run on. If you live somewhere blistering hot then run early in the morning or in the evening before dark. If you run races and train on grass, you will be able to fly when you race on a controlled surface. I noticed the difference when I started to rely more on treadmill runs than cross country trail runs. One of the first times my sister ever beat me in a 5K was because she trained on grass while I ran on pavement or on a treadmill. When we got onto a controlled surface, she was just fast.

Running on grass or gravel is better for your joints that running on concrete or a treadmill, (unless you have existing knee issues, then running on an uncontrolled surface may not feel so great). But if you don’t have access to a safe place to run on a soft surface, running on any surface is better than doing nothing.

That’s my public health PSA for today. Thank you. Lol.

Strength Training Motivation….finally.

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I’ve been having a great summer so far. Dancing when we can, and doing alot of sewing. Different factors determine how my arthritis feels from day to day….my diet, the weather, if my hip is out, etc. I’ve noticed that my recovery time from dancing at powwows is longer than it used to be. I’m very sore until Wednesday following a powwow. It makes it difficult to work-out on a regular basis between powwows because some days I am so sore that I can’t bring myself to go to the gym and it hurts to walk. I just try to be patient, try to manage the inflammation with my diet and rest, but it is taking a toll on my conditioning.

I danced at Prairie Island Wacipi 2 weekends ago. A family “adopted” me, took me as a daughter in that community, so it’s always felt like my 2nd home. My adopted dad has been gone for 10 years now, and this year dancing in his home community was the best experience I’ve had in years.

That wonderful spirit I felt in the arena, and outside of the arena….getting to visit with friends I had only known through FaceBook, seeing old friends I haven’t seen in years, and having so much fun dancing and spending time with my family and extended family….was such a good experience that it’s hard to put into words.

What I can describe is how it has motivated me since then. Yes, it still took several days after we returned home from PI to stop being sore. Took several days to feel rested. But I found a renewed interest in strength building after PI. I used to lift weights regularly, it always enhanced my running and dancing and other training. But ever since I had my 2nd baby, I have had ZERO desire to get back into the weight room. And my 2nd baby is 8 years old now. Something about dancing at PI this year made me want to get stronger….not like dance for 10 songs strong (which I can’t do right now anyway), but to really concentrate on increasing my muscle mass. I think I’ve realized that my path back to running and to continuing to dance will not rely on cardio conditioning alone. I need to focus on getting stronger. If I have strong muscles, those will support my joints more effectively. Did I mention before how darn heavy my new beadwork and shawls are?? Yes…strong muscles will help me support my heavy outfit too. Lol.

So tonight I headed for the stadium steps. When I was recovering from my 2 C-sections (not by choice) and I wasn’t cleared to run, I walked. Walking quickly became boring and I couldn’t seem to get my heart-rate up. So I started walking stadium stairs. That was the fastest way to safely increase my cardio and muscle mass. And it helped immensely with my dancing. Today I picked up my kids and nephew from bible school and we headed for the track. I did 1.5 stadiums and sets of girl push-ups (yes, GIRL push-ups…gotta start somewhere) in between stadium sides. I thought about doing another half a stadium, but I’m trying to train smart and not over-do it when I haven’t walked steps in forever. My kids did a run/walk program I downloaded on my phone around the track while I was on the stairs.

Tomorrow I’m going to get on the elliptical only long enough to warm up and then I’m hitting the weights at the fitness center at my work. Free weights, some machines and some planks. I’ll announce when tickets to the “GUN SHOW” are ready to go on sale….hahahaha.

My search for wellness continues….it’s a constant learning process as I figure out how to best deal with osteo-arthritis. But I feel like I’m still moving forward and that’s what matters most to me. It matters that I keep trying. It matters that I don’t give in to OA. It matters that I still have a goal of running one of these days. I refuse to give up on my own health.

#GoDownSwinging