5 Questions to Ask Yourself Daily

In my last blog, I answered some questions.  In this one, I'm asking you!

There are lots of ways to be healthy, and there will always be someone who thinks you're doing it wrong.  Should I go gluten free? Vegan? Paleo?  Is this just a fad diet?  The fact is, many people feel that we don't have enough information to truly define the most ideal diet.  With all the opposing opinions out there, how are you to know which one to follow?  That's an issue that stopped me - and seems to stop a lot of people - from getting healthy.  It's so easy to get overwhelmed in the world of information.

Don't let it stop you anymore.  With my small but dense experience with diet and lifestyle improvement, the first piece of advice that I give to anyone is to take control of your own health, and be willing to try things.  Doing research and consulting professionals is extremely important, but the most vital piece of the puzzle is paying attention to yourself and your journey.

With that said, I present my guide to keeping on top of your health:

No matter how you choose to be healthy or what practice you're following, you can't go wrong if you ask yourself these things every day.  As you're waking up or falling asleep, take five minutes to pay attention to yourself and nothing else.  You deserve it.

1. Are you reaching your goals?
   First, you have to ask yourself, is this even working?  While you shouldn't expect immediate results, some things don't work for everyone.  If the answer is perpetually "no," it's time to start thinking about switching it up. 
2. Are your goals healthy and obtainable?
   I don't like to get too bogged down on "goals," because I feel that they often lead to unsustainable choices.  But they can be a motivating factor to becoming healthy, as long as you make sure they are healthy, sustainable, and obtainable.  Checking in daily will help you be more comfortable with your progress and more understanding of your obstacles. 
3. What do you physically want?
   Are you always hungry? Do you want to just stay in bed?  Are you DYING to eat something in particular?  This is normal when you consciously change your diet.  Take a second to think about your specific cravings and what they actually mean.  For me, what I've noticed is this:  Salty = Dehydrated.  Sweet = Hungry in general.  It's a bit more complex than that, but that's a great starting point. 
4. How much energy do you have?
   It's important to ask yourself this question specifically because our energy level is something we choose to ignore very often.  You may not be feeling sick, but do you feel like getting up and moving?  How has your diet affected that?  When I went vegan, this was a benefit I had that I didn't expect at all, and a good indicator that I was doing the right thing.
5. How do you feel?Okay, maybe you're getting thinner, stronger, or prettier, but is it actually good for you?  Yes, your appearance is sometimes a representation of your health, but there are a lot of unhealthy shortcuts out there.  Whether you're working to improve your health or not, it's important to pay attention to your physical and emotional health every day.  Are you achey, stiff, sad, or sick?  There are obviously a lot of factors that can cause all of these things, but we often forget that diet is one of them.  Keep checking.

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think.  Have you paid attention to these things before?  Did it make a difference?

I'm excited to finish up my interviews for next week's Migraine Blog, so stay tuned for that!  I'm off to Croatia for the weekend, and excited to hear what you have to say when I get back.

Fooding Q and A

Hello again!  Haven't seen you in a while.  I gave myself a week off during Spring Break, and then had a long, difficult few days coming back.   I think posting this will make me feel a little better, even if it's not quite the length of my normal articles.  Still informative, none the less.

I managed to pull this little bug together in my post-Spring Break I-can't-remember-how-to-function state.  I compiled a list of questions from readers (people I begged to come up with questions), and answered them! Hooray.  There were lots of questions, all of which I hope to answer in the near future, but for now I picked my four favorites.

What kind of diet did you have for most of your life?

Before becoming vegan, I ate whatever I wanted, but I have always been at least a little careful about what I was eating.  I exercised really frequently and had an active lifestyle.  I paid attention to what I ate, and I very rarely ate fast food, drank soda, or prepared meals (like Hot Pockets and Ramen).  I was never that impressed by meat, and when I was in charge of what I ate, I rarely ate it.  With that said, I was a big fan of dairy.  Ice cream, cheese, big glasses of milk, baked goods - I indulged in all of them fairly frequently.  I have always been one of those "I could be vegetarian but I don't think I could ever be vegan" people.  It wasn't until my health slapped me in the face and told me to change that I even considered being vegan.  Now that I am, though, I keep finding more and more incentives to do so.

Is anyone in your family vegan, and do they support your decision?

I love this question.  First of all, no.  No one else in my family is vegan.  But everyone in my immediate family (we don't have time for my extended family) is conscious of what they eat and informed about their nutritional needs.  They also have very strong opinions about the optimal diet; some of which are similar to mine, and some of which are quite contrasting.

Each one of my four brothers has given me their uncensored opinion about what they think of my diet as only an older brother can.  I mean, there were very few significant decisions I made growing up that from which I didn't receive their uncensored opinions.  Needless to say, I have become quite good at defending my positions on things.  While it can be pretty tiring to have four geniuses giving input on the entirety of your childhood, it has made me very confident and motivated to be informed about what I do.  They agree with me on varying levels, but make sure to give me a hard time anyways.  :)

It was more important to me to make sure that my parents supported my decision, and I think they do.  They didn't jump on board immediately, and they still have hesitations, but I've done what I can to make sure they don't think I'm crazy or dying.  When the whole family is home for dinner, my mother accommodates both me and my Paleo brother, which is quite a feat!  She's very nice and also very good at cooking.  And both of my parents have began incorporating more plant based meals into their diet (which makes me so happy).  They're really supportive of what I do, as long as I assure them I'm thinking carefully and that it's making me happy.

I think I'm going to write another blog going into more detail about what I did to make sure they were on board, because I think it is a problem many people face.

Is it hard going to restaurants?

Is it hard going to the mall if you don't wear jeans?

Of course, it's not quite as simple as that; some restaurants are more accommodating than others.  I went to Chili's once, for example, and had one option: a salad ("with no chicken, please").  I had to eat again when I got home, and it wasn't that good.  (Off the record, why are you going to Chili's anyways?)  I have gone to sooooo many other restaurants and had a lot of options that were really good.  It all depends on the type of restaurant.  Really nice restaurants usually have plant based options because plants are delicious, and a lot of unspecialized places will have vegan and vegetarian options because they try to appeal to a large audience.  I have basically no problem in Florence, because every authentic restaurant has Ribolita (vegetable soup) and other vegan recipes that are always awesome.  It's the really specialized restaurants that are hardest; obviously there are not many options for me at a steak house.  However, there are many new restaurants that specialize in vegetarian and vegan food, so it can even out if you have an open mind.

The only times I feel limited in my options at restaurant are when I am traveling (and can't read the menu because I don't speak the language), or when I am with friends.  People get really touchy on this subject, but let's use the mall metaphor again.  If you don't wear jeans, you never have to go into a jeans store (let's pretend that jeans stores are a thing).  But if you're at the mall with your friends and they want to go to the jeans store, you don't protest.  You follow along, maybe check out the keychains, and you buy your things elsewhere.  If you are with your friends and they all want to go to a steak house, you can follow along, eat the free bread, get a drink, and eat somewhere else.  It doesn't sound convenient or fun, but it works.  Hopefully your friends won't make you go to the jeans store too often.

I love going to restaurants more now as a vegan than I did before.  If you have food that I want to eat, you are impressing me.  Though being more selective may seem like extra work, it also raises your standards.

Do you also not eat gluten?  Did you ever try going gluten-free to cure your migraines?

I still eat gluten.  I mean, sheesh, the craziness has to end somewhere, right?  It really wouldn't be that difficult to go without gluten, but it wouldn't be particularly fun.  And I feel really good about where I'm at with my diet/health without eliminating it completely.

I do, however, try to keep the amounts of gluten in check; it's really easy to overdo it when you don't eat animal products, and I definitely feel better after eating other cereals/starches/grains than I do after eating wheat.  It's also easy to overdo it in Italy.  It's so good here.  I have a lot of self control: I don't eat meat, dairy, eggs, or any other animal products.  But when the grocery store smells like fresh bread and a baguette is eighty cents, I have no choice.

If you are experiencing health issues, I would encourage you to try giving up gluten as an experiment.  It's easier than you think.  But I never did that for my migraines, because my first test worked so well! :)


Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for some interviews, recipes, and healthy habits, and as always, share your thoughts in the comments!