“Fear is not your enemy. It is a compass pointing you to the areas where you need to grow.” – Steve Pavina

I came across this quote today and it stopped me. I shared it in yoga. I felt compelled to share it here. But I can’t exactly explain why it resonated so much with me. I’m wondering if I just needed to hear it, or maybe someone else needed to hear it. Or perhaps I’m denying just how relevant it is to me right now because that’s sometimes hard to face.

I tend to be a sporadic blogger and I really don’t mean to be. I think consistency is considerably better. But I also have a really private side to me and putting things out here isn’t always the easiest to do, so I look for ways to share information or recipes or something of value, while not wanting to entirely open up. What if I say something ridiculous? Wrong? Boring? Negative? Sometimes what I want to say is more, deeper, heavier, more truthful, more vulnerable – and then I don’t. It occurred to me, though, that the most impactful thing I can do is share from the heart because there is always more information or knowledge to be found elsewhere. Here, I’m just sharing me and what I’ve experienced or come across. With a couple days of blogging done, I started worrying. Thank you for the comments, private messages, and support I’ve received – you keep me going.

I want to say a thing about carbs. There’s a lot of stuff floating around about low carb, keto, no carb etc. Each person gets to make their own decisions about what works best for their bodies. I found that keto didn’t make me feel my best so I’ve shifted back to a more traditional Paleo way of eating. In the past I’ve generally tended to keep my carbs a bit lower, maybe having a starchy carb at lunch or dinner only. This week, however, I’ve been having plantains or sweet potatoes at meals and or snacks more frequently because I know that my mind will be looking for the carbs as I transition into eating cleaner. What I don’t want is to be fighting my mind over bread or sweets so I’m using this week to test how it feels to take in a few more carbs but from sources that support my health. Depending on how I feel, I may keep the extra carbs or not. I need to see how I feel with my workouts and the regular day to day, as well as cravings and mood swings, which I haven’t had any of so far. According to the Whole30 Timeline, Days 4-5 are moody and angry days. If a little sweet potato helps stabilize those hormones then I’m in!

I’m still not feeling 100% after eating today but I don’t think it qualifies as full-blown carb flu or anything like that. I just feel bloated. Kind of like my gut biome is adjusting to the change and hasn’t fully transitioned yet. It’s still early though. And I took a nap. Just 15 minutes, but it felt so incredibly luxurious to rest a few moments. I will be curious to see if the nap goes away with steady energy throughout the day or if it stays. Naps are so good! And I work at 5am and then again in the evening so it helps keep me feeling fresh. But really, no excuse is necessary. Entire countries take naps and I think we really should too. Sleep is so important and we are often short on it.

Food Scene

Breakfast – 2 eggs with sautéed cabbage, avocado, kraut, plantain

Lunch – Barbacoa salad with tons of veggies and vinegar and oil, a chunk of sweet potato (like 1/3 of a cup), kiwi

Snack – Cherries, couple bites of turkey and spaghetti squash casserole

Dinner – I work at 5:30 so this is a weird day for me. I usually eat more during the day or dinner at 4:45 because I don’t like to eat right before bed. I’ll probably have some spaghetti squash casserole and call it good.

Exercise

I thought I’d add a little bit about my exercise so that I can see how my eating is affecting it or how the exercise is affecting my eating. The last two days were HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts that definitely kicked my butt.

Today…yoga. Probably a walk with the dog in the evening. It’s 100 degrees right now so my dog doesn’t think we should go out. 😉

Shine bright. xo