Is There A Perfect Human Diet?

This recently came into my inbox and I thought I'd share it.

Perfect Human Diet

As a person who has eliminated their symptoms of Fibromyalgia primarily through the use of dietary changes, such things are important to me to share. I get many emails per month asking me what I 'took' to 'get rid of [my] Fibromyalgia'. My answer is that I 'took' things out of my diet and 'took' new things into it. I don't keep my life free of pain, chronic fatigue, brain-fog, etc. with medicines. I do it with lifestyle. Sometimes, I fall off the wagon long enough to get a taste of why I got on the wagon in the first place, but really this just goes to serve me in making my lifestyle a more permanent change rather than one that I struggle to keep in place.

I used to have a really hard time with keeping out the gluten, gluten substitutes, and additives like xantham gum and carageenan. I used to sneak them in all the time.

I'm over it now. It's not a hard thing anymore to know that I have played with it. I have tried to find ways to allow it in my diet, and it failed. It hurts me in many ways, and my brain no longer tries to make excuses and suggestions on this. I just don't wander down those aisles in my store anymore.

I used to have a hard time prioritizing the cost of Fermented Cod Liver Oil in my budget. Then I tracked the difference in my health, energy, pain level, etc. when I was taking it versus not taking it. I don't have a problem prioritizing it anymore.

And such is the case with most of the components of my lifestyle. I have learned for myself through extensive research and trial, what my body needs.

Is life perfect? Nah. I still stay up too late sometimes. I still fail to allow myself space to let off the buildup of stress from this crazy world/time we live in. I forget to make time for strengthening my body beyond my daily chores. Yet, I am one of those people who can say that they are healthy, happy, clear of mind, and mostly free from dis-ease. After 16 years of treatment for incurables like Fibromyalgia, Depression, and Anxiety, that is no small thing.

So, here's to our health!

xoxo

P.S. If you're interested, I occasionally write about my health journey on Healing Rebel.

Off the Map

Years ago while I was pregnant with Nichola I sat in one of the four bedrooms of our brand new and ridiculously over sized house. It had two living rooms, two dining rooms and three bathrooms. It was my reality. It seemed 'normal' and I sat, feet propped on the desk, watching movies waiting to go into labor with my second baby.

One of the movies I watched was this unusual story of a family living in the bush. I loved it. It was moving, inspiring, and comforting. I thought of how it might be like to live like that - so free - but couldn't understand who could pull that off, or where. It would be four years before I would realize that the movie was filmed in and immediately around Taos, NM, where I now lived.

I've seen this movie at least four times and it never gets old. I see something new each time as I change and see with new eyes. The movie perfectly captures life out here. The story is wonderful, unlikely, and odd, but that is the case of so many souls around here. Our lives, the stories of how we came to be here, and how we make it work - off the map in the Wild West - are wonderfully odd and unlikely. Here it's just Taos. We're just Taoseños. It's just normal - in the most comforting way that unusual can be.

We know so many families and individuals that live this beautifully free life. We hope each day to be more like them.

I remember, not long after coming to New Mexico myself, more than twenty years ago, hearing almost exactly the same words spoken by Joan Allen in Off the Map: "New Mexico is a little overwhelming." And I remember, after having some time to acclimate myself, saying almost exactly the same words to others who found themselves a bit adrift upon settling here. Off the Map captures this power of place like no other film I have ever seen. New Mexico IS the central character of this film, the human characters being a part of that greater presence. But rather than working to diminish the human characters, it lends them all a bit of its own powerful presence.

On the surface, this is a quirky little movie about a lost soul who finds his purpose, his home, and his family in Northern New Mexico. It is also a coming of age story, and a story of a marriage. But each time I see it, I find an underlying beauty and depth I didn’t notice before. I find a truth in this film about relationships; with others, yes, but more importantly with self and with the power of place. I look forward to always finding more in Off the Map for years to come. ~Aimee

Watch it. You won't regret it.

Soundtrack to Life

There are two albums that I have been listening to regularly for the past 20 years. Outside of the Beatles, that I was introduced to much younger, they are the two most played albums in my collection.

I love them. I never get tired of them.



Union by Toni Childs

I was introduced this one by a friend of my father, and listened to it over and over for months after.

You can check it out here.









Ghost of a Dog by Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians

This I discovered in my dad's collection while on summer vacation. Again, I listened to it many times per day during the weeks that I had access, and then called to beg him for a copy.

Listen Here.

Holy Blizzard, Batman!

Mullein stalk in winter sunset - backyard

I was sitting in my plushy green rocker reading and heard a sound that was something between a semi-truck dragging a steel tube down the road, and the passing of a freight train. I looked up just in time to see a wall of white coming down the canyon. In less than two seconds the world was blotted out, and our house was consumed in the deep vibrating roar of a true blizzard.

Certainly we've seen a lot of snow, and have even seen a fair share of world swallowing storms, but it still doesn't fail to wake up the heart and pull the whole family out of their individual worlds to stand together at the window and gape. This one caught us quite off guard. We haven't bothered to check the weather in a good long time because it is the same every day: sunny, upper 40's to lower 50's.


Weird post blizzard sunset light

When I shuffled to the bathroom sometime just before dawn, half asleep, I was shocked to see the snow falling outside the window. I woke up enough to tell myself I didn't have my glasses on, and went back to bed expecting to wake up and find the world unchanged. How wrong I was. Tsk, tsk on us for being lulled into being ill prepared. We have very little wood on the porch, and someone is going to have to brave it to head out to the woodpile. Any guesses who's going to draw that straw? We should have known yesterday when Jeff announced that he really ought to chop some wood. He has a sixth sense like that, but alas it was 51 degrees and we all shrugged and went back to the chores that were 'clearly more important'. :-p

And just like that it's winter again. 28 degrees presently.

Ah, well...

Here's to excuses for midday hot chocolate!

;-)

Students, Subarus, and Seeds!

Ayeeee! I'm officially a student at UNM. I'll be taking a drawing class and a creative nonfiction class. Woot!

I'm also taking a writing workshop that I am SO excited about.

We've been rearranging the house to create new space for my desk that better fits the 'sacred space' ideals.

We've also been talking about getting a second car. This is something that neither of us wanted to do for several reasons. It's been a long process of weighing our values to come to a decision on this. We do not like the fuel usage of our Suburban for making trips to town, and especially to Santa Fe. It gets a whopping 10 mpg, which is not only painfully expensive, but also feels wasteful. However, we cannot get rid of it because it is necessary for several reasons. Jeff needs it to haul logs, pull them down from the slopes, etc. We need a powerful 4x4 vehicle with high clearance and large tires to make it up and down our driveway in the winter, and pull out the unfortunate visitors who don't realize their vehicles can't make it. :)

Now with my classes, the kids' ballet classes, and Quinn's ski lessons, we're going to be using the truck practically every day and the beastly nature of it's size and fuel inefficiency are painfully apparent. Now that Nichola is old enough for a booster instead of her huge car seat we can fit everyone in a smaller vehicle than we could with two huge carseats and poor Quinn trying to fit between them. Alas, I think it is time for the truck to limited to it's proper place as a work and impossible driveway truck.

We'll be looking for an old AWD Subaru wagon.

Also, this month, we'll be ordering our seeds for this year's gardens. It's only 10 degrees right now, so it feels weird to be planning seeds already, but there are many that will have to be started in February to be ready for planting... so here we go!