There are days where I can’t walk. I don’t know why but sometimes I will simply stand up and my knees will start screaming and I can barely move. Is it the weather? I hope not because Iowa weather flips on a dime so my knees do not have the luxury of being finicky. Is it overuse? I don’t think so because somedays it happens after I’ve had several good cardio days in a row and somedays it happens after I’ve taken a day off – almost like my knees have to move just to be happy. All I know is that there is pain and inflammation. I’m guessing I probably have a lot of inflammation in my body – I rode it hard when I was younger and waking up with muscle aches and soreness was an everyday occurrence. I didn’t think twice about my body asking for a break and instead pushed it to do what I told it to, regardless if it was exhausted or injured. This is my delayed gift – crippling pain that requires me to grab my cane to simply make it up the stairs. Paybacks are a bitch.
I try to manage my inflammation with healthy doses of
Vitamin I (ibuprofen) and resentful rest days. I wondered if there was more I
could do – maybe changing my diet would help reduce the inflammation in my
body. I googled an anti-inflammation diet. Here’s what I found:
1. Eat fruits and vegetables. Piece of cake. I love
these.
2. Avoid process meats. Okay, well I don’t love
meat so this one isn’t too bad.
3. Avoid sugar. Um, huh? I’ll admit, I knew this
dumb one would be on the list because it’s on every list. I want to find the
diet that says eat more sugar. I’m on board for that one.
4. Eat oily fish. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Fish is
disgusting. End of story. I can’t. I’m gagging thinking about it. Nothing is
worth eating fish.
5. Eat legumes. Okay, I’m down with beans. Much
better suggestion than the fish thing.
6. Drink tea. They mean caffeinated tea right? The
beverage I grab after I have had at least 2 large cups of coffee? Sure!
7. Avoid white flours. Sweet Mother. No sugar and
no white bread? Not shocking as these are the anti-nutrition twins but maybe
knee pain isn’t so bad. A life without cupcakes is also crippling.
Lately I’ve been thinking of inflammation and realized that
it isn’t just physical. The last several months (as in 24) have been
challenging between a divorce, the Trump administration (I swing blue) and a
pandemic. I’m at the two year anniversary of the morning my husband told me he
wanted a divorce and while these past two years have been full of wins and
adventure, I can’t say they haven’t been without their challenges either. And
in my usual fashion, I pushed through because quitting wasn’t an option, even when
my brain begged for a break. But now I find myself fatigued, irritable,
uninspired and overwhelmed and I realize that maybe my mind and spirit are
inflamed too. They have not had many rest days in the past two years. Now, am I
overall much happier? 100%. But has it been easy? No. Broken hearts littered my
house – we needed a broom to sweep up the shattered dreams and hearts. And now
the constant tension of a pandemic hanging over our heads has gotten old. We
are in full pandemic/life fatigue and it is showing. Our hearts and minds are
inflamed and there isn’t enough Advil in the world to numb it out.
So what’s an anti-inflammation diet look like for the heart,
soul and mind? Here’s my best guess after absolutely no research.
1. No social media. No, I haven’t watched The
Social Dilemma yet – it’s on my list! But you have to be hiding under a rock to
not figure out that our social media accounts feed our anxiety and constant
comparison to others. And one thing I know for sure is that comparison is the
enemy of happiness. Social media is also a great platform for cruelty and hate.
Now, I love cat videos and Calvin and Hobbes comics as much as the next person.
But maybe it’s time to pass on Facebook for awhile. Instagram….well I really do
love those cat videos.
2. Journaling. Something about putting pen to paper
(or keys to a white screen) opens up my heart and mind and I somehow work out
all of the problems I have in the world. I don’t know why this works but sometimes
I am amazed at how wise I am when I am writing to myself. It’s unfortunate that
this wisdom doesn’t often go further than my journal, but hey, that’s why we
have Brene Brown and my next item on the list…
3. Therapy. Friends. Go to therapy. I can’t stress
enough how important finding the right therapist is for your mental and
emotional health. You take your car to the mechanic for an oil change. It’s the
same idea. Take your mind and heart in for a tune up too. You’d be surprised
how dirty the oil is that your brain has been sitting in. Flush it out. Or
drain it? I don’t know. I’m no mechanic. Or therapist.
4. Moving my body. My mind is healthier when I move
my body. When I’ve had too many rest days, I am not in a good head space.
Something about moving my body makes everything right in the world. And 96% of
the time, if I’ve gone for a run in the morning, I will have a good day. I like
to sweat out the stress. I do know that if I am very angry, I have to run more
than 12 miles to get that out of my system (tested this one out once.) But
thankfully “furious” doesn’t happen too much anymore. Most of my ugly can be
worked out after 2-3 miles these days.
5. Meditating. My mind is an epic disaster. It’s
like a roundabout that only leads to more roundabouts and they are all two-way
and the drivers are all blindfolded. But TRYING to calm my brain for 15 minutes
a day is better than nothing. And very occasionally I achieve silence…then I
get really excited and starting thinking about how great it is…and then my mind
is back on the roundabout again. But for those few seconds, it’s worth it.
6. Sleep. Oh I love sleep and yet hate “wasting
time” laying in bed. I hate sleeping in. I wake up and feel so far behind in my
day that I am instantly anxious. But I also recognize that sleep is when our
minds, guts, and bodies in general heal. And that’s the whole point of this
exercise. I have to start practicing sleep more.
So as we approach a new year and start thinking of detoxing
and anti-inflammation diets, maybe it’s time we look beyond just the body and
dive into the heart and soul too. I know I need it after 2020. And goodness
knows, fasting from Facebook is way more fun than fasting from food. In fact, being
hungry just fills me with rage and I know that I don’t have the ability to run
that kind of anger off anymore. Maybe I won’t have as many cookies with my (ahem)
tea but I’m going to be make sure I’m caring for my spirit as much as my body moving
forward. And sometimes that spirit wants a cookie. And in that case, she gets a cookie. She's as important as my knees - I can't run without her.
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