Comeback

Two-year battle with complex post traumatic stress disorder left me in physical shambles. Thank you to all of you who were supportive during those years. Particularly Mani, Hamma and Springwheat. I know I was so full of anger and hurt it was like all of the love I had always had in my heart was just erased from me. Support of family and friends like you guys, plus sculpting, diet, excercise is what helped me and I just wanted to share a key thing. ...because I know this is a gaming forum and gamers have a tendency to forget about taking care of themselves.

Those of you who saw me at the rally realize I was a far cry from top shape I was in years ago at 103 pounds and North Carolina Women's Taekwondo State Champion. At the Rally I was probably about 10 pounds over my ideal weight, but at that point I had started getting back into shape with vegan diet, Yoga, kick boxing, strike, rock climbing. It's crazy how fast everything comes back when you really focus effort.

Both my Father and my husband's Father have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, the insulin resistance kind that is due to diet and lack of excercise + genetic predisposition. Insulin resistance is linked to many health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hormone imbalance, auto-immune diseases, thyroid problems, difficulty with memory, altzheimer's, mood swings, depression, obesity, etc. and is a huge problem for the united states right now so I thought I might share some things I've learned about it with you guys.

People who have a tendency to develop insulin resistance during times of plenty are the same people who have greater survivability during famine. -that's cool!

The basic principle of protecting yourself from insulin resistance syndrome is to consume foods or food combinations that are absorbed slowly and steadily by the body for sustained energy such as proteins, fats, vegetables, legumes, fruits and some whole grains. Excercise and avoid processed sugars, corn, potatoes, white breads, white pasta.

If many of your meals and snacks are sugary, or contain foods like potatoes and white pasta, your body has to produce massive amounds of insulin to reduce the glucose in your blood. Eventually you may become insulin resistant, your body has to produce more and more insulin to get the same result.

This massive amount of insulin removes all of the sugar from your blood and converts it to fat, storing it nicely around your middle section -which means you now have zero energy, you're a little bit fatter and you are now starving -so you either go eat again or your body makes cholesterol out of some of your fat to feed itself. You then gain more weight and have high cholesterol issues...yes, even vegans who consume no animal products whatsoever are running around out there with high cholesterol due to sugar in the diet.

Some insulin is good, but you don't want this huge amount of insulin flowing through your veins because it effects your hormone balance, ages your skin, causes problems with memory (alzheimer's is now linked to sugary diet and is being called diabetes type 3), etc.

Cinnamon, lemon, vinegar, sweet potatoes all reduce your body's insulin reaction and are good things to include in a meal.

Green tea reduces insulin resistance-that's good!

excercise reduces insulin resistance!

Agave juice -made from some kind of blue cactus grown in mexico that they use to make tequilla, is sweeter than sugar and has almost no effect on your body's insulin levels. You can bake with it, use it as syrup on pancakes, etc.

eating a potato or a bowl of white pasta is like eating sugar straight out of the sugar bowl. -bad.

If you absolutely love potato chips and can't live without them, choose salt and vinegar chips. The acidic vinegar reduces your bodies insulin response to the potatoes.

If you have to have your white pasta, add lemon garlic butter to it or a vinegary tomato sauce. lemon is best because it beefs up your immune system. We like brown rice pasta. It's whole grain, but doesn't have that yucky texture that whole wheat pasta can have.

... if you love pizza, choose a thin crust which cuts the amount of white bread in your meal significantly, or choose a whole wheat crust.

-the reason low fat diets don't work is because the fat has been replaced by sugar. Overweight people eating low fat are on the sugar cycle and will become more overweight or will always feel hungry.

Don't forget to excercise.

 

<3

 

symen, eat your corn with beans and it becomes part of a complete protein.

asp, don't think of it as a diet. Think of it as a lifestyle change.

debic, that's great to hear. You're one of the good guys. we want the good guys to live as long as possible!

hamma, potatoes have had their eyes on us for a long time. OMG, that was dumb! ~

 

Rax, Im sure everyone's diet could use some improving! I'm a work in progress myself.

It's hard to find that balance of good diet and the ability to enjoy life and celebrate with friends. That's why the little tricks like lemon juice and taking in fat and protein with your sugar indulgences are important. Also, not beating yourself down when you think you've had a misstep is also important. Know that every good thing you do accumulates over time. I hope people feel invited to join in, not pressured or insulted.

 

Wester, I'm glad you have a handle on it. We'd sure hate to lose you.