THANKS to our water protectors, to everyone who stood up, spoke out, lent a hand in any way they could, native and non-native - for now, we are the champions my friends!
With all the love in my heart, chi meegwetch!
Shan
Monday, December 5, 2016
#nodapl
For today... there is victory. I can't help but hear the echo of that old Queen song in my head: "We are the champions my friend, and we'll keep on fighting 'till the end!"
THANKS to our water protectors, to everyone who stood up, spoke out, lent a hand in any way they could, native and non-native - for now, we are the champions my friends!
With all the love in my heart, chi meegwetch!
Shan
THANKS to our water protectors, to everyone who stood up, spoke out, lent a hand in any way they could, native and non-native - for now, we are the champions my friends!
With all the love in my heart, chi meegwetch!
Shan
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Happy American Thanksgiving
Hello my beauties,
I hope you've had a magnificent weekend and have been counting your blessings with gratitude. I know I've been AWOL and I'm sorry, but I needed to pop in and share something with you.
I've just written a small post on MASTERING THE METHOD about what's really going on in North Dakota with the Dakota Access Pipeline, including a few ways in which each and every one of us can help. We can all #standwithstandingrock right now today.
Please go HERE to read that post. Or if you'd rather not, you can simply click this LINK to watch a super quick video that will give you the real story.
There is also more info HERE, or to simply donate directly to Oceti Sakowin Camp through your Paypal, you can do that HERE. They are in desperate need of winter supplies.
#standwithstandingrock Let's stand together!! We are all protectors of the land and the water.
Lots of love,
Shan
I hope you've had a magnificent weekend and have been counting your blessings with gratitude. I know I've been AWOL and I'm sorry, but I needed to pop in and share something with you.
I've just written a small post on MASTERING THE METHOD about what's really going on in North Dakota with the Dakota Access Pipeline, including a few ways in which each and every one of us can help. We can all #standwithstandingrock right now today.
Please go HERE to read that post. Or if you'd rather not, you can simply click this LINK to watch a super quick video that will give you the real story.
There is also more info HERE, or to simply donate directly to Oceti Sakowin Camp through your Paypal, you can do that HERE. They are in desperate need of winter supplies.
#standwithstandingrock Let's stand together!! We are all protectors of the land and the water.
Lots of love,
Shan
Friday, September 2, 2016
"Efforting"
As you know every September I get this autumn bug, this back to school buzz where I want to start something fresh and new. However as this September kicked off with a whopping big ole Mercury in Retrograde, this ain't the time to start something new. However, it is a great time for a rewind, hold the phone, kick you in the pants, do over!
Now take a walk with me if you will, back through the past eight months. Yes that's right, we're in the home stretch, the big push, the final countdown of 2016 so this feels like a good time to take stock. Yeah yeah I know that most of you would prefer to do this on December 31st but not me. I wanna do it now. As mentioned in my previous post I've had the snot, the stuffing, the begeezus kicked out of me and I'm still standing, a little worse for wear sure, but hopefully a little bit wiser.
I've learned that "efforting" gets you nowhere. Yes it's a thing! I'm not saying that you shouldn't make an effort. Go after your dreams, pursue your goals, strive for something greater yada yada yada, but all that pushing can lead to a whole lot of stress and not always a lot of reward.
Now I for one have chosen one of the dumbest professions in the world and when I say dumbest I mean it's so hard to break into and make a living that you'd have to be a dumb dumb to do it. And I am. But the thing is, this past year (oh fuck who am I kidding, this past decade) I've done nothing but press and push and keep the pedal to the metal, strive for achievement that I'd lost sight of why I began to write in the first place. I've even pushed my health to the brink, but that's a story for another day. I had to stop and reexamine my motivation and I can promise you that I didn't become a writer to "try and get noticed" or "land that big TV gig" but that's what I'd become! Gag, it was/is exhausting. I just want to sit in my room and make shit up!
So as I really stop to think things through, Mercury Retrograde couldn't come at a better time for me. I just want to take a breather. I want to have some fun. I want to let go, let loose and stop all this efforting!
Don't get me wrong, starting next week I will become busier than a bee in a hive but that doesn't mean I have to squeeze the life out of myself to get it all done. Rather it's my new belief that I can ease and flow my way through. Find my groove, be myself, use my voice and create with an air of freedom and fun. This is a new concept for me so lets see if I can pull it off.
Who's with me? You up for going with the flow for a lil bit? Ready to let go, to surrender to something bigger than us? It's like Marianne Williamson says: The bud knows how to become a flower, the embryo knows how to become a baby, the acorn just grows into the oak tree, if we let go and slip into the stream of life's buoyant energy we are sure to become whatever it was that we were designed to be.
So that's it, noble reader, the virtue for the month of September is SURRENDER. No more "efforting". Told you it was a thing.
Stay cool.
xoxo
Shan
Now take a walk with me if you will, back through the past eight months. Yes that's right, we're in the home stretch, the big push, the final countdown of 2016 so this feels like a good time to take stock. Yeah yeah I know that most of you would prefer to do this on December 31st but not me. I wanna do it now. As mentioned in my previous post I've had the snot, the stuffing, the begeezus kicked out of me and I'm still standing, a little worse for wear sure, but hopefully a little bit wiser.
I've learned that "efforting" gets you nowhere. Yes it's a thing! I'm not saying that you shouldn't make an effort. Go after your dreams, pursue your goals, strive for something greater yada yada yada, but all that pushing can lead to a whole lot of stress and not always a lot of reward.
Now I for one have chosen one of the dumbest professions in the world and when I say dumbest I mean it's so hard to break into and make a living that you'd have to be a dumb dumb to do it. And I am. But the thing is, this past year (oh fuck who am I kidding, this past decade) I've done nothing but press and push and keep the pedal to the metal, strive for achievement that I'd lost sight of why I began to write in the first place. I've even pushed my health to the brink, but that's a story for another day. I had to stop and reexamine my motivation and I can promise you that I didn't become a writer to "try and get noticed" or "land that big TV gig" but that's what I'd become! Gag, it was/is exhausting. I just want to sit in my room and make shit up!
So as I really stop to think things through, Mercury Retrograde couldn't come at a better time for me. I just want to take a breather. I want to have some fun. I want to let go, let loose and stop all this efforting!
Don't get me wrong, starting next week I will become busier than a bee in a hive but that doesn't mean I have to squeeze the life out of myself to get it all done. Rather it's my new belief that I can ease and flow my way through. Find my groove, be myself, use my voice and create with an air of freedom and fun. This is a new concept for me so lets see if I can pull it off.
Who's with me? You up for going with the flow for a lil bit? Ready to let go, to surrender to something bigger than us? It's like Marianne Williamson says: The bud knows how to become a flower, the embryo knows how to become a baby, the acorn just grows into the oak tree, if we let go and slip into the stream of life's buoyant energy we are sure to become whatever it was that we were designed to be.
So that's it, noble reader, the virtue for the month of September is SURRENDER. No more "efforting". Told you it was a thing.
Stay cool.
xoxo
Shan
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
What happened to summer?
Anyone? Anyone? ... Bueller?
Has your summer slipped by as quickly as mine did? I blinked and August just vanished into thin air. The good news is I'm still here, still hanging in there, following my sugar-free lifestyle, dancing my butt off with Katia and doing the occasional tone up with Tracy and I feel good. Great actually. For the first time since I hit midlife, I feel balanced and in control. Touch wood.
So what is midlife?
Midlife is the halfway point (by my definition) where you're no longer in angst and confusion about who you are in the world. It's a time where you can really step into your own shoes and feel comfy walking a mile or twenty in them, you can just be unapologetically you! For further information, look to the right of this post and see Shamandment #1, and insert your own name.
Do you have to have a crisis to get here?
I don't think so, not if you accept yourself fully and have lived a life that's true to who you really are. Unless you've spent the majority of your life faking it or trying to fulfil some ridiculous (real or imagined) image of who you think you're supposed to be, then yeah maybe a crisis is in order.
Is it dark and terrible?
All depends on how you look at it. With a sense of humour no, it's kind of fun and sometimes even hilarious. Irksome at other times sure, like when you're getting a pedicure and the girl who looks to be about 12 years old (when did everyone start looking so young?) asks if you'd like a complimentary toe wax and you think "Christ, my eye sight must be shot, how did I miss the soul patch on my big toe?" But mostly it's cool. These are our "Carlsberg years," you know the ones, the years where we're still happenin' but we're a little wiser and more sophisticated, still too young to be considered the "Golden years." Thank the lord!
Anyway.
I'll be honest when I tell you that 2016 has really put me through the wringer, pushed every button, brought up all my shit, forced me to look at the deep dark corners, examine my triggers and crutches and go to's when I'd rather not deal, and has forced me to deal, to surrender, to hand my crap over to a higher power, and to trim away all the things (sugar, people, thoughts) that are not feeding my soul. I've become so much closer to some amazing people, y'all know who you are, been inspired by new folks doing innovative things and have been granted opportunities that I am gonna rock the hell out of over this last quarter.
Don't know about you, but for me it's feeling like a "back to school" event. I wanna run out and get some shiny new shows and a brand new back pack for my clean slate, fresh start, happy autumn season that I can feel is right around the corner. And you know me, whenever I want a fresh start I tend to create something new. So I've done just that. I have created a new IG PAGE that I plan to stuff chalk full of beautiful nature shots, trendy urban discoveries, and new job/work related fun stuff. Can't wait to share it all with you, so hope to see you there!
Until then here is just a small taste of the beauty I was blessed to be surrounded by for the past two weeks.
Big hugs and lots of love,
Shan
Has your summer slipped by as quickly as mine did? I blinked and August just vanished into thin air. The good news is I'm still here, still hanging in there, following my sugar-free lifestyle, dancing my butt off with Katia and doing the occasional tone up with Tracy and I feel good. Great actually. For the first time since I hit midlife, I feel balanced and in control. Touch wood.
So what is midlife?
Midlife is the halfway point (by my definition) where you're no longer in angst and confusion about who you are in the world. It's a time where you can really step into your own shoes and feel comfy walking a mile or twenty in them, you can just be unapologetically you! For further information, look to the right of this post and see Shamandment #1, and insert your own name.
Do you have to have a crisis to get here?
I don't think so, not if you accept yourself fully and have lived a life that's true to who you really are. Unless you've spent the majority of your life faking it or trying to fulfil some ridiculous (real or imagined) image of who you think you're supposed to be, then yeah maybe a crisis is in order.
Is it dark and terrible?
All depends on how you look at it. With a sense of humour no, it's kind of fun and sometimes even hilarious. Irksome at other times sure, like when you're getting a pedicure and the girl who looks to be about 12 years old (when did everyone start looking so young?) asks if you'd like a complimentary toe wax and you think "Christ, my eye sight must be shot, how did I miss the soul patch on my big toe?" But mostly it's cool. These are our "Carlsberg years," you know the ones, the years where we're still happenin' but we're a little wiser and more sophisticated, still too young to be considered the "Golden years." Thank the lord!
Anyway.
I'll be honest when I tell you that 2016 has really put me through the wringer, pushed every button, brought up all my shit, forced me to look at the deep dark corners, examine my triggers and crutches and go to's when I'd rather not deal, and has forced me to deal, to surrender, to hand my crap over to a higher power, and to trim away all the things (sugar, people, thoughts) that are not feeding my soul. I've become so much closer to some amazing people, y'all know who you are, been inspired by new folks doing innovative things and have been granted opportunities that I am gonna rock the hell out of over this last quarter.
Don't know about you, but for me it's feeling like a "back to school" event. I wanna run out and get some shiny new shows and a brand new back pack for my clean slate, fresh start, happy autumn season that I can feel is right around the corner. And you know me, whenever I want a fresh start I tend to create something new. So I've done just that. I have created a new IG PAGE that I plan to stuff chalk full of beautiful nature shots, trendy urban discoveries, and new job/work related fun stuff. Can't wait to share it all with you, so hope to see you there!
Until then here is just a small taste of the beauty I was blessed to be surrounded by for the past two weeks.
Big hugs and lots of love,
Shan
Thursday, July 21, 2016
A Gentle Reminder
Today, I felt a pull to come here and tell you how great you are. Did you know that? That you're truly great? I felt the need to remind you that you're special and incredibly beautiful. And also to ask if you knew how very terrific you are. You're terrific. And if you think that you're not talented enough or not creative or smart enough, I want to gently remind you that you're way better than you think you are. You know that other person that you're constantly comparing yourself to? Oh go on, you know who I mean... That person isn't better than you. They're different from you that's all. But guess what? That difference is a game changer because YOU bring a whole 'nother skill set to the game and the world needs what you've got. There's nobody else like you.
Just thought you should know.
Love,
Shan
Just thought you should know.
Love,
Shan
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Looking for the Magic
The world is hurting right now, there is no doubt about that. You cannot turn on the news or click online without seeing, hearing, or reading about yet another tragic death or act of terror. It can feel overwhelming and like very dark times. We can get swallowed up by fear, judgement or hatred, we can get lost in our search for understanding. It might feel like there is no way out of this downward spiral and I am not here to tell you that I have the answers.
I don't.
I can't pretend to make sense of the chaos, the anger, the divisiveness as I too am grappling with all of it. I'm not a religious person so I can't stand here and say God has a plan. But I am spiritual. I know there is a power greater than me. I know that there are light workers in the world who help to illuminate this darkness, people that have access to tools that can bring peace and they are sharing what they know. It's up to us to seek them out.
At the moment I am extremely grateful to Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra for bringing us another one of their 21 day MEDITATION challenges. This one is on getting unstuck.
It's essentially a gentle reminder to allow each new day be just that, new. Being aware of your thought patterns and habits allows you to identify them, acknowledge the ones that are not serving you and making a conscious effort to not bring them into your now. Much harder than it sounds. Just to go off track here for a quick second, statistics say that 97% of women have an "I hate my body" moment at least once everyday. So it's safe to assume that we as women generally seem to have negative self talk going on and this conversation doesn't stop at our appearance, it carries into our skills as a parent, partner, boss, employee, we judge ourselves too harshly. Knowing that how can we turn around and say hey everyone, stop judging other people. I'm not saying none of us like ourselves and that if we are judging ourselves that we automatically judge others, I'm just saying that the solution to the world's current climate of fear and hatred might not be as simple as "love each other", for how can we love each other if we haven't truly learned to love ourselves in the deepest sense? By becoming aware of these negative thought patterns and finding more positive replacements.
Which brings me to another of the light workers I'm currently loving right now, Marianne Williamson. Marianne is an author who was brought to the attention of the world at large by, you guessed it, Oprah Winfrey. MW wrote a book called A Return To Love, Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.
I've just started reading the book in conjunction with doing these meditations each day and it has had a profound impact on me. She is teaching me, along with these meditations, to let go and be in the moment; forget the past and don't worry about the future. Don't worry? How can we not worry? People are being blown up, shot to death and mowed down in our very streets!?! I understand that, but you have to ask yourself, is fretting about it going to undo it? No. But being aware of it allows you to change something within yourself. Hear me out.
As a writer I have to be very self motivated, self-directed and disciplined, but as a result I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, do more, be better and consequently can be very hard on myself if I don't live up to my sometimes impossibly high standards. Like, "What do you mean you don't have an Oscar yet, how old are you?" or "You have a social responsibility to be a voice for the voiceless, to create role models for our children with the characters you write, how dare you want to write something just for fun!" It's endless.
One of the first aha moments from the book (spoiler alert) is that we are already perfect. I know, I know you've heard it from me a million times, we're all worthy and already good enough, but listen to what she writes:
Perfect isn't something you need to create, because the Creator already created it. (I use Creator as it's more comfortable for me than God for some reason) The perfect you is the love within you.
So... our ability to love is what makes us perfect? I can live with that. But what about the people I find hard to love? Or the people I find hard to forgive? Because if there are folks in my life that I love but cannot tolerate or have a hard time forgiving, what chance is there that the world is going to be able to heal through forgiveness for all these mass tragedies if we cannot forgive the people in our own lives?
Marianne has an answer to that. "Any situation that pushes our buttons is a situation where we don't yet have the capacity to be unconditionally loving." Those things are there to bust our comfort zone and move us beyond our stuck points into better versions of ourself. MW has a big chapter on forgiveness and how it is an act of self love because what we judge in others we are really judging in ourselves and if someone has made a mistake and we don't forgive them, we are essentially holding them in the past and not allowing anyone to move forward. (I've over simplified it obviously but well worth the read). This doesn't mean you're going to just say "oh well, what that driver in Nice did was a mistake and we forgive him," but what we can do it take a look within and perhaps begin with forgiving ourselves for wanting to hate him. As I said, I don't have the answers.
But the biggest aha moment for me as I am reading this book was this... Faith.
Everything works with a brilliance of design and efficiency that our human efforts have never begun to match. Planets revolve around the sun, seeds become plants, embryos become babies, the acorn becomes the oak, with no help from us. Their movement is built into a natural system. You and I are integral parts of that system too. We can let our lives be directed by the same force that makes flowers grow --- or we can do it ourselves. To trust in the force that moves the universe is faith. Faith isn't blind, it's visionary.
I really liked that. In fact, I breathed a giant sigh of relief upon reading that. You mean that I can relinquish control? Thank God (pun intended) because I was beginning to feel like I was about to steer myself right over the cliff into the abyss. I had always thought that surrendering was an act of weakness or somehow cowardly, but it isn't. I wouldn't step into the cockpit of an aircraft and expect that I could fly it any more than I would think it weak to hand over the controls to a certified pilot, so how is my life any different? I'm sure you can come up with some pretty snappy retorts but I am making a point here. There is a reason that alcoholics in recovery say "let go and let God" because they know they cannot do it alone. I cannot do it alone. We cannot fix our world alone.
I'm starting to believe that if I am able to truly let go, to surrender to some greater plan, that maybe, just maybe things might start to shift. I mean you know those people that seem to drift effortlessly through life almost as if they're somehow charmed? Everything seems to go their way, things always workout, they are always happy and at ease? Maybe this is the secret that they already know. Oprah sure seems to know it. I'm not saying her life has been easy, far from it, but it's been abundantly blessed and as a result she has helped to spread those blessings around. She's touching my life as I write this and I have never even met the woman.
I think it's high time that you and I noble reader step out of our own way (or maybe you're thinking finally Shan, it took you long enough to get here), we hand the controls over to the one who knows how to fly and we spend our time looking for the magic and expecting the miracles. Who knows, if we expect them, perhaps they'll appear.
Have a beautiful day and who knows where the road will lead. Someplace wondrous I hope and as long as there is hope, everything will be okay. That I know for sure.
I don't.
I can't pretend to make sense of the chaos, the anger, the divisiveness as I too am grappling with all of it. I'm not a religious person so I can't stand here and say God has a plan. But I am spiritual. I know there is a power greater than me. I know that there are light workers in the world who help to illuminate this darkness, people that have access to tools that can bring peace and they are sharing what they know. It's up to us to seek them out.
At the moment I am extremely grateful to Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra for bringing us another one of their 21 day MEDITATION challenges. This one is on getting unstuck.
It's essentially a gentle reminder to allow each new day be just that, new. Being aware of your thought patterns and habits allows you to identify them, acknowledge the ones that are not serving you and making a conscious effort to not bring them into your now. Much harder than it sounds. Just to go off track here for a quick second, statistics say that 97% of women have an "I hate my body" moment at least once everyday. So it's safe to assume that we as women generally seem to have negative self talk going on and this conversation doesn't stop at our appearance, it carries into our skills as a parent, partner, boss, employee, we judge ourselves too harshly. Knowing that how can we turn around and say hey everyone, stop judging other people. I'm not saying none of us like ourselves and that if we are judging ourselves that we automatically judge others, I'm just saying that the solution to the world's current climate of fear and hatred might not be as simple as "love each other", for how can we love each other if we haven't truly learned to love ourselves in the deepest sense? By becoming aware of these negative thought patterns and finding more positive replacements.
Which brings me to another of the light workers I'm currently loving right now, Marianne Williamson. Marianne is an author who was brought to the attention of the world at large by, you guessed it, Oprah Winfrey. MW wrote a book called A Return To Love, Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.
I've just started reading the book in conjunction with doing these meditations each day and it has had a profound impact on me. She is teaching me, along with these meditations, to let go and be in the moment; forget the past and don't worry about the future. Don't worry? How can we not worry? People are being blown up, shot to death and mowed down in our very streets!?! I understand that, but you have to ask yourself, is fretting about it going to undo it? No. But being aware of it allows you to change something within yourself. Hear me out.
As a writer I have to be very self motivated, self-directed and disciplined, but as a result I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, do more, be better and consequently can be very hard on myself if I don't live up to my sometimes impossibly high standards. Like, "What do you mean you don't have an Oscar yet, how old are you?" or "You have a social responsibility to be a voice for the voiceless, to create role models for our children with the characters you write, how dare you want to write something just for fun!" It's endless.
One of the first aha moments from the book (spoiler alert) is that we are already perfect. I know, I know you've heard it from me a million times, we're all worthy and already good enough, but listen to what she writes:
Perfect isn't something you need to create, because the Creator already created it. (I use Creator as it's more comfortable for me than God for some reason) The perfect you is the love within you.
So... our ability to love is what makes us perfect? I can live with that. But what about the people I find hard to love? Or the people I find hard to forgive? Because if there are folks in my life that I love but cannot tolerate or have a hard time forgiving, what chance is there that the world is going to be able to heal through forgiveness for all these mass tragedies if we cannot forgive the people in our own lives?
Marianne has an answer to that. "Any situation that pushes our buttons is a situation where we don't yet have the capacity to be unconditionally loving." Those things are there to bust our comfort zone and move us beyond our stuck points into better versions of ourself. MW has a big chapter on forgiveness and how it is an act of self love because what we judge in others we are really judging in ourselves and if someone has made a mistake and we don't forgive them, we are essentially holding them in the past and not allowing anyone to move forward. (I've over simplified it obviously but well worth the read). This doesn't mean you're going to just say "oh well, what that driver in Nice did was a mistake and we forgive him," but what we can do it take a look within and perhaps begin with forgiving ourselves for wanting to hate him. As I said, I don't have the answers.
But the biggest aha moment for me as I am reading this book was this... Faith.
Everything works with a brilliance of design and efficiency that our human efforts have never begun to match. Planets revolve around the sun, seeds become plants, embryos become babies, the acorn becomes the oak, with no help from us. Their movement is built into a natural system. You and I are integral parts of that system too. We can let our lives be directed by the same force that makes flowers grow --- or we can do it ourselves. To trust in the force that moves the universe is faith. Faith isn't blind, it's visionary.
I really liked that. In fact, I breathed a giant sigh of relief upon reading that. You mean that I can relinquish control? Thank God (pun intended) because I was beginning to feel like I was about to steer myself right over the cliff into the abyss. I had always thought that surrendering was an act of weakness or somehow cowardly, but it isn't. I wouldn't step into the cockpit of an aircraft and expect that I could fly it any more than I would think it weak to hand over the controls to a certified pilot, so how is my life any different? I'm sure you can come up with some pretty snappy retorts but I am making a point here. There is a reason that alcoholics in recovery say "let go and let God" because they know they cannot do it alone. I cannot do it alone. We cannot fix our world alone.
I'm starting to believe that if I am able to truly let go, to surrender to some greater plan, that maybe, just maybe things might start to shift. I mean you know those people that seem to drift effortlessly through life almost as if they're somehow charmed? Everything seems to go their way, things always workout, they are always happy and at ease? Maybe this is the secret that they already know. Oprah sure seems to know it. I'm not saying her life has been easy, far from it, but it's been abundantly blessed and as a result she has helped to spread those blessings around. She's touching my life as I write this and I have never even met the woman.
I think it's high time that you and I noble reader step out of our own way (or maybe you're thinking finally Shan, it took you long enough to get here), we hand the controls over to the one who knows how to fly and we spend our time looking for the magic and expecting the miracles. Who knows, if we expect them, perhaps they'll appear.
Have a beautiful day and who knows where the road will lead. Someplace wondrous I hope and as long as there is hope, everything will be okay. That I know for sure.
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
My experiments with sugar.
Sugar, my nemesis. The sweetest addiction on the planet. Sugar is so common in every day life that if you refuse it, many people look at you like you're strange or that there's something wrong with you and if you try just this one (insert" cookie, chocolate, brownie, candy, cupcake, pie, etc) you will be brought back to your senses. What I'm saying is that if you're living a sugar free life, you might be considered an inconvenience at a dinner party, birthday party (even your own) or social gathering of any kind.
It's been a very difficult choice to go sugar free and a hard won victory over my addiction and here is what I know for sure. My name is Shannon, I am a sugar-holic. I have 105 days clean.
But when I set out on this journey I didn't necessarily think it was for life. I started off with three days and at the time even that felt insurmountable. I'm sure for many of you reading this right now you're saying: "yeah, I'd never want to do that, or I could never do that." I am not here to convince you otherwise. For me, sugar was calling the shots and my health was suffering as a result.
Two days in I decided to try for thirty, after that I jumped straight for ninety. I figured that after ninety days clean I would be free, clean and in control and then at that point I would be able to introduce natural sugar back into my diet. Perhaps something made with dates or honey, a bit of maple syrup, but what I most looked forward to was having a cube of sugar in my tea. Previously I'd been averaging three cubes per cup sometimes four and as many as three cups a day. You do the math. (No seriously, do the math, I suck at math but that's a lot of sugar just in my tea. Add to that the sweets and chocolate added on top and yikes.)
So just after the ninety day mark, I made my tea and dropped in a lump of sugar. What I expected was that I was going to experience pure bliss. Nope. It tasted fake, weird, not right somehow. I had to dump it and make a sugar free cup. Wow! Shocker. If I'd bet on it, I'd have lost the bet. So that led to my next experiment.
A treat. Nothing crazy or elaborate and absolutely nothing with refined sugar. I found a recipe for coconut truffles that I'd made the last time I was sugar free a few years back. Only five ingredients and from memory, these little balls of yum did not trigger a huge craving and I was able to have just the one. Not the case with a regular chocolate chip cookie, with those I always needed to polish off every last one, there was no stopping!
So, I got the ingredients together....
Coconut oil, unsweetened coconut, cocoa, dates and toasted pecans. These truffles are great because as well as being "refined sugar-free" they are also vegan and paleo approved.
I followed the directions, tossing everything into the food processor (apart from the coconut which gets added later)...
And I was also smart enough to only make half of what the recipe called for in case it turned out that I could not be trusted. I was pretty confident I'd be fine though.
Once finished, it made six.
But a funny thing happened... Once they were made and tucked into the fridge, they were all I could think about! I began to obsess over them and I thought, that can't be a good sign, can it? So I waited. Two whole days until my calendar told me it had been 100 days without sugar. It was time. I had to know. Was I giving sugar too much power? Or was I in fact in control...
I made a cup of tea, parcelled out a single serving on a tiny tea saucer and sat down to try it. I savoured the chocolatey coconut aroma and enjoyed the idea of this small indulgence before finally taking a bite.
It was delicious. I liked it. It wasn't too sweet and didn't taste fake the way my tea had done a few days prior. Once I'd eaten it, I knew that was it for the day and I was absolutely fine! I'd passed the test. Sugar was not the boss of me, I was the boss of me.
Whoa, whoa, not so fast. Hold the applause. The very next morning on my way to work, all I could think about was getting home and having another one. Having my "one a day" allowance. My mind began to swirl and debate and argue and contemplate this idea of introducing this thing back into my life. My brain argued saying it's fine, it's small and just once a day, you can handle it, but my gut knew better. This was not okay. This was my addiction talking. But I didn't have the heart to throw them away. Pecans and dates are expensive yo! Still I knew that if I let this continue for five more days until I'd eaten them all I'd be in very bad trouble.
So I did what I had to do. No I did not eat them all in one sitting! I fed them to He Who Shall Not Be Named and he ate them all... in pretty much one sitting yes.
Turns out sugar is still the boss unless I treat it like any other addict would their addiction and continue to say no one day at a time.
So there you have it folks, my name is Shan and I'm a sugar-holic and yesterday was my first ever sugar-free birthday. The first of many more to come I hope.
Thanks for tuning in.
xoxo
Shan
It's been a very difficult choice to go sugar free and a hard won victory over my addiction and here is what I know for sure. My name is Shannon, I am a sugar-holic. I have 105 days clean.
But when I set out on this journey I didn't necessarily think it was for life. I started off with three days and at the time even that felt insurmountable. I'm sure for many of you reading this right now you're saying: "yeah, I'd never want to do that, or I could never do that." I am not here to convince you otherwise. For me, sugar was calling the shots and my health was suffering as a result.
Two days in I decided to try for thirty, after that I jumped straight for ninety. I figured that after ninety days clean I would be free, clean and in control and then at that point I would be able to introduce natural sugar back into my diet. Perhaps something made with dates or honey, a bit of maple syrup, but what I most looked forward to was having a cube of sugar in my tea. Previously I'd been averaging three cubes per cup sometimes four and as many as three cups a day. You do the math. (No seriously, do the math, I suck at math but that's a lot of sugar just in my tea. Add to that the sweets and chocolate added on top and yikes.)
So just after the ninety day mark, I made my tea and dropped in a lump of sugar. What I expected was that I was going to experience pure bliss. Nope. It tasted fake, weird, not right somehow. I had to dump it and make a sugar free cup. Wow! Shocker. If I'd bet on it, I'd have lost the bet. So that led to my next experiment.
A treat. Nothing crazy or elaborate and absolutely nothing with refined sugar. I found a recipe for coconut truffles that I'd made the last time I was sugar free a few years back. Only five ingredients and from memory, these little balls of yum did not trigger a huge craving and I was able to have just the one. Not the case with a regular chocolate chip cookie, with those I always needed to polish off every last one, there was no stopping!
So, I got the ingredients together....
Coconut oil, unsweetened coconut, cocoa, dates and toasted pecans. These truffles are great because as well as being "refined sugar-free" they are also vegan and paleo approved.
I followed the directions, tossing everything into the food processor (apart from the coconut which gets added later)...
And I was also smart enough to only make half of what the recipe called for in case it turned out that I could not be trusted. I was pretty confident I'd be fine though.
Once finished, it made six.
But a funny thing happened... Once they were made and tucked into the fridge, they were all I could think about! I began to obsess over them and I thought, that can't be a good sign, can it? So I waited. Two whole days until my calendar told me it had been 100 days without sugar. It was time. I had to know. Was I giving sugar too much power? Or was I in fact in control...
I made a cup of tea, parcelled out a single serving on a tiny tea saucer and sat down to try it. I savoured the chocolatey coconut aroma and enjoyed the idea of this small indulgence before finally taking a bite.
It was delicious. I liked it. It wasn't too sweet and didn't taste fake the way my tea had done a few days prior. Once I'd eaten it, I knew that was it for the day and I was absolutely fine! I'd passed the test. Sugar was not the boss of me, I was the boss of me.
Whoa, whoa, not so fast. Hold the applause. The very next morning on my way to work, all I could think about was getting home and having another one. Having my "one a day" allowance. My mind began to swirl and debate and argue and contemplate this idea of introducing this thing back into my life. My brain argued saying it's fine, it's small and just once a day, you can handle it, but my gut knew better. This was not okay. This was my addiction talking. But I didn't have the heart to throw them away. Pecans and dates are expensive yo! Still I knew that if I let this continue for five more days until I'd eaten them all I'd be in very bad trouble.
So I did what I had to do. No I did not eat them all in one sitting! I fed them to He Who Shall Not Be Named and he ate them all... in pretty much one sitting yes.
Turns out sugar is still the boss unless I treat it like any other addict would their addiction and continue to say no one day at a time.
So there you have it folks, my name is Shan and I'm a sugar-holic and yesterday was my first ever sugar-free birthday. The first of many more to come I hope.
Thanks for tuning in.
xoxo
Shan
Friday, July 8, 2016
What is DANCEBODY?
Good morning my lovelies,
How's your summer going? Are you enjoying the warm weather? Getting any time off? Have you been moving your bodies and feeling good in your own skin? It's really important at every age that you feel good about yourself, that you love and appreciate your body for all the great things it does for you every day. It doesn't forget to breathe, it continues to circulate blood and filter out toxins, in spite of the crap you might consume or the number of hours you sit hunched over a desk. It's magnificent and it loves you, it lives to serve and protect you, so like Miss Jackson sings: what have you done for it lately?
Lemme share with you what I've been doing for my body... y'all ready for this? Teaching it to dance. Yeah, you heard me. The girl who's infamous for hating dance cardio, for kicking and screaming and protesting and refusing to do dance cardio is learning to dance. Don't misunderstand me, it's a work in progress.
So why the sudden change of heart? I saw this woman dance and she was so cool, so hip, so badass, I thought to myself, I want to move like her! My very next thought was yeah, no way, never gonna happen. I don't have the rhythm, I lack coordination, I confuse my left for my right, and while I have managed over the course of about seven years to painstakingly teach myself a few really fun dances from my collection of workout DVD's, my frustration at not being able to master the steps has always vetoed my desire. ALWAYS. I'm telling you.
But one day this woman posted a video on Instagram (seven weeks ago actually, seriously I'm not stalking you Katia. Okay maybe I am a little bit)... wait let me see if I can find it and hook you up with a link so you can see for yourself... Eeeeeeeeeeeeee THIS is it. Check it out. I saw this and saw how much fun they were having and I wanted to be able to do that and have that much fun too. Now I'm not proud of what happened next, but you know I love my humiliating public confessions so I'll share. I pulled IG up on my computer and let that tiny clip play on a loop as I tried to mimic the moves. Egads! It was horrifying and hilarious at the same time, I could not scrub the smile off my face. Oh but there were tears too because I could not get my ribs to move the way they were supposed to, but that's another story.
Anyhoo, I had become familiar with Katia and Dancebody through my friend Emily and had been trying some of the free Dancebody Periscope classes. Still, trying to dance like them was a continued source of frustration and I was dangerously close to falling back into the 'I hate cardio' routine when Katia came out with streaming and as part of that package, she created breakdowns!!! Breakdowns that come in a four count. Breakdowns that do the same thing on the left as they do on the right. Breakdowns that repeat and make sense to my pea-brain! Omigod! Game changer! She launched the streaming on Monday June 27th and since then I have really focused on just repeating the same breakdown over and over and I can finally almost do it! This is unheard of. In less than two weeks (oh shut up all you naturally gifted dancers out there! seven years compared to two weeks? that's fucking progress in my books okay?! lol) The point is that while I have an enormously long way to go, for the first time in my life, I have hope that I too may learn to dance.
So enough about me, who the heck is Katia Pryce and what in the world is Dancebody? The short answer? Katia is a dancer and Dancebody is a "New York City-based workout created by dancers." Check these beauties out.
Can't you just see these chicks taking over a club and dominating!? I can. Not that I go to clubs. But I'd like to know that IF I did go to clubs I too could dominate. But again, enough about me. Let's talk about Katia and what sets her apart from other dance-based workouts.
First of all, if Katia was a religion (in my opinion) she would be Hinduism. Why? Because unlike other 'single God' based religions who claim that their way is the only way and if you don't believe in their God you are going to hell or doomed to an eternity of suffering etc, Hinduism has this philosophy that's all-inclusive. The Gods are many but the truth is one, sort of idea. They know that our little piddly human brains can't even begin to comprehend the greatness of the Creator or the Source, so they create "aspects of God" that we can cling to in order to find our way back to all that is. Does that make sense? What I'm trying to say is that Katia doesn't shun every other workout, she understands that each thing has its respective place in the whole of our wellbeing, but that if you want to look like a dancer, you need to move like a dancer.
She is quoted in an interview as saying: I think every workout has it place. If someone came to me and needed to lose 30 to 40 pounds, I tell them to go spin for a month and then come back to me because if you dance with too much weight on your knees, you’re going to blow out your knee.
When asked about running she said: Running is great, but I think it’s more of a mental thing for a lot of people.
You can read the entire article here.
My girl Tara, who is a marathon runner who's been out of commission for a bit recently said that running is part of who she is, it's her heart and it completes her. I agree, I think running is as much a spiritual practice as it is physical and one should never be made to feel guilty for pursuing that passion.
So what's a Dancebody class like? Is it all just dancing? No it is not. Some classes are more dance based, others focus on sculpting your body, but every class incorporates both of these components always.
Do you remember Jane Fonda's workouts? If not, here's a little taste.
Katia's sculpting is built upon the principles that Jane delivered to us all those years ago. It's a classic, old school type of aerobics that targets every angle so that you're not just overworking your quads or hamstrings or biceps. She uses weights and resistance bands too so you're always challenging your strength while getting your heart rate up with cardio in every class. And can we all just take a moment here to say how terrific Jane Fonda looks and still looks today?
I mean seriously! When I grow up, I want to be just like Jane.
But what really sets these classes apart for me is the fact that Katia takes the time to explain to you why she wants you to move in a certain way, and if you're doing it wrong, she'll tell you.
When I'm at home doing it on my own, I might think I'm doing it right, but then she'll stop and say make sure your heel is leading the move or that your knee is facing this way or that, going on to explain and show you the difference making you doing it with her so you can feel that difference. If you were doing it the slightly wrong way, your hamstring will take over, or your quads will be engaged when she is actually targeting the inner thigh. I need those pointers because I am not a dancer, I don't know what angle or direction does what. It's these extra tips and bits of information that Katia shares during every class that just make the world of difference.
Here's a perfect case in point. I have very tight traps.
They are over-developed, making my neck appear shorter. I had always just assumed that this was because I have a hyper-mobile neck and a consequent age-old neck injury, so I just thought that they built up for protection. But I realize now that that might not be the case. Did you know that when you're using dumbbells in various different rotations that if you clench your fingers around the weight you'll activate those trapezius muscles? Yes, turns out it's true. But if you extend your fingers through the movements those muscles no longer engage. This is very fucking helpful information, people! We need to know this. Think of me as a total dum dum when it comes to moving my body... because I AM a total dum dum. I don't know what I don't know and I need to be told.
She also reminds you to relax your shoulders or tighten up and use that core. It's the stuff you're going to forget when the burn gets bad after a million reps of something you know? The other thing that I really love is the rep countdown. I cannot tell you how many times I've done other workouts where I'm dying on a move and I'll stop, only to discover that if I'd just hung on for a few more moments I'd have done them all. Just when you think you can't go on, if someone says there's only four more or eight more, you go for it, you push yourself further and you accomplish even more! Did I mention that I love that? I love that!
Now being a New York City-based company is all good and well but what about those of us who don't live in NYC? Hello streaming! Streaming gives us access to all of the classes that the New Yorkers might take for granted. But I have to tell you, when it launched and gave us all this content, I'm talking like a ton of classes, I for one was overwhelmed. Where do I start? How do I approach all of this? Well Noble Reader, we asked that question and the Dancebody team answered. The Customer Service team of this company is outstanding, I have never seen anything like it. They are so accessible and care so much about the clients it's fantastic. My best buddy Natalia hurt her neck a little bit during an ab sequence, so she went to them to ask what to do. Within hours several instructors had gotten back to her (including Katia) with remedies and tips not only for healing but for prevention! Unreal.
But I digress. What to do with all of this great content. The team came up with two groups. Someone like me who is uncoordinated and clumsy falls into the category of Junior Varsity, whereas girls like my beauty Myla would be Varsity because she knows how to move, has stamina and strength for days and can go all out.
Each group has their own plan and... AND... a workout calendar for the month!
This lists how many days a week you want to get your workout in and what workout to do on what day! It's a plan. It's all spelled out. I need stuff to be spelled out, it's why I was so successful on the Metamorphosis plan. I had a workout schedule, a nutritional plan, and a place to track it all.
I definitely give Dancebody and the entire team a three thumbs up, sorry but two is just not enough. I think the thing that really sealed the deal for me was this specific quote from Katia: If you combine dance cardio with classical conditioning, you can't go wrong. It gives you this super lean, tight bod, with the cherry on top that you can dance like a motherfucker.
She speaks my language!!!
If you know me at all, you know that I will (as always) continue with the workout plan that I have devoted the last seven years of my life to along with the the fantastic new addition of Dancebody and it is my intention to be "dancing like a motherfucker" by the end of the summer! Watch this space, bitches.
Thanks for tuning in and if you're curios for more information or want to check out Dancebody at home, go HERE! If you can't get the answers you want, reach out to EMILY she will definitely be able to help you.
Onwards and upwards toward your best most beautiful self, midlife and beyond babies.
xo
Shan
How's your summer going? Are you enjoying the warm weather? Getting any time off? Have you been moving your bodies and feeling good in your own skin? It's really important at every age that you feel good about yourself, that you love and appreciate your body for all the great things it does for you every day. It doesn't forget to breathe, it continues to circulate blood and filter out toxins, in spite of the crap you might consume or the number of hours you sit hunched over a desk. It's magnificent and it loves you, it lives to serve and protect you, so like Miss Jackson sings: what have you done for it lately?
Lemme share with you what I've been doing for my body... y'all ready for this? Teaching it to dance. Yeah, you heard me. The girl who's infamous for hating dance cardio, for kicking and screaming and protesting and refusing to do dance cardio is learning to dance. Don't misunderstand me, it's a work in progress.
So why the sudden change of heart? I saw this woman dance and she was so cool, so hip, so badass, I thought to myself, I want to move like her! My very next thought was yeah, no way, never gonna happen. I don't have the rhythm, I lack coordination, I confuse my left for my right, and while I have managed over the course of about seven years to painstakingly teach myself a few really fun dances from my collection of workout DVD's, my frustration at not being able to master the steps has always vetoed my desire. ALWAYS. I'm telling you.
But one day this woman posted a video on Instagram (seven weeks ago actually, seriously I'm not stalking you Katia. Okay maybe I am a little bit)... wait let me see if I can find it and hook you up with a link so you can see for yourself... Eeeeeeeeeeeeee THIS is it. Check it out. I saw this and saw how much fun they were having and I wanted to be able to do that and have that much fun too. Now I'm not proud of what happened next, but you know I love my humiliating public confessions so I'll share. I pulled IG up on my computer and let that tiny clip play on a loop as I tried to mimic the moves. Egads! It was horrifying and hilarious at the same time, I could not scrub the smile off my face. Oh but there were tears too because I could not get my ribs to move the way they were supposed to, but that's another story.
Anyhoo, I had become familiar with Katia and Dancebody through my friend Emily and had been trying some of the free Dancebody Periscope classes. Still, trying to dance like them was a continued source of frustration and I was dangerously close to falling back into the 'I hate cardio' routine when Katia came out with streaming and as part of that package, she created breakdowns!!! Breakdowns that come in a four count. Breakdowns that do the same thing on the left as they do on the right. Breakdowns that repeat and make sense to my pea-brain! Omigod! Game changer! She launched the streaming on Monday June 27th and since then I have really focused on just repeating the same breakdown over and over and I can finally almost do it! This is unheard of. In less than two weeks (oh shut up all you naturally gifted dancers out there! seven years compared to two weeks? that's fucking progress in my books okay?! lol) The point is that while I have an enormously long way to go, for the first time in my life, I have hope that I too may learn to dance.
So enough about me, who the heck is Katia Pryce and what in the world is Dancebody? The short answer? Katia is a dancer and Dancebody is a "New York City-based workout created by dancers." Check these beauties out.
Can't you just see these chicks taking over a club and dominating!? I can. Not that I go to clubs. But I'd like to know that IF I did go to clubs I too could dominate. But again, enough about me. Let's talk about Katia and what sets her apart from other dance-based workouts.
First of all, if Katia was a religion (in my opinion) she would be Hinduism. Why? Because unlike other 'single God' based religions who claim that their way is the only way and if you don't believe in their God you are going to hell or doomed to an eternity of suffering etc, Hinduism has this philosophy that's all-inclusive. The Gods are many but the truth is one, sort of idea. They know that our little piddly human brains can't even begin to comprehend the greatness of the Creator or the Source, so they create "aspects of God" that we can cling to in order to find our way back to all that is. Does that make sense? What I'm trying to say is that Katia doesn't shun every other workout, she understands that each thing has its respective place in the whole of our wellbeing, but that if you want to look like a dancer, you need to move like a dancer.
She is quoted in an interview as saying: I think every workout has it place. If someone came to me and needed to lose 30 to 40 pounds, I tell them to go spin for a month and then come back to me because if you dance with too much weight on your knees, you’re going to blow out your knee.
When asked about running she said: Running is great, but I think it’s more of a mental thing for a lot of people.
You can read the entire article here.
My girl Tara, who is a marathon runner who's been out of commission for a bit recently said that running is part of who she is, it's her heart and it completes her. I agree, I think running is as much a spiritual practice as it is physical and one should never be made to feel guilty for pursuing that passion.
So what's a Dancebody class like? Is it all just dancing? No it is not. Some classes are more dance based, others focus on sculpting your body, but every class incorporates both of these components always.
Do you remember Jane Fonda's workouts? If not, here's a little taste.
Katia's sculpting is built upon the principles that Jane delivered to us all those years ago. It's a classic, old school type of aerobics that targets every angle so that you're not just overworking your quads or hamstrings or biceps. She uses weights and resistance bands too so you're always challenging your strength while getting your heart rate up with cardio in every class. And can we all just take a moment here to say how terrific Jane Fonda looks and still looks today?
I mean seriously! When I grow up, I want to be just like Jane.
But what really sets these classes apart for me is the fact that Katia takes the time to explain to you why she wants you to move in a certain way, and if you're doing it wrong, she'll tell you.
When I'm at home doing it on my own, I might think I'm doing it right, but then she'll stop and say make sure your heel is leading the move or that your knee is facing this way or that, going on to explain and show you the difference making you doing it with her so you can feel that difference. If you were doing it the slightly wrong way, your hamstring will take over, or your quads will be engaged when she is actually targeting the inner thigh. I need those pointers because I am not a dancer, I don't know what angle or direction does what. It's these extra tips and bits of information that Katia shares during every class that just make the world of difference.
Here's a perfect case in point. I have very tight traps.
They are over-developed, making my neck appear shorter. I had always just assumed that this was because I have a hyper-mobile neck and a consequent age-old neck injury, so I just thought that they built up for protection. But I realize now that that might not be the case. Did you know that when you're using dumbbells in various different rotations that if you clench your fingers around the weight you'll activate those trapezius muscles? Yes, turns out it's true. But if you extend your fingers through the movements those muscles no longer engage. This is very fucking helpful information, people! We need to know this. Think of me as a total dum dum when it comes to moving my body... because I AM a total dum dum. I don't know what I don't know and I need to be told.
She also reminds you to relax your shoulders or tighten up and use that core. It's the stuff you're going to forget when the burn gets bad after a million reps of something you know? The other thing that I really love is the rep countdown. I cannot tell you how many times I've done other workouts where I'm dying on a move and I'll stop, only to discover that if I'd just hung on for a few more moments I'd have done them all. Just when you think you can't go on, if someone says there's only four more or eight more, you go for it, you push yourself further and you accomplish even more! Did I mention that I love that? I love that!
Now being a New York City-based company is all good and well but what about those of us who don't live in NYC? Hello streaming! Streaming gives us access to all of the classes that the New Yorkers might take for granted. But I have to tell you, when it launched and gave us all this content, I'm talking like a ton of classes, I for one was overwhelmed. Where do I start? How do I approach all of this? Well Noble Reader, we asked that question and the Dancebody team answered. The Customer Service team of this company is outstanding, I have never seen anything like it. They are so accessible and care so much about the clients it's fantastic. My best buddy Natalia hurt her neck a little bit during an ab sequence, so she went to them to ask what to do. Within hours several instructors had gotten back to her (including Katia) with remedies and tips not only for healing but for prevention! Unreal.
But I digress. What to do with all of this great content. The team came up with two groups. Someone like me who is uncoordinated and clumsy falls into the category of Junior Varsity, whereas girls like my beauty Myla would be Varsity because she knows how to move, has stamina and strength for days and can go all out.
Each group has their own plan and... AND... a workout calendar for the month!
This lists how many days a week you want to get your workout in and what workout to do on what day! It's a plan. It's all spelled out. I need stuff to be spelled out, it's why I was so successful on the Metamorphosis plan. I had a workout schedule, a nutritional plan, and a place to track it all.
I definitely give Dancebody and the entire team a three thumbs up, sorry but two is just not enough. I think the thing that really sealed the deal for me was this specific quote from Katia: If you combine dance cardio with classical conditioning, you can't go wrong. It gives you this super lean, tight bod, with the cherry on top that you can dance like a motherfucker.
She speaks my language!!!
If you know me at all, you know that I will (as always) continue with the workout plan that I have devoted the last seven years of my life to along with the the fantastic new addition of Dancebody and it is my intention to be "dancing like a motherfucker" by the end of the summer! Watch this space, bitches.
Thanks for tuning in and if you're curios for more information or want to check out Dancebody at home, go HERE! If you can't get the answers you want, reach out to EMILY she will definitely be able to help you.
Onwards and upwards toward your best most beautiful self, midlife and beyond babies.
xo
Shan
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
George Bernard Shaw
"Life is no brief candle to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch which I am permitted to hold for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
Playwright George Bernard Shaw said that.
Doesn't that fill you with a kind of hope? The desire to do more? To be better? To create positive change in the world? Not so that others will remember you, but so that others can live in a better tomorrow?
I don't know about you but I'm into astrology and horoscopes and stuff. I don't know if they are true but I find them fascinating. I was recently introduced to the work of Numerologist Kari Samuels and I'm digging her vibe. She doesn't do typical astrology or specific star sign forecasts. She's more in tune with the planets and universal numbers and she does a reading for the month that sort of applies to everyone. I can't really claim to know exactly what she does or how but I enjoy her always positive outlook.
I thought I would share the takeaways from her July reading.
She said July is all about Trust. Truth. and Transformation. Allow me to digress before going further with her thoughts, if you will.
We are exactly half way through the year and I don't know about you guys, but I sure have been feeling like I've been put through the ringer. It's like I have been sucked through some kind of vortex or wormhole wherein everything I thought I knew was some how topsy turvy and I found myself in an upside down version of my life. It's like things or people you thought you knew or could count on let you down or faded away. New people that you thought you hardly knew suddenly become your closest bud. Stuff you thought would be there forever got lost. Dreams you had no longer enticed you. Or things you thought you could never do started to become second nature, like giving up sugar.
(Side note: I gave myself a goal of being completely sugar-free for three months or 90 days to be exact. Hello my name is Shan and I'm a sugar-holic, I have 97 days. Yesterday I decided to test myself. I added 1 single solitary cube of raw cane sugar to my tea, because that was the thing I'd been moaning about for the past three months, how crappy my sugarless tea tastes. I took a few sips and you won't even believe it... I dumped it out and made a fresh cup with no sugar. It tasted so fake and weird! This has literally NEVER happened to me before. See? Wormhole. Upside down world. Topsy turvy everything is now different place. And this is just one tiny example.)
Plus it was like the last couple of months, everything seemed to grind to a halt. Oh sure I was still writing and working and making a tiny bit of progress here and there, but for the most part is was like trying to run a marathon while being waist deep in wet cement. You are bound to make some progress if you don't give up and let the cement harden around you, but you sure aren't winning any prizes for speed. Do you know what I mean? Or has it just been me?
In any case, it's only really been the last two or three days that I feel I've emerged on the other side. A slightly newer, slicker, or somehow better version of myself. Shan Masters two point oh. (2.0) I see my imperfections and love them anyway. I choose to focus on the things that bring me joy rather than resting in that irritated space where I look at all the stuff in my life that still hasn't worked out yet or may be lacking. He who shall not be named says I have Ostrich syndrome. He thinks I'd rather bury my head in the sand rather than have all the information. I prefer to think of it as selective focusing. I am playing the "glad game", better known as the cup is half full.
And now that I am on the other side (there hasn't been anything definitive or distinct that's taken place, I just some how 'feel' different) I feel better, more hopeful and positive. It's like knowing that my life is really really good and I am so lucky to have it. Or as Shaw would say it, my torch is burning brightly.
So in the July spirit of trust, truth and transformation, let me give you the three things that Kari Samuels suggests we focus on this month to squeeze the absolute most out of this vibrant summer month. (I'll paraphrase)
1) Living in truth is all about being your authentic self. Even if that means that not everyone is going to "get you". Just be you. It's enough. Your tribe will find you. (right Sophie?) So Kari says to really tune in and listen to your body. It's a vessel of intuition. I love that. Forget your mind, it will deceive you every time. I know my mind is constantly saying eat a bagel, have a brownie, skip your workout, take the day off from writing. My mind is no bueno! Feel into the depths of your body for truth. Is there some activity that you really want to like, but the truth is every time you have to go off and do it you get a knot in your stomach? Or a person you feel you should love (perhaps a family member) but each time you're on your way to see them or speak with them you're filled with angst or dread? That's your body speaking its truth to you. It's your job to tune in and listen!
2) Two follows one so brilliantly. Kari says this month, try to be brutally honest. Face the shit (I said I was paraphrasing here didn't I) in your life that you're not okay with. You deserve more. Change can be scary but don't be afraid of it. Is there a relationship or partnership that deep down inside you know isn't working? Be honest and brave and face that. Pay attention to what you really want. Be honest with yourself AND be honest with OTHERS! That's a tough one isn't it? But the truth really will set you free. Are you working a job you abhor? Why not ask yourself what you'd rather be doing and find a way to incorporate more of that into your life? Now is the time, we only have the now.
3) Retreat into nature. Get near water if you can. Find some solitude so you have the space you need to go within. Nature has very yin energy, it's restorative and healing. Take this time to process everything you've gone through in the last six months, so you're able to heal old wounds, clear up old karma and stagnant engery and move on.
And that's it. If you want to hear everything Kari has to say about July, check out her video HERE.
Honestly, I had just read the GBS quote on my morning calendar and loved it so much that I was simply going to pop in and share that and nothing more. But you know me, once I get going... Thanks for tuning in.
It is my fondest wish that the second half of the year is going to bear beautiful fruits for us all! Happy Tuesday noble reader, have a lovely day.
xo
Shan
It is a sort of splendid torch which I am permitted to hold for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
Playwright George Bernard Shaw said that.
Doesn't that fill you with a kind of hope? The desire to do more? To be better? To create positive change in the world? Not so that others will remember you, but so that others can live in a better tomorrow?
I don't know about you but I'm into astrology and horoscopes and stuff. I don't know if they are true but I find them fascinating. I was recently introduced to the work of Numerologist Kari Samuels and I'm digging her vibe. She doesn't do typical astrology or specific star sign forecasts. She's more in tune with the planets and universal numbers and she does a reading for the month that sort of applies to everyone. I can't really claim to know exactly what she does or how but I enjoy her always positive outlook.
I thought I would share the takeaways from her July reading.
She said July is all about Trust. Truth. and Transformation. Allow me to digress before going further with her thoughts, if you will.
We are exactly half way through the year and I don't know about you guys, but I sure have been feeling like I've been put through the ringer. It's like I have been sucked through some kind of vortex or wormhole wherein everything I thought I knew was some how topsy turvy and I found myself in an upside down version of my life. It's like things or people you thought you knew or could count on let you down or faded away. New people that you thought you hardly knew suddenly become your closest bud. Stuff you thought would be there forever got lost. Dreams you had no longer enticed you. Or things you thought you could never do started to become second nature, like giving up sugar.
(Side note: I gave myself a goal of being completely sugar-free for three months or 90 days to be exact. Hello my name is Shan and I'm a sugar-holic, I have 97 days. Yesterday I decided to test myself. I added 1 single solitary cube of raw cane sugar to my tea, because that was the thing I'd been moaning about for the past three months, how crappy my sugarless tea tastes. I took a few sips and you won't even believe it... I dumped it out and made a fresh cup with no sugar. It tasted so fake and weird! This has literally NEVER happened to me before. See? Wormhole. Upside down world. Topsy turvy everything is now different place. And this is just one tiny example.)
Plus it was like the last couple of months, everything seemed to grind to a halt. Oh sure I was still writing and working and making a tiny bit of progress here and there, but for the most part is was like trying to run a marathon while being waist deep in wet cement. You are bound to make some progress if you don't give up and let the cement harden around you, but you sure aren't winning any prizes for speed. Do you know what I mean? Or has it just been me?
In any case, it's only really been the last two or three days that I feel I've emerged on the other side. A slightly newer, slicker, or somehow better version of myself. Shan Masters two point oh. (2.0) I see my imperfections and love them anyway. I choose to focus on the things that bring me joy rather than resting in that irritated space where I look at all the stuff in my life that still hasn't worked out yet or may be lacking. He who shall not be named says I have Ostrich syndrome. He thinks I'd rather bury my head in the sand rather than have all the information. I prefer to think of it as selective focusing. I am playing the "glad game", better known as the cup is half full.
And now that I am on the other side (there hasn't been anything definitive or distinct that's taken place, I just some how 'feel' different) I feel better, more hopeful and positive. It's like knowing that my life is really really good and I am so lucky to have it. Or as Shaw would say it, my torch is burning brightly.
So in the July spirit of trust, truth and transformation, let me give you the three things that Kari Samuels suggests we focus on this month to squeeze the absolute most out of this vibrant summer month. (I'll paraphrase)
1) Living in truth is all about being your authentic self. Even if that means that not everyone is going to "get you". Just be you. It's enough. Your tribe will find you. (right Sophie?) So Kari says to really tune in and listen to your body. It's a vessel of intuition. I love that. Forget your mind, it will deceive you every time. I know my mind is constantly saying eat a bagel, have a brownie, skip your workout, take the day off from writing. My mind is no bueno! Feel into the depths of your body for truth. Is there some activity that you really want to like, but the truth is every time you have to go off and do it you get a knot in your stomach? Or a person you feel you should love (perhaps a family member) but each time you're on your way to see them or speak with them you're filled with angst or dread? That's your body speaking its truth to you. It's your job to tune in and listen!
2) Two follows one so brilliantly. Kari says this month, try to be brutally honest. Face the shit (I said I was paraphrasing here didn't I) in your life that you're not okay with. You deserve more. Change can be scary but don't be afraid of it. Is there a relationship or partnership that deep down inside you know isn't working? Be honest and brave and face that. Pay attention to what you really want. Be honest with yourself AND be honest with OTHERS! That's a tough one isn't it? But the truth really will set you free. Are you working a job you abhor? Why not ask yourself what you'd rather be doing and find a way to incorporate more of that into your life? Now is the time, we only have the now.
3) Retreat into nature. Get near water if you can. Find some solitude so you have the space you need to go within. Nature has very yin energy, it's restorative and healing. Take this time to process everything you've gone through in the last six months, so you're able to heal old wounds, clear up old karma and stagnant engery and move on.
And that's it. If you want to hear everything Kari has to say about July, check out her video HERE.
Honestly, I had just read the GBS quote on my morning calendar and loved it so much that I was simply going to pop in and share that and nothing more. But you know me, once I get going... Thanks for tuning in.
It is my fondest wish that the second half of the year is going to bear beautiful fruits for us all! Happy Tuesday noble reader, have a lovely day.
xo
Shan
Friday, July 1, 2016
Happy Half-Way New Year!
All day long all day long all day long, I could watch fireworks. Seriously, all day long. Did I mention I could watch 'em all day long?
Unfortunately for me, my dog hates them. So have not had many opportunities to watch the dazzling displays in recent years. But today feels like kind of a big deal. Not only because it's Canada Day and we will be having fireworks across the country, and not only because it's my Great Aunt's birthday today, Happy Birthday Auntie Anne - love you - but also because today is a magical exact halfway point in the year.
How or why is this any different than any other year? Leap year my pretties. We have 183 days behind us and 183 days before us and I feel like leaving all of the work, the heaviness, the effort, the drama, the meanies, and any residual negative feelings about all the shit that's currently going on in our world behind me -- from slavery in Nigeria, to Canada's injustice towards Indigenous people, to the shooting in Orlando, the bombings (plural - f*ck) in Istanbul and Brussels, Brexit, Trump, and the Tracy and Katia workout stuff and more. I'm a no drama mamma. Thank you and good night.
I want to walk through a portal or magical doorway into a peaceful, accepting, loving, non-judgemental, unconditional, authentic space where I'm free to be me and you're free to be you and we can love whomever we choose gay or straight, red, white, yellow, or black, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, or Krisha, cats or dogs, whatever.
A place where dreams come true, no one is left out, and good health is abundant and no one feels lack of any kind. Is that too much for a girl to wish for on this new day of this new month? Me thinks not. Who's with me?
Okay, lets go.... ready?
Isn't it perfect? Don't you just love it? This doorway sparks my imagination and makes it go all fairy and magic and miracles and shit. So what shall we expect in the new half year? Well what do you want? Have you taken a moment to ask yourself that lately? What do you really want? Why not start with how you'd like to feel?
I'd like to feel happy, I know that much. I'd like to feel at ease. I'd like to do nothing but fun stuff. I like fun. And I'd also like to feel free, untethered like a hot air balloon rising up up up into my limitless potential.
I want to know that I'm good at what I do and believe with all my heart that I am worthy. That I don't have to earn that worth by doing things that make me feel uncomfortable. I want to be surrounded by people who get me and accept me flaws and all, people who want to see the world be a beautiful positive all-inclusive place. Oooooh and I want to be surrounded by flowers and nature. I want everyone around me to have fresh air and clean water and access to medicine and safe working environments. I'd also like to see ethical treatment of people and animals across the board. Yep, in my world horses and pigs, dogs, cows and little chickens run free, are well fed and happy. No person owns another person. Women can move about safely and go to school or work without fear of retribution from their families or anyone else. Damn I got a lot of wishes for my new world on the other side of that door.
But guess what? I am a writer so I can create multiple worlds populated with all kinds of interesting people and things.
In any case, I needed to exercise some demons today, wipe the slate clean and start the New Half-Year right! So that's what this is all about. Really, I'm not a fanatical idealist with my head buried in the sand. Although, He Who Shall Not Be Named might argue otherwise he he he.
I just want a better tomorrow. What I know for sure is that greater people than me believed we could be better.
With those wise words, I leave you with the virtue for July. LOVE. Obviously. Now walk with me, through the door of today and into our beautiful tomorrow!
Happy second half of 2016!
xo
Shan
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Ninety Days!
Today is a day for celebration. It's one of the few times in my life that I am not too shy or modest to pat my own back and drink a toast in my own honor, for this day marks a huge achievement in my life.
I have gone (not without major struggle) ninety days without sugar. So cheers! Cheers to good health, freedom from sugar addiction, and the knowledge that we can change, we can make better choices, and we can live the life of our dreams.
This is on my desk and I'm drinking it as we speak. (or as I type and you read)
I could never have done it alone. I've had loads of help and support along the way. I have to thank Emery for introducing me to That Sugar Film it showed me why I had to do this. Thanks Elise, Jenne, Leslie, Natalia, Amy, Sophie, Justine - you all have made a major difference in helping me stay on track, in motivating me to keep going, reminding me why this is so important and even though we are all on different paths, some of you are able to now eat sugar and moderate it, others (you know who you are) are addicts like me and hope to be sugar free for life... I owe you a massive debt of gratitude. (God, this is like an Oscar speech or something)
So I raise this glass to you ladies. And to you Myla because you are just so darn good at being a cheerleader and healthy eater and one day I will learn to dance and we'll dance together!
Thanks so much for giving me this precious safe place to come and share the victories, the struggles, the rants, and the good times. I feel very blessed this fine Tuesday.
xo
Shan
I have gone (not without major struggle) ninety days without sugar. So cheers! Cheers to good health, freedom from sugar addiction, and the knowledge that we can change, we can make better choices, and we can live the life of our dreams.
This is on my desk and I'm drinking it as we speak. (or as I type and you read)
I could never have done it alone. I've had loads of help and support along the way. I have to thank Emery for introducing me to That Sugar Film it showed me why I had to do this. Thanks Elise, Jenne, Leslie, Natalia, Amy, Sophie, Justine - you all have made a major difference in helping me stay on track, in motivating me to keep going, reminding me why this is so important and even though we are all on different paths, some of you are able to now eat sugar and moderate it, others (you know who you are) are addicts like me and hope to be sugar free for life... I owe you a massive debt of gratitude. (God, this is like an Oscar speech or something)
So I raise this glass to you ladies. And to you Myla because you are just so darn good at being a cheerleader and healthy eater and one day I will learn to dance and we'll dance together!
Thanks so much for giving me this precious safe place to come and share the victories, the struggles, the rants, and the good times. I feel very blessed this fine Tuesday.
xo
Shan
Friday, June 24, 2016
TAK
I don't know what it is, but it would seem that all roads lead me back to fitness, and health, and wellness, and taking action toward those ends. I grew really tired of only writing about fitness on my old BLOG, so I started this new one to talk about other stuff and yet here I am about to launch into more fit info. Can you even believe it?
What can I say I love a good workout!
The title of this post is TAK. What the hell is that you may be asking. Patience noble reader, isn't that part of the fun of reading?
If you know anything about me at all, it's most likely the fact that I am a long time Tracy Anderson Method junkie. Love her, love her workouts, love all of the guidance and support that she has provided over the years that I have been doing her workouts. She not only helped me lose those twenty pounds that crept on after marriage... you've heard of the freshman twenty right? That's where you go off to college and eat all the shit your parents forbid you from consuming in copious amounts, you party, drink and of course study, and then you pack on the pounds. Well there is a thing in later life too it's called heavily ever after and it happens after you tie the knot. You're just so dang blissful and happy you lie around in bed and feed each other cake then BAM, same thing you pack on the pounds.
But I digress.
I was neck deep in my heavily ever after when I learned about Tracy Anderson on Oprah or someplace (like we all did back then I believe) and I started with her Mat DVD, this is old news though. You know all this. If you don't, feel free to click the link above, I've spent a good five years of my life writing about it! I stuck with her and while I have had my ups and downs with dieting, kicking sugar, falling off the wagon, then kicking it again (86 days sugar free and going strong) I've managed to mostly keep those pounds off. Not all of them mind you, but for the majority of the past six years, over half. Not a bad average.
Still, I'm getting older and things they are a changin'! My metabolism is starting to slow down in a real way and a few things have shifted around my mid-section. Now before I go any further, I want to state it loud and clear that I am and always will be a Tracy Anderson Method devotee. I am never giving that girl up. She promised me that she was going to be doing this into her 80's well Tracy, I'm going to be doing it right along with you.
However, that said, a few elements of the workout have changed. If you're familiar with Tracy's work, you know that she is always evolving and honing her Method. I have a unique body type. Well Duh, Shan we all do! Yeah yeah, but I mean I am thick around the middle. Even when I'm thin, my mid section goes up and down it does not curve in at the waist. It likely never will but I certainly do not need any additional musculature happening around that area so I have really had to tailor my streaming workouts to avoid some of those oblique challenging moves.
Allow me to take you back to 18 months ago when Tracy launched her online streaming workouts. This took us from working out at home along with one of her pre-recorded DVD workouts, to working out live with her (still at home) while she filmed her actual studio classes. Along with this launch she had a streaming contest where a whole bunch of at-homers got to connect with one another and it was here that I met the amazing and contagiously happy Emily Kirsch. You can find her HERE.
She was onto Tracy in the early days and the girl just has her thumb on the pulse of all things fitness. It was Emily who turned me onto a new trainer that she'd been working with who she had fallen madly in love with. Katia Pryce of DANCEBODY.
Now listen, I've had a lot of people tell me about a lot of trainers over the years, but Tracy was the one for me. There was no one else. I mean I love and adore Anna Kaiser one of Tracy's former trainers, but her workouts were not for me. Then there is Body by Simone and Yin in the Zone. I'm sure these ladies are all terrific and are absolutely the right trainer for someone, they are just not for me. I am not a trend hopper. At least not anymore. If you'd talked to me seven years ago I'd have told you I'd done them all, Jillian Michaels, Chalene Johnson, P90X etc. and none of them worked for me. But now I am a TAM girl through and through.
Which brings me back to Katia.
She too is a former trainer of Tracy. Emily directed me to her website and I tried the couple of tutorials that she had there with some simple dance routines. They aren't on the site anymore sadly, but guess what? Low and behold I was able to follow along. This girl could teach this old dog a new trick. I mean not only am I am old dog, I'm an old dog with two left feet. I could never do Tracy's dances. My brain just didn't operate that way. But something about the breakdown and four count and balance from left to right with Katia made me think there was hope for me yet!
Katia began offering free periscope workouts, both sculpt and cardio. At first I was only in it for the cardio because you know me, I hate the dance cardio and that hate is compounded further by the fact that I cannot dance. But I really want to be able to dance so this was a way for me to possibly learn. However, as time marched on, I found myself trying the sculpt classes and absolutely loving them. I began to really tailor by workouts between Tracy and Katia and I'm actually starting to notice a shift around my midriff. It's... SHRINKING!!!! I can't believe it.
All this time off sugar, giving up gluten, no processed foods and I still had a muffin top. I'm back into my original skinny jeans people. The ones I got into at the end of The 30-Day Method!!!
So what do I do? I do the arm section of Tracy's live stream class, a wee bit of cardio with Katia, like maybe one song or two on a good day, and then I do between 30 and 50 minutes of her legs depending on which periscope class I'm following. Now I know what you're thinking: fat lot a good that does me, I haven't been doing her periscopes!
Good news noble reader, Katia - KPDANCEBODY is about to start her own streaming and you do not have long to wait. She is launching it on Monday June 27th!!!! Isn't that so exciting!?!! I absolutely cannot wait.
So has it clicked in yet? Have you figured out why the post is called TAK??
It's my new preferred method of movement. Tracy Anderson and Katia T.A.K.
I love it!
Aren't they just adorable? Don't you want to hug them both? I LOVE these girls.
Now before I go I've got to get one small thing off my chest...
When these periscope classes first launched, there was a young lady on Instagram who sent out a call about loyalty. It's a topic I know a thing or two about being a fiercely loyal person to the people I love and respect! What this young lady was suggesting was that if you are someone who does the Tracy Anderson Method or TAM as it's been shortened to, then you should not partake in Katia's workouts because there was bad blood between the two former colleagues.
To that young lady I say: Whatever happened between these two women is absolutely none of my business. It's got nothing to do with me. You telling me if I am doing one I cannot do the other is the equivalent of saying that if I shop at Saks I'd better not be caught shopping at Macy's.
I am a TAK girl all the way!
xo
Shan
Monday, June 13, 2016
The WHEAT Post
Yep, it's Monday. Again. How the heck did the last week slip by without me writing the wheat post? I have been promising to write about what I'd learned about wheat and gluten specifically for ages, but for some reason I was starting to dread it. Because let's face it, you hear gluten and you think: oh yeah, another demon food, wasn't fat just the enemy yesterday and now that's all we're eating?
Yes. True. But hear me out okay? Or not. You can go, you don't have to read this if you don't want to.
Knowing what I know about wheat now and thinking back, all of the childhood issues that I suffered with for years and years with no relief are starting to make sense!
So here's a little backstory.
I grew up in Saskatchewan. No idea where that is? It's the middle of Canada and it's known as the breadbasket of the county. Why? Because it's prairie farmland for as far and the eye can see. We grow a lot of stuff there, but wheat is a big one.
When the wheat is ready to be harvested, the days before it's cut, if the wind blows just right, it looks like waves tumbling over a golden ocean. It's glorious. I get homesick just thinking about it.
Anyway...
As I child I suffered a variety of seemingly unrelated physical ailments. I constantly had stomach troubles but it was never the same trouble two days in a row. If on Monday I was constipated, Tuesday I could have the runs, but Thursday might bring bloating and abdominal pain so severe I could hardly move. Add to that migraine headaches, moodiness (I was so not a morning person), I was always tired, and canker sores? Oh man did I suffer. There were times I might have three or four at a time.
I also remember being annoyed by the appearance of little white bumps all over the backs of my arms and my great aunt Mary telling me I needed to scrub harder in the tub. I would rub that skin raw with a wash cloth and still they would not go away.
My mom, bless her, she had me to every doctor and specialist that you could think of, we even traveled two and a half hours away from home to the province capital to see GI doctors. Their conclusion? I was a nervous child. I'm sorry but isn't that the equivalent of doctors one hundred years ago calling any disease that affected a woman "Hysteria". Such utter bullshit. Something was wrong with me and just because it didn't show up in their tests, it was all in my head? Want to know what I'd say to them now? ---
Never mind it's a bit too crude. But it definitely has the F-word in it and a place they can shove their tests. Ahem. But allow me to get on with this post.
First a word from our Gluten expert Dr. Tom O'Brian (Dr. Tom or Dr. T aka the Gluten Guy):
There’s a lot of confusion about gluten sensitivity. Some say it doesn’t exist. Others think going gluten free without celiac disease is unnecessary and is just a fad. But science now confirms what gluten sensitive patients and their doctors have known for years: Gluten sensitivity is a real disorder with defined symptoms that can affect any part of the body.
The gluten protein in wheat, barley, and rye causes numerous health problems in susceptible individuals. Gluten-Related Disorders (GRD)are conditions that are triggered by gluten. Celiac disease is the most well-known GRD. It’s an autoimmune condition that results in tissue damage in the small intestine. NonCeliac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) is another Gluten-Related Disorder. People with gluten sensitivity develop symptoms after eating gluten, but the immune reaction is different than the one that occurs in celiac disease.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity is more common than celiac disease. Many patients with either celiac disease or Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity do not know they have the condition. There’s a surprising fact about Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity: Most of its symptoms occur outside of the intestines and gastrointestinal tract!
(Ha! Take that you lousy specialists who told me everything that was happening to me was a result of me being a "sensitive child".)
How do we know? In a new study, researchers from Italian medical centers that specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of Gluten-Related Disorders identified nearly 500 patients with suspected NonCeliac Gluten Sensitivity. They used patients’ reported symptoms, lab tests, intestinal biopsy results (if performed), and other factors to identify those who were sensitive to gluten. The most common symptoms reported in gluten-sensitive people
included:
• Bloating (87%)
• Abdominal pain (83%)
• Lack of well being (68%)
• Tiredness (64%)
• Headache (54%)
• Diarrhea (54%)
• Nausea (44%)
• Anxiety (39%)
• Brain fog (38%)
• Numbness (32%)
• GERD (32%)
• Joint/muscle pain (31%)
Gluten-sensitive people in the study also experienced constipation, rashes, weight loss, anemia, depression, mouth sores, and more. More women than men suffered from gluten sensitivity, by a ratio of more than 5 to 1. The average age of the patients was 38. Nearly half of the patients had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) while 35% reported food intolerance. Almost 1 in 5 patients had a relative with celiac disease. Researchers reported that 14% of gluten-sensitive people in the study had an autoimmune disease, most commonly autoimmune thyroiditis.
Sadly, the majority of people with Gluten-Related Disorders are undiagnosed and untreated. Do you have Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity? If you have symptoms, see a healthcare practitioner with extensive knowledge in the diagnosis and treatment of Gluten-Related Disorders. Functional medicine practitioners have experience with newer specialized tests that can help diagnose these conditions. You can also try a 3-week trial period of a gluten-free diet. If your symptoms improve when you avoid gluten, but they return soon after you reintroduce gluten into your diet, you may be gluten sensitive. If that’s the case, you would benefit from being on a gluten-free diet permanently.
Proper diagnosis and treatment are key. Gluten-Related Disorders like celiac disease and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity contribute to intestinal permeability, more commonly known as “leaky gut.” And leaky gut, in turn, sets the stage for autoimmune disease and other conditions. In future articles, we’ll discuss how gluten triggers these processes.
So this just goes to show how gluten can damage areas in your body beyond your gut, but why do I care? I mean apart from the fact that I have so obviously been sensitive to gluten my entire life? What got me onto this topic? Why fat loss of course. Dr. Tom was part of that FAT LOSS SUMMIT I was referring to during my earlier posts about the Always Hungry Solution (AHS).
Wheat, like dairy or soy or sugar triggers INFLAMMATION!
I can't seem to get enough information on the subject, I am always hungry for more because I really want my body to function at it's optimal level. When you're in your twenties and even your thirties to some extent, you can trash your body and it magically recovers, it seems to bounce back to better than before. This is so not the case in your forties and beyond. Things wear out, they start to break down, and they need more care and attention. I have no idea how old I will grow, but I can tell you one thing; I don't want to be decrepit.
My great aunti Anne is in her 80's, and while she is going through a battle with her health at the moment, she is so strong and resilient. Why? Because all of her life she's had an amazing positive bright can-do attitude, she's eaten healthy foods and taken in the not so good stuff in moderation (she'll have an occasional beer or piece of cake, but never over-does it) and she has remained incredibly physically active. She's a folk dancer. Even as she is working through her current health ordeal, she has gotten out to dance with her group. I love her and am so inspired I want to age the way she has, so gracefully and well.
Wheat and gluten want to stand in the way of that and here's how.
Disease is inflammation at a cellular level. Stop inflammation you stop disease. So how does inflammation happen? That's a massive subject and far too big to discuss within the scope of a single blog post so lets stick to wheat's role in inflammation shall we? Wheat causes intestinal permeability and loss of oral tolerance (immune unresponsiveness). But how?
This is how Dr. Tom described the process. Imagine your intestine as this big long massive tube that is lined with shag carpet. Now imagine that this shag is covered with cheese cloth. So as food is being broken down and digested, the molecules are moved along this tube along the carpet, certain sized molecules get through the cheese cloth and into the bloodstream via the little finger-like bits of your shag carpet. Ideally these molecules are your vitamins and minerals, things the body needs to function. Then the bigger molecules travel further along through enzymes that break them down until they are small enough to be dealt with appropriately.
But wheat comes along and it causes tears in your cheese cloth. Yikes. However, like a snake skin that sheds and regrows very quickly, your cheese cloth repairs itself. So, according to Dr. T, it heals, tears, heals, tears (your 20's and 30's) until one day it doesn't heal and chaos ensues. Your shag carpet is now mere berber. The wheat gets through and hits the bloodstream. Naturally the body views this as an invader (because it is) and it makes antibodies, as you know if you've been reading along with previous posts, the antibodies create inflammation which creates fat, which creates more antibodies and before you know it you're on the hamster wheel thinking you're doing everything right, diet exercise et al and you're still abcentric!
This process continues until you've got leaky gut or intestinal permeability, so now lots of different molecules are escaping through these tears and getting into the bloodstream and you're no longer just sensitive to gluten. Suddenly you might find that you're lactose intolerant where you never were before, or you're reacting to all sorts of foods that you used to enjoy all the time. Because as these molecules are getting into your bloodstream your body is fighting everything as if it were being attacked. If this is allowed to continue you may find yourself at the wrong end of an autoimmune disorder and you might even be a kid who has a doctor telling her she is just over-sensitive or that it's all in her head. (I'm sure I'll get over this some day, but this is new info so I'm still doing my booty dance of victory, in your face losers!)
Now you might be thinking it's all hopeless. You don't want to give up gluten forever. You think, I'll just get off it, allow my gut to heal and then I'll be okay. Nope. One exposure to wheat will trigger elevated antibodies that can leave you suffering for 3-6 months! One exposure! That's the wrong soy sauce at a sushi restaurant, that one piece of pizza, that tiny bite of a cookie! It's no bueno!! These antibodies can affect your heart or even your brain. Serious stuff noble reader. I should know, a year ago February I landed in emergency with pericarditis.
Not my best look to be sure!
I'm not trying to scare you. I'm asking you to be more tolerant of those around you who become hyper aware of the nutrient content of everything and say no thank you to gluten!
I'm asking you to look at yourself, to check in and ask: Am I feeling okay? Is that headache really stress? Do I feel tired all the time because I'm getting older? Are my joints really achy because of age? Or could there be something else going on?
There is no reason we can't all be dancing up a storm into our 80's too, so why not do a trial, take three weeks to eliminate some of these trigger foods from your diet beginning with Gluten.
Here's to your great health.
xo
Shan
Yes. True. But hear me out okay? Or not. You can go, you don't have to read this if you don't want to.
Knowing what I know about wheat now and thinking back, all of the childhood issues that I suffered with for years and years with no relief are starting to make sense!
So here's a little backstory.
I grew up in Saskatchewan. No idea where that is? It's the middle of Canada and it's known as the breadbasket of the county. Why? Because it's prairie farmland for as far and the eye can see. We grow a lot of stuff there, but wheat is a big one.
When the wheat is ready to be harvested, the days before it's cut, if the wind blows just right, it looks like waves tumbling over a golden ocean. It's glorious. I get homesick just thinking about it.
Anyway...
As I child I suffered a variety of seemingly unrelated physical ailments. I constantly had stomach troubles but it was never the same trouble two days in a row. If on Monday I was constipated, Tuesday I could have the runs, but Thursday might bring bloating and abdominal pain so severe I could hardly move. Add to that migraine headaches, moodiness (I was so not a morning person), I was always tired, and canker sores? Oh man did I suffer. There were times I might have three or four at a time.
I also remember being annoyed by the appearance of little white bumps all over the backs of my arms and my great aunt Mary telling me I needed to scrub harder in the tub. I would rub that skin raw with a wash cloth and still they would not go away.
My mom, bless her, she had me to every doctor and specialist that you could think of, we even traveled two and a half hours away from home to the province capital to see GI doctors. Their conclusion? I was a nervous child. I'm sorry but isn't that the equivalent of doctors one hundred years ago calling any disease that affected a woman "Hysteria". Such utter bullshit. Something was wrong with me and just because it didn't show up in their tests, it was all in my head? Want to know what I'd say to them now? ---
Never mind it's a bit too crude. But it definitely has the F-word in it and a place they can shove their tests. Ahem. But allow me to get on with this post.
First a word from our Gluten expert Dr. Tom O'Brian (Dr. Tom or Dr. T aka the Gluten Guy):
There’s a lot of confusion about gluten sensitivity. Some say it doesn’t exist. Others think going gluten free without celiac disease is unnecessary and is just a fad. But science now confirms what gluten sensitive patients and their doctors have known for years: Gluten sensitivity is a real disorder with defined symptoms that can affect any part of the body.
The gluten protein in wheat, barley, and rye causes numerous health problems in susceptible individuals. Gluten-Related Disorders (GRD)are conditions that are triggered by gluten. Celiac disease is the most well-known GRD. It’s an autoimmune condition that results in tissue damage in the small intestine. NonCeliac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) is another Gluten-Related Disorder. People with gluten sensitivity develop symptoms after eating gluten, but the immune reaction is different than the one that occurs in celiac disease.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity is more common than celiac disease. Many patients with either celiac disease or Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity do not know they have the condition. There’s a surprising fact about Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity: Most of its symptoms occur outside of the intestines and gastrointestinal tract!
(Ha! Take that you lousy specialists who told me everything that was happening to me was a result of me being a "sensitive child".)
How do we know? In a new study, researchers from Italian medical centers that specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of Gluten-Related Disorders identified nearly 500 patients with suspected NonCeliac Gluten Sensitivity. They used patients’ reported symptoms, lab tests, intestinal biopsy results (if performed), and other factors to identify those who were sensitive to gluten. The most common symptoms reported in gluten-sensitive people
included:
• Bloating (87%)
• Abdominal pain (83%)
• Lack of well being (68%)
• Tiredness (64%)
• Headache (54%)
• Diarrhea (54%)
• Nausea (44%)
• Anxiety (39%)
• Brain fog (38%)
• Numbness (32%)
• GERD (32%)
• Joint/muscle pain (31%)
Gluten-sensitive people in the study also experienced constipation, rashes, weight loss, anemia, depression, mouth sores, and more. More women than men suffered from gluten sensitivity, by a ratio of more than 5 to 1. The average age of the patients was 38. Nearly half of the patients had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) while 35% reported food intolerance. Almost 1 in 5 patients had a relative with celiac disease. Researchers reported that 14% of gluten-sensitive people in the study had an autoimmune disease, most commonly autoimmune thyroiditis.
Sadly, the majority of people with Gluten-Related Disorders are undiagnosed and untreated. Do you have Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity? If you have symptoms, see a healthcare practitioner with extensive knowledge in the diagnosis and treatment of Gluten-Related Disorders. Functional medicine practitioners have experience with newer specialized tests that can help diagnose these conditions. You can also try a 3-week trial period of a gluten-free diet. If your symptoms improve when you avoid gluten, but they return soon after you reintroduce gluten into your diet, you may be gluten sensitive. If that’s the case, you would benefit from being on a gluten-free diet permanently.
Proper diagnosis and treatment are key. Gluten-Related Disorders like celiac disease and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity contribute to intestinal permeability, more commonly known as “leaky gut.” And leaky gut, in turn, sets the stage for autoimmune disease and other conditions. In future articles, we’ll discuss how gluten triggers these processes.
So this just goes to show how gluten can damage areas in your body beyond your gut, but why do I care? I mean apart from the fact that I have so obviously been sensitive to gluten my entire life? What got me onto this topic? Why fat loss of course. Dr. Tom was part of that FAT LOSS SUMMIT I was referring to during my earlier posts about the Always Hungry Solution (AHS).
Wheat, like dairy or soy or sugar triggers INFLAMMATION!
I can't seem to get enough information on the subject, I am always hungry for more because I really want my body to function at it's optimal level. When you're in your twenties and even your thirties to some extent, you can trash your body and it magically recovers, it seems to bounce back to better than before. This is so not the case in your forties and beyond. Things wear out, they start to break down, and they need more care and attention. I have no idea how old I will grow, but I can tell you one thing; I don't want to be decrepit.
My great aunti Anne is in her 80's, and while she is going through a battle with her health at the moment, she is so strong and resilient. Why? Because all of her life she's had an amazing positive bright can-do attitude, she's eaten healthy foods and taken in the not so good stuff in moderation (she'll have an occasional beer or piece of cake, but never over-does it) and she has remained incredibly physically active. She's a folk dancer. Even as she is working through her current health ordeal, she has gotten out to dance with her group. I love her and am so inspired I want to age the way she has, so gracefully and well.
Wheat and gluten want to stand in the way of that and here's how.
Disease is inflammation at a cellular level. Stop inflammation you stop disease. So how does inflammation happen? That's a massive subject and far too big to discuss within the scope of a single blog post so lets stick to wheat's role in inflammation shall we? Wheat causes intestinal permeability and loss of oral tolerance (immune unresponsiveness). But how?
This is how Dr. Tom described the process. Imagine your intestine as this big long massive tube that is lined with shag carpet. Now imagine that this shag is covered with cheese cloth. So as food is being broken down and digested, the molecules are moved along this tube along the carpet, certain sized molecules get through the cheese cloth and into the bloodstream via the little finger-like bits of your shag carpet. Ideally these molecules are your vitamins and minerals, things the body needs to function. Then the bigger molecules travel further along through enzymes that break them down until they are small enough to be dealt with appropriately.
But wheat comes along and it causes tears in your cheese cloth. Yikes. However, like a snake skin that sheds and regrows very quickly, your cheese cloth repairs itself. So, according to Dr. T, it heals, tears, heals, tears (your 20's and 30's) until one day it doesn't heal and chaos ensues. Your shag carpet is now mere berber. The wheat gets through and hits the bloodstream. Naturally the body views this as an invader (because it is) and it makes antibodies, as you know if you've been reading along with previous posts, the antibodies create inflammation which creates fat, which creates more antibodies and before you know it you're on the hamster wheel thinking you're doing everything right, diet exercise et al and you're still abcentric!
This process continues until you've got leaky gut or intestinal permeability, so now lots of different molecules are escaping through these tears and getting into the bloodstream and you're no longer just sensitive to gluten. Suddenly you might find that you're lactose intolerant where you never were before, or you're reacting to all sorts of foods that you used to enjoy all the time. Because as these molecules are getting into your bloodstream your body is fighting everything as if it were being attacked. If this is allowed to continue you may find yourself at the wrong end of an autoimmune disorder and you might even be a kid who has a doctor telling her she is just over-sensitive or that it's all in her head. (I'm sure I'll get over this some day, but this is new info so I'm still doing my booty dance of victory, in your face losers!)
Now you might be thinking it's all hopeless. You don't want to give up gluten forever. You think, I'll just get off it, allow my gut to heal and then I'll be okay. Nope. One exposure to wheat will trigger elevated antibodies that can leave you suffering for 3-6 months! One exposure! That's the wrong soy sauce at a sushi restaurant, that one piece of pizza, that tiny bite of a cookie! It's no bueno!! These antibodies can affect your heart or even your brain. Serious stuff noble reader. I should know, a year ago February I landed in emergency with pericarditis.
Not my best look to be sure!
I'm not trying to scare you. I'm asking you to be more tolerant of those around you who become hyper aware of the nutrient content of everything and say no thank you to gluten!
I'm asking you to look at yourself, to check in and ask: Am I feeling okay? Is that headache really stress? Do I feel tired all the time because I'm getting older? Are my joints really achy because of age? Or could there be something else going on?
There is no reason we can't all be dancing up a storm into our 80's too, so why not do a trial, take three weeks to eliminate some of these trigger foods from your diet beginning with Gluten.
Here's to your great health.
xo
Shan
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