Do I have OCBD?

OCBD....Obsessive Compulsive Bloggers Disorder? I am not quite sure of the etiquette around blogging, but this is my 3rd one in a week, is that ok? or annoying? It's ok. You can tell me.

I was working with a client today who does not like sushi and it reminded me of when I first moved to San Francisco from Indiana when I was 22. (Imagine banjo music while I am telling you this part) As I got off the plane in my flowered dress with 2 suitcases to start my new life I noticed someone eating raw fish. I looked around to see how others were responding to this absurdity and no one seemed to care. I had never seen Sushi before. That was my first exposure to "ethnic" food.....

Food-wise the culture shock was huge. I had no car and there was no fast food in my neighborhood. I worked at Nordstrom downtown, so I was able to get my McDonalds fix there, but the LIFESTYLE was so vastly different in San Francisco, I may as well have been from another country. I learned where the "American" restaurants were, like Hard Rock Cafe, and I hit those places often as I could. After a year or so, I got brave enough to walk into a burrito shop after seeing so many people walking around with burritos. The ordering process went like this...ugh em, "Can I have a tortilla wrapped with ground beef, cheese, sour cream in it?"....."Oh, and a little lettuce please?" "Salsa?" um, not if it has tomatoes." "You don't have ground beef?" " Carnitwhat?" "Forget it, no meat, just cheese and sour cream. " I kid you not.

Don't get me wrong, I am SO grateful for having grown up in the Mid West. Indiana is an awesome place with awesome people, and in their defense, they have changed with the times. I was impressed and delighted last time I went home to find Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and other natural stores popping up. Good values, good people. Mid-westerners have it dialed in when it comes to treating others the way you would like to be treated. Wouldn't trade that for the world.

To wrap up my story, though....as the clock ticked and the years advanced, situations with my health arised. I was the only 26 year old I knew who was tired all the time and need to go to bed by 8-9pm. I was tired, achy, and "just didn't feel right". I was also having a lot of migrains. The Dr. said I had some sort of unspecified autoimmune condition and that was that. Until after I got married and had my 2 kids and went without sleep for 5 years. Compromised immunity and lack of sleep - nothin good is going to come out of that..trust me.

Add major stress and poor diet, or no diet sometimes, and what is a poor body to do? Well I'll tell ya what mine did......I got Bacterial Menengitis. Yea, sucked. 2 kids under the age of 3 and, oh, did I mention my husband got meningitis too? We shared a hospital room. First dinner date we had had in a year. We had no family around to help with the kids and a business to run that was overwhelming us. There is much more to this story, but I am now going to get to the nutrition part to help YOU.

STRESS. If you have a lot of stress you need to make changes to your lifestyle to reduce it. Do you hear me? I don't want excuses why you cannot change, I want reasons why you should change. If you feel your health is out of balance, then your body is talking to you. Stress causes certain chemical reactions in your body that can, over time, affect hormones, vitamin status, weight gain, immunity and more. Now I understand that many of us are overburdened, and much of it cannot be helped due to our situations, but I also know that we have a lot more control over our health than people realize and it is UP TO YOU to take control of your health. Don't wait until you end up in the Dr's office where you will get sucked into the pharmaceutical vortex of no return.

Stress support tips for you:

1) If you do not have a spiritual outlet/support practice get one. I mean, pray, meditate, positive affirmations, support groups, whatever is meaningful to you. Whatever works for you. Personally, I pray. It works for me big time. Over time, spirituality has meant different things to me and I have drawn upon different sources during my process of growing. Spiritual practice regularily helps to keep stress under control. If you want suggests for this let me know.
2) exercise appropriately. If you are highly stressed DO NOT train for a marathon! Heavy duty exercise is also a stressor on your body. If you are highly stressed walk, meditate, yoga, pilates, moderate cardio and weights. I have a bunch of chi building exercise that are great for stressed individuals. They are in the book How to Eat, Move, and be Healthy, by Paul Chek.
3) Boost immunity with zinc, vitaminC, minerals, fish oils, smoothies with coconut milk and acai. My favorite is MonaVie's new Immunity drink, Mmun has everything in it and more.
4) Identify your stressors and try to reduce them by making lifestyle adjustments. I have helped many people see a different way when they thought there was no way out of their stressful grind. Talk to someone with an outside point of view who you respect. Another perspective is always helpful.

We all know stress over time creates fat around the mid-section, so if this is an issue for you, reducing stress may also help with the love handles. :)

QFTD: "I've learned that you can't have everything and do everything at the same time." Oprah Winfrey.

In relaxation,

Heather