And So It Begins...

Remember about a month ago, I posted about buying ORGANIC (click it to see previous post) and how sooner or later crops were going to become resistant to the harsh chemicals  used to ward off insects?

Well, it's happened. 

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/05/30/rise-zombie-wheat?cmpid=foodinc-fb

Take a peek at this article... 

Scary stuff. 

I cannot emphasize enough.. buy ORGANIC, and LOCAL. :) 

*****************************

In other news, the hubs and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! yay! 

It was a wonderful weekend in Park City at an AMAZING resort (thank you Priceline!).

While I was there I had some pretty amazing gluten free pizza, and THE BEST sushi I've had! Granted, I've only had sushi 2 times now.. but the first time I tried about 10 different rolls. No joke. 

 We also had some delish edamame. mmmm 

A california roll with salmon on top, and I can't remember the name of the other one, but it had cream cheese, salmon, and sesame. 

My mouth is watering...

5 Ways to Stay Motivated During Race Season

It's race season, and one of my favorite races to do is the Women of Steel Spring Triathlon in American Fork. 

Pre race jitters set in as soon as I stripped down to my swim suit, lined up along the pool, and felt the very cold wind touch my bare skin. In fact, I was so nervous that I forgot to run across the timing strip to activate my timing chip. I just jumped right in, realized I had to jump back out in order to actually start, then got back in. Embarrassing to say the least, but at least my nerves were calmed due to the fact I was laughing at myself. ;)

The race started, I swam, I biked, I ran, and beat my pr! What?? Let me share with you some tricks that will help you get through your next race.

1: Trust your body! 

      Bodies are an amazing thing, and if you are preparing for a race, you are one lucky human being. Some people aren't able to run, let alone sign up and prepare for a race, so be grateful for the body you have and trust its amazing abilities.

2: Think of how far you've come!

      During the second loop of the bike session, I started thinking of the dreaded run that I had to do after. The thought got me down a little. I'm not the best runner by any means, and I was dreading that 3 mile run. (I know, 3 miles? Easy...) My legs were already on fire, plus I was still soaked from the swim. The weather was rainy, cold and windy. The last thing I wanted to do was run. BUT I had to look on the bright side. I had already swam, and biked... running was that last thing! I couldn't give up!

3: DO NOT compare yourself to others!

      There is nothing that can destroy your spirit like comparing yourself to others. There's always going to be someone ahead of you, and someone behind you. All you need to think about is beating your pr, or thinking about what's waiting for you at the finish line. That sense of accomplishment is like nothing you will ever experience. 

4: Have a mantra!

      During the middle of my race, when my legs were tighter than those rubber bands you use with braces, and my lungs were on fire, "The faster you run (bike), the faster you're done!" kept running through my head. I cannot tell you how much that helped! I wanted to get done and beat my pr, so that running through my head kept me going.

5: Have a cheering section!

     My mom and husband came to cheer me on. The best part of this race? EVERYBODY cheers you on. I passed tons of people with posters cheering on their family and friends, but every one of them cheered me on as well. I even had a little boy cheer my on as I ran past his soccer game. Cheering people on, and having people cheer you on helps IMMENSELY! Please, if you're in a race, or supporting someone at a race... cheer EVERYONE on. 

Me and ma sista

Done!

We are Women of Steel!

Celiac, No Silly Act.

In honor of National Allergy Awareness week, I've decided to share my story with Celiac with you. I stole this from my other blog... So I guess it's not stealing... ;)

For those of you who don't know, Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten. NOT just an allergy, an INTOLERANCE. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.

So.. in turn, a gluten intolerance means that my digestive system can't absorb the protein so it ends up damaging and scaring the lining of my intestines. It is an autoimmune disease which in turns makes my ability to fight off infection a lot harder.

Here is my story:

The end of my junior year in high school I started getting really sick. I was dancing about every morning from 6-9, and every night from 5-9. Meaning I needed to up my caloric intake so my body could keep up. It was then, I started to feel like everything I ate made me sick. I started taking naps every time I could and going to bed sooner and sooner. It seemed like I couldn't get enough sleep and I never had energy.

During the week before a dance concert we spent almost every waking hour on stage practicing which meant lots of time on my knees, rolling on the ground and throwing my body every which way. One night I got home and realized my shins  were killing! I rolled up my pants and found HUGE red bumps. They looked like someone had taken a crow bar to my legs. You know when you get a good ache? I had 5-6 of those PER LEG. The slightest movement hurt. Even my pant legs rubbing against them hurt. That week, I felt like crying every time I did a dance.

I went to the doctor later that month to see what was wrong. The doctor came up with what seemed like a hundred different diagnoses (diagnosies..?) khrons, thyroid problems, cancer, anemia, and so on and so forth. Countless blood tests proved nothing, except that after your 20th poke in the same vein, you tend to not feel it so much.

My doctor decided to schedule me for a colonoscopy (aka, a camera shoved up your who-ha). The results of the test showed that I had what was called Collagenous Colitis. Here's the doctor's words when he read my me results "Are you sure you're 18? Because your intestines belong in an 80 year old's body."
Um... how do you respond to that. I laughed and said, ya.... He went on to explain that Collagenous Colitis is typical of the elderly because your intestines are so scared, they don't absorb the nutrients your body needs. With that diagnosis we were one step closer to finding out what the root of the problem was, but we were still in the dark.

Constant stomach aches and 18+ hours of sleep a day was definitely taking it's toll on me. I was in my freshman year of college as a dance major and found myself feeling even more tired CONSTANTLY. I would nap in between classes, after class, and my bed time was now 7 pm due to the lack of energy.

I started losing weight rapidly, along with my hair. In the shower, I would run my hand through my hair and pull out hand fulls. I don't know how many times I clogged the shower drain in a week, but my hair was constantly falling out. Within about a month or so, I realized that the once blue carpet I had on my floor was now a brown color. I vacuumed it to find that hair was COVERING my floor. I had to cut the hair out of the vacuum 4 times before I was done because my hair kept clogging it.

Being a girl and losing your hair in handfuls is not an easy thing. You're hair is your identity. I again went to my dermatologist (who I'm pretty close to now because of all the skin problems caused by celiac) who diagnosed me with Alopecia Areota. I had lost all the hair around my ears, and it was now starting to fall out on the top of my head.

In the last picture, you can see red spots. Those are where I had a steroid/cortisone cocktail injected into my scalp. Every time I would have my 'cocktail', I would get 2cc's of it which may not seem like a lot, but it led to 50-60 stabs with a needle into my scalp which is super tender, causing a headache that would take me out the rest of the day.
Patches of hair started to slowly grow back, but my hair got to the point where I had a 'Y' of hair. If you looked at the top of my head from an aerial view, you would see what looked like a Y. I decided to cut it which turned out to almost be a buzz cut. As I arrived home from the salon, I broke down to my mom telling her I looked like a boy. It may seem silly that hair can have such an effect on someone, but you don't realize it till it's gone.

Finally, after no direction from my doctors, only treatment of SYMPTOMS, not the root problem, my mom researched and researched and researched. I had been testes for Celiac disease numerous times through blood tests, but all came back negative. I also had biopsies done during my colonoscopy but still, negative. (blood tests never work I've found out, and only the effected parts of your intestines will show a positive result. This was 3 years ago so hopefully testing has advanced!) As my mom and I talked and researched, Celiac disease kept coming up so I decided that I'll try to go on a gluten free diet for a couple weeks because it never hurts to try.

Within a week, I had energy like I never knew I could have. My color came back and I no longer looked anemic. Plus, I didn't have to sleep 18 hours a day! I could go a whole day without taking a nap, which was HUGE. My body didn't ache or hurt anymore.

We immediately went back to my doctor with the good news. He explained that if I had let my symptoms progress as quickly as they had been, cancer would have been the next one. SCARY.

The last 3 years haven't been easy and I'll admit, I've caved into temptation because you don't realize that gluten is in EVERYTHING until you can't eat it anymore. If I did cave though, I was instantly reminded why I don't eat gluten. I get bloated, tired, SUPER agitated and angry.

My hair still falls out in certain areas sometimes, but it grows back so I'm not complaining. :)

I would love to be able to help those who are struggling with this disease which can lead to infertility, alzheimers's, and even cancer.

Ab Slayer!

Now that I've established my blog a little more, I'm hoping to start posting more workouts on here.

If you have any questions about how to work certain areas, or how to work on your endurance, intervals, weight loss, etc, feel free to ask and I'll come up with workouts to help!

Now then.. onto what I like to call the Ab Slayer workout. Try doing this at least 3 times, and work your way up to 5 or 6.

EQUIPMENT: Swiss ball (workout ball)

V-ups: Start laying on the ground with the Swiss ball (or an imaginary one) in your hands over your head. At the same time, crunch up and put the ball between your legs. Release back, let your arms come back over head, and only let your legs go to about 45 degress. Repeat 10 times.
*If you let your legs go all the back down, your back with arch and your quads will take over. You want to use those low abs to bring your legs back up!

Photo Courtesy: www.runnersworld.co.uk

Swiss Ball Pike: Start in a push up position with your feet on top of the ball. Tucking your abs in, lift your hips and roll the ball forward until you're in a pike position. Return to plank, keeping your abs tight, and repeat 10 times. 

Photo Courtesy: www.womenshealthmag.com

Side Ab Lifts: Lay on your side up on your elbow. Make sure your elbow is right underneath your shoulder. Lift your hips up as high as you can, pushing into your feet and elbows. Hold 5 seconds then repeat 10 times each side.

Bicycle Crunches: Lay on your back with your hands behind your neck. DO NOT INTERLOCK YOUR FINGERS. Hold them gently behind your neck, crunch up and twist so your right elbow touches your left knee, then alternate. Do 50 reps.

Elbow Plank: In this plank position, do not grasp hands. Instead, have them straight out in front like the sphinx in Egypt, looking out in front, just past your fingers to keep your spine in alignment. Keeping abs tight, don't let your hips drop and don't pike them up either. Hold 1 minute.

Photo Courtesy: www.goldsgym.com

Repeat this at least 3 times, and work your way up to 5 :) You're abs will thank you!

GENIUS

First of all... this kid is a genius. He's smarter at 11 than I was at 20.

 Second, I hope my kids are like this kid and understand why I won't be feeding them hot dogs, pop tarts, red meat, and other 'normal' food. 

Third of all, I think that public schools, and home schooling both have their pro's and con's. I'm not for or against either one. 

Organic Love

I'm sure you've seen it in every super market. The section that's labeled ORGANIC. I know what you're thinking. Those are just for hippie-tree-huggin-granolas who think they're too good to buy normal food.

WRONG.

I used to think that way, but over the past couple of years as I've researched and read different articles my mind has changed completely.

Here's just 5 pesticides that are contaminating our food, air, and water.

1. Glyphosate: Used on corn, cotton, canola, soy (which have been genetically modified mind you), parks and home gardens. Mississippi Basin studied the ground soaked with residue and found that the water had considerably higher amounts permissible in drinking water. This chemical has been linked to  BIRTH DEFECTS, NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS, FERTILITY ISSUES AND CANCER. 

2. Atrazine: Used on corn mostly; we go through about 75 MILLION POUNDS per year. This chemical DISRUPTS THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM, HAS BEEN LINKED TO BIRTH DEFECTS, INFERTILITY AND POSSIBLY CANCER. 

3. Chlorpyrifos: Once mainly used in garden situations, chlorpyrifos is now being used on apples, corn, oranges, almonds, and cotton. Low-doses of it can cause fatigue, nausea, blurred vision, headaches, difficulty concentrating, and blurred vision. Higher doses can cause RESPIRATORY PARALYSIS, ADHD, AND LOWER IQ'S.

4. Metolachlor: Used on corn, soy, and sorghum, as well as some lawns and trees. THE EPA HAS RECOGNIZED THIS AS CANCER CAUSING. Other side effects include JAUNDICE, CONVULSIONS, DIFFICULTY BREATHING, AND NAUSEA.

5. Metam sodium: "This widely used fumigant and pesticide is commonly applied to potatoes in concentrations as high as 150 to 300 pounds per acre." NAUSEA, DIFFICULTY BREATHING, DAMAGE TO THYROID, VOMITING, HORMONE DISRUPTION, AND BIRTH DEFECTS. 

Those are only 5... There are tons more in use right now, and some that aren't legal in the U.S.A. (ie, products from Mexico, China, etc.)

These pesticides don't just stay on the surface of your food, and wash off with a little water. They seep into the tiny pores of your fruits and veggies contaminating the entire thing. It also seeps into the ground causing runoff to be contaminated. 

Still not convinced?

Did you know that plants adapt to their environment, much like animals?

What does this mean?

Plants can become pesticide and herbicide resistant. 

Meaning, the farmers then start using a different, sometimes stronger chemical to treat their precious investments. 

Now I know that organic means dipping into your wallets a little deeper, but wouldn't you rather pay a price right now, than in the future on medical bills? It could save your life.

Also, if you're supermarket doesn't offer a lot of things in the organic section, use my rule of thumb. Always buy fruits and veggies with thin skins organic, and thicker skins can be bought normally.

Here's a link to the Dirty 12 and the Clean 15 if you have any other questions. 

(Seriously though....)

Sugar Challenge Day 1

Well, we made it home safely from Blanding this past weekend. We took the parental's four wheeler and rode that around everywhere. The only down side? MAJOR sunburn... I completely spaced bringing sunscreen. Big mistake. My arms and hands were so burned that I couldn't sleep the following night, and my right hand swelled up. No bueno 

Anywho, while we were there, I enjoyed my last tastings of sugar for 30 days. Luckily, my sister in law Becky is doing it with me or else I'm not sure I would be able to do it! 

So, along with the no sugar thing I've started using MyFitnessPal again. It's an app you can download onto your phone that helps you track your caloric intake, and how much you burn from exercise. It's a pretty awesome, but I always forget to use it. HA. Well anywho, if any of you would like to join me on it, you can add me at cassielynne326. 

Today has been good so far. Well... considering it's only 8:15 in the morning.. ha. Had a great breakfast, and I'm getting ready to head to the gym. 

This blog will serve as my aid when I'm craving sugar so I apologize in advance for the posts that might come up in the next month :)

Oh! I almost forgot! One last thing... 

Words of Wisdom for the day

Sugar Challenge!

Finals are officially done! Holla!
Not gonna lie.. Finals were tough this year and unfortunately my nutrition took the brunt of it all. The stress of studying (biology and I do NOT get along..) and Mark's job offer, mixed with everything else that was going to was tough. And I'll admit, I could have handled it better but I've never been good with stress. Anyway, after going to the doctor and being weighed today, I realized I've gained 10 lbs! Not acceptable. Now, some of that is muscle... But still.

Now, I usually eat pretty good, but lately I've blown it... HENCE (Ya, hence! name that movie!) why I've decided to completely cut out processed sugar for 30 days.

For any of you that know me, I have a massive sweet tooth. I read somewhere that Celiac's crave sugar more...So I blame my crazy 80 year old looking intestines for this curse.

I am bound and determined to stay away from processed sugar, and minimize my natural sugar intake. So, that it why I'm posting this on my blog. Usually I'm the one that others are accountable to, but now I needy someone to be accountable to. So, CONGRATULATIONS blogger world! You get to kick my butt in gear and help me kick my sugar habit.

This plan will go into effect starting Monday. Any of you who would like to join me are welcome, and very much encouraged actually.., haha I have a feeling this is going to be a tough one for me.

I will be savoring my salt water taffy and snickers mini bites this weekend in preparation for next week.

Farewell my sweets. My taste buds will miss you, but my hips won't.