Over the weekend, I finished the 20k race I was training for. I am not gonna lie - it was waaaaaayyyy harder than I had planned. It's been 3 years since I ran a long race and I definitely felt it. Oh, and not to mention that I had a baby a year ago and am still a nursing mom! All that said, I finished. And it felt great to reach my goal with my husband and son cheering me on at the end.Since January, I have been working really hard to lose the baby weight. Training for this race was a huge part of it. I've lost nearly 20 lbs and counting and I feel great. I have been meaning to blog about my lifestyle changes for a while now...I have a totally new vegetarian diet and exercise routine. Jason and I both have been really committed to it since January and we both feel better physically than we have in many years. I know it may sound a bit extreme, but we have read several books in the last couple of years about true health and disease prevention. Virtually all of them recommend reducing or eliminating eating animal fats and focusing on plant-based proteins, whole grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables. The most helpful books we've read are by Dr. Dean Ornish, a cardiologist who's researched heart health for his entire career. The evidence was compelling, so we decided to give it a try. It took a while to get used to cooking and eating differently, but now I don't think we'll ever go back. For all you who think we eat salad and tofu for every meal, think again. We eat tons of yummy stuff! (My husband has posted some recipes on his blog if you want to check them out.) Over the next couple of weeks, I will post a few recipes for the curious. You might be surprised at how delicious a vegetarian diet can be! Not to mention the health benefits and effect on your waistline.
Oh, this was supposed to be an entry about my race, wasn't it? I just thought I'd mention the diet and give you a little teaser for some upcoming blogs/recipes about it. The race and the diet changes have been a huge part of my health journey over the past 6 months.
Stay tuned! In the meantime, check out Dr. Ornish's stuff
if you are interested in learning more about the diet and lifestyle changes he recommends.
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5 comments:
Way to go, Nicole!!!
I don't know if I've told you already, but Scott and I are going to have a reception in Iowa on August 1st. You should get an invitation in the next few weeks. I hope that you can come! I'd love to see you and chat about all the new food changes you've made. They seem to parallel with mine. Have you read Crunchy Cons? I think you'd like it.
Take Care!
Way to go, Nicole! I've always admired your discipline.
What you had to say was just about the same I've looked into :-) The training schedule I'm on sounds very similar to the typical schedule you mentioned, I'm looking forward to the 1/2, but I know it'll be a long road getting there. I keep having setbacks - and getting sick is one of them! Congrats on finishing yours!!! Glad to hear/see things are going so well for you. Thanks for the note :-)
Congrats! That is awesome.
Way to go, Nicole!!!!!!!! So proud of you!!
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