Update on life

Been awhile since I've posted..as much because I'm never comfortable with sharing a lot online, as anything. What have I been up to? Lots and lots of reading....researching...I just updated (kind of) my list of books. I don't remember everything I've read, but it is handy to look back if I'm trying to remember a title.I realized I've been doing a ton of research, in the garden and also in the health (mental as well as physical)realm. Its amazing how that one challenge to myself to read 20 books in a year has just exploded! The biggest thing for me lately, is to heal. I've mentioned before that I have ulcerative colitis, a condition related to chron's. With some modification to diet, and some food sensitivity testing, I was able to get off my medication and I do feel much better. But that is just the start. Having made some progress makes you realize how much better I could still be--I see things that are still not right and I am no longer willing to just accept them as my lot. I have some eczema that I'm thinking I could get rid of, back issues to work on and its fascinating how much diet can be used to heal. But not just diet. Also I've been tweaking my sleep, my stress (one reason for retiring from kungfu), my activity and I'm hoping to get some tests done on nutrient levels that could be still off from years of not absorbing things properly. I've been using meditation, walking, and have started doing Qigong as a easy, relaxed way of exercising; some of what I've had to do to heal is SLOW DOWN--meaning not doing intensive exercise. (Like grading for black belt?) That's a tough one--I've been working out since I was 14--its always been a stress relief and weight control. But it also increases cortisol, a stress hormone, and when your hormones are way out of whack, that does not help! So...a new learning curve. An interesting point from the SCD Lifestyle website (SCD is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, created to help heal celiac, chron's and colitis)is that if something in your body is out of whack, and your body feels like its a threat to its stasis, you will not lose/gain weight. And the 3 things that he gave that have to be 'happy' are: Hormone levels, healthy gut, nutrient levels. Which makes a lot of sense if you think about it or do some research on it. So that's my goal at the moment; get these things in balance, and figure out what that looks like for me. And hope to heaven I can pass on some of the lessons to my kids so they never have to deal with some of the diseases and conditions that come from any or all of these things being out of whack. I want to be dancing at my great grandkids weddings, not stuck in a wheelchair or dead. So that's part of what I've been up to. Gardening...now that's a whole 'nother topic for later:) Some good books to check out: Good calories, Bad calories; Allergies: Disease in Disguise; Fat Chance: Bitter truth about sugar; The Hormone Cure; The Primal Blueprint