Monday, April 4, 2016

Anti-All-Natural Parenting Post

Just when I think I'm finally getting my health on track, literally tracking all the calories I eat and burn...trying to moderate my diet, I stumble upon information that tells me everything I'm doing is wrong.  It was a podcast about thyroid disease and how anyone with thyroid issues should never restrict calories to lose weight.  They should just eliminate all chemicals in their hair products, eat all natural everything with no gluten/dairy/sugar/flavor, and get a filter to eliminate fluoride from their drinking water (among about 2 dozen other radical suggestions).


Well damn.  This podcast was on a website that offers a wealth of healthy tips for families (moms in particular).  I'm not going to specifically name the website because I'm sure it's helpful for those perfect parents out there so I don't want to offend anyone because I'm about to spend the next several paragraphs pointing out some things I think are just plain bullshit about sites like this.

Okay, so here's MY issue...there's NO WAY I'm ever going to do EVERYTHING these natural, clean, eco-friendly, organic, completely chemical-free, super-humans swear by.  Who the hell could? And they make it look so easy...their websites always offering helpful "quick meals"...for instance, this specific site I was looking at gave a recipe for some kind of weird way of preparing their coffee..they claimed it would take 3 minutes total but there's NO WAY (I'm really getting worked up...two NO WAY's in one post).  For one thing, it takes me more than 3 minutes to make a regular pot of coffee and this woman was whipping coffee in a blender with coconut oil and something else that sounded gross...oh, some weird kind of butter...but it was some kind of all natural butter that would be impossible to find unless you A.) own a cow and feed it organic grass grown in organic soil under organic sunlight or B.) can spend $100 on butter.



These sites seem to suggest that you aren't a good mother/parent if you aren't feeding your family only all-natural, clean, non-gluten, free from added sugar diets...or if you aren't making your own shampoo/lotion/cloth diapers with a needle and thread by candlelight after your sweet angels have drifted off to sleep.  I'm freaking thrilled if I've managed to bathe my children 3 times in one week or made them green smoothies 3-4 times a week...they like my smoothies because I mask the spinach flavor with tons of fruit and about a cup of apple juice.  Otherwise I will give them chips if it means getting some calories into their stubborn mouths.

So I browsed through this website, sort of in a masochistic way...reading more and more ways that I'm screwing up not only my own health, but the health of my daughters...and probably my dog.  It reminded me that I'm failing at at least a dozen other things...my teeth are probably riddled with cavities (I haven't gotten a new dentist and I HATE going to the dentist so I put it off as long as possible..)...I'm sure I'm ruining the environment in a million different ways...I don't read often enough to my kids...I let them have too much screen time...I drink too much wine...I don't do enough yoga...I don't meditate enough...I never cut my kids' toenails. At least I actually exercise.  And at least I tell my kids that sugar is bad (after I've given them candy and say no more for the day because too much isn't good for you).

I guess the moral of this post is do what you can? Or whatever? I don't really think I have a moral to this post..I just wanted to bitch about these websites so I wouldn't feel so bad about my own failings and shortcomings.  I am not perfect.  My kids are not perfect (yes they are).  I tell them about food and vitamins so hopefully they can one day make healthier decisions for themselves.  Maybe this year I'll even grow a garden (this seems very idealistic to me now that the weather is getting better and I really can start growing a garden).

Really..I'm probably just jealous of these people that can find the time and energy to live completely clean, organic, natural lives AND maintain a website/blog/podcast (or all three) documenting their amazingness so other, less awesome people, can stumble through some sad attempt at being a good mom.

Okay, the cynic in me will go to bed now.


Saturday, April 2, 2016

Microsoft Band vs Fitbit Charge HR

I took my Microsoft Band 1 to the Microsoft Store today for a replacement..the band was breaking apart from the screen.  This is actually my second replacement...the first watch wouldn't charge (I may have written about that here...it was replaced the week before my Half Marathon).  They didn't have any in stock because they mainly only sell the new Microsoft Band 2 now so I have to wait up to a week for my new one.  With my running lately I almost can't stand the thought of not being able to track my runs with its GPS...I want to do 10 miles tomorrow so it's a bummer for sure...but my husband gave me his Fitbit Charge HR to use until I get my replacement (he doesn't actually find it useful and has been wanting to stop using it for a while now).  He's also letting me take his iPhone for the run, so I'm going to download Strava and login to track the GPS that way.  The Fitbit is really just to help me track everything else this week.  Steps, etc.  I usually don't care this much about all the calories burned or steps taken but 1.) my Microsoft Band is seemingly underestimating everything, which pisses me off and 2.) I've started using CalorieCount.com again to track my daily intake and I'm getting really into it so I want an accurate calorie expenditure to calculate the deficit.  

So I'm kind of excited about the idea of seeing a different number of daily burned calories.  I really think there'll be a large discrepancy between my Microsoft Band and this Fitbit.  I just can't imagine that I only burn 1580 on an inactive day when "inactive" for me still entails chasing the kids, picking up, running up and down steps, helping a toddler go potty, etc.  I do sit a lot, but I'm definitely not sedentary.  And on "active" days I run between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours..I also weight lift...shouldn't the combo of those two things make me burn more on an "inactive" day? 

These are all things I wrote about in the last post.  Just still super annoyed.

In other, more embarrassing news...yesterday I went for a run and had to walk around 1.5 miles from home bc of stomach cramps....I ran within 10 minutes of eating lunch, which is usually not an issue for me, but I think the cheesy/spicy/citrus of the velveeta cheesy skillet meal I reheated from dinner the night before (yea) began to scream in protest while it shook around in my stomach for 20 minutes straight.  I was ready to die when I finally made it home, then woke up ready to die again last night at 2 AM.  Then I couldn't fall back to sleep so I was up until 4:30.  I really hope all goes well tomorrow with the long run.  I'm not on a timeline or anything though so if it doesn't all go well, it's not like I can't take a few weeks to build it back up again, or even one week.

That's the news for now...I'll be back to report my opinion of the Fitbit Charge HR...I'd much rather use the Surge bc it also has GPS but they never came out with a color other than black...so I ended up with the Microsoft Band...and next will be the Garmin Vivoactiv HR...super excited for that to be released!