Sunday, January 3, 2010

Saturday, January 2 & Yoga

Yesterday was typical in too many ways for eating: light breakfast, not too huge a lunch (but too high in carbs: half of a french dip sandwich, chips, about 10 oz. coke), dessert at my in-laws' (cake, a bunch of nuts), dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant (LOTS of chips and salsa, margarita, large combo plate with chicken enchilada, taco, lots of beans and rice).

I'm not trying to change eating habits yet (I'll worry about that after getting home on Thursday), but the above shows areas for big improvement:

  1. good, high-protein breakfast (eggs, meat, or a protein drink)
  2. lunch that's low in carbs
  3. DON'T drink sugared drinks! (I'm a cola addict when I'm drinking them--lots of high fructose corn syrup--and a concentrated source of sugar)
  4. learn how to eat healthily when out to eat (and be HAPPY about it!)
I also signed up for an introductory month at the nearest Bikram Yoga (unfortunately ca. a 35-40 minute drive from where I live).

I've had two back surgeries (some time ago: 1986 and 1989), laminectomies at the L4/5 level. My back has always been vulnerable and my tendency has been to get tighter and tighter over time (less motion, less flexibility leads to less motion, more restriction).

I've done Bikram twice before, once for about 3 months, and that was the best I've felt--back, shoulder, etc) for a very long time. However, my schedule in recent years (lots of travel, including extended time overseas), made it almost impossible to do this.

Even now (although I won't travel so much), it'll be a challenge to keep up my practice, but I've decided this is the best thing for me to do, outside of back exercises that I should be doing all the time!

But, paying for my first month of Bikram is the first step.

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