Big thanks to Craft for Health for posting my story and information about The Ride Project!

2010 has been off to a slow start for me. January was my “slow and steady” month. I didn’t take on any new projects and didn’t push it when it came to exercise, I did yoga when I felt like it but not much else. I purposely haven’t paid too much attention to my diet lately, or vitamin intake.

February has been one big detour, blip or bump in the road. I didn’t feel well most of the month and ended up missing my 34th Tysabri infusion on February 10th to have Gallbladder Surgery instead. Two weeks of surgery, pain, pain meds and interrupted sleep did not bode will for my attitude or general health. I finally had my Tysabri infusion, two weeks late, on Wednesday,  February 24th. Strangely enough, it was my easiest infusion to date. I went back to work on Thursday and was so worn out by Friday night that I was in bed by 8:30!

Thursday, the day after my infusion, I was pretty tired and frustrated that almost two relatively unproductive weeks had gone by. I must admit, I was feeling a little sorry for myself and wasn’t sure I would find the motivation to turn things around anytime soon. Today, I am happy to announce that I am BACK IN THE GAME! I am almost pain free and ready to start feeling great and doing GREAT things. Nothing much has changed since my “woe is me” Thursday,  except that I DECIDED TO TURN THINGS AROUND. I understand that we can’t always decide how we feel, or immediately change our current health status but usually, we have the power to feel better, get better and BE BETTER.

Stay tuned for:
Interviews from The Ride Project Team Members

My 10 Favorite Cookbooks

A Spring Kick-Off Exercise plan

Weekly Nutrition Challenges

New Photographs for the Ride Project Collection

Updates on the funds we are raising through our teams for the MS Society.

Info about my Participation in a new Tysabri Trial.

I will be going to see this movie.

There are still quite a few things on my 101 in 1001 list unaccomplished but here is what I did do.

Make black bean brownies
Read one book a month not related to MS or health
Practice Yoga on a Beach
Speak at MS Event or Seminar
Build a new deck and fence
Put three business plans into place with Mark
Floss every day for fifty consecutive days
Drink Cava on the Mexican Coast
Ride at least 30 miles in an MS ride
Visit Kellie
Take Bailey on three mom/daughter weekends – two are complete
Use Juicer and Dehydrator once a week for a month
Buy a new laptop
Visit Seattle
Practice Yoga at the top of a mountain
Be makeup free for five consecutive days
Buy Sex and the City Box Set
Buy a web cam with new computer to talk with friends and family

Workout with a trainer for three consecutive months

Consult an Ayurvedic Practitioner
Go to a football game
Keep an Orchid in the bedroom for six months
Grow something edible – grew a whole garden!

Download a movie or TV show to Ipod

Sell something on ebay
Support a presidential candidate – Yep! He won!
Read a book at Barnes and Noble or Borders
Have a bloody mary for breakfast
Mother/Daughter Spa Trip with daughter
Mother/Daughter Spa Trip with mother-in-law – sent Mother and M.I.L.
Find a Tailor
Take a sister’s weekend with sister – girls weekend in Las Vegas
Try fake eyelashes
Institute monthly date night
Buy new art
Beach Weekends – Del Ray, York Beach, Sayulita
Take Bailey to see her friends in NH
Go to gallery stroll
Go to a concert with my dad – Bob Weir and Ratdog, Diana Krall
Buy new sunglasses in every new state or country that I visit – started
Get involved with Orphanage in Africa

While I typically adhere to the rule, “Never say never”, I can say that there are some things you will NEVER see me eating or drinking. You will NEVER see me eating a fat juicy steak and you will NEVER see me using artificial sweetener. That being said, as careful as I like to be about what I eat and drink, I do have a dirty little secret….

I am addicted to COKE. Of course, I am talking about Coca – Cola. I am not addicted to soda or Pepsi or any other form of soft drink, just Coke. I am addicted to the flavor, to the noise that the bubbles make inside the can, to the sound of coke pouring over ice and especially to the first sip. I am even addicted to Coke slogans like “Have a Coke and a smile”, “it’s the real thing”  or “open happiness”. I like their marketing and love their product.

I have quit drinking Coca Cola several times in my life (proof that I am an addict) and have gone without it for months and even years. I know that soda does not contribute to a healthy lifestyle and it probably doesn’t really make me happier but I LOVE how it makes me feel. I don’t drink Coke every day (but I want to!).

Aside from the horrible things that can happen from drinking coke (weight gain, tooth decay, bone density issues), I wanted to know why Coca Cola made me feel so great and did a little research.

Amazingly, the internet had the answer to my exact question:

What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now?

*

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

• In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
• 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
• 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
• 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
• >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
• >60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
• >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.

Here’s the link:

http://www.blisstree.com/healthbolt/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-drink-a-coke-right-now/

As for me, starting tomorrow, I am off the Coke! What’s your dirty little food secret?

When I was first diagnosed with MS, lots of people cheered me on and told me there would be a cure in my lifetime. I believed that. And then, I stopped believing it.

Now, I believe again.

Cellular Strides

Go Israel!

I should say, I am easily inspired. I love to read magazines, books, and websites about just about everything. I especially love to read and hear about MS, nutrition, fitness, finances, travel, and spirituality.

I am currently reading The Sunfood Diet Success System by David Wolfe. (again). I dabbled in a Raw Food Diet in October of 2006. This book always makes me think I am missing out by not being on a raw diet. More importantly, the book talks about the importance of beliefs, goals and faith. I have alot of all three of these things but love to learn how to make them all stronger and more relevant in my day to day life and relationships.

I am often inspired and take action from things that I hear or read. Yoga instructors inspire me, bloggers inspire me, entrepreneurs inspire me. Here are some of the things that inspire me and that I follow regularly:

These links inspire me to:

Raise Money for MS

Save Money

Keep Smiling with MS

Be grateful and creative

be a strong and informed advocate

go raw

cook compassionately

cook with reckless abandon

be smart and creative with money

have less stuff

have more happy

Information that inspires and informs is so important. There are times when I seek information and times when someone introduces me to  information. Sometimes I take this information as a suggestion, sometimes as a goal and sometimes I just let it pass me by.

I love having the option to take it or leave it.

I hope these links inspire, entertain and inform you!

If I could feel as good and healthy and strong as I do today, everyday, my life would be as close to perfect as it gets. I have been feeling great lately and today even better than usual.

I am sleeping well, exercising almost every day and eating really fresh healthy foods (with a tiny bit of not so healthy stuff, like the Belgian waffle I ate at the farmer’s market today).

I am sure the amazing sunny weather we are having is helping along with the other things I mentioned.

Even with pressure/stress from work which typically drags me down, I really do feel amazing. What is the secret? Do non-MS people feel like this all the time or most of the time? I need to figure it out because with this much energy and feeling good who knows what I will do next!!

Maybe this…Paddle Surfing

Just a quick post to thank you for your comments recently. There are some new people reading that I look forward to talking to. I am in Mexico until the weekend but will be in touch and posting comments soon!

Staying at a beautiful resort in Cabo thanks to my husband’s wonderful surprise for my 40th birthday. It is really hot here, but I am staying cool in the pool and eating lots of fresh fruit.

When I get back I will tell you about how certain things affect my MS like traveling, the heat and of course diet and exercise and change of routine.