Oh. I'm Vegan. I guess.
If you've been reading the blog, you may remember that I have been in pain (wrist and hand) for pretty much the entire summer. I have not been painting... I couldn't type..and I couldn't even respond to texts the pain was so bad. There was no tennis for me... I've been pretty miserable.
The last time I hurt myself was on the tennis court in 2015. At that time, I sprained my MCL and was able to continue to play after a few weeks while attending physical therapy and acupuncture. I remember it took so long to heal, and the therapist and I thought there should not be pain lingering around this long. I stopped drinking Coke. Cold turkey. My one can a day habit was difficult to break.. when I stopped? The knee pain was gone in 3 days.
Fast forward to my wrist. Again.. no visible injury, no "accident".. just pain showing up as a carpel tunnel, tendonitis sort of injury. I believe that if the body is functioning properly, there is no reason for tendonitis. Our bodies are meant to perform repetitive motions.. I believe that tendonitis is a signal that another area in the body is not functioning to its full potential, causing the inflamed area to over function, and thus be painful.
So 6 weeks ago I start physical therapy for the new mystery wrist pain. I complete my exercises, I attend my follow up visits.. I reluctantly sit out tennis. The pain comes and goes.. one day I think I am cured, one day it's back. What the heck? I review the Egoscue exercises for the shoulder and wrist and start them daily in addition to what my regular therapist is telling me. My living room becomes a gym.
Then it dawns on me. What the heck would cause this pain to come and go? Is it mental? I'm doing everything! OMG.
My diet.
I kick myself. I knew about this... the Coke Cut Back of 2015! (BTW- I never had another drop of soda again...diet or regular!) I stop all refined sugar intake. 12 days ago I stopped all baked treats...all desserts. And then? In an effort to get back onto the court as soon as possible...I went Vegan. That started 9 days ago as I write this.
The change in how I feel has been remarkable. My wrist is pain free. Two days ago, I played tennis for an hour! My family sat down and watched this documentary . We're not hard core, throw-out-our-leather-shoes vegans (Edit: I stand corrected. I didn't know I am not a vegan.) ... but we are changing the way we eat for sure. There has been no more meat..no cheese.. heavy greens in the rotation..and making better choices overall. Seeing how many elite athletes have changed to a plant based diet and how they are thriving in their fields is amazing to me... To be able to educate my 11 year old and have her be able to make smarter dietary choices is also amazing.. I'm all for education. It's been a great summer for us in that regard.
Why am I telling you this? It's consumed my entire summer. Being in pain sucks. I know there are some of you who ask me to share more about my personal life..and here is what has been happening. We're not living the high-life, traveling to exotic vacations...we're here.. keeping it real... just trying to play tennis, and trying to be able to paint again.
I don't have fancy recipe pictures, I don't even have recipe sources... I'm looking at what we have here and throwing things together to add up to the appropriate number of calories we should be eating daily. We're switching out bad snacks and shopping smarter. That's pretty much it....
My girl is practicing so hard on the courts...she asks to be there...she asks to play with my group.. I am lucky to be able to hit with these guys...and I'll be back full-force with them soon... I'm almost there. :) (Pictured, L-R: My tennis friends Eric, Robert, Kate (age 11) and Sandeep.)
EDIT: Hey..this is all new to me... so if you want to be polite and encouraging in the comments.. that is great and I will read them and we can learn things... if you want to be an ass and leave anonymous comments...specifically those with negative energy.. then your comment will never see the light of day. Don't waste your time.