hiking, hiking and more hiking

Really excited this week with all the hiking I've gotten in. The warmer weather and sunshine beckons me outside. This week I've hiked quite a few trails, most of them lugging a 27 pound baby in a back pack carrier. In total I've been able to hike 20 miles so far and looking forward to five more tomorrow. The act of moving the body is so basic and so needed if the world around us is to embrace more healthful attitudes and actions. What better place to move the body than outdoors. There is something about being surrounded by the natural world that induces a calming effect in me. This is one of the reasons preserving our environment is so important. We need the natural environment whether we can realize it or not. Maybe after taking this Environmental Biology class we'll all be able to better communicate how important the natural world around us and communicate that we are only one part.

Wellness Goals: One reached, one barely missed, one demolished

This week I had three wellness goals, bike an average of ten miles per day, give up coffee and diet soda (essentially most/all caffeine), and give up dairy and wheat.  I must say I was pretty kranky at times, but I made it and now I'm about to watch the Oscars (my guilty pleasure of the year).  So where did I succeed and where did I fail miserably?

I was able to stay off Caffeine all week, and plan to stay away from it, it wasn't too bad and I'm now headache free.

I biked an average of 9.25 miles per day, not bad considering it rained most of the day Thursday and while on my ride today.  I also hiked ~3.5 miles at Moore's Springs Trails with Shannon, Sarah and some of their friends, so I'm counting this a very near miss.  I did not bike at all Thursday and Friday, so I was able to make up almost all my mileage.  Most of my biking was on the Salem Creek trail, but I did do an hour of spin class for variety.

As for the dairy and wheat, I did well until Friday, when we had a diner guest, but I was pretty restrained, considering we had Italian cuisine (I even made dairy & wheat free Eggplant Parmesan). Something bad happened on Saturday, I was exhausted after teaching all day and then riding 18+ miles so when I got home I had about 1000 calories in cheese and crackers (my weakness).  This was unfortunate because the lab I taught on Saturday was all about enzymes and we used lactase and lactose intolerance to help us learn the concepts.  I was able to get back on track today and hope to continue to make improvements on my commitment to keep away from the yummy things that hurt me when I eat them.