Ignorance of Consumers

We all know the expression "ignorance is bliss". But is it really? Ever since Ms. A showed us Food inc, (which was right up my alley, I found it really interesting.) It also got me thinking about what else the food industry is lying about, or concealing simply for their own benefit of making revenue.
There are a lot of mixed messages sent by the food industry. A huge issue used to be the egg debate. Are eggs good for you? Are they bad? There are a lot of conflicting studies and findings regarding eggs. So many more similar issues make it hard to know what is healthy and what isn't.
Not only are mixed messages an issue, but the ethical side of food is a huge issue too. The consumers don't have the slightest clue of what goes on behind closed doors. We have no idea how many animals are tortured in slaughterhouses every single day. Most people who do know, don't want to actually think about it. The food industry won't willingly share what goes on inside of these slaughterhouses because if you knew, you wouldn't want to eat it.
I have done a LOT of research on the meat and dairy industry over the past week or so and it's completely changed my outlook on food. It goes beyond ethics for me, don't get me wrong, animals' lives matter to me, but there are also a lot more factors that have driven me away from animal products.
I have learned that milk, (I'm lactose intolerant anyways so I don't drink milk. I do [did; as of 9 days ago] eat a lot of Greek yogurt and string cheese.) is legally allowed to contain up to 750,000 somatic cells PER milliliter. Click here to watch the truth about milk Somatic cells are pus cells found in cows; and somatic cells are the same cells that are in zits...yummy. There is also the ethical side of how dairy cows are treated, which is also shown in the video linked above. I really am more aware of the food that I put into my body and really think about the quality of product that I consume.
I of course didn't stop there, I also watched several videos about eggs, which by the way, explains some of the egg debate that I mentioned at the beginning of this post! I continued research about meat in which I discovered the shocking fact that a hamburger only contains 2.1-14.2% of ACTUAL MEAT. WHAT? To find out what's making up the other 86-98% of the burger, the video does a great job of explaining.  I also wanted to know about fish, too. There were some pretty interesting things I learned about mercury levels in fish
Being an informed consumer is the most powerful thing you can do as a consumer. If you do your research and find you don't like what you see, you can literally change the food industry. Don't support things you don't believe in or don't feel comfortable consuming. I recently made the switch to better my health in the long run. (521)

Injuries Part 2

After hurting my foot only a week before the first day of track, I was terrified that I would have to sit out the first few practices. All week I focused on healing.

Whenever I get injured in the leg/foot area, I take extra caution to stay off of my foot and to make sure I do everything I can to speed up the healing process. 

Whenever I get hurt, the first thing I do is pretty much self diagnose the issue because it's never bad enough to go to a doctor. Sometimes I'll have the athletic trainer look at it to get a solid opinion on it. The next thing I try to do is tape up the area so I can get extra support and stability. My favorite type of tape is a roll of plain athletic tape because it's stiff enough to give me the extra support I need but flexible enough to move with my foot. I use KT tape sometimes but it really just leads to disappointment because it ends up falling off or sticking to my pants or socks instead. It's super expensive for what it actually is, so I use it sparingly. 

The next thing I usually do is ice it of course. I'm not the type of person who can just set an ice pack on a towel and put it on the injured spot, I like to put the ice pack directly on my skin, let it burn for about a minute or two and then take it off for a few minutes and then re-apply it until that spot feels numb. Although I wrapped an ice bag around my leg and just let it sit there for 2 1/2 hours straight. Apparently it's "detrimental" to do that...oops. 

Lastly, I'll take some Advil to ease the pain and inflammation. I don't take it very often because I feel like it can only do so much before it doesn't make a difference.
Too many girls these days are weak. I don't mean physically weak, I mean mentally. Most of them just quit on themselves as soon as a muscle becomes sore. There is a major difference between a legitimate injury and soreness. Too many of them can't tell the difference. Sitting out of half a season is not an actual option for a cure to being sore. As soon as you realize the difference, the better off you'll be. (407)

Injuries

Injuries.  Everybody gets them. It's one of the biggest roadblocks of  being an athlete . I realized I run a heath and fitness blog, but have completely left out blogs about injuries. I thought today might be a good day to start. To get to the actual point of the blog, you may have to skip to the second part of this themed post for advice on how to overcome injuries. But first, I feel like I should build up my ethos with my own history of injuries.
I consider myself extremely lucky. Not only have I been given the support and materials to become an avid runner but I have been lucky enough to have a strong body to carry me mile after mile. I have never had any major accidents that have left me seriously injured, and I'm extremely grateful for that. When I had first started running long distance, I had run crazy mileage in a short amount of time. 2 summers ago I had run almost 400 miles in 3 months. It put a lot of stress on my legs and I developed shin splints. My legs were tender and painful when I ran, walked or put any amount of pressure on my leg. I had tried almost everything to help ease the pain. I decreased my mileage from 50 miles per week to about 30 or less.
I had also strained my hip flexor a few months later in my very last cross country race of the season. In track, I had some minor issues here and there but nothing that kept me out of practice and meets. I also haven't had many lifting injuries. I have pulled muscles and strained some but I've always been able to bounce back quickly.
Almost 5 Monday's ago, I went for a run. It was warmer but still cold enough to have some ice spots. I dodged them carefully and went on my way. It was only until after my run that I noticed my left foot was extremely painful to walk on. I thought it was my ankle because I had some swelling and discoloration in that area but I noticed the real pain was along the side of my foot behind the base of the 5th metatarsal. It hurt to walk up the parking lot into school, to walk up the stairs and to even get in and out of the shower. It was almost impossible to get from class to class without noticeably limping. The worst part was that I got hurt 7 days from the first day of track. That took almost 2 weeks to fully heal. Just when that happened, I was struck with yet another injury. Welcome to injury season.
(To be continued) (461)

Deep Thoughts

It's finally hit track season and a lot of girls are getting to the good physical shape it takes to run fast and hard to beat out as many people they can to win. A huge issue I noticed is that we all can't help but to compare ourselves to one another. The real reason a lot of people want to be "healthy" is because their main priority is to look good, have a great body and just have a good self concept. There is never a good balance of being truly "healthy". It seems as though if you aren't stuffing McDonald's and Cheetos in your mouth at every meal of the day, you're still considered unhealthy...just in the other direction. You'll hear things like "I never see you eat. Do you even eat anything at all?" and "You eat too much. You're always eating, you should really stop." Neither of those paint a picture of perfect health.  My own personal definition of health is when you're in a HEALTHY mental state. It doesn't matter if your pant size is a 2 but you're skipping most meals and only eating boiled chicken breast and lettuce. That isn't the true definition of health. It's not even happiness. It's misery and self hatred.
Let me ask you this. If we all weighed our ideal weight, achieved our ideal body shapes, had our dream jobs, dream house and perfect relationships, would you truly be happy with yourself, or would you just find something else to hate? In psychology, there was a  term that meant once you achieved your goals, it becomes the norm for you, and you'll be unsatisfied yet again. You'll always be unsatisfied. I've come to terms with that. I have a friend who always says "I'll never be satisfied, and I'm satisfied with that." He's been saying that since I've known him.
The key to success is to set goals. Lots of small goals that are easily attainable. Once you achieve those goals, you can slowly move up to work towards the next ones. This way you're always working towards something. Even when it  becomes your new normal, there is more to work towards.
Now I realize this post is completely unorganized and scattered with 3 or 4 different thoughts but I felt like I just needed to say that a healthy mindset is all it takes to be truly healthy. Your physical shape and being will follow as long as your mindset is on track. (416)