Full Day, Full Log, Full Plant-Based Living: Exercise and the Microbiome
5.18.2020
We all know that we shouldn’t be sitting around a lot, but A) did any of us know why or how much it was harming us, B) are we really honest about how much we sit in a day?
Before I switched to plant-based whole-foods, I would have told you that I was burnt out, I didn’t have the energy for exercise, and needed to recuperate on the couch. Does that sound familiar?
I never took a moment to wonder why I was so exhausted. My job may have been mentally demanding, but there is no reason I (or any of us) should be so tired that we can’t move through our days with gusto. In fact, it’s a biological imperative that we maintain the ability to do so.
Why was I (and likely you) so tired? Because I was feeding my system poor fuel. If you’re throwing refined/processed foods into your system, your body will fail accordingly. If you’re throwing in fat-dense animal products, your body will respond sluggishly and pack itself with disease.
If you feed yourself body-kind fuel (fiber, complex carbohydrates, plant-based proteins, omega-rich fats) your microbiome will thrive, which makes your immune system the best it can be, which betters your entire health, gives you more energy to power through your days, and that swell combo leads to a brighter outlook in all directions…even when the earth is falling down around you. In fact, it’ll give you the energy to stop wailing and move forward to be part of the solution.
Continue reading for: how exercise affects our microbiome, how sitting for long spells increases your risk of diabetes/cardiovascular disease/death, a family thriving on lifestyle medicine pillars (eating well, moving more, being present), and a full day’s worth of PBWF feasting.
Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward.
Q’s morning Chalkboard: Sarlacc and the Pit of Carkoon
Plant-Based Kiddo Breakfast: Cacao oatmeal with peanut butter and flax seeds.
Sipping on black coffee like a little, old man.
Carol Watson Greenhouse visit for more soil, echinacea, and whichever flower Q wanted to add to the garden (he chose “fizzy lemonberry pansies”)
Over-the-fence neighboring ala Home Improvement. Jonas (on the outside of the fence) grew up with Ian and lives across the street. Was good to hear the sound of laughter and talk.
Made Q a “wandering loop” for steam-burning and body movement.
Plant-Based Whole Food Lunch: kale and quinoa salad, Ethiopian style lentils, easy avocado, and enchilada sauce.
Plant-Based Yardwork Fuel: blueberries, strawberries, banana, spirulina, and oatmilk.
Spent the afternoon in the yard. This one spent a bulk of it running around with this balloon (given to him by his grandparents) and had his first lost-balloon heartbreak when it went airborne a few hours later.
[I had the subsequent environmental heartbreak of knowing it’s going to end up somewhere it should’t.]
Hope/inspiration: budding black raspberries! <3
(All the ones we transplanted have buds already. Woohoo!)
Afternoon: grandma reading from a distance to Q, Ian working on cages for the containers, and I worked within the past-pond-pit (planting cucumbers, pansies, and transplanted strawberries; and working on a continued terrace for the eventual melons.)
Work in progress and a kiddo who spent the latter half of the day pretending those stones were a secret path through all sorts of imagined pit dangers.
Dinner prep: fleshing out leftovers.
Quick-pickled cabbage is made and remade so often in this house to offer up a guess on the number of times I’ve made it would sound like hyperbole. We love it, it loves us, our microbiome loves it all.
Y’all should get some vibrant fiber in your systems: add this to any and all dishes.
Plant-Based Family Feast: refried black bean bowls with kale & quinoa salad, quick-pickled red cabbage, buffalo hempeh, siete shells, and enchilada sauce.
And here’s another illuminating section from my nightly reading of Undo It (by Dr. Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish)
We all know that we shouldn’t be sitting around a lot, but A) did any of us know why or how much it was harming us, B) are we really honest about how much we sit in a day?
Well, now we know. Information like the above is why I perch behind a standing desk and make sure to pump my feet, dance in place, stretch, walk around, whatever I can; and this is especially why I then move on with a day full of more and (importantly) varied movement.
It’s not for vanity, it’s to be as healthy as possible so I can live a long life free of pain and disease.
Most importantly: it’s to be the best example of health for Q so that he can go on to live his own long life free of pain and mental misery.
Gut health is whole health, folks. <3
Want some more information about the microbiome and movement?
In case you need to see the front of Undo It again too: endorsed by Dr. Kim Williams.
