The Beginnings of a Better more Healthy Me!

Alright, I know I've been slacking on my posting already and it's only my second one!

It's not even the lack of inspiration or lack of subject to write about. It has been, more or less, the lack of time.

In short I am an actor who recently moved to Milwaukee with my lovely man, who is from Milwaukee. While he finished studying for the last two months, I was working two serving jobs. He is now finished studying and it has paid off but now I am still working doubles all the time because I need the income(who doesn't?). I am working on forcing myself to relinquish some of those hours and focus more on where I want to be again and what I want to do with my time and life.

Currently I am working on going all natural and getting back in shape!

This past year I discovered that I am facing all the symptoms of PCOS (polycystic Ovary syndrome) but because I don't actually have cysts on my ovaries they can't actually diagnose me with PCOS. My theory for this being that in college, soon after my symptoms appeared, not ever having heard of PCOS I started taking YAZ for typical college precautions - such as, I read somewhere that it would help with breakouts and painful cramps. And it actually did! I discontinued it after I graduated because of all the hype about how it was bad for you.

Anyone who is familiar with different ways they treat PCOS knows that this is actually apart of type of treatment plan they can use because of the chemical, spironolactone(or similar), that YAZ contains. This chemical is said to help ease the symptoms of the hormone activity associated with PCOS.

After being poked, prodded, and even arguing with an arrogant doctor ( quick side note: I don't usually care for doctors but the one I found in Ohio I actually liked and when I moved to Milwaukee I was far less fond of my new endocrinologist, a specialized doctor) they eventually decided I was just supper sensitive to hormones and because they can't figure out why my hormones are elevated they put me on a low does of spironolactone. You know, kind of sticking to the old tradition of western medicine, fixing the symptoms and not the problem. To be fair though, I was running out of money as it was so more tests for me is out of the question for the next year or two.

In the past three months this low dose medication has worked fairly well. However, there are a few things I am still struggling with.

*It still takes a very intense work out in a series of days for my weight to go down, BUT it does go down now! Before I could eat maybe a salad and work out but my weight would still slowly climb up.

*My hair seems to still be falling out, more than average. The first week or two of the medication seemed to help this but after that it's been down hill.

*Lastly, every now and then I break out with tiny pimple like bumps (tiny cyst like) but sometimes they itch and they are often red. This has calmed way down with the medicine but I still get a small amount of them at least once a month.

So now I am looking for more natural and less chemical filled ways to try and aid me on my quest to a better me!

I kind of already started when I met my boyfriend. I started eating Paleo but I was probably only about 75% strict about it. After all these tests I tried being 90-100% strict about it and even before I started the medicine my lost 10lbs in about a week. BUT I will save this topic for another entry because there is far too much information I would want to include.

Today was my first day where I started nixing shampoos and conditioners!!

As with most of my online research every time I try something new I will try to post the links on here so that you too can read up on it! I read gobs of information regarding this one so I will only post a few that I found quite helpful. For this one I may even post a before and after photo but I have to work up to that, so we'll see (believe it or not I am an actor that is camera shy at the moment!).

I first heard about this about a year ago from a good friend that I hadn't seen in forever. We got to talking about chemicals and I asked her what she did for her hair because it looked great! She explained that it was just baking soda and water and Apple cider vinegar and water.

At that time I was skeptical but I was also curious. However, I know this sounds really weird but I can't stand odd smells and hair that hasn't been washed in a while is one of those smells.. Her didn't smell by the way so I don't know why I was worried but honestly I just didn't want to walk around being one of those people. So I put the idea aside.

Recently I started reading little blurbs on facebook pages and random link but one day I came across  post with a link to this page: http://mycarbonbasedlife.blogspot.com/2013/04/poo-free.html

I liked that she went into detail about her experience and she even posted a great recipe to follow. She is also very helpful by sharing with her experiences should you have any questions.

a few other posts I came across are:

http://mymerrymessylife.com/2012/03/diy-baking-soda-shampoo-apple-cider-vinegar-conditioner-100-green-effective-2.html

http://www.vintageamanda.com/2010/11/the-secret-to-ditching-your-shampoo-forever/

Next up on my list of natural hygiene products I think on friday or sunday I am going to try a few homemade deodorants that I have read numerous rants and raves about.

wish me luck!

So, here we are!

I realized at a relatively early age that I tend to get borderline spastic about starting new things. I haven't quite figured out yet if it's the officoialality of it or if its the fact that I feel forced to do it rather than it being on my own accord and more organic.

My first memory of this epiphany is me standing at the starting line of a cross country race in jr. high  just staring at the recently trampled on grass while I was stretching, trying to loosen up. Finally we were ordered to take our marks and I wanted to go behind everyone but I somehow was pushed closer to the front.

Any racer would tell you they are more likely to fight to be in the front but the truth is it stressed me out more and actually made me feel more like crawling back in bed than running 3.1 miles.
But once the gun went off, after everyone started sprinting and I had forced one foot in front of the other it was easier to relax. The rhythm of the drumming of feet and crowded cheers made it more like a white noise in the background and I would feel alone with my thoughts again. Running because I loved  it, not because it was a race.

That was for running and that is where I thought it ended but it turns out it applies to all areas of my life. When I would start a painting or a drawing I could just stare at a blank piece of white abyss thinking about what all I could do with my ideas or why I shouldn't do anything at all. What I really needed was someone to just draw a line on the paper. It didn't have to be a line in relation to anything I was planning on doing because I would just erase it and then go about my attempt at art.

Luckily, after I realized I clearly had issues and I had to start by forcing myself to draw a line so no one would know the difference besides me. It was a simple solution to what feels like a mammoth of a personal issue.

I am telling you this because it is something that affects all areas of my life. From relationships, health,  my professional life, to even this blog!

I dare confess that I have had this email primarily for the purpose to start a blog for what could be over a couple years or more...

...Actually, I take that back I did start one once when I was over exhausted, tipsy and living in NYC, with a poem about fall. I was feeling so inspired and it just seemed to poor out of me from nowhere and I remember thinking, 'this is what is should feel like when I do something.' But being as exhausted as I was I didn't think to save a copy on my computer and something happened in the "saving it to my blog" process where it was lost forever. It was actually quite maddening and I was quite discouraged the next day.

All of this was simply to say that I have no idea what I should write about, let alone write about in my first post. I was and will over think it! So, I decided to just start somewhere because this is something I really want to do.

..and here we are!