Gastro-Goals
I hope the title of this post doesn’t scare anyone away.
It’s more about the Goals than the Gastro!
In the healthy living blog world, I see lots of posts about accountability. Most involve staying accountable by eating clean and working out regularly. I truly enjoy doing both of those activities, but also have been known to take accountability too far, so I try to stray from making food or workout goals – at least, specific ones that involve “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts”.
But today I need to hold myself accountable by declaring here that I am going to take preventative measures involving my GI health. Some may recall that back in the fall I got a stomach virus that never really seemed to go away completely until a month or two after I first caught it. I am certainly grateful that the problems ended up going away “on their own” and seemed to be mostly related to the virus’s effects (though I certainly noticed a relationship between degree of nausea and anxiety). I was doing all I could while experiencing these GI issues to get them to go away – lighter workouts, drinking apple cider vinegar…I even saw a naturopathic doctor who prescribed probiotics, enzymes, and an herbal remedy.
Love the Tennessee glass I got for my dad in Newport…I use it way more than he does.
After the problems went away, so did my drive to take action to improve my GI health. After all, why did I need to? I felt fine! So I let the probiotics habit slip. I stopped drinking my morning glass of ACV and water (yes I drink just the two together alone, apparently that’s odd). And for the last week I’ve been having stomach problems again. Not as bad as in the fall, and I don’t think they’re from a virus, but actually probably from the fruit-and-veggie-heavy days I’ve been having. I love fruit. I love my salad beasts. I LOVE BRUSSELS SPROUTS. I happen to love a whole lot of foods with a whole lot of fiber and I think that’s catching up with me.
I LOVE YOU.
Of course now I am kicking myself because I really think that if I’d kept taking my probiotics and drinking my ACV, both of which are good for digestive health maintenance (even when no symptoms are present), then my system would be more regular and more apt to handle fiber. Okay, I know that if my stomach isn’t feeling fruits or veggies then it’s okay to eat something simpler like bread (yes this is hard for me to do at times but I know it’s true). Still, if I can pop one pill and drink one glass of something that could keep me feeling well in the long-term, and if I could do that NOT just when I’m symptomatic, then why not?!
A more tummy-friendly snack. Yeah I know, cute plate.
So I just used a lot of words (are you surprised?) to get to the main point of this post – I am setting the following two goals for myself and am holding myself accountable. I will stick to them even if my stomach is feeling perfectly 100% fine.
- Take probiotics each day.
- Drink 1 TBSP of ACV with water each day.
That is SO FLIPPING EASY. I’m going to do it. I already got underway this morning and drank my ACV after my workout. It felt good to already be working toward my goals!
I’d appreciate any words of encouragement you guys have for me. I can always use extra motivation.
Do you have any “methods” you use to keep yourself accountable and reach goals?
What preventative measures do you take to protect your digestive health?
