PescaVeganBeef-atarian

Next Tuesday, March 26th, marks 2 years of being Pescatarian minus all dairy/egg.  TWO YEARS!  Wow.  Time flies. 

It has been an eye-opening couple of years to say the least.  I never imagined how much my life would change.  Two years ago I had come to my wits end.  My body was fighting me at every turn and I was at my limit. 

Constant stomach pain.  Vomiting.  Bloating.  Tests.  Doctors.  Homeopathy.  Pills. Etc. etc. etc.  

Nothing helped.  So I took drastic measures and cut out all dairy, eggs and meat cold-turkey.  I kept fish in my diet knowing I would need some animal product to get more nutrients.  It was a ROUGH transition going from Cheese Addict to Almond Milk connoisseur.  But I did it.  And I loved it. 

The changes I felt were immediate.  And amazing. 

I have had involuntary vomiting issues since infancy.  Over the course of my life,  I went from throwing up once every week and a half to several times per day.  It was terrible and a defining factor in my life.  I hid it from everyone but my family and J.  There is a stigma to females and throwing up... and being a gymnast, I was all too familiar with eating disorders.  At 18, I was accused by a teacher of having an eating disorder.  It resulted in my mom storming into the principal's office and telling him and that teacher to screw themselves.... in polite momma terms of course.  Thanks Mom!

The older I got, the less violent the throwing up was which meant it was easier to hide.  My body would just reject the food.  I could go to the bathroom as soon as I knew it was coming and it would come up quickly and easily.  Then the pain would go away.  But I could feel the leftover issues it was leaving behind.  My teeth were starting to be worn from all the stomach acid.  And I developed GERD.  Stomach acid constantly up and down my throat has created regular and unyielding heartburn.  It is so regular that when I don't have heartburn, I forget that the feeling is supposed to be normal.  Around 12, I just got used to the constant burning in my chest and throat.  And it hasn't changed unfortunately.  BUT...  The past two years I have only thrown up THREE times.  THREE!  Talk about a miracle! 

Now the time has come.... I'm adding Beef back into my diet!  That's right!  Red meat in all its glory.  This has been a long time coming.  At about the year mark, my husband started incorporating local, grass fed, grass finished, hormone free meat back into his meals.  Not often.  But he had some red meat about once every 2 months or so.  I debated adding it in, but with how great I was feeling, I didn't want to jeopardize it.  So I decided I would wait another year or so. 

So after two years of nothing but fish, I am adding red meat to my lifestyle and seeing how it goes.   Don't get me wrong, I won't be eating burgers at cook-outs and scarfing down steaks at restaurants.  UNLESS they are local.  Grass Fed.  Hormone and Drug free. But I would like to eat it sporadically and see how my body takes it. 

... and man, am I pumped!  We have friends who chip in and buy a full cow from a local family farm to split.  J and I are currently researching options since we have a tiny little freezer.

With the addition mentioned above, I am also planning on cutting back on wheat, gluten, processed crap as best as possible.  I want to make my body as healthy as possible and the results I have seen over the past year have floored me.  I improved my quality of life drastically!  No more sneaking off to the gas station or insisting on having my car around at all times just in case the food didn't settle. I even had to run around downtown Salt Lake and puke in a porta-potty once.  Terrible.  

Two Years - What a difference.  And, I dropped 12 lbs... that never hurts either ;) 

I am hoping cutting down on the grains and other processed crap will help with the heartburn and my overall health.  Last time I had blood work done, they were shocked and impressed with how great my results were... I am hoping that after making this transition, they will be even better! 

I will definitely let you know how it goes... for better or for worse.  :)

Archetyping

 So occasionally when I refresh my instagram for the eleventy-millionth time and still have boredom written on the brain, I research random things on the internet.  Today, I came across a website that gives you your archetypes.  

I love this kind of crap! In elementary school, we were required to do this giant personality test.  I remember it being really long and asking really random questions, but in the end they give you what careers best fit your personality.  My careers were teacher, athletic coach, writer and marine biologist.  You better believe I was thrilled!  Little Meg was sure that she was going to work full time with manatees, be a famous author and coach gymnastics on the weekend. 

Sweet! 

Over the years, I seem to get pretty much the same result every time I take a personality test.  So when I saw this Archetype website, I was hooked.  You start by choosing whether you identify yourself as female or male.  Then it asks you a series of questions where you can choose up to 3 answers.  I chose 3 for pretty much every question. 

Here's my result: 

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty shocked.  Athletic?!  Seriously?  I was a gymnast for 14 years... so yes, the athletic nature is still ingrained within my being.  But other than some cheerleading, dance and diving sprinkled through the years... I really have been almost anti-athletic for the last 10 years.  I have written about it here... but basically, I was burned out on all things sport related.  I have started to appreciate it more recently but I still feel FAR from athletic.   

The other major thing that struck me is one category where I always score high.... but this time, it wasn't listed in my top 3.  Spirituality.  

Sad.   I feel that my spirituality is an important and integral part of my entire being.  Where was it?!  Sure, it's just a silly quiz but it still hit me hard to know that it wasn't an identifier.  
 

I used to be very vocal about my beliefs as a kid but around 15, I decided I wanted more.  I set out on researching EVERYTHING.  My favorite classes in college were my religion and sociology classes and I enjoyed gaining some knowledge and understanding of the various beliefs in the world.   


When I moved to Utah, J and I started following the Red Path.  A form of native american healing and spirituality.  I don't really want to talk about it because I feel it would diminish the reverence I hold for everything it has done in my life. The Red Path brought new understanding and respect to the God that I knew and the fundamentals of my faith.  


Over the last 6 years of following the Red Path, I feel I have finally found my footing with my spirituality.   My spirituality has developed into something that I follow and believe for me.  Not just because it was what I was taught or what I am comfortable with.  I hold to it because it is part of my identity.  I have much to improve on, but it is a daily guide and reminder to me to live my life in a certain way.  Through all this change and understanding, I also have found that my beliefs have become very internalized.  Very personal.  And the foundation of my authentic self.     


I still believe in the God of my parents and childhood but in such a greater way then I ever imagined.  J and I watch all of the sermons from my Oklahoma church online and then sit and discuss the topics after and how to apply them to our lives.  It's the first time since childhood that church has mattered to me.  It shocks me that this wasn't identified in this silly survey.  But I guess it shows how much growing I still have to do.  


Well although, the whole Marine Biology thing never really worked out... I still hope to publish at least one book in my life :) We'll see how that turns out. 

HBD to my #1 Squeeze - the big 33

I am way behind on blogging because I pretty much work all the time.  But I wanted to take the time to recap my husband's birthday.  I always recap his birthdays and this year we realized just how special that is.

So... those of you who read my blog know that my husband is a musician and owns his own business - a recording studio.  He is the best engineer and producer this side of the Mississippi.  ;)  With his passion and his livelihood focused on music, he is always talking about new gear he wants for his band or his studio.  I pay attention and then try to get him one of the items each year for his bday.  The past while, he has repeatedly looked for and talked about a Rhodes keyboard.


Me, being the ever prepared wife (laugh it up), started looking for a Rhodes back in October.  I knew they were expensive so finding one even close to my budget would take a while.  Well... a few days later, I found the motherload in a Craigslist ad from Vegas.  I talked with the seller and knew I could not pass up such a deal!  I sent the ad to his bandmate and also to a friend in California who has a Rhodes in his studio.

They signed off on its awesomeness and I let J know that he needed to clear out 24 hours.  He had no idea what was going on but he agreed to clear his schedule.  So we hopped in my car and drove the 5 1/2 hours to Vegas, picked it up and drove back to Salt Lake.

The Rhodes was beautiful, in great shape, and a super amazing deal!  Sure it was 4 months before his birthday but hey, a deal is a deal.

He was SHOCKED and THRILLED!  

So when his actual birthday rolled around, J had already decided he wanted it to be low key.  He had toured in England in December and recorded for over a week in the mountains in January.... so low key and personal was on the plate.  Ben Folds Five was playing a reunion show in Vegas the week before his birthday... so of course we had to go!

crazy hair

His actual birthday started off with a nice home-cooked breakfast.   Since I gave up dairy and eggs 2 years ago, I don't ever cook fancy breakfasts.  For his bday, I surprised him with an egg and bacon breakfast sandwich...

I am a birthday fanatic (it's a problem), so I also made sure he still had a present to open... an album by the Cure ...

We then followed our birthday tradition of Benihana and the Red Door.  Dinner was exceptional and tasty like always.

And of course the Red Door is always a win-win situation... they seriously have the best martinis in Utah.  While at the Red Door, we talked a lot about the future and where we are today.   We also started reminiscing about past birthdays.  For the life of us, we could not remember which year was which.  Enter my handy-dandy blog.  We read through my recaps of his past birthdays with the who, what and where.  It was amazing and such a good way to spend the evening.  We both felt very blessed to be surrounded by amazing, loving family and friends.

So Happy Birthday J!  You are always my favorite celebration! :)