The Bible says the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. To be honest I think mine was a megachurch.
When I set about this radical lifestyle I didn't do it to lose weight, Altough it is one of the more pleasant side effects of doing this diet. You do tend to lose weight. We have been doing this diet for 56 days (i think) now, and I think we are slowly adding the physical exercise component to it now. Our family have been going on sporadic walks and we are trying to keep that as a regular thing. But one very odd side effect is happening now. I have a desire to run.
Now this is only odd when you consider my background. As a child I HATED sports. I was uncoordinated, was always picked LAST at sports and wasn't even on the charts in the beep test. (For those who aren't aussies, or don't remember, all of the primary school children had to do a certain amount of sit ups, running exercises etc, and were timed by beats to get an average). I was always encouraged to "have a go" at things, which I did, and my teachers commended me for it. That doesn't mean I saw the point of it though. Doing things like the hurdles scared me. The athletes in the class would jump over them easily, and speed up to get over the next one. I always slowed down because I thought "WHAT IS THE POINT OF PUTTING BLOODY OBSTACLES IN THE WAY! I'M GOING TO TRIP OVER!" Even when I did slow down to get over the hurdles, my trailing leg would sometimes get caught on the top and i'd still fall over. And don't get me started on high jump. What is the point of high jump? using a freaking pole to jump over a bar to win a ribbon? I perhaps saw javelin as a real skill, since you could potentially take out school bullies from several yards away; but that's only if you could hold the blasted thing steady.
Anyway, the odd thing about where I am at now is that I have just started running. Now as my wife will testify, I don't run. In fact, I think runners are extremely weird. They go out in all weather, wearing lycra in enthusiastic colours usually, and just run for the sake of getting fit. Some runners may as well have a neon sign over their heads saying "I'M RUNNING! I'M GETTING VERY FIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SLOB!" Peasants. Anyway How weird is that? Why would you voluntarily run? Fair enough, if you were being chased you might run- even I would run then, but voluntarily? My experience with running as a boy was one of sheer obedience. In my committment to "give something a go" I would run for my teachers. Perhaps they got some sick satisfaction out of getting children to run, because I never saw them doing anything. In cross country and even sprints I always came last. Dead last. Actually that isn't true. Once I actually came third in a running race, which I was rewarded with a coveted green ribbon for. I think the disappointment revolved around the fact that there was only three people running in the race!
Another classic memory is when an important assembly was called, and I was not listening to a word the teachers were saying, basically because I was bored out of my tree. The teacher asked a question and suddenly everyone started to shuffle off, leaving me on my own with them wondering what was going on. One of the teachers and a few fit looking kids looked at me. "So did you want to be part the interschool cross country competition this year. Ben?" Too embarrassed to say I wasn't listening, and piecing enough of the assembly speech together to realise they didn't have enough runners, I nodded dumbly, I think saying something like "I can't guarantee the school will win if I join". Eventually when I did run in the competition, I had completed half of the track, when they started packing up the witches hats to mark the course (I kid you not!), and I was overtaken by a child who was running with his trainer, because he was a severe asthmatic. Once I had finished the course I noticed all of the other runners were already waiting in the bus. These experiences may have put some negative associations in my mind about running.
Two days ago though, I had decided I wanted to run again. Why? I don't know. Perhaps because I am insane. Perhaps because I wanted to see if I could do it, or maybe because I wanted to create some positive associations between myself and the action of running. I didn't want to be the "running joke" anymore. I did pretty well for a first run, but I am still not as fit as I thought, and my body was screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Ignoring these signals I walked, jogged and ran around a circuit in my neighborhood. I find that having my music on helped me too. In my opinion this is just the beginning.
I am absolutely no expert in exercise, but could I make a suggestion to you, if you are going on the GAPS diet that I got from someone else:
* Do what makes you feel good, and works for you- walking, running, dance etc.
* Find a time that works for you.
* The Australian Government recommend you find half an hour for exercise. This might be tricky for some people but it's worth it.
* Don't bash yourself up for not doing enough exercise, just make a determination to do better next time. Every day is a new day.
* Make it a routine. If I have learned anything from the GAPS diet it is that once a routine is in place everything works much more smoothly
Anyway, be blessed, and don't forget to comment, question, follow and / or subscribe! (I was going to say donate too, but that might be a bit cheeky).
Ben.
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