The G-Free Decision

People often ask me why I went gluten free. It's simple. I have Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disease. Many autoimmune diseases have been linked to food intolerances, causing "leaky gut". Undigested particles leak into your blood stream and cause a reaction. So when a body has an intolerance or allergy to a food (like gluten for example), the body will have a reaction, and can  cause leaky gut, then later an autoimmune disease.

When I was first diagnosed, I wondered if there was anything I could have done to prevent it or to stop it. I wanted to talk to my future self to see if there was anything I could have done better based on research. Unfortunately that isn't possible. So I began researching lifestyle and nutritional choices that have have a positive effect on those with autoimmune diseases. By the grace of God, Terri, a health coach who also has an autoimmune disease, gave me information and walked me through all the stages of going gluten free.

And I've never felt better.

So what are the differences I've seen?

• My doctors said that because of my MS, I'd likely have permanent damage to my optic nerve, but that has gone away. 
• My hands used to burn (like a sunburn) when I exercised when I ran, but that has gone away.
• I was diagnosed with Raynaud's because my fingers used to be red, while the rest of my hands were a normal shade of peach. But that has gone away.
• Plus other changes in how my body functions

Why do I attribute these changes to being gluten-free? The days I eat something with gluten, I feel the burning in my hands and redness in my fingers. Then after the marathon I began eating regular pizza, donuts and cookies. My eye started messing up again within 3 days, nearly like it did when I was diagnosed. I have no doubt that it was because of the gluten.

Going gluten-free was the best decision for me. I truly feel like this lifestyle change is revolutionary, especially for those with auto-immune diseases! Of course there are some struggles, temptations and critics along the way, but at the end of the day, my body can see and run the way the Lord created it.

Plus I still eat delicious food!

from my instagram

If I could give any advice to someone with an autoimmune disease it would be to go gluten-free! It can be tough, but not as tough as life with an autoimmune disease!

Stay tuned for more tips on going gluten-free!

My #GoalsToGlorify

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I'm not much of a new years resolutioner, but I am VERY goal-oriented. Resolutions are quickly broken, but goals seem more like a promise to yourself. I believe goals are statements of faith that expand your character by challenging you in areas you want to improve. I thought for a few weeks on what my goals would be for the new year, and of course the typical

1. I want to read my bible more often
2. I want to lose weight
3. I want to get healthier

all came to my mind. Those are great goals, but I wanted to dig deeper into my soul to find the areas that really need life-long improvement. I want 2015 to be dedicated to enjoying life like never before, growing closer to Christ, and dedicating my body to His plan for me.

Chelsy on instagram started a #GoalsToGlorify campaign, where we can think about goals that glorify God, so that we may grow mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically… not just physically, which is the foundation of many new years resolutions.

So I thought and prayed that the Lord would reveal to me the areas in which I need the most improvement, so here goes:

These three #GoalsToGlorify will challenge me all year, no doubt. But I'm so excited to see how much I'll grow because of the challenge! Writing them down makes them so real! It's scary and intimidating to set such high goals for myself, especially because I've fallen in these areas so many times before (and I have already slipped up this year). But I want to start focusing and making goals in areas other than fitness. I'm hopeful that the Lord will teach me great things in the upcoming year! I have many other goals that I hope to accomplish this year, but the above are the three are the ones that I want to wholly focus on. And if you're on instagram, it would be awesome to have you join the #GoalsToGlorify campaign!

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Let's chat!

• What do you hope to accomplish in 2015?

The best breakfast place ever. period.

You know when it's a great vacation when you've lost track of time, so you look back at your pictures to help distinguish days but only find pictures of food and running a long the beach. And it would include naps but it's weird for someone to take pictures of you sleeping.

Monday we went to breakfast heaven. Not even kidding.

Amazing mimosas.

And even better food. My pancake flight is made up of cinnamon roll, sweet potato and blueberry danish pancakes. All gluten-free, all the best thing I've ever eaten (with or without gluten).

After nap time, we walked to the beach to watch the sun set.

Isn't this a super cool picture?

I love him.

You'll be happy to know that we found a fantastic Mexican food restaurant with great margaritas and salsa. Crisis averted. Plus they had delicious queso and a mariachi band playing Christmas songs at each table. Very festive!

We needed to run off some of the deliciousness we consumed the day before, so we went for another quick run along the beach.

Followed by an intense game of tennis. 

Normally I would insert a breakfast or lunch picture now, but because we ate so much the day before, we weren't hungry until late in the afternoon. So we watched the sun set from the pool.

Then we ate our meal of the day on a patio next to a fireplace.

I love San Diego.

I hope you're having a fantastic and restful Christmas Eve! We've got some super exciting plans for tonight, so stay tuned!

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Let's chat!

• What are your plans for Christmas? Have you traveled anywhere, or did family come to your house?
• What restaurant would be your food heaven?

Starting Christmas Break with a Beach Run and a Boat

I love waking up on the West coast because of the 2-hour time difference from what I'm used to in Texas. So waking up at 8am with the sun already high and bright in the sky in California made for a perfect morning to run along the beach.

from my instagram

Running along the beach is now my new favorite running spot. It beats the treadmill for sure :) We dominated some killer hills to run 7 miles in almost 1:15, with plenty of stops along the way to to take pictures or to admire the scenery. It sure doesn't look like this in Texas.

We ate brunch at a cute, popular restaurant in Carlsbad where I tried kiwi for the first time. It was actually good!

Then walked along the beach. The hubs was the only one brave enough to touch the water. It was too cold for me.

Southern California may be close to Mexico, but they need to work on the quality of their margaritas and salsa.

We boarded on a yacht to look at a parade of lights on boats in San Diego Bay.

Dinner was delicious, with lots of gluten-free options! My heart can be stolen with a good spinach salad!

And the sunset was gorgeous!

The lights were so neat! The boats were decorated with Christmas lights in festive designs from Christmas trees to Rudolph pulling the boat. A definite must-do when in the area for Christmas!

I wonder how they get Christmas lights on these boats anyway...?

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Let's chat!

• What are your plans for the holidays? :: San Diego and Vegas
• Do you have Christmas lights on your house this year? :: We didn't have time for them this year :( 

{Waking up} in the City that Doesn't Sleep

Click here to read day 1 of my adventures in NYC!
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Ahh... the day before a race. Always such a joyous day filled with mixed emotions. Anxiety, excitement, nerves, questions, last-minute plans, carb-loading, Broadways plays...although the latter may be specific to races in NYC :)

The moment I woke up I began thinking about the race! I looked outside and admired the view from our hotel room again.

Then I continued carb-loading and ate an entire bagel {gluten-free, of course}. It was glorious. Then the hubs and I were on our way to the race expo to pick up my packet!

On our way, we stumbled across the Ed Sullivan Theater where they film The Late Show with David Letterman! Pretty exciting for this media teacher :)

Then we continued our journey to the race expo by way of Times Square. 

I looked like a complete tourist, but I was okay with that.

The hubs was searching for a small, non-chain coffee shop. It took us forever, but we eventually found Gregory's.  

I'm not a coffee drinker, but this place made me want to be. It looked awesome. But let's just say, despite my distaste for coffee, we still became Gregulars on this trip.

Finally, we arrived in Javits Convention Center for the race expo!

You could feel the excitement at the expo! It was amazing!

 Of course I had to take my picture under the "Get Your New York On." sign! I WAS going to get my NY on!

First things first, we headed to pick up my race packet!

Then we went over to pick up my race shirt! Emphasis on the "marathoner" - hence the pointing :)

Then we walked through the official Asics gear. I may or may not have cried just before taking this picture. It was so overwhelming knowing that I was about to accomplish something I never dreamed I'd be able to do. The Lord really blessed me with this opportunity.

So excited to show off my race bib (wearing my new official NYCM race jacket!) in front of the model starting line! (funny story - on race day I never actually saw the starting line, or a sign for the starting line... good thing I got my picture by this one!)

The hubs had been so good to take pictures of me (or to not be annoyed by my abundance of selfies) that I wanted to make sure we got a picture together at the race expo. This sign was really cool!

Then we went upstairs and found this super-awesome set of stairs! Again, encouraging me to get my New York on!

Then they had these cool little medal replicas of the five boroughs we would run through.

We couldn't pass up an opportunity to get our picture made at the fake finish line! Which, by the way, the actual finish line didn't look anything like this. 

I created a poster to show who I was really running for:

"I run for those who can't."

One more picture as a final reminder to get my New York on...

Then stepped out to see this amazing view of the city.

Then we headed back to the hotel to change clothes and head to lunch with my parents and my brother at Don Antonio's pizza!

I had a delicious gluten-free, carb-loaded pizza. I may have eaten the whole pizza. No shame. Carb loading is no joke.

Then the hubs, my brother and I went to see The Lion King on Broadway! My first Broadway show!

I'm not ashamed to say I cried multiple times.

The Lion King was AMAZING! All of the animals were played by people, which was very impressive! The giraffes were my favorites though.  The people were on all fours while on stilts! 

{source}

We had to take our pictures with the wooden version of the characters, because when in New York...

The Minskoff Theatre had an AMAZING view of Times Square!

One more picture together in front of the poster...

Then we stopped by our dear coffee shop, being the Gregulars that we were, then went back to the hotel to get dressed for dinner!

We had reservations for the whole family at the legendary Carmine's to continue the carb-loading adventure. The family needed to carb-load for all the work they had to do chasing me around the city next day!

Pasta for everyone!

Including my gluten-free pasta! I ate about half of this on my own. Family-sized servings...psh.

Back at the hotel I had a dress rehearsal to get everything organized, laid out (and pinned on) and ready to go for the next day! And good thing too because in my dress rehearsal I noticed I was wearing my ear warmer backwards... totally had to fix that before race day. I love pinning my race bibs on my tops the night before to save time and relieve stress on race morning.

All layers were ready to go!

Even the runner girls on my toes were ready to start running!

Then climbed in bed to watch Saturday Night Live! It was fun watching SNL knowing I was a few blocks from where they were filming! It might be nerdy, but I'm a media teacher, so it's okay.

As I dozed off into sleep I thought, "this is the last night I'll be a non-marathoner!"

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Let's chat!

• Do you prefer pizza or pasta?
• Coffee or no coffee?
• yuck... no coffee