I have not been able to do much physical exercise over the past few years due to some back issues. I also absorb protein very poorly, and so exercise does not have the benefits for me that it has for most people.
There are a few reasons for this, and I am currently in the process of fixing them.
I relied heavily on massage, including self-massage for a long time, and I discovered that if you can get a top-grade massage, it may be enough, but those are hard to come by and often expensive. I also haven't been able to find any in Tokyo, not the kind that can help with these kinds of layered issues.
I'll have to fix it all myself.
First I am hips and legs are incredibly tight. A few months ago I could only touch my knees from a standing position. I've tried a variety of stretches and managed to get just about 25% between my knees and feet. I wake up in the morning and can touch my knees and by nighttime, if I stretch I can get that extra 25%. Recently I found that doing some leg lifting hip flexor exercises increase my mobility quickly. In the past I had to stretch a lot or take a shower to get that kind of improvement, but now I can do it in a few minutes. I've heard this can reverse this kind of issue.
The second issue is my gut and just how unbalanced it is. 6-10 chips ahoy cookies and 3 sodas a day, plus all kinds of unnatural sugar found in sauces and dressings, it all threw my whole body out of balance and I hadn't really realized until recently. This is probably why I can't absorb protein and I've written about it before. These days, sugar in coffee and chocolate became my vices.
It's been 3 weeks since I quit all sugar besides honey and fruit. I've been replacing all snacks with plain yogurt, honey, nuts and dried cranberries. I've made sure to eat a lot of miso and pickles as probiotics. I'm already seeing results. My body finally has a regular rhythm too it, less discomfort overall and an easier time going to the bathroom. I find I crave meat a whole lot more than before. It's not excessive, but I never really craved meat. I take that as a good sign.
Today as an experiment, and to celebrate 3 weeks, I bought the best chocolate chip cookies I could find and let myself give in to temptation, deciding to limit myself to 3 out of the 6 cookies. After the first one though, I felt overwhelmed with the sweetness.
Just a few weeks ago, I could have finished 6 cookies and maybe even drink a sweetened matcha latte. Today, 1 cookie was more than enough for me. I plan on letting myself indulge like that once every week or two, but I hope that I get to the point where the cookies don't taste good to me anymore.
It's obvious that my body is changing. I can only hope this will lead to better overall health.
The last thing I changed was breathing. I spend about 20 minutes a day breathing consciously, trying to get used to deeper and fuller breathing. This is actually the hardest part because breathing is so unconscious most of the time, and also with an uncomfortable stomach area and a tight back, shallow breathing is just natural.
I did notice that my self-massage techniques have become effective much more quickly.
The goal is to get to a point where my body responds better to regular exercise so I can start doing it 3 days a week.
Good progress so far. I'm still in disbelief that I didn't want to finish the second cookie!
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