This One is for The Ladies

Gentlemen, if you're squeamish, now is the time to look away. I'm going to be talking about (drum roll please) that time of the month. But if you have significant others who have a hard time coping with their symptoms, read on.

I've always had a very hard time with my monthly symptoms. Cramps were terrible, mood swings were almost worse, and it was extremely frustrating. It would take a whole day of loading up on midol just to make a small dent in the pain and moodiness. I would pretty much just curl up under a heating pad away from the world until I felt alive again.

When I first started working out, I noticed that my cramps weren't as bad as they had been. And if I continued to work out through the week even if I didn't feel like it, my mood would improve. I still dealt with days of bad cramps but it wasn't nearly like it was before. In researching this, I found some answers. Exercise increases blood flow which alleviates pain. Also, stress can make your cramps worse and exercise is a proven stress-reliever. Makes sense to me.

I also found that other natural remedies include iron-rich foods and vitamin E or omega 3 essential fatty acid supplements. That's where my next suggestion comes in. Exercising helped to drastically reduce my cramps but I noticed the biggest change when I added Shakeology to my daily diet. It has 4mg of iron (22% daily value) and 15 IU of vitamin E (50% daily value) as well as many other vitamins and amino acids. Not to mention the digestive enzymes, prebiotics and whole food ingredients to help your body detox. Since I've been drinking Shakeology I've only had a few months where I've had to take extra pain meds for a day or two.

I'm not saying all this because I sell Shakeology. In fact, I decided to become a coach and start selling it because I whole-heartedly believe in it. So, if you're looking for some natural remedies for your menstrual pain, I highly recommend giving it a try. And get out there and get moving. At least 30 minutes a day of something to get your heart rate up. Walk, swim, do yoga, do a workout DVD. I don't care, as long as you're doing something. Take care of YOU.

Mudder: Volume 2

Since I last updated, I ran another Tough Mudder. This one was much easier in that it wasn't at a ski resort and thus no ski slopes to march up. Some of the obstacles were a little tougher though. Like this one:

Crawling under barbed wire with live wires dangling down. That really sucked. I didn't fall off the Berlin Walls this time, but I only did one. By the time we got to them I had barely enough upper body strength to get over the first one and not enough nerve to try the second one. This one was my favorite:

It was called Mud Mile and we just had to climb over these mounds of mud. It was definitely more fun than getting shocked. The worst part of the Mudder was actually after it. It rained really bad and we got stuck in the dirt parking lot for 4 hours pushing every single car out of the mud. Not fun. All in all though, it was definitely a great experience and I can't wait for next year!

In other updates, I'm starting INSANITY over from the beginning. I'm determined to get my six pack back. This also means committing to a clean diet. I'm going to be honest and say that I haven't been so good at that lately. I tend to eat a lot of carbs. I don't have very much patience for prepping food so I just eat whatever is most handy. So, I'm working on that. Beachbody provides me with a customized meal planner so I'll be trying to utilize that more often.

What about you? What are your goals and what are you doing to work toward them?