Whole 30 and all that.

So I know I haven't posted on here...really at all. My idea: keep an old school blog, web log, of my eating and exercise, also thoughts on body and Christ. The last year: lost 25 pounds doing about 90% primal. Here is the plan. I loved it, but ultimately got a little lazy. I think I gained back a little weight, maybe five pounds. That all started in September. I just spent two weeks up in Michigan on vacation: lots of alcohol, cheap food, doughnuts everyday. Not sure how much weight I gained in those two weeks, though I can actually feel that my pants are tighter. So this week we have returned to Charlotte and the Darling Wife and I feel rested and renewed, except for the food. We've both been feeling pretty lousy this week. So we have been talking and decided that now is a good time to do a Whole30. I'm feeling pretty pumped for it. We actually decided to do it in the month of August, but we both feel so bad we decided to start a day early. I felt so nasty this morning I couldn't eat; this is not recommended to skip a meal, but I seriously felt bad. Breakfast: black coffee Lunch: a staff lunch at a restaurant: two three oz. fillets, double helping of steamed veggies, salad with oil and vinegar. Water with lemon, and a double espresso while everyone ate GIGANTIC deserts. While desert was delivered I just thought, "Man, that's like 800 carb calories I'm missing out on." Hate to be smug, but... I'm currently writing this at 2:30 which is a time that I would normally start to fade. But I'm not. ___________________ Part of the deal with the whole 30 is that they like you to think a month out and determine where the obstacles are and strategize ways around them. So I have a trip to Atlanta planned and I have made my mom aware of what we are doing. I've also let my brother know that I won't be drinking with him; one of the main ways we connect. That should be interesting. It's funny how food connects, but also masks. I guess we'll have to talk sober, or at least one half of us.It's the same deal with another family member visiting. Beer is, not exactly central, but a real connecting variable.

The Great Fifty Days

It's been a while but I have things to say in way of an update. I lost about 20 pounds doing the primal thing. Here's a link . It was really good for a couple of months and then I got kind of depressed and slacked, still doing about 50% primal but little exercise. During Lent I tried going 100% and doubling down and all that, but it just didn't take. I think that I resist drama like that, especially when it is tied to spirituality like the Lenten disciplines: if we make it spiritual then the stakes are super high, because if we fail then we have failed God in some way. Just a great way to make shame happen. I think I'll try a different tack. Why not celebrate our bodies? As I write this the Easter Vigil is one hour away. We will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It s a game changer because in part we now learn that God loves bodies enough to resurrect them. So for the Great Fifty Days I will celebrate my body, be kind to it, take measures so it can heal itself, and move it alot. 1.) Walk around, play, and move 2-5 hours a week. 2.) Lift heavy things twice each week, be pretty sore the next day. 3.) Run real fast once a week. 4.) Progressive burpees adding one a day for the great Fifty Days, doing 50 burpess at once on Pentecost 5.) Adequate sleep 6.) Stress reduction, mediation and stretching at night before bed. 7.) Really limit alcohol to very occasional red wine. 8.) Aim for 100% primal

In and out

Part of the blog will actually be a web log; a log of what I eat, my weight (which I will record about once a month, because I'm trying to get healthy and not obsess), and my physical activity. In: black coffee, sauteed kale and spinach with olive oil and butter, two soft boiled eggs with salt, lots of water, tuna with honey mustard dressing, carrot, 20 grapes, a cashew-sugar-honey cluster. Out: moderately fast walk with the wife on a glorious day (45 minutes). Other things to consider for health: stress management and prayer: I will address both with contemplative prayer daily, more on this later.

...In the beginning...

A lot happened before God began to create, but since time is a creation it's hard to conceive of what that might have been. A lot has been at work in me and around me leading up to this blog. But here's the rundown. Since becoming a priest I've put on some weight. Not a ton, I was already overweight so the priesthood is not necessarily causative. I'd like to be much healthier than I am. This blog is partially a way for me to reflect on getting healthier. But it's a lot more than that. I'd like to begin to develop a theology of the body here as well: collect resources, reflect, but most of all, to live a theology of the body. Not think about, though there will be plenty of that, but to literally embody a theology of the body. So: What does it mean to have a body, be a body, be a creation? Before we can go any further with this we have to begin to look at the Scriptures and what they say. The starting point is obviously in Genesis. The refrain of Genesis 1 is clearly that God creates and the creation is good, period. Our bodies are good. The creation is good. This will be complicated later by sin but in the beginning creation is good. I guess I could go on record in saying that it is the creation that is good, but later the thing that makes us human is what also leads us away from God. Therefore, the body, in and of itself is good, and not broken. Here is a really good podcast that takes the stance that, "humans, by default are not broken." The presenter on the podcast is not making a theological statement, he is talking about the beautiful bodies that humans have which evolution has honed into an intelligent, healthy part of the ecosystem. I think that the Bible presents the human as a beloved creation first and foremost, we have to start with the amazing lovable body. It's a very good place to start.