THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

after reading your post yesterday (great run, btw), i was going to ask you about eating ugali/your diet in general, and how you think that is contributing to your overall fitness and running improvements. anything specific you have added to or taken away from your diet? i like your list above -- a lot of those are my mainstays as well, especially hummus + veggies (i also eat a lot of nut butter w veggies -- ohhhmy!) i haven't tried the cabbage stew though. i will have to wait until after the marathon. :)

it seems to be working for you, and i'm glad your running is going so well right now. keep it up.

also, other than the beer, your diet is basically gluten free, right? and dairy free. is this on purpose? and is this a specific "diet" from somewhere or is this just what you have narrowed it down to based on your specific needs?

sorry for all the questions.

I'll add my questions to allie's. I've seen you make your own ugali and cabbage stew, but do you make your own hummus and sushi? I would probably live on sushi if I could afford the habit. :-)

Allie and Neasts--I just sorta fell into the diet, the sushi I have always liked and it is fairly low calorie and has protein, and it is cheap at my grocery store across the street. The ugali and cabbage stew were a Kenyan experiment, and I really liked them. The hummus, some I buy and some I make, it is super cheap to make, and I've always liked it, but just switched to dehydrated veggies to dip in it instead of pita or whatever--very portable. I still have the clif bar or a little milk every now and then to blend with a frozen banana for a shake. The beer, well, I am an insomniac with my irregular sleeping schedule, and sometimes a beer helps put me out, and now that it is hot and icky that cold beer tastes good. So anyways, that is how I fell into the diet and see no reason to change because it peeled the extra weight off and I feel great! And, interestingly, I was having a lot of stomach problems. They are gone now, no more pain, bloating, cramps, or diarrhea.

yep -- probably reducing/eliminating the gluten and lactose did the trick...makes one feel wonderful if there is any sort of intolerance there.

thanks for the answers -- and i agree, stick with it if it's working so well for you. it seems well-balanced, and you are pretty much just eating intuitively. i like that approach.

What do u put in cabbage stew? And what the heck is ugali? Guess i will google it as i feel really,stupid right now. I m pretty much an athena right now. Way to go on your diet! With everything else too. Do u think being out of bad relationship helped u? That has got to be a great stress reliever.

Getting out of the relationship was like having my family die, with the loss of my stepsons. my sons. I felt like I died too. I think maybe now I am starting to accept this new life that I cannot change, forgive myself for getting into the whole freakin mess in the first place, and learning to find joy and move forward raising my precious little girl--I am 100% sure I did the right thing for her. The cabbage stew I am making has carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, onion, garlic, curry powder, olive oil, and I add jalapeno and pepper, or whatever other veggie comes out of my Mom's garden. It is so very tasty and all ugali is, is boiled cornmeal!!

I am sure that it was like unbelievably hard. Acceptance and forgiveness is tough. But at the same time somewhat freeing? Except the,loss,of those boys,who could,have been helped by you. But it is so,nice to see your independence and freedom. Your change. :-) your daughter is a,lucky girl!

Changing diet at my houselhold takes an act of congress. So hard being beat 4 to 1. But i will try to make some small steps,toward change. Cabbage stew sounds,yummy.

One last question....what kind of sushi do u eat? Raw fish?

April, the thing that first drew me to your blog was not your general and specific awesomeness, but the way you expressed yourself on your personal sidebar. You are not afraid to say it like it is and I really admire you for it. Just thought I oughta let you know. :-)

^agreed. that is one powerful paragraph. awesome.

rock on, april.

You are awesome! I am stoked to watch you race this Summer/Fall. Your commitment and passion for whatever you do in life is just incredibly inspiring.