Ode To My Body

May 18, 2015May 18, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Thank you for allowing me to run as many miles as you have. They have made me realize I can endure anything both on the trail and in life.

Thank you for allowing me to try new poses in yoga. They have made me realize I am flexible, both on the mat and in my day to day routine.

Thank you for allowing me to lift heavy weights. They have made me realize I am strong, both under the bar and under pressure.

Thank you for allowing me to walk everywhere. They have made me realize I can use my own to feet to go anywhere, both in my neighborhood and with my goals.

I’m sorry for all the harsh things I have said to you over the years. You were doing the best you could in each situation and I couldn’t see that at the time.

I’m sorry for comparing you to other bodies out there. You aren’t meant to be like any other bodies and to compare made you feel unworthy of all the unique talents you have.

I’m sorry for punishing you when you did nothing wrong. It was my insecurities and skewed views that thought I should fix things that weren’t even wrong.

I’m sorry for the years of hating you and wishing you would change just to fit what I thought was perfect. I missed so much of what was good by focusing only on the bad.

I can’t say that I will always be good to you. There will probably be some times that I struggle to be kind but know that I’m working on it. I’m trying to change my stubborn ways because you deserve that.

I promise to praise you for all that you can do, encourage you to work towards what you are trying to do, and not criticize you for what you can’t do.

You’ve carried me through a lot of tough times and I promise that I will reward you for all the hard work you’ve accomplished.

Thank you.

Dance Parties, Blind Superheros, And Other Things I’m Loving

May 11, 2015May 11, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

Today’s post is gonna be short, sweet, and fun.

I spent most of yesterday at my parent’s house making food and hanging with my momma for Mother’s Day. You guys. My mom? She is the bees knees. I know everyone thinks that about their moms but it’s especially true in my case. She is the most amazing person ever and I am so lucky that I got to be her daughter. Not that I really had any choice in the matter, but you get what I mean. I hope you did something nice for your mom yesterday. I mean she did kind of give birth to you and then put up with you for 18 or so years and you probably still go over there and eat all her food so the least you could do is tell her you love her and maybe get her some flowers or something…. Ok moving on.

Here is a random list of things that are making me happy these days:

Warm weather: It’s still a bit sketchy around here temperature wise, but last week we did have some days that reached the 80’s and it was GLORIOUS. I am waiting for the day when the weatherman says “but cooler along the lakefront”, and it doesn’t mean crying while walking into a 30 mph, 40 degree northwind. Soon….

New shelves/decorations: Adam and I have been upping our apartment decor and I am loving it. We got a new kitchen table, some shelves, a new storage unit for behind our couch, new curtains, and Adam built these awesome yoga mat holders. They were really easy to put together and then I painted them with some chalkboard paint and he mounted them onto the wall. Because our apartment is small it helps to have organization and anything that we can get off the floor helps. We still have a few more things that we would like to get (new lights) but I’m quite pleased with how things are shaping up!

Plantains and tea: For the longest time I was obsessed with my Plantain Porridge. Then one day I was totally done with it. Like didn’t want to look at or eat another plantain at all. Then a few weeks ago I saw them sitting in the grocery store and I picked up a few. They sat on my counter while I thought about what to do with them. On a whim I sliced them up, covered them with a little coconut oil and put them in the waffle maker. They were SO good. Waffle makers are like one of the best appliances because you can make anything in them. I have made eggs, hash browns, sandwiches, waffles (duh), and now maduros (fried sweet plantains). Moral of the story? Make all your meals in a waffle iron. I also found a new tea I’ve been enjoying, Good Earth Tropical Rush. It’s a green tea with all these fruity flavors like mango and lemongrass and it reminds me of summer and makes me happy. Maybe if I drink a lot of it summer will get here faster….

Singing and dancing like a buffoon: This isn’t a new thing for me but I like to have afternoon concerts/dance parties in my apartment. I pretty much turn on Pandora really loud and sing and dance like nobodies business. Except for maybe my neighbors since they have to hear/possibly see me dancing through the window. But they shouldn’t complain because I sing and dance like a pro and they should be thankful for the entertainment. I mean who else is going to blast Barry Manilow’s Somewhere In The Night and dance with their cat? No one that’s who. You’re welcome judgey neighbor across the hall.

Daredevil on Netflix: If you’re not good with violence DO NOT WATCH THIS SHOW. It’s like Game Of Thrones level violence. There were some scenes that I had to close my eyes at but I am really loving this show. My dad is a huge superhero buff and all my life I have grown up watching any and every superhero movie or show and this is one of my favorites. I was a little hesitant at first because it seemed like all it was going to be was fighting porn with no storyline but that changes dramatically in the second half of the series. I think what I love most about it is that the hero and the villain both want the same thing, to improve their city, but they go about it in completely different ways. I like my heroes to have a little bit of a dark side/conflict and Daredevil definitely has that. Plus the dude is blind and kicks serious butt. If you have Netflix go watch it now.

Ok that’s enough rambling from me. What did you do this weekend? What things are making you love life right now?

Have a super Monday!

A Culture Of Shame

May 4, 2015May 4, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

Body-shaming

Fat-shaming

Food-shaming

Kid-shaming

Shame-Shaming

We are living in a culture of all kinds of shame. If there is something out there, I bet there is some form of shame attached to it. I don’t want to start your Monday off on a downer, but I feel like this is something I want to address.

Social media is a great and terrible thing.

I love being able to share my life and thoughts with you through my blog, Instagram, and Facebook. It’s an amazing way to be able to connect with people I never would have been able to before. It let’s me help you with your healthy journey by sharing my own health experiences. I can also share the funny and goofy and adorable things that go on in my life, mostly involving Olaf my cat. It’s great.

But there is a dark side to social media. The thought that is always in the back of my mind before I post something. Is this good enough? Is this relevant? Is this offensive? Is this going to open me up to criticism? I see all this shaming going on and it affects what I decide to put up or not. Because of my past struggles with self-esteem and body image issues, I’m always slightly nervous when I put a piece of me out there. The minute I hit publish or send that image or thought or post is no longer mine, it’s the world. It’s terrifying.

I wish we could live in a culture of unwavering support instead of one of shame. So many amazing and strong people are constantly bashed for the way they look or the things we do. Someone posts a before and after picture of their weight loss transform and the comments start flowing in of how they’ve lost too much weight or they looked better before or they still have a long way to go to have the perfect body. Someone tweets the dessert they enjoyed on their birthday and suddenly they’re bombarded with comments from the health nazis.

I posted this video from Blogilates creator, Cassey. If you haven’t seen it, please watch it because I believe it really shows what it’s like to put yourself out there and try to help others but be brought crashing down by all the shaming and negativity out there.

I can’t fix this problem with one post. I can draw awareness to it though, and maybe cause you to think about what you are saying to people. Is the comment you’re about to post one of support or judgement? Are you encouraging the people around you who are doing their best and accomplishing amazing things? Or are you contributing to this culture of shame?

One positive comment can do a lot to help drown out the noise of negative comments. Today offer support instead of shame and help change the way we share with the world.

My Month of No Running… A Year Later

April 20, 2015 / ktbuchs87

This past Thursday, I came back home after housesitting in Sycamore for two and a half weeks. Other than seeing my husband and my cats, I was most excited to run along the lake again. It’s an awesome experience. To one side you have the lake and the beaches, and (if you run as early as I do) the beautiful sunset. On the other side you have lake shore drive and all the early morning commuters zooming by.

It’s the perfect balance of zen and chaos. I love it.

Friday morning rolled around and I popped right out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:30 am. Yes folks, I wake up that early on weekdays. It was the perfect day for a run. Not too hot but not too cold. There was a slight breeze, not the winter gale force wind I had been experiencing for months and there was a gorgeous sunrise. It was one of those runs where you don’t even realize you’re running because everything is just perfect.

As I was blissing out over this run, I started to think back to last year. About this time last year as I was on one of my runs my left knee started to hurt. Then it started to really hurt. Then I had to stop running and walk and then sit down in the middle of a country road and wonder how I was going to get back home. It was the first time that I had a real running injury. I had gotten my share of blisters and chafing and other running maladies but I had never had a full-blown, can’t run it hurts so bad injury.

I was devastated.

Not because I was hurt or because it was really painful but because I could NOT run. I tried to trick myself and took a few days off thinking I would be fine after the weekend. Yeah, no dice. There was no way I was going to be able to keep my regular running schedule with that knee.

It was a really hard month. I was mopey and crabby and pouty. Adam should get a medal for being around me because I was not a pleasant person to be around. Running felt like the only thing that defined me as far as physical activity. I had fallen in love with running and it had helped changed me inside and out and to suddenly have it ripped away really took it’s toll on me.

It sounds dramatic, but I know other runners will feel me on this one.

But here I am a year later, running along Lake Shore Trail despite my dark moments of despair when I would cry and ask Adam if I would ever run again. That month of no running taught me a lot of things and they have stuck.

1. I am not just a runner. I have so many other things going for me

2. I don’t have to run every single day to be physically fit, in fact I shouldn’t run every single day

3. Running isn’t the only form of exercise that I enjoy. I actually like lifting heavy weights and want to lift even heavier

4. I can handle adversity, but I need to learn how to do it with a little more grace.

5. I need to be thankful every run that I can do because sometimes I can’t

Sometimes things happen in life that knock you down so that you can pick yourself up and be stronger.

I think experiencing a month of no running helped me to get to where I am right now. And where I am right now is pretty awesome. I am truly blessed to be living the life I am and I love being able to do things that I believe in and help others. I have an amazing support system and I learn new things each day. I have pushed my limits more than I thought I could and I am ready to go even further past my comfort zone. Running has given me so much but not running gave me more than I thought possible.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

The Food I Eat

April 15, 2015April 15, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I’m not a vegan, I eat eggs and honey.

I’m not paleo, I eat grains and legumes.

I’m not a raw foodist, I cook a lot of my food.

I’m Katie and I am so much more than the way I eat.

Delicious omelet at our favorite breakfast place

I think that the health world can get too caught up in labels. We all want to know what diet you’re following or what workout craze is holding your attention. We want to tout the benefits of a certain lifestyle over another. Sometimes we want to spend all our energy bashing other lifestyles that don’t fit our mold. Either way it can seem that instead of a person all we see is a label.

An entire meal of yummy vegetables

I understand the necessity of labels. I use them myself, on my blog, on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. It is helpful when sharing recipes to let people know what is or isn’t in the ingredients. But I don’t want to feel tied to a name that only describes one thing about me.

Creamy dairy free and gluten free spring pasta

Yes, I eat mostly plant-based. Yes, I don’t eat dairy. Yes, I limit the amount of gluten I eat. I do all these things because that way of eating is what works best for me. The foods I eat are what fuel me in the best way, satisfies my hunger in the best way, and tastes good to me. It’s ok to not have a specific name for the way you eat.