How I Went from Amaranth Pink to Emerald Green

I thought it would be a good idea, perhaps more for me than for any potential audience, that I start this blog.  I've started them before, but they were purposeless and, IMAO, uninteresting.  So, I finally have a vision, a reason to write, and I hope, a reason to be read.  My goal for this blog is that it would be a place where I could post what's been working for me, health-wise, in a clear, simple, and easily imitable way.

Let me start by saying that I recognize that it's now "cool" to be green.  Great.  Only, I'm not trying to be cool.  If I was, I'd stop with buying organic fruit when it was on sale, and attending the occasional yoga class.  If I was really daring, I might even own a hybrid, recycle my wine bottles, or use all energy efficient bulbs (in the rooms where lighting doesn't matter, of course).  But for me, this green thing isn't really a luxury.  It's a deep-seated moral belief, and it's a passion.  It's a lifestyle, and it's a discovery of who I really am.  I once was pink, but now I'm found...

Pink is pretty.  It's feminine, it's cute, it's sexy even.  It's not always practical, but it says, "I'm fun" and usually that's good enough.  Pink may require sacrifices, but in the end, it looks good.  Environmentally, and in terms of lifestyles, pink is the hip coffee shop that sells organic coffee in styrofoam cups.  It's the yogi who uses a mat made with PCV.  It's the suburbanite driving a suburban to recycle a week's worth of plastic.  Pink makes an effort, and that is to be applauded.   Most of the time, pink doesn't even know that there's another way.

As I said, I once was pink.  And then my elbows started bothering me.  And then my knees went.  This happened at the ripe old age of 25.  I went to the doctor; I had my blood drawn; I saw a chiropractor, a physical therapist, an orthopedic specialist; neighbors, friends, colleagues, family - they all had advice for me, but no one had any answers, so I decided to ask some different questions.  I didn't want to know what the best pain medication was.  I didn't want to hear that it would go away on its own.  I wanted to know WHY it came in the first place.  And it was that debilitating summer that led me to thinking differently about my health.

I began researching alternative ways of healing, and starting seeing an acupuncturist and practicing yoga.  That helped me greatly, as did regular prayer.  However, my biggest discovery was native nutrition or traditional diet.  It turned my pink world, filled with low-fat ice cream and whole wheat bread, on its head.  From there (and I hope to elaborate on the diet aspect in great detail in subsequent entries) a whole new world was opened up to me.  Suddenly, it wasn't about staying thin and suppressing illnesses and recycling a few newspapers.  It was about redefining health and wellness, community, and sustainability.  This whole journey has been a process, and I know I'll never arrive.  But I've learned a lot, and asked more questions than I can find answers for.  So if you're interested in the journey, read on...