A Year Without Illness

Well here it is!  It's been one year since we travelled out to California for the Western States 100 and one year since either me or my husband has had so much as a sniffle.  No annual cold, no losing my voice, no flu - no nothing!

It's estimated that 65% of marathon runners contract an upper-respiratory tract infection within two weeks following a marathon.  The many weeks of training, the travel, the stress (and ultimately the joy!) all take a toll on the body.  But because the body is a freakin' miracle, it will sustain you to the finish line and then "get sick when it can".  Between me and my husband, we ran five marathons in the past year and beat those odds every single time.  Coincidence?  Fluke?  I think not.

You might be thinking "Sick? You live in Barbados. It's not cold. There's no winter. When would you get sick anyway?" But it's not cold weather that makes you sick, it's germs from people.  This heat is like an incubator and every day thousands of tourists from around the world are touching the things that I'm touching - hand rails, bathroom doors, bar tops :)  I also work in a building with a closed ventilation system.  Our windows don't open and all of the entrances are air locked. When someone sneezes on floor 1, eventually I'm breathing it on floor 4.  Gross but true.  A few years ago I tried to quickly take off my nail polish at my desk and got a complaint about "fumes" 20 minutes later from a worker two floors below me. Like I said - gross. 

So what has changed this year?  We've been drinking green shakes with 100% consistency.  We haven't missed a single day in the last year.  I've never done ANYTHING with this much consistency!  For the first few months it was an effort and I had to tape my running schedule/calendar to the fridge at eye level and cross off the days "prison style". Now that we're addicted - no calendar required.

Sometimes I make the shakes right after a run.  Sometimes a little before I start with my clients at 11:00 a.m. Sometimes I substitute a shake for dinner and I've had a few nights 'out' that required a bedtime shake.  What could be better than slamming a green shake before bed and letting it work its detoxifying magic while I sleep off a few well-intentioned rums?   

We've used Enerprime by Impax for the most part but recently started switching up with ORAC-Energy Greens by Paradise Herbs two days per week.  I think both are fantastic and I like the variety of ingredients.  Our shakes have developed over time.  My last post about the shakes was Shake It Don't Break It.    To those ingredients I now add 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed, 2 tablespoons of hemp protein powder and 1 bunch of kale when available.  All of these extras are just me playing around and seeing how many calories and nutrients I can get into one blender.   No need to get bogged down in any specialty ingredients.  The important thing is to get those greens in!

If you feel that your immune and digestive systems aren't all they could be or if you aren't getting at least 10 servings of vegetables per day why not consider a greens powder/shake?  It can't hurt to consistently use one container of greens. Roll the dice!  If you can stay free of illness, your body is free to regenerate itself and do the other 1 million amazing things it does!

Reset the clock... I'm going for two years!