The Jane Train Derailed

What happened? The answer is life. 

My father lost his 3 year fight with prostate cancer, my dog developed a brain tumor and we had to say goodbye to him, my step father in law passed away and my step grandmother passed away all in a 2 month period of time. During the same time as my father’s death I was ill but cared for my father in the hospital during his last few days.

I have suffered from allergies my whole life. However in the past few years I have begun to suffer from food allergies. In March, the week before my father went into the hospital for the last time, my digestive system became overstressed and took a turn for the worse. At the same time I contracted a virus that gave me a bacteria in my stomach that would not leave. I never knew the stomach could bloat so much and be so uncomfortable. This derailed the Jane Train for weeks that turned into months.

The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) has its own nervous system which when compromised causes many symptoms and ailments. Altogether these symptoms shut down your body making daily life a struggle and you become exhausted just trying to make it through a normal day of work. Unfortunately, blood tests don’t give you the answers you are looking for when you are suffering through this problem. In fact, 4 blood tests later and too many doctor’s appointments to remember, my doctor was stumped. His only option left was to send me to a Gastrointestinal specialist. I was too exhausted to go down this route at this time. 

I once again took the most natural route to solve my problem and began to work on an elimination diet and implemented supplements to support the stomach and digestion. It has led me down the path of very strict eating being mindful of many of the foods that irritate the digestive symptoms such as wheat, corn, soy, dairy. This is not new for me but this time I know exactly what I need to do, why I need to do it and what I will gain from this over the next few months.

I have been suffering from tension headaches for a few weeks and have just come through a few days of bad headaches. I believe it was the last few toxins leaving my body. In the past I have used acupuncture and massage to assist in ridding myself from toxins, this time I tried to manage it on my own.

What you learn from these experiences in life is to accept “limitations”. Limitations mean taking out many of the things in life you enjoy because you simply can’t do them. It means you basically put life on hold until you can get yourself back to the point where you can start it up again.

I have finally after 7 months got to the point where I can start it up again. My body has been under a great deal of stress over these past months as this is one of the ways the GI tract reacts to bacteria and sensitivities the digestive system. Stress is dreadful for the body.

Over the next few months I will share with you some of the things I am doing to get myself back on the Jane Train. I will have to make some new goals as I won’t have the right amount of time to train before the new year. What I will need to put in these next few months is hardcore training and clean eating to start to see the results I am looking for. The commitment, determination and focus needed to accomplish these results will put all those limitations well behind me.

I have begun a 6 day a week training routine, 4 days of strength training with a fat burning focus, 2 days of cardio training. With an extremely clean eating meal plan this will begin to develop into some results I will be happy to see. Tomorrows workout is hill sprints with cardio focus at the toboggan hill. We have some good fall weather to keep me feeling refreshed during my workout. I am glad to have my training buddy with me the famous Brandon Steen. He is in charge of our eating plan and makes all our meals and snacks for us. This weekend is a detox, just to get rid of those last few nasty toxins. Thankfully Brandon will take care of our detox weekend meals.

Look for some of my training routines, clean eating recipes and lots of good inspiration to come in the next few weeks.