Getting healthy and fit in real time, in real life…

I’ve been seeing a chiropractor few the past two weeks for neck and back pain.  I always feel much better after each session but the pain does come back.  Of course, I didn’t expect years of pain to just go away after a few sessions with a chiropractor and I know that if I want to be pain-free, I need to make some changes to my (bad) habits.

My chiropractor told me my muscles are tight everywhere – in my back, legs, arms, shoulders, jaw.  Everywhere.  Our bodies are not meant to be in one position for prolonged periods but modern life requires it, whether we sit at a desk at work all day or endure a 12-hour flight when travelling.

Taking advice from my chiropractor, here is my plan for pain relief:

• Improve posture.  When I sit, I want to slouch.  For the past two weeks, I’ve started to pay more attention to my posture and to sit up straight.  It took some time for my body to adjust but it is becoming more comfortable to sit straight.
• Stop cradling the phone between head and shoulder.  I thought I stopped doing this but a colleague caught me with my phone pinched between my head and shoulder recently.
• Stretching exercises.  For me, these include opening up my shoulders and exercises to strengthen my back muscles.

 Seems easy enough but old habits die hard.

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One of my most favored activities is to go out to eat with one of my oldest friends and find the restaurant that cooked the best steaks. I am happy to say that the quest is still not done yet as there are so many great restaurants in Vancouver, but interestingly enough our quest has changed a little. We are now making some side-trips to seafood.

I would have to say that these side-trips are thanks mostly to my friend. She is the one really introduced me to how good seafood can be. I was always reluctant to eat seafood in Canada. I grew up in Malaysia so I was no stranger to seafood, but I always found that I loved how it was cooked over there. The seafood was always mixed with many spices and other savoury sauces, so the “fishy” taste was always zested up in the most lovely way. However here, seafood is not mixed with spices and is pretty much left to stand on its own. As such, I wasn’t a big fan of it.

All of that changed when my friend introduced me to steamed mussels. To her credit, my friend had tried to introduce me to mussels many, many times, but I always turned my nose up at it as I often found it to be giving off a strange “fishy” smell. That was until we tried them at the restaurant at the Tigh-na-ma-ra spa resort in Parksville. She had ordered some mussels for herself, but I was intrigued my luscious smells coming from the plate. I finally broke down and tried some, and I felt like a whole new realm of flavours was now opened up to me. From this foray into shellfish, I began to peruse the seafood section of a menu before making a bee-line to the biggest steak on the menu.

Now I am pleased to say I am actually trying the seafood entrees that I have often wondered about. For instance, this weekend, my friend and I walked to Provence (yes, another 75 minute walk), and we both tried bouillabaisse. I am happy to say that we both enjoyed the dish and the double chocolate Khaluha cake (this time I have pics!)

And as my friend had pointed out to me about a month ago, we really should back off from the steaks. We both are getting to the age where we need to worry about our cholesterol.

So now instead of finding the best steak dish, I am now on a quest to find the best seafood in Vancouver. I am eager to try all those fish dishes that I always wondered about but was too scared to try (swordfish, sablefish, artic char etc.). And as I’m sampling all these fish dishes, I am also hoping to increase the good cholesterol and flush out the bad.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good seafood restaurants? If so, let me know!

Double Chocolate Khaluha cake

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This is the type of pillow I love.

I had a glorious long weekend, but it has taken its toll on me.  Although I spent two different days getting the blood flowing by rock climbing in Squamish, I find my neck and back are completely locked up today.  I’m struggling to stay with it this afternoon, honestly…

And you know what I think it is?  My pillow.  I forgot it at home this weekend, when I took off to Squamish, and I find that nights without my pillow are painful.

I don’t know if this type of pillow is for everyone, but it’s definitely become a necessity for my neck and back.  (The one I’m showing here is really expensive- I got a cheaper one at a local drug store, which seems like I”ll have to replace it every year or two because it starts to get too worn down…). 

Anyways, I’ve learned my lesson: long weekends are too long to not have pillow with me. (it’s like my very own version of a security blanket!)

** On the Yoga Front: I only did yoga last week once. And it looks like Thursday will be the only yoga opportunity again for me.  Thanks be for Jolene- inspiring me to get to yoga on the beach last Thursday!  It was a hot week, and my motivation was definitely lacking for doing anything.  So maybe it’s a lack of yoga combined with my missed pillow that’s got me all locked up?

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