About

I went to yoga today!

In mid-December 2017, I felt some chest and arm pains during and after exercise class. All the signs had been popping up for months: cold sweats, a weightless feeling in my arms, lightheadedness or dizziness – all while exercising. Fun beach walks would be completely shutdown when I would suddenly hit a wall and be too weak to finish the planned distance. Then in December, the symptoms were undeniable and lasted longer than two hours, so I went to the ER. After a long Wednesday-to-Monday weekend in the hospital, and tests which included a heart catheterization, the doctors explained that I had four blockages: three of 70-80% and one of 50%.

A lot has happened in the four months since, but the most amazing part is I have had no stents put in my heart and have had no surgeries. My docs are letting me work out the diet (since I’ve always been health aware anyway and my heart issues are hereditary) and I’ll go through cardiac rehab to increase the frequency and duration of my exercise. Prior to the December events, I was taking four exercise classes per week – one class was yoga. Today, I went back to yoga class for the first time! Yay! The partial return to normalcy and another piece of “life before” was exciting and made me so happy! Taking baby steps builds my confidence and removes any fears of pushing too hard or too far. I’m looking forward to feeling full strength, both mentally and physically.

With this blog, I hope to jazz up my diet (and yours) with vegan revamps of some local and regional coastal foods. Since eating strictly vegan for four months, I’ve lost 19 pounds! Weight loss isn’t my ultimate goal – strong health and interesting meals are what I want – but I’ll take it! We live 400 feet from the Atlantic Ocean and the beach, on a barrier island. Our active outdoor subtropical lifestyle, and all the fresh fruits and veggies available year-round, let me experiment with some tasty ideas!

I hope some of you will tag along while you’re working on your own journeys. I’m pretty excited about it all. Welcome!   — Lisa