I haven’t stopped talking or thinking about Skin Cleanse: The Simple, All-Natural Program for Clear, Calm, Happy Skin since I started reading it a few weeks ago. I have long been looking to my diet to clear my skin and help me heal, but never quite like this.

While Skin Cleanse focuses on curing skin aliments with what you put in your body and on it, I took so much more than that from it.

Skin Cleanse Takeaways

Food heals.
What we eat matters. Before you ‘duh!’ me, hear me out. From the macronutrients we live off of to the micronutrients that feed our cells, each thing we eat and the things it’s made out of make a difference. We so often break down our foods into “carbs,” “fruits and vegetables,” “fats,” and “proteins,” but do we ever stop to consider how much vitamin D we are eating or what sources of folate we added to our diet today? After reading Skin Cleanse I am much more aware of the micronutrients I need and finding whole food sources to get them.

Less is more.
Whether it’s what I slather on my skin and hair or eat, less is almost always better. Simple ingredients and routines will do just as well, if not better, than the 10 step morning skin regimen.

Variety matters.
It’s so easy for me to fall into eating the same things every day. Toast or oatmeal for breakfast. Carb-rich leftovers for lunch. Rice and vegetables for dinner. The same foods rotate through my week constantly depending on the season. Same goes for skin. What works in the winter might not be what’s best in the summer.

Your body knows what it wants.
Adina Grigore really hit this point hard, and I appreciated it. Your body knows what it needs. It’s up to us to pay attention and figure it out.

Listen more closely.
Stop being in denial. It’s so easy to ignore what our bodies tell us, but if we actually take the time to listen we can take control of our health. I am a firm believer that we have the tools we need to improve our health, we just have to tap into our bodies’ feedback.

You’re in control.
From acne to lingering fatigue to frequent headaches, what’s happening to our bodies can feel completely, overwhelmingly, out of control. The frustration can be extreme, as can the feeling of helplessness. Endless trips to specialists and prodding tests often lead to fewer answers and more confusion in my experience. Every time I end up in and out of the doctor’s office I am reminded that no one knows my body like I do. While I may not be able to tell you the exact chemical reaction or cellular function of what’s happening in my body, I can certainly tell you how I feel and what seems to make it better or worse.

And that knowledge is powerful! I am so thankful every time one of my doctors tells me how I can improve my health. Whether it’s tips on things to avoid or eat or a not so subtle reminder to relax and reduce my stress, sometimes we need to be reminded that so much of our health and wellness is within our control.

Balance is key.
A clean diet is important. Enough is sleep is paramount. But making room for the things that bring you happiness and joy is vital. Skin Cleanse, while pushing me to eat better and take care of my body with better nutrition, also made me more aware of where things were out of balance in my life. Feeling guilty over eating a serving of ice cream isn’t healthy, but neither is binging on the entire pint.

Beauty products are hiding in your kitchen.
I can’t wait to dig into some of her recipes and slather myself in magical, homemade creations.

Doing it right.
Sure, there are things I hope to change, but there are also so many things I am doing right. Pat yourself on the back for eating healthy fats, getting enough sleep, and chugging water like a champ.

What I changed after reading Skin Cleanse

Wash my face with water.
I started washing my face in the morning with just water per Adina’s advice, and was surprised by how great it works. The queen of less, the constant advocate of ‘simple is better’ somehow completely forgot to think about how people washed their faces for thousands of years.

Try new foods and mix it up.
Most people would not describe me as ‘adventurous,’ but I am approaching what I eat with a greater sense of wonder and exploration. I’m looking forward to trying new foods and coming back to some of the things I’ve written off before. I also want to break my habit of always eating the same couple of things, but not at the expense of extra stress and time.

Food journal for two weeks
The word food journal makes my skin crawl, but what Adina outlines in Skin Cleanse is unlike any food journal I’ve read about before. There’s no measuring. There’s no calculating calories or serving sizes or macronutrients or grams. I tracked how I felt when I woke up and during the day. For her recommended two weeks I generally tracked the things I ate and how much water I drank. I didn’t learn anything that I didn’t already know or have a hunch about, but putting in writing “I feel nauseated after eating dairy” is powerful. It’s a lot harder to justify eating a hunk of cheese when I know that in an hour I won’t feel well. Ditto for sugar jackpots.

I’m an experiment.
I get frustrated when I try “cure” after “cure” only to end up no better or worse. Instead of treating each new thing I try as an end all, be all, I’m going to take a cue from Tim Ferriss and treat myself like a walking experiment. I’m taking out the investment I often feel that this new thing has to make it better. I’m substituting amazement and curiosity instead of pressure and desperation.

No more denial.
This has two meanings for me. The first is ignoring my body’s feedback. My food journal was a great reminder of how often I eat things that don’t really nourish my body. It also opened my eyes to how frequently I eat things that I don’t really like or that don’t make me feel very well. Second, food should certainly nourish and heal, but it should also bring joy and contentment. Denying myself a cupcake because sugar is bad for my body and feeling like I am suffering or in a constant state of want isn’t good either.

Sugar awareness.
I know, I know, sugar is the devil’s work. Our bodies respond to it like cocaine. I hear you. While I will certainly curb my intake, I am not going on an anti-sugar crusade. A treat every once in a while is part of my balanced, healthy life. Sugar after every meal or even each day, less so.

All.the.vegetables.
The more vegetables, the more micronutrients. Count me in for more. I’m on a mission to massively increase my intake. I even put some spinach in a smoothie, despite being adamant that there should be a strong divide between fruits and vegetables. I also am swapping out my go-to snack of potato chips for crunchy veggies.

More:
My minimalist skincare routine
Safe and effective mineral sunscreens
My love of face oil

When my dad pointed out months ago that it looked like my injury was going to take at least six months to heal, I crumbled a bit on the inside. How could an injury that took less than a second to happen stretch on for so long? Why couldn’t I get this to heal?

I know what you’re thinking. “But the doctors said 4-6 weeks. What happened?”

When I first hurt my ankle it was hard to tell just how much damage was done. I was so swollen that my range of motion was extremely limited and doctors couldn’t do most of the tests to figure out the extent of my sprain. I was hurried in and out of the sports doctor’s office with the golden ticket to physical therapy.

Slowly fixed with confusion, just like my ankle.

It wasn’t until I started physical therapy and my progress was like trying to chisel a new, functioning ankle out of a block of granite that we realized something wasn’t right. The more my physical therapist dug into what was going on the more problems he found.

By the time it seemed like maybe an MRI would be on the table, I opted not to. Nothing was completely torn, and it wasn’t like an MRI could heal me. Instead, I swallowed the fact that this was a severe injury that I wouldn’t instantly bounce back from and I let go of ALL healing deadlines.

This is one you take as you go.

Six Months

Half a year. All of 2016. I haven’t run since the third week of October. And I haven’t sobbed uncontrollably since my friends carried me off the basketball court listening to me babble about how I only have 14 weeks until my race. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?

Take it one day at a time. That’s what I did. There were nights I couldn’t sleep because of the pain. I got so used to saying “I can’t do that” to nearly everything because I couldn’t go up that many stairs or stand that long or walk that far or sit without my foot up.

I got used to knee-replacement patients lapping me in the physical therapy room. I’ve been around longer than some of the receptionists. My physical therapist hears about more of my life than most of my friends.

So Much Progress

But so much has changed, especially in the last month.

A video posted by Mandy Ferreira (@treading_lightly) on Apr 15, 2016 at 1:20pm PDT

Lifting
This past month has been HUGE for me (get huge, bro!). I’m lifting three days a week (ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!). I am only 20 pounds off my 1 rep max back squat and my 1RM deadlift. I finally (FINALLY) feel strong and capable.

Balance
My balance is killin’ it. When I was first able to test my balance without excruciating pain, it was abysmal. My broken body just didn’t know how to handle itself anymore, especially since so many muscles had atrophied or hid out of fear of pain and punishment. Now I’m doing crazy things on uneven surfaces. Yoga is starting to feel like it used to. I can’t wait to see how far I can take this.

Strength
My ankle is starting to feel steady, strong even. I have been doing exercises for six months now and the progress is enormous. I’ve accepted that I will most likely be doing most of these exercises for the rest of my life. And that’s okay, especially if I don’t have pain and they keep me on my feet.

Mobility
You should have seen my face the first time I could do a full ankle circle a couple weeks ago. I looked like a baby who walked for the first time. Surprised, excited, and ready to eat shit at any moment. Priceless.

I’m still not at my normal range of motion, but I finally think that I’m going to get there. For months I thought “maybe this is it, maybe this is my life now.” But I’m holding out hope on those last few degrees and the pain that comes with them.

Running
You heard me. For the past month or so I’ve been slowly adding short “running” bursts into my walks. I started with 10 steps. 20. 30. 50. 100. 200. Now I’m able to do the first day of the Couch to 5k program which is a total of 1 minute of running 10 times with 1.5 minutes of walking between.

I’ll probably stay here for a few weeks as my body gets used to this and my ankle and feet hopefully stop being upset by it. But I’m so stoked in the meantime.

Hiking
I went for my first hike a couple weeks ago and even though I spent the whole time staring at my feet to make sure I didn’t step on anything, it was amazing! I can finally do inclines and declines without pain (for the most part) and relatively unstable ground went okay!

Jumping
This girl used to have air. Jumping has always been one of my favorite things. I know that sounds weird, but sign me up for max height box jumps and vertical jump tests – I love them! I’m finally taking my first tentative jumps into the world and it feels good. Top shelf foods, I’m coming for you.

Mental
I’ve long ago come to terms with my injury. I have no deadline in my mind. No timeline. No expectations. While six more months of this seems unlikely, I’m prepared for anything. I feel fantastic about my progress, and I’m really excited about what I can do right now. Right now is good. Tomorrow is even better.

I’ve come so far. So far.

In case you missed it:
Zero
One
Two
Three
Four
Five

I’m on a natural, veggie-full food kick right now. Plus my general obsession with all how-tos is in full force. From cutting sugar (ug, why is it so hard. I just can’t.kick.the.habit.) to being a total badass, this digital digest is a little dose of “you got this.”

Safety first!

Bike Tire Basics: How to Fix a Flat
This fantastic article/video got me home. Last weekend my bike tire took a hit and rapidly deflated. Thankfully my brother had outfitted my bike with a patch kit… but I had completely forgotten how to use it. I watched REI’s video on the side of the road and put my bike back together like a badass who knows what she’s doing (even when she very clearly doesn’t. The video didn’t say anything about not needing your helmet).

Oatmeal Superfood Breakfast Bars
I’m on a massive healthy snack quest. In an effort to increase the amount of healthy, nutritious foods I eat, I’m trying to replace the rice chips, potato chips, and every other packaged snack I eat. These granola bars are calling to me. Blueberries, pumpkin seeds, healthy fats – yes please! I’m stockpiling them all here, and if you are nice, I’ll share them with you.

Couch to 5k
I started the Couch to 5k program this week, and I couldn’t be more stoked. My mom and I started running together years ago when I was home for the summer from college. It’s less fun without company (especially someone who is just as out of shape as you), but it brings back the good ole times! I’m re-doing week one next week, who is joining me?

Try Living With Lucie

I don’t know how it happened. YouTube is a mystical place. I somehow stumbled upon these videos from Lucie Fink and I just couldn’t stop watching. My favorites are 5 Days of Minimalism and 5 Days of Zero Waste.

Ten things to toss
You know I’m a sucker for any list or advice of things to get rid of. These aren’t your usual “clothes you haven’t worn in a while” items. The daily shower, strong women, and beach bodies have my vote!

Bits by me elsewhere:

9 Surprising Reasons To Go See An Allergist
Trust me, I know a thing or two about allergies.

Can A Banana Soothe Poison Ivy Rash? We Put It + 7 Other Natural Remedies To The Test
I looked at horrific images of poison oak/ivy rashes so you don’t have to! You can thank me by clicking on the (pretty-image only) article.

11 Crafty Ways You Can Use Rosemary
This made me want to make things.

The books I read in April were inspiring. They left me feeling excited to make some changes in my life and they refueled my creative energy.

March on the other hand was a little different. It was a slow reading month for me. Life got busy and density of How to be Alive was like trying to run through water. I didn’t post anything last month because I barely finished two books. And I wasn’t jazzed up about them at the time.

March and April Reads

Let’s start with the ones I just can’t wait to tell you about.

Skin Cleanse
Well worthy of its own (upcoming) post, skin cleanse has motivated me like few other books have. And it’s not just me. I spent hours this week talking about it with friends and my family. I have made my own beauty products for a while now and I have long know about the harmful chemicals often put in cosmetics, but more than anything this book reminded me that what I eat is even more important than what I put on my skin. In an effort to heal faster and make my skin happier, I am launching a major fruit a vegetable focus after reading this book. More soon, but you should read it while you wait.

Meanwhile in San Francisco
I fell so hard for this book. I was giddy while reading it and feeling completely inspired to draw and create and explore what I’m capable of. Wendy MacNaughton spent time in the places she featured, and her immersive experience inspired me to be less afraid of talking to people and getting in there. You’ll want to pull out your water colors after this one. And explore the city a bit more.

Fates and Furies
I’m not sure this one was worth the hype. Maybe it’s that I’ve been in a bit of a non-fiction groove and this just didn’t fit in, but I didn’t love it. Overall, it was weird. I struggled to connect with the characters and their lives felt too unreal for me to get behind the stories. It was a strong “eh” for me.

How to be Alive
I was so stoked about this book for the first 50 pages. I had so many “yes!” moments. But overall it was dense. I started to feel like it was too repetitive, and I lost steam. Would I recommend it? I’m on the fence. I love the main principles and I learned some great things, but overall it was a bit of a struggle and I’m not sure I would suggest someone else do the same.

Here are some of the quotes that stood out to me the most:

“Thinking that careers and jobs are the only way to security and meaning and helping the world is another of those standard life approaches we need to move away from.”

“To not live in line with my values is the real sacrifice.”

“No one else’s path will fit your life.” Read it again. Really.

And the main purpose of the book: “Learning to trust and apply the principle of being guided by values, passions, and concerns in all manner of life decisions is the central theme of the book.”

How to Travel the World on $50 a Day
While I don’t have any plans for longterm travel right now, I really enjoyed imaging it and understanding how people make it happen. This was a helpful tool for me for planning future adventures. Worth a perusal – especially the specific sections for countries/areas you are interested in visiting.

The more I work on my computer, the more time I spend cruising the internet. It’s so easy to open 10 tabs in my five minute Pomodoro break. And then hoard them until my computer threatens to crash with every click of a mouse.

I’m working on cutting back on my over-abundant online reading. (A true media diet might need to be in order…) But in the meantime, I wanted to share with you some of the things I enjoyed this week. From new blogs I discovered (and binge read immediately), to podcast episodes, to things I’ve written in other place, there’s a little bit of everything.

Digital Digest

Choosing to Skip the Upgrade and Care for the Gadget You’ve Got
YESSSSSSS! I’m writing this on a four-year old computer after reading this article on my four-year old phone. I cried when my last computer died. The Apple store guy just didn’t get it. Love the one you’re with.

Skin Cleanse
I can’t get enough of this book. I’m only halfway through and I’m already eating better and paying more attention to how I feel. It also caused a massive cookbook binge from my local library. Must.Have.More.Vegetables.

Trash is for Tossers
This ignited a serious zero waste kick for me. I took jars to the store, guys. I bought nutritional yeast. I was that hippie. And I loved it! Fantastic blog.

Wonder Bars
I have been trying to desperately cut my sugar (and thus my inflammation), but I couldn’t kick the sweet tooth cravings. My mom made these bars years ago from an InStyle magazine, and I went in a desperate search across the desert of the internet to find them. Dark chocolate with a little healthy crunch. Wonder bars indeed.

Tim Farriss and Caroline Paul Podcast
Oh man. I’m super obsessed with Caroline and her partner Wendy MacNaughton right now. Likely a larger part of a different post soon, but in the meantime, you should listen to Tim talk to the total badass. She was in the SF Fire Department for years. She took up luging. Now she’s a gutsy writer.

Update: Forgot about the part where I said I would include links of some of my work from the week.

23 Organic Beauty Buys Under $15
I use hardly any beauty products myself, but I love to look at all of the things. I had a blast writing this one. Bonus! I discovered a great daily face sunscreen in the process (more coming soon).

8 Chic Sweatpants For Your Laziest Days
Written in sweats. Boom.

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss was one of those books that I picked up at just the right time. I started reading it while transiting to freelancing full time. The 4-Hour Workweek helped me to better understand my own values, priorities, procrastination pitfalls, bad habits, and goals. It was instrumental in helping me to decide what was important and create a new daily routine.

However, I have some problems with the main premise of the book: working for only 4 hours a week. He suggests doing this mostly by cutting out excess, delegating tasks, and relying on recurring income (like an established company or product).

This approach isn’t for me.

I will not hire a virtual assistant to handle my email or do background research for a project for me. I will not offload my work onto people in other countries who are likely poorly paid. I don’t have my own company already going with employees that I can just empower to take on more (of my) responsibility. I’m a writer and an editor, not a CEO.

One of his biggest points is building a system to replace yourself so you can travel the world and spend time doing the things you love, which is great, except for one small thing. I don’t want to to be replaced. I want to make an impact on the world and know that I contributed to making it a better place. I want to inspire change and connect with people.

The amount of people who can actually work four hours a week a support themselves are extremely limited. But that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t value in this book.

Biggest Takeaways from The 4-Hour Workweek

1. Our system of work and reward is broken in the United States.

2. Piles of money (or things or things bought with debt) should not be the metric for success.

3. Busy is bad.

4. We control our lives. We need to take control.

5. It’s not worth being unhappy for 40-50 years only to have 10-15 years (if that!) of a retirement.

6. Work is not something to suffer through.

7. Our time is poorly spent shuffling papers and going to meetings instead of getting things done and getting out of there.

What I now do differently based on The 4-Hour Workweek

1. Check my email twice a day and never on weekends. Ahh, sweet freedom.

2. Focus on only two critical tasks per day. I may fill my to-do list with 10 things I want to accomplish, but the first two have to get done first. These are usually the bigger items like completing an article, pitching a new client, or finishing my taxes. Both tasks are to be done separately from to start to finish without any interruption. I usually do them first thing in the morning and right after lunch.

3. Schedule my day at least the day before and stick to it. I have been scheduling time to write and to do the main things I need to get done. This helps me kick procrastination and feel like I have structure to my day.

4. Do not just fill time. It’s easy for me to reformat a perfectly good spreadsheet or organize files to feel like I am making progress when really I am just wasting my time. I have been using a Pomodoro timer (more on this soon) to make sure I stay on task and finish things in the time I have set aside from them. No more over-researching a story to the point where I don’t use 80 percent of the things I found and my hourly income for the project plummets (set price for the project divided by the amount of hours I work on it).

5. Give every task/ priority a deadline. Keep the deadline short to stay focused and force action instead of deliberation and procrastination.

6. Track how time is spent. Currently I only do this for projects I am working on for clients, but I would like to start doing it a few days a month to get a better idea of how exactly I spend my time and how I could improve.

7. Make nonfatal or reversible decisions quickly. I am the queen of changing my mind and deliberation. I spent an hour trying to decide between two different brands of practically the same exact product on Amazon yesterday. Such a waste of time for a $15 product. Needless to say, I have a lot of room for improvement.

Key Quotes from The 4-Hour Workweek

“Maximum income from minimal necessary effort is the primary goal.”

“At least three times per day at scheduled times ask ‘Am I being productive or just active? Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important?'”

“Stop asking for opinions and start proposing solutions.”

“Be decisive.” (I hear you Tim. I will work on this.)

Bottom Line

Read it. I learned a ton, and it was an interesting read.

5 months later and I’m starting to feel like myself again.

This past month was full of huge progress:

I went for my first “run”… at 75 percent of my bodyweight. Too bad I can’t take the AlterG with me outside.

The barbell and I are friends again. I’m squatting, deadlifting, even hang power cleaning. I missed you, my harshest friend. (On a side note, turns out not lifting for four months makes you super weak.)

After receiving permission from my physical therapist, I have been taking “jogging steps” on my walks. This means I run nearly as slow as I walk for 20 steps or so while smiling like a lunatic. Can’t stop me now!

I (finally!) go hours without thinking about my ankle. I get out of bed without fearing pain. I don’t dream about my ankle or wake up in the middle night with pain. I can sit cross-legged.

Swimming feels like it used to. I can do every stroke, kick with a kick board, and even sprint a bit. I still tape before I get in, but being able to do old workouts is huge.

Upward dog (sort of) and downward dog are back. I still have some trouble with a few poses, but armed with a blanket, I can modify most things these days. Overall, yoga feels like it used to and my ankle mobility/stability is making huge strides. Probably thanks to the brutal Warrior III.

Yesterday I hit 10,000 steps and didn’t want to cry. My ankle didn’t swell. I didn’t go to bed cursing myself.

I’m so close to running. So close. And yet realistically, probably another month until I’m running more than a quarter mile at a time. And that’s okay. I’ll be running just in time for my favorite weather. My running shorts and tank tops are ready.

February was a month of heavy hitters and potential life changers.

Still Alice
Mental illness is terrifying, especially when it is erasing your memories and your core understanding of who you are. Still Alice gives a heartbreaking inside view of what it’s like to live with Alzheimer’s. Rumor has it it’s also a movie or something.

Undecided: How to Ditch the Endless Quest for Perfect and Find the Career–and Life–That’s Right for You
My college advisor and professor wrote this book while I was her student at Santa Clara. I started reading it when it came out my junior year, but I just couldn’t get behind it. I was so sure of myself then and of what I wanted to be doing that I couldn’t connect with the characters who seemed to be so lost and so desperate for someone else to help them define their success.

I didn’t have a sudden realization of what I want to do while reading it. Instead, I got the feeling that no one knows what they want to do, ever. You just do what seems right in the moment, you take the next step just to see where it takes you. This book helped me realize that only I could decide what was right for me – nothing else matters.

Home is Burning
Due to some weird fate of the library, this book and Still Alice arrived at the same time. It was a lot to take in all at once. I had to worry that I had Alzheimer’s and some other terrifying, terminal disease simultaneously. With that said, I wanted to laugh with this book, I wanted to understand the author and his experience, but more often than not I was frustrated with him. He paints himself (and most of his family) in a pretty terrible light. Unless you like really dark humor, I wouldn’t recommend this one.

The Four Hour Workweek
This book was the last little shove I needed to fully embrace going freelance and seeing what I can make of myself on my own. I had heard about it many times before, and I always brushed it off as some sort of unattainable, unrealistic, crazy fad diet of a lifestyle. Which isn’t totally wrong, but it leaves out all of the important nuggets (like beating your email) and the things that anyone can apply to their lives without dropping everything and living in Thailand for a year (although I think I would like the weather…). This book made such a dent that it has its own post.

All the Light We Cannot See
I got so lost in this book that I couldn’t be found even when I wasn’t reading it. There were times where the whole world fell away. Hours went by without me realizing. I couldn’t pull myself out of this book.

As a general rule I avoid historical fiction. I find them tiresome and too full of romanticized “truth” for my taste. This one made me reconsider my rule. It broke my heart and made me imagine and think about so many things I wish to never entertain. But it was powerful and upsetting in the best kind of way. Human beings do horrible things to each other, but they also reach out and put everything on the line for someone else.