If you haven’t been following my story, I am training for the Grand Canyon Rim2Rim hike this September 2023. This will be my 60th birthday celebration that I started planning over a year ago when I was 59.
One of my favorite places and, part of my healing journey, is the south rim of the Grand Canyon and the Bright Angel Trail.
I had started hiking here before I started my keto lifestyle journey when I still had insulin resistance, inflammation, sore knees and asthma and weighed 185lbs. Those symptoms and conditions are all gone now and my weight is a total of 100lbs down at 125lbs.
I come back yearly or every other year to hike and hang in the majesty of the Grand Canyon that steals my breath away and fills my soul and self with joy and purpose.
Here I feel abundance and peace to receive energy for my successes in life and my business as I serve and support other women for their health and weight loss goals. Here I feel my nervous system recalibrating and settling into that peace as I soar with joy & freedom like the Condors I spy as I walk the Rim. Here I thrive and become stronger every time I walk the canyon trail to Indian Garden or the Colorado river at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It is here that I visualize a sunny blue sky and gather all the energies I see and feel sending it into into my body as I breath deep in this visualization I have created on a daily basis. It is here I have grown, healed and become stronger as a hiker and a woman.
Last year I hiked the South Kaibab trail to Phantom Ranch (PR) and the Colorado river and then back up the Bright Angel trail during THE heat wave for practice. I never waivered, feared or worried hiking this trail alone. For one, you are not alone on this trail and I have traveled the main trail many times and have become stronger in body and mind over the last 8 years.
I started out on the South Kaibab trail at 5am and caught the sunrise at 5:30am at Ooh Ahh Point which was mesmerizing! Then I continued heading down towards the river, not rushing, but taking pictures and admiring the beauty I was hiking through.
The quiet of the inner canyon will steal your breath away as does the vista spread out before you with the trail in the distance and, all of a sudden, the Colorado river is there in the distance, a ribbon of glory to behold.
At PR I excitedly had two cups of cold coffee, picked up a patch for my friend Pia and ate some macadamias. But I wasn’t really hungry. I just nibbled and hydrated with lots of salt water and refilled my water bladder. I got my hat full of water and dumped I on my head as it was 100 plus degrees and this was a good practice to stay cool. But I am a desert rat and the heat wasn’t bothering me. I had no appetite for food. It was salt and electrolytes that I needed and sucked down with in my water. I am sure I had at least 10gms of salt this day.
I headed back across the Colorado river, along the sand and to the river where I soaked my white overshirt and wore it over my sports bra soaking wet. I then started up the Corkscrew trail stopping 3/4 near the top under a dapple green shade tree off the edge of the trail and ate some more salty macadamias and cheese snacks and hydrated. This felt amazing and I relaxed here and enjoyed the silence and being with myself.
I walked next to the Indian Garden and took a half hour break, refilled my water and ate my Keto Sustain energy pack. I wasn’t hungry for protein, but mct oil, salt and potassium seemed to be what I needed and as a fat burner that totally super charged me!
I then started up the 5 miles to the top, offering salt to the sluggish, heat stricken hikers I passed. But I was energized. I was strong and I was happy to be hiking on this trail. I am at home here. I got up with my fastest time in 3-1/2 hours and made it to the top by 6:30! And you know what? I was energized still and super excited to have just accomplished this 17 mile hike! I had no pain (but my big toe nails which I had forgot to trim). My legs and body were pain free, literally. My minerals had been dialed in and no leg cramps. What I had was excitement!
I stayed at the top of the trail head and watch the rim2rim hikers come in and questioned them about their time across the canyon. I was in planning mode for my rim2rim hike next year. 16 hours to walk across was the goal I have for myself with breaks. This was doable. I would leave at 4 am from the north rim and arrive by 7pm at the south rim. Check.
I continue to marvel at the strength and endurance I have created for my body and mind. I couldn’t have done this 17 mile hike so easily without the work I have done with my diet and my lifestyle. 8 plus years ago I had knee pain. This day I had none—after a 17 mile canyon hike😀. Health has become my wealth and I am so thankful that I endured endless experimentation, studying and reeducating myself as well as lifestyle change to get where I am at today. I choose my hard.
With a little over a month to go for the my first 24 mile Rim2Rim hike across the Grand Canyon, I am training each Saturday to hike 4 miles uphill to 9 thousand feet for 8 miles round trip on the Mt. Baden Powell trail near Wrightwood, CA. I am eating lots of protein, taking creatine and protein aminos to build my leg and butt muscles. While not strength training per se, I can see arm muscle definition from just at home weights. I am feeling stronger overall and my cardio is getting better each week. I am nearly ready and I am excited.
What’s interesting is what I am learning about myself. I have resilience. I am stubborn, determined and strong even when tears surface in life that can get complicated. Life is hard. Is life meant to be easy? I believe it is what we make of it. We can go through life in a negative frame of mind and not embrace challenge and forego health or we can embrace the challenges with a positive, abundant frame of mind and recreate the health of our choosing.
As women, we need to reach deep inside and find out who we are and bring ourselves home to SELF. Getting our health back on track, reducing insulin resistance, losing the inflammation and the weight that is holding us down and in pain is the goal you can set for yourself, as I have.
I hear people say how hard this hike is. It is considered strenuous. It is hard for most people just as is life for those who haven’t recovered their health. Getting stubborn, feeling determined and knowing you can recreate your health could be the place to start with an aging adventurous lifestyle. It just takes a decision as I had once embarked. A choice for health. A decision like choosing to get in shape for this milestone hike.
With gratitude and amazement, I have recovered my health and at 60, I am aging adventurously and hiking pain free. This is also what I call reverse aging and aging young. Why should we age old too fast when we can slow down the pain of inflammation and age more gracefully? It just takes action and a decision to “choose health.”
I love hiking the Grand Canyon because the challenge raises the joy in me to soaring heights like that Condor that once Buzzed me and my hiking friend Linda at Plateau Point. It gets me outside for the whole day and all the energy of the canyons is there for me to literally bath in as the energy bounces off the canyons and into me. I get natural movement and all the walking I desire with lots of moments to pause, gaze and breathe fresh air. I have quiet to hear my thoughts and contemplate for my nervous system expansion.
The sunlight is there to soak up and store into my body and my mitochondria. My circadian rhythm becomes more attuned and my energies never wane. Can you imagine getting your body and mind rebooted for such a journey? Can you imagine your body transformed to look and feel the way you can envision? To reverse age and age adventurously?
I’ve got you 🥰
I have a “New Body, New Life Reboot” 90 minute intensive that will get your started on your weight loss and health journey for transformation. It’s currently 55% off for new clients https://l.bttr.to/dxi1g
Ready for Total Transformation, join my VIP program for the ultimate transformational weight loss journey back to health. BACK to Self. Just email me back and let’s get on a discovery call. Overall, I am here to inspire you and motivate you to choose health any way you can.
Age Adventurously,
Lori Balue, A-CFHC, FDN-P
