hey, I just found out that I am lactose intolerant... I want to stay healthy, but it's been two months and I've gotten sick 3 seperate times, plus losing some muscles already. I am in a super hard PE class, but I don't think I am all that healthy. How do I keep healthy and safe? I don't want or need to lose weight, just gain muscles. And i'm christian so don't start all that yoga stuff with me.

Uhh... yoga isn't anti-christian. Yoga isn't any religion. But anyway.

You might want to try switching to soy or rice milks, and reducing your dairy. Try walking more, or getting into running. Have more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and drink lots of water.

ok, thanks for the advice. i'll be sure to try it.
And if you recite a mantra from a buddhist culture, I'm pretty sure that qualifies as something religious. but no harm intended or done.:)

well, yoga isn't from the buddhist culture, so much as buddhism is from a yogic culture. while yoga comes out of a specific cultural context, it is actually a spiritual discipline that can be applied to any religion. For example, people of all religions pray, therefore prayer itself isn't of a certain religion, but rather a spiritual discpline that religions share. yoga practices are similar. they are largely spiritual disciplines that can be practiced by any religion.

within this, you can choose to recite mantras or not. many people choose not to, for a variety of reasons, many of which are not religious reasons. Others recite mantras and see no conflict with their own faith practice. I know christians, jews, muslims, buddhists, pagans, athiests and many others who recite vedic mantras. As a christian, i have practiced yoga for many years (and i even teach it) as a spiritual discpline.

Similarly, there are those individuals who only practice the 'hatha' yoga, which are the physical aspects of yoga--asana and pranayama. Asana refers to postures, pranayama refers to breathing techniques. These are not expressly religious, but they do help heal the body in dynamic, therapeutic movements, and also help as a meditative tool. Meditation is also a common practice to almost all religions--including christianity.

now, to unpack even more, it is likely that a person who is religious also participates in the practices of the yamas and niyamas (philosophical observances and abstintions--such as nonviolence, nonstealing, chaste behavoir, purity in thought, word, and action, greedlessness, etc). Similarly, it is likely that they pray, study scriptures, meditate, join in devotional practices (worship) and so on within their own religious structures. All of these practices (prayer, scriptural study, philosophical/behavoiral discipline, meditation, and devotional practices) are the basic yoga practices. Yoga is a system of spiritual discplines, a mechanism, that can be applied to any religion. People who are spiritual who practice Hatha Yoga often don't even realize that within their own religions, they are already practicing other 'yogic' disciplines, other spiritual disciplines that helps them interface with the divine. Yoga is a system of disciplines, outlining ways of engaging with God. Most religions use a number of these ways--yoga simply includes a physical component that heals the body and calms the mind. Union with God is the purpose of yoga, no matter which religion one practices and which religioin one wants to apply it to.

It is understandable though, that if one comes from a specific school of christianity (denomination) that they would not practice yoga because of it's origin. in fact, this school of christianity also doesn't practice birthday celebrations or most christian holidays because of their 'pagan' (roman) origins. I often feel that this makes sense, and in it's logical ends, it means that they can't participate in any martial arts except those that were expressly developed by the judeo-christian culture (which i assume would be the modern krav maga). and yet many of this particular denomination do participate in martial arts nonetheless, which is also tied to the philosophy and religions of the east--but somehow seen as a discipline separate enough that can be applied to their christian practice. A bit confusing, then, that yoga would be considered 'not christian' or something that they shouldn't practice, but wang chung kung fu is considered appropriate and acceptable as 'non-religious in origin.'

But, this digression doesn't reach to the original question. So, here is the answer that i can give you:

do you consume enough calories per day? if you're growing and working out, you need a lot of calories--between 1500 and 2000, usually closer to the greater number.

do you get enough variety in your diet? when you forgo a nutrient resource (food group), you have to make certain that uyou're getting those nutrients elsewhere--supplementation with vitamins, protien powders or the various alternative milks. also, healthy foods in general. decrease your junk foods as much as possible and make every meal count with vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole, sprouted grains.

what sort of exercise do you do? consistant exercise will help you build and maintain muscle. weight training is probably the best muscle building exercise out there, and an appropriate training schedule will help you reach various muscular and appearance goals. if you're over the age of 14, then consider weight training as an option for you. It has excellent health benefits. with this, you'll also want to do cardio and stretching techniques.

if you don't want to do that, another weight bearing exercise that is excellent is pilates. Joseph Pilates was an american man who took yoga postures and breathing techniques, the warming up, strengthening, and stretching movements of dancers, and developed movements and machines to develop strength and muscle balance in the body. For me, this is yoga completely devoid of it's origins and aspect as a spiritual discipline, with a lot of other little weird florishes tossed in. I find it to be far less joyous than yoga. but, for those who want to avoid the stigma of yoag based on their ignorance and misunderstanding, pilates is a good choice. It works, too--i've found particularly the stuff thta uses the machines (usually private lessons). The mat work is good, but not 'as good' as the work on the machines.

many people like a group setting for doing a sort of conditioning/weight training. Body pump classes are a good option. I find them utterly foolish, personally, because of the structure and history, but people apparently really love these forms of 'aerobics' classes that also have weights that are used throughout the class. If you contact a local gym, you should be able to find a body pump class in your area.

finally, another option is dance. dance is a great way to build strength and stamina while doing something that is creative and expressive. Be careful, though, because all dance comes from religious/spiritual origins. Even in the long history of ballet, it's origins in Europe begin with non-christian, pre-christian religious rites. So, if the issue is origins, then pretty much anything that one does that is creative and connects one to God--such as dancing or yoga or martial arts--has cultural origins and religious aspects.

Have fun! and worst case scenario, eat dairy.

Lactose intolerant doesn't really factor into not being healthy. Sounds like you may be missing some nutrients. Use fitday.com (it's free) and track your daily intake to see where you may be missing something. Take a multi-vitamin every day.

Begin a cardio and weight routine, possible alternating days, cardio, weights, cardio, etc. If you have a gym class on one of those days you could say that is your work out for that day.

Yoga being non-christian is a mis-nomer, but I do understand some of the extreme Christian Fundamentalists in our area feel the same way. You are of course entitled to your opinion on Yoga and whether you would enjoy or not enjoy a class. However, educationg yourself on the subject is a wonderful thing whether or not you are going to take a class. Zoebird is full of information on the subject and would be more then wiling to help quell any fears you may have on it from what you may have heard from unimformed persons.

Good-Luck!

Zoebird-
holy crud! that is so confusing to me, seeing as i practically come from a box. seriously, how the heck do you come up with this much info? also, i heard that you are supposed to stick a long peice of gauze down your throat to clean your stomach, is that true or was someone pulling my leg?

Don't ever stick things down your esophagus to your stomach. Where did you hear that? It sounds like a good way to get yourself to throw up, which is really bad.

Looking at your profile, now, I didn't realize at first that you were 13. You'll learn a lot at these boards, I'm sure. ^-^

14, just turned.
yeah, but still worried about losing muscles.
I heard it in this big book of yoga. it was gross cause they showed a pic and everything!
by the way, what does pastafarian mean?
is it some kind of play on rastafarian?
isn't rastafarian some religion?
very confused
anyways, yeah thanks

Pastafarian is a play on Rastafarian, but it's a parody religion that someone made up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastafarian

Again, it's not a serious religion. That site will explain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafarian

jeez:

there are various kriya or cleansing practices that can be done in yoga. i do not know which book you were looking at specifically, but many mention various kriyas.

many people do kriyas and many people don't do kriyas. it entirely depends upon the individual. Yoga is a HUGE system of various disciplines and practices. No one practices all of them, to my knowledge, and certain schools or groups within the yoga community prize some practices over others. It is not necessary to do practices that you feel uncomfortable with when you learn about them. It may be something you try later, but there are no requirements.

many people mistakenly believe that you have to be vegetarian to practice, for example. Yoga doesn't require that anyone be vegetarian. but, if an individual is seriously practicing yoga, eventually the question will come up for them and many people become vegetarian. many others do not. it doesn't mean that they're not practicing yoga. simply that they're not vegetarian.

jeez:
I hear ya on the yoga thing.
Based on your original post, you want to gain muscles. I suppose your hard pe class may be helping you in that arena. What about your diet? Do you think you're getting enough nutrients since you're now lactose intolerant? You may want to up your protein to increase your muscle. What have you replaced your dairy with? Any beans, etc?

Good luck to you.

zoebird:

Thank you so much for your lengthy and very informative post on yoga- I truly enjoyed it. I knew nothing at all about yoga - other than it was a series of poses that can be very hard to do! - and this was a great introduction.

elena:

when properly taught and practiced, the kriya of swallowing gauze is perfectly fine. it does not make one throw up, but it can cause a sore throat or any number of problems if improperly done. the instructions in a book are never enough to describe the process of learning from/with a teacher, and practicing with a teacher present.

there are many other kriyas too, and personally i do not practice this one. i was taught some years ago, and became rather adept at it, but it's not one of my favorites. There are others that are much easier to practice and lead to similar results.

elena:

when properly taught and practiced, the kriya of swallowing gauze is perfectly fine. it does not make one throw up, but it can cause a sore throat or any number of problems if improperly done. the instructions in a book are never enough to describe the process of learning from/with a teacher, and practicing with a teacher present.

there are many other kriyas too, and personally i do not practice this one. i was taught some years ago, and became rather adept at it, but it's not one of my favorites. There are others that are much easier to practice and lead to similar results.

That's true, I was just alarmed at the thought of someone who doesn't really know what they're doing trying it.

I am currently eating a diet of this sort:
Brkfst- carrot, red apple or toast with strawberry jam
Lnch- PBJ w/ banana and sunflower seeds
Dinn- Tomato soup, side salad, or black beans with rice and hotsauce.

I am currently eating a diet of this sort:
Brkfst- carrot, red apple or toast with strawberry jam
Lnch- PBJ w/ banana and sunflower seeds
Dinn- Tomato soup, side salad, or black beans with rice and hotsauce.

Which is not nearly enough food in a day. If you don't have enough calories, you certainly aren't going to gain muscle.

well, what should I be eating? keep in mind, i have little money.

okay, my mum just made a shopping list:

peanut butter crackers
grape capri suns
whole wheat bread
salad mix

what else should I put on the list? she's going shopping in an hour, so hurry w/ your response!!!

You may want to browse here for your preferences
http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=41380&highlight=grocery+list

Thanx soo much!!!

you're welcome!