Stoked- Love People More Than Things

Monday was the first time, I think ever, that I actually enjoyed going to the grocery store.  Normally, I spend the entire time in agony because what I want to get and what I talk myself into getting because it's healthier is always in conflict.  I'll even go back and forth several times over the same thing hoping that my reasoning might come to a different conclusion, so by the end I'm stessed out and feeling really unfulfilled with what I've gotten.

However, this week was different due to all of the things I've been putting into play with this challenge.  I've made Mondays my grocery days every week and I've added a reminder to my calendar at work that reminds me 15 minutes before I leave that it's grocery day.  This has helped me keep healthier options around to snack on and I even feel like I'm spending less over all.

Food has become a thing that I can explore instead of something dull I have to pick up.  For instance, this week I brought home:

• Kiwi- they were 5 for a $1 and I've never bought them because I've been terrified of how to prepare them.
• A complete pineapple- I've never bought one of these either because I've also been terrified about how to prepare it...which, was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be.
• Beans!  I went to the bean aisle and picked up lentils, which I've never made, but I'm excited to try (recipes welcome).
• Buckwheat
• Non-dairy yogurts, which I never knew existed until this challenge and I find that to be incredibly sad.
• Gluten-free Granola from Trader Joe's that is kind of rocking my world right now with sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pecans and cranberries.
• Cilantro and Jalopeno hummus-normally I'm a more traditional hummus eater or I just got with spinach, but this one is soo spicey and wonderful
• Banana Buddies-frozen banannas covered in dark chocolate so that I get the ice creamy feel without the upset tummy later.

Doing good, right?

Today we got the e-mail for what's next on the challenge and my first thought was "oh no, what next" but I'm surprisingly pleased with what's to come!  De-junking!  My absolute favorite.  I have a very strict opinion about stuff I don't use: if I haven't used it in a few months then I don't need it.  While our house has an attic, I'm of the opinion that I don't need to store things for a long period of time nor do I ever want to move anything I don't need. So I have designated good-will boxes around the house, which currently need to be taken.

Clutter stresses me out to no end!  My vendetta against this goes back to my childhood: My mother gets overly sentimental about posessions.  She never gets rid of anything because so and so owned it or she has a fond memory of something a long time ago.  A perfect example of this are the two lava lamps currently in my foyer.  Why are they there, you ask?  Because my mother came up to see me for my birthday and for some reason she decided to bring two lava lamps that were in my bedroom when I was 12.  And now I'm stuck with giving them away.  Want one?  She also keeps furniture she admits to hating and thinks is horribly uncomfortable just because it was my Dad's mother's. She keeps every paper: ever.  However, she is organized about it, but I don't need to keep things to remember or feel them.  I'll always have the memories of that time without keeping the t-shirt.

Random junk particularly runs rampant during holidays/birthdays.  People don't know what to get you so they just grab some nice random thing.  I personally am not offended by gift cards or cash or making a donation in my name to a charity.  Just get me anything other then something useless/random/cluttering that I feel burdened with.  I still know you love me without it. <3

Ms. Crabby Cakes

 Oh Lordy, I'm so behind!  Forgive me!  I went on vacation for my birthday and I've been feeling like I've been playing catch-up since we got back.

Our trip was wonderful!  If I ever get a chance to unload my camera and edit those pictures, I'll give you a little tour of what we did.  Until then, I'll leave you my little, insanely cheesy "postcard."

As far as the challenge went I wasn't entirely on the bandwagon since it was our vacation, but I did have a lot of stress-free "me" time.  S and I tried out a lot of great mom and pop restaurants and some amazing seafood.  Because we were eating out so much, I really focused on stopping when I was full and not feeling guilty about leaving food on my plate.  I think I did really well with that exercise and I felt great for doing it.  I also went grocery shopping while we were there for in-room snacks and that helped.

Last week the challenge group eliminated gluten and I have failed, oh-so-hard, at this.  I've never, ever, ever had to think about it and it is completely out of my train of thought when I'm planning meals.  If I got diagnosed with a gluten allergy tomorrow, I don't know what I'd do.  Obviously, I would start to become more aware of it, but right now I don't even realize I've eaten it until it has already gone down the hatch. Right now, I'm just trying to be as aware as I can and if I do happen to eat gluten I'll try to notice if I feel any difference.

I don't know if it was all the seafood I ate on vacation or just having to go back to everyday life, but I've been in a crabby mood this week.  The newest part of our challenge has arrived at just the right time: positive thoughts and affirmations.  The past two days it seems like as soon as I walk in the door in the afternoon nothing goes "right" one thing after another has happened or gotten on my nerves or cause me to nit-pick.  By the time I got on the call last night I hadn't eaten since noon, I'd cleaned and had a dust reaction, I'd work myself into a migraine and we were talking about self-love and balancing multiple aspects in your life to create an even harmony.  It SO was not what I wanted to talk about.  Luckily, I was at least smart enough not to do some of the exercises during the call because I would have just said "everything about my life sucks and here's the laundry list."  That is not effective and I realize that.  Perception is half the battle, right?

Tonight the biggest blow came when one of my personal goals in life and for the challenge just exploded.  I've been working so hard to get my 1 year old dog to walk on the leash without pulling, without lunging at other dogs, and without getting super excited at anything that strikes his fancy.  I've taken him out every day this week except yesterday because it rained.  He did marvelously!  No pulling what-so-ever and he didn't care about any of the other people out walking, any smells, any other dogs or kids or bikes.  Such a proud fur-baby moment!

Tonight, on the other hand, was the complete reverse.  I took him for a warm up just down our street to work off some energy before we went to the other neighborhoods.  S joined us, which rarely happens because I'm the one with this vendetta that our dog must be a good walker.  So Bram got super excited that "daddy" was walking too and instantly started pulling.  I corrected that and he was doing ok as we left the neighborhood.  Then some middle-schoolers were walking their large-ish dog and he went crazy, I tripped, fell, ripped the only 1 of 2 pairs of jeans that still fit me, and got a 6 inch gash on my knee and busted some knuckles.

Let me tell you, I was the little piggy that cried all the way home.  I wasn't crying because I was hurt I was crying because I just want to enjoy a nice walk with my dog and he was doing so ,well, perfect!  So frustrating.

I'm not sure how I got into all that...kind of a ramble, right?  However, I'm going to be working on thinking about the positives a lot this week.  I used to be so good at that, but somewhere along the line I've gotten a bit jaded.  It really only takes my commute to work in the morning to get me frazzled.  I've been reading a lot of excerpts from Thoreau's Walden Pond the past two days, which is excellent reading to coincide with this part of the challenge.  I'm hoping that good old Thoreau will give me some insight and lift my spirits...except I really can't go build a cabin in the woods and live completely on the land...but, I'll use it as a metaphor.

The other part of the challenge is dairy, which I've got in the bag, except for cheese.  I'm lactose intolerant, but I love cheese.  I really wouldn't trust a person that doesn't like it.  :)  My vacation fully affirmed my problem with milk because I had one of the worst reactions I've ever had after eating handmade local ice-cream.  It was good, but I'm not even sure it was worth what came afterwords.

This Is What 24 Looks Like

I've been envisioning taking this picture for a while and I finally had time to myself today to get out my camera.  I miss snapping photos, but it's a hobby I haven't really gotten to play around with lately.

What I really want to point out about this picture is my teeth.  I know I haven't posted a picture of my recent invisalign adventures, but that's because I'm almost done!  Almost done, as in, I might be ordering my retainer next Monday.  Cross your fingers for me!  I'll do a big reveal post, don't you worry.

We've canceled the cable, so I fully anticipate having more time for my projects and doing more things for me, which also happens to be the next focus for my detox challenge.

 So how are you "doing you?"

It begins...

So many thoughts about this so far--gee whiz!

I started my challenge yesterday morning by packing a huge lunchbox of healthy snacks and skipping the coffee.  I had a headache all day yesterday and I couldn't figure out if it was my insane allergies or if I was having withdrawals from not having my one soy latte in the morning (I''m lactose and alcohol intolerant, by-the-by).  For the most part, I'm really not a coffee drinker.  However, today no headache, so I'm leaning more towards allergies.  Although, I wasn't as groggy this morning without the coffee, so I'm stoked about that.

Whenever I'm eating a lot more fruits and veggies I always feel like I'm a little rabbit because I'm literally eating all day!  Or it feels like that since I'm eating little bits at least every 2 hours, whereas I normally I would eat larger meals spread very far apart (4-5 hours).  It's challenging for me to eat the smaller portions because I don't feel like I'm as productive.  I feel like I'm spending most of my time fixating on food and my next little snack.  With that said, I feel a lot lighter throughout the day because I'm really only eating a little bit at a time and not gorging myself because I've gone 4-5 hours without food and I'm starving.  It takes a lot more planning, but it pays off.  Today I didn't feel like I was "starving" the entire day, which is good and I felt like I had more energy in the morning and maybe even now.

I had a big test of will-power today since there was a pizza party at work--with cookies!  Oh goodness...Normally I like when work provides food because I can get something quick and free and then I can work through lunch and leave earlier. But, I knew if I had pizza and then smuggled cookies to my office I would feel so guilty and sick that I'd get mad with myself.  So instead of perpetuating a guilt cycle, I went to Trader Joe's to pick up a salad.  Bad idea!  Normally when I go to TJ's I'm to the salad aisle and out the door.  Today, I literally noticed every cake, every cookie, every pie, every dessert--they were screaming for me!  I just kept telling myself: "I packed strawberries for lunch, I packed strawberries for lunch, I packed strawberries for lunch."  I made it out of there alive with a great blackbean salad, but that was tough.  The strawberries were delicious and I felt good about not taking home the sweets.

So far so good, but I fully anticipate the cravings for sugar to get stronger as the week goes on with a slight chance of headaches.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to tell if the headaches are from sugar withdrawals or my allergies because I have to discontinue all use of allergy medications for the next 3 days to get them out of my system before an appointment with an allergist next Monday.  Oh, I'm going to be such a hot mess, but I'm hoping to start immunization shots!  (I'm not sure why I'm so freakishly happy about that, but I am.)

Alright, off to go wash the dog.  He's barking up a storm in the backyard (and probably annoying the who-hey out of the neighbors).  I really hate when Mr. Boyfriend leaves him in the yard after lunch because there's nothing but mud for me to clean when I get home and that's just what I want after a long day at work.  Got to love those furr-babies...

How is everyone else doing?  Any cooking adventures this early in?

First Order of Business

I'm so excited to share a new program with you, that I've been asked to participate in and then blog about the experience!

It's a 28 Day "Detox" challenge that's being guided by Paige at Healthy Spirit Wellness.  I know Paige through a co-worker and all-around-lovely person, Emily, who owns Healthy Spirit Wellness and writes a wonderful, all natural food blog called Kisses for Breakfast.

Admittedly, I was instantly on my guard when I read the word "detox."  The trendy idea of drinking liquids and running to the loo every 10 seconds is not appealing to me, although I'm sure my bladder would enjoy the company.  I'm also very skeptical of anything that claims to be a quick-fix or cure-all.  I generally want to work with my filtering organs, not freak them out.  However, I know these people and they are sensible folks and I was assured it wasn't going to be like that.

So, what is it going to be like?

In 28 days you'll learn:

• How most of us are living in some kind of toxic environment, whether the toxins come from food, environment, relationships, work...and how you can discover yours.

I feel like this part of the class is going to be the most helpful for me.  I work in a fairly high-stress position--at least a position that can get me frustrated quite frequently and which keeps me at a desk most of the day--and I have a few relationships that I could cope better with since, as much as I would love to cut them out of my life, they're as close as kin can get.

• How to break away from those heavy winter foods and feel lighter and cleaner for the spring.

Looking forward to this part!  I fall prey to seasonal eating, so I'm always craving fruits and veggies come spring time.

• How to discover which foods work best for your body so you can feel better than ever this summer.

Each week is going to focus on a different type of food, (i.e. sugar, gluten) and I'm eager to see how my body reacts to giving up or limiting some things that I haven't tried before.

• How to really branch out with your cooking, but in a way that's still convenient to your lifestyle.

I'm always looking for recipes!  I'm a fatty, but I'm not a foodie.  I really don't like to cook at all, so anything that helps me learn to enjoy time in the kitchen is very valuable!  I'm also so nervous to mess up new recipes that I rarely try anything new without watching someone else make it first. 

• How to break free of cravings for sugar, caffeine, carbs, and more...and feel better because of it!

This is something I've tried to combat my whole life!  Sugar and, often by extension, carbs, are my arch-nemesis: the Lex Luthor to my Superman, the Magneto to my Professor X!  I have a feeling, from what I've observed, that Paige is full of great tips to help with this, so I'm excited for what I can learn.

• How to take what you've learned and apply it to your life after the detox period for lasting energy and happiness.

You'll receive:

• A weekly packet of recipes and food resources to support you through each phase of the cleanse.
  
• Weekly group conference calls throughout the entire detox program, where Paige Lysaght, CHC will guide you through the next phase of the challenge and offer opportunities for questions and discussion.
  
• A workbook for each group call, complete with worksheets and journaling opportunities that will help you to really dig deep and determine what's holding you back from being your healthiest, happiest self.
  
• Access to an exclusive message board for program participants where you can discuss ideas, recipes, challenges, and successes throughout the program and beyond.
  
• An official challenge t-shirt (since you'll certainly earn post-challenge bragging rights). (What wouldn't I do for a free t-shirt?  Nothing!)
  

It sounds easy enough!  It doesn't include unrealistic food expectations or jungle juice and there is going to be a community of people to share experiences with and that makes me a lot less nervous.

Paige has also generously offered 50% off the enrollment fee if you drop my name (real or blog pseudonym) in the comments section of the Detox Sign-up page.  No pressure, but the option is there if you're interested and I would be stoked to have another friend participating.

Either way, I'll definitely share the good recipes that I find and let you know how things are going: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Cheers,