Monday, December 30, 2013

It's Monday!

With Christmas holidays, each day seems to be blending into the next! I need to keep reminding myself today that it's Monday. While I'm definitely in vacation mode, I had all last week off and know that I need to work on some things this week so that next week goes smoothly.

But today is also day 2 of week 1 for me. (See yesterday's post!) I realized that 6 months is 26 weeks. I'm on week 1 of accomplishing some health and fitness (and financial) goals. Where am I going with all of this? How am I going to get there? Those are questions on my mind today.

I have started journalling what I'm eating so that I have an idea of my habits right now. I don't have a clear idea of where I'm headed food-wise, although do have a rough idea of where I'm going fitness-wise. My intention had been to get on the treadmill this morning, but I have a nasty sinus headache that I've been bowing down to. I think I might just get on it anyhow, even if I just walk for 15 minutes instead of my intention to mix in some running. It'll be a start.

Let me ramble about food, then:

*I have realized that I really need to have menu plans, especially since I'm trying to change what we eat. My daughter's stomach issues have resumed and while it may be a virus, too, she appears to have hit a time to go wheat-free. With the concerns about the arsenic in rice products, it's not as simple as just substituting gluten-free (usually rice-based) products for the usual wheat ones. In any case, to go wheat/gluten-free, I can't just wing it: I need a plan, specific recipes I know I will be making, etc. This will require some research, including going back in this blog to find recipes I've tried. lol.

*When I think of my ideal food consumption, it is highly raw, but not entirely. It is soy-free, gluten-free, meat-free, dairy-free, low-grain, white sugar-free, processed food-free, high variety of fruits and vegetables. Just writing this right now, though, I live in the (at-the-moment) frozen Canadian prairies. The selection of fruits this time of year is pretty poor. I suppose I need to get a list of seasonal fruit and focus mostly on that. Frozen fruits are great for smoothies and such, too.

*I have lots of cookbooks to help me out with all this and there is a wealth of info and ideas online. Because my family is not necessarily interested in becoming vegetarian, paleo menu ideas have caught my eye.

I'm going for health here, as you can see, rather than trying to plan a diet that will make sure I lose the weight I want to lose. Although, it would be good for me to still have some broken-down goals for that, wouldn't it? Of course it would. Okay, I'll pick a "middle" number, 12 lbs, as the goal weight loss. That is just 2 lbs per month. Frankly, I might lose 3 lbs the first week just by dropping wheat. (!) I guess if I'm on or ahead of target right from the get-go, there won't be a problem with that! (Omg, am I prepared to drop wheat right away? No. I need a menu plan!)

Enough of my rambling. I am going to change into some exercise clothes, drink a glass of water and get those 15 minutes of treadmill in. Goal this week is to be able to run 1/4 km straight (0.155 miles). I think I've done that in the past, but not entirely sure. And with my treadmill, I'm not sure it will tell me something that specific so just now, I worked out how long I would have to run: I think I comfortably run at a pace of 4.4 mph on the treadmill. 0.155 miles / 4.4 mph = 2.2 minutes (2 minutes 12 seconds). Hm. I don't think I have run that long before. But that's the goal for Saturday! I will have to figure out how long I need to run if I run slower than that. Yikes, I'd better get to that treadmill ASAP! lol

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Are You Waiting Until New Year's?

New Year's is just around the corner. In 3 days, actually. A typical time for people to make resolutions (that they usually don't keep; I'm not usually cynical, but this is reality!). Me, I'm taking a different tack and focusing on the next 6 months.

What can be accomplished in 6 months? In 6 months of focus?

These are the questions on my mind today. Actually, they started yesterday as I realized that yesterday marked exactly 6 months until my brother-in-law and his family head off to Hawaii for a week. My family is hoping to go, too, so we may very well be leaving in 6 months, minus a day, as well.

Kaanapali beach on Maui. Yes, this is where we are hopefully going!
 
6 months. Hawaii. Yes, this brings to mind definite physical and health goals! Financial goals, as well.

What would I like to be free of in those 6 months? Just off the top of my head:
*the extra 10-15 lbs I think I have
*body pain: knees, neck and shoulder area
*low fitness; weak muscles, especially in the derriere ;)
*glasses; I improved my eyesight a bit some years back by following natural vision improvement techniques, so I know I can improve it even more, perhaps even to the point of not needing my glasses at all
*fears of not having enough money to go; I would love be financially free!!!

So, what does that mean I would like to accomplish in the next 6 months?
*get down to what I perceive as my ideal weight (this will require a definite change in eating habits!)
*use yoga, Pain Free, massage, tackle trigger points, tapping, Healing Codes, exercise, etc. almost daily to have a happily functioning body.
*be able to run 5 km (that just seems like the number to achieve)
*use the natural vision improvement techniques faithfully!!!
*make more than enough extra money to pay for a nice trip (Air Miles are covering our flights at least). I'll need to set a $ amount for best results

I will need to sit down and do proper SMART goals (Specific Measurable Action-Oriented Reasonable Timely) for each of those desired accomplishments and start working out short-term goals to accomplish on the way to them. And perhaps create some trackers that I can post in my house (or on my computer screen? lol) that will be in my face and remind me! Regardless, I'm starting right away. I'm not waiting until January 1st to start resolutions. Today is as good of a day as any and if I wait, I'll have that much less time to achieve what I want.


What about you? Are you waiting until New Year's to work on some goal? Change a habit? Or will you begin now?

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Recipe Time: Hash Browns

About a month or so ago, in my search for wheat-free breakfast ideas for my daughter, plus armed with the knowledge that potatoes have feel-good "stuff" in them, I decided to make hash browns. I had always used the frozen kind before, but we didn't have any, so I found a recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. (This links to a newer version; the recipe might not be entirely the same!)

It does require some preparation, but mmmmmmm, they are so good fresh, we've had them several times over the past couple of months! I used to go through maybe a bag of potatoes in an entire year, throwing many out because they had spoiled; I'm on our 2nd bag of potatoes in the past 3 months now. lol. Add to it they are vegan and gluten-free, which makes the recipe an ideal choice for this blog. :D

Hash Brown Potatoes, my way
3 medium potatoes (1 pound)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black better
3 tbsp butter or margarine (I use Becel's vegan margarine)

Their recipe calls for shredding the potatoes coarsely and making hash brown patties, essentially. What I do is dice the potatoes to have loose hash browns (I have not mastered cutting potatoes quickly, let me tell ya!). Melt the margarine in the pan, mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl, and cook on medium-low heat. It takes about 20 minutes or so once in the pan to cook. I actually make more than just 3 potatoes when I make them, so it does take a bit longer. But they come out delicious!!

After some have already been taken!

Now I'm off to see what sort of dairy-free, possibly even gluten-free, goodies I can make for Christmas. Only a week to go!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Tapping on Procrastination

John Assaraf has been focusing a bit on self-discipline today in his Facebook posts. Today is one day where I really don't feel self-disciplined and really somewhat feel that, in general, I'm not a self-disciplined person. Not in areas where I would like to grow, like food choices, getting various goals done (other than simple things like the 12 Days of Fitness Challenge I previously posted about). I was sitting here at the computer, having made a list of things this morning that I've been procrastinating and would like to get done today, and instead of working on them, I was playing Facebook games. I hadn't forgotten--I was playing games all the while feeling the stress of knowing I was procrastinating.

I decided to look up something for tapping/EFT about procrastinating. I found one I'd like to share with you. :)



A reminder that The Tapping Solution movie is only available free to watch until December 20. You can view it here.

Posting in a blog was one of the things I put on my daily checklist, so at least that's something accomplished! :)

Monday, December 16, 2013

Dealing With Grumpy Days

I'm in a grumpy mood today. When I'm super focused on what I have to do, the grumpiness leaves. I taught my class without feeling grumpy at all. But driving around, I was grumpy. Dealing now with comments made by family members, I am grumpy. There are things I would like to say that I'm not; biting my tongue because I know I'm just grumpy and while they may be unreasonable with their comments, my reaction at the moment is really just my grumpiness.

What do you do on your grumpy days? Do you just live with it? Do you figure out ways to be less grumpy?

I'm being nattered at while I sit here and type and it is not helping my grumpy level. Time to go distract myself with a task of some sort! (Cleaning often helps me.)

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Will You Join the 12 Days of Fitness Challenge?

Anybody up for a fitness challenge? I'm slow on the ball to post about it--I've already started!--but this is making the rounds on Facebook:


http://tribesports.com/blog/the-12-days-of-fitness

Check out the link to see their full 12 Days of Fitness lyrics. :D

I'm on Day 3 today. I could not hold a 2-minute wall squat yesterday (managed a minute twenty) and  it's doubtful my knees would handle today's 3-minute bridge, but I will do what I can!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

FREE Viewing of "The Tapping Solution"


I am SO excited to be able to share this with you!!

From December 10 to the 20th, everybody is invited to watch "The Tapping Solution", the documentary that got me going with tapping/EFT, for FREE.

I love this film and I think you will, too. So informative and inspiring!

This is an amazing film where you get to meet 10 people from around the country with a variety of challenges, such as PTSD, chronic back pain, fear of public speaking, Fibromyalgia, abundance blocks, weight loss, smoking, grief and more and follow their journey as they learn EFT Tapping (and you do as well).

It's incredibly powerful to watch their journey and transformation and and then dive deeper into the keys to using EFT Tapping to change your own life.

In the film you’ll discover how to release physical pain, how our emotions affect our body, how to release trauma, how our childhood is affecting us today, how to clear limiting beliefs, and much more!

Along with the participants, you'll hear commentary from experts like Jack Canfield, Cheryl Richardson, Bruce Lipton, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Bob Proctor, Joe Vitale, Carol Look, Dawson Church and many others...

You can go here to see the film now:

Enjoy!  :)





Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Day 4 of a Complaint-Free Life

Oops, I forgot to post yesterday! Regardless, today is day 4 and I've made the decision to not just have a 7-day complaint-free time but make it a lifelong habit. What use is there in complaining? I don't mean so much letting, say, a business know that they have done something incorrectly; that's providing useful information. But plain ol' complaining is just there to have you be unhappy and grumbly.

Things I've learned about myself the past few days trying not to complain:

*Games are difficult to not have the impulse to complain. Rolling the wrong thing on the die over and over, or playing Candy Crush Saga...

*Driving is a huge area I need to restrain myself with. Not my driving, but other drivers. "Why did you do that?" I'll complain to a driver in front of me who can't even hear me. Things like that.

*Computers in general. Maybe they're being slow or buggy or just not cooperating. I have a tendency to get frustrated and complainy. (Sure, it's a word.)

*People in my house. Yes, my family members. I have realized I think complaints about them more than I knew. It saddens me. But now I'm on a better, more positive path, so with awareness comes the possibility of something better.

Are you doing the "No Complaining" challenge? What have you realized? If you haven't started, why not join in now?

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Day 2 of 7 - No Complaining Allowed!

From http://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/complaining---why-it-wont-get-you-anywhere/


I was just about to say that I'm doing pretty well today with my lack of complaining, but then before I even got to typing, I was said something by someone in the house and got grumbly. Bah.

In any case, are you joining me in going complaint-free? I'm throwing in criticizing, because I feel like criticizing is just like complaining. I caught myself a few times yesterday. I think I need to have something specific to do, like say 5 things I'm grateful for, every time I catch myself. This could end up being harder than I thought!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Take the 7-Day "No Complaining Allowed" Challenge!

I've been noticing lately that I criticize and complain quite a bit. Especially while driving. It's perhaps "normal" to do, but how does it help anything? It doesn't!

Recently, I started reading


I'm quite enjoying it so far and have uncovered things from my childhood that are related to my current financial status. If you find yourself constantly reverting back to a particular financial state, despite trying to move ahead, I would highly recommend you read this book! But back to the actual point of this post: In section two, Eker goes through Wealth Files. I'm only on the first one, but in it, he puts a challenge out to have 7 days without complaining. Why? Laregly because we tend to get more of what we focus on. If we keep focusing negatively, through complaining, on things, we're just going to keep having more things to complain about! (If you aren't into believing we attract more of what we focus on, then take this on a psychological level: if we keep a complaining mentality, our minds will keep searching for things to complain about. Complaining brings us down; it's not positive. Do yourself a favour and let go of the complaining!) And it's not just complaining out loud, but complaining in your head! Seven days, he challenges people, to not even complain in their heads. He says the results have changed some people's lives dramatically.

So, I'm doing it. I'm I have not complained yet today, I don't think ;), so today is my Day 1. Join me, won't you, and work toward a complaint-free life?