Some observations

So, I haven't been blogging each day about my 10-Pound Shred book journey. It just seems like there isn't much to comment on: "I did the workout. It was hard. I ate this." Blah, blah, blah. If I'm bored writing it, then others are surely going to be bored reading it!

That said, today is Day 14 (because I missed a day). It is a "motivation day"--a day where he writes a little thing to help you keep motivated and you get to choose your physical activity. I had been thinking of walking from my daughter's dance studio to the library--Google Maps said 2.1 km/1.3 miles--dropping the books off, picking up the holds, then heading back and getting to the studio before the end of her lesson. But then I looked outside and wasn't too sure about the wind, fairly strong and occasionally gusting, and darkish grey clouds. While I looked up the forecast, I never really trust it too much; even then, it said the winds were milder than they actually were. I have seen it rain on days where they said there was a 30% chance of raining and I've seen it not rain on days where they said there was a 99% chance of raining. I decided to not take that chance. Walking in wind and wind gusts with the potential of rain, while carrying a bag full of books, just didn't seem that appealing anymore.

I then had the thought that I'm feeling so tired now, it's probably best. This thought lead to an observation: I had just had burritos for supper, with ground beef, wheat tortilla, lettuce and burrito sauce. I did not feel tired like that before supper. I did not have that energy drain earlier in the day when I'd had my green smoothie for lunch and continued it after lunch. Which then reminded me of a pattern I have noticed since I started this 4-week program: the days after I have had a lot of raw foods, few grains and little or no meat, I wake up feeling fine; the days after I've had lots of grains and almost no fruits and vegetables, I wake up feeling sluggish, allergies are acting up worse than on the other days... How much do I really want to test this out? Do I want to keep experiencing these highs and lows because of my neglecting to eat a lot of raw food on the previous day when it's become fairly clear that raw food makes me feel better?

This has all lead to another observation: I have had more days of lots of raw food in the past two weeks than I have ever done in a "cluster" like that before. Not only that, but I'm having days where I easily have 50% or more raw, don't think twice about it, it's not hard at all... There was one day where it was probably more like 75% raw. It has been easier to start moving more in that direction than I had previously tried to plan out or try to force myself to do. The only thing I can think that is different is that I've been inconsistently using the following affirmation:

I eat mostly raw vegan foods.

Can affirmations really work that easily? I'm starting to think so!

Another observation: My sinuses, despite allergies being a problem, have not been acting up like they did not so long ago. How can I not attribute this to my dramatically increased consumption of raw foods? Sure, I'm doing some more strenuous exercise than previously, but I've never heard of exercise improving allergies and sinus conditions. I've read many accounts of people's sinus issues clearing up after consuming more raw foods. This means, too, that I have had fewer headaches than I was having not that long ago, given most of my headaches are sinus-related.

It's so good to see and feel progress! I have no idea what the numbers will show tomorrow when I do the mid-point weigh-in and measurements, but my fitness has improved and so have my eating habits. How can I possibly be disappointed with that?

I *almost* ate the last cupcake

I almost ate the last cupcake.

But I didn't.

It wasn't a matter of will power or anything like that. In fact, this post was supposed to be "I ate the last cupcake."

But I didn't.

It happened like this:

I still had a bunch of leftover cupcakes from Tuesday (St. Valentine's Day). Nobody was eating them. Well, not entirely true: Some were eaten on Tuesday, my 4yo niece had had one each day since, the little guy I look after had one yesterday and I indulged yesterday (and regretted it), but that still left many cupcakes. Hubby and my kids aren't eating them.

So I ate one after lunch.

Or rather, 3/4 of one.

I'd eaten half of it, really paying attention to the taste and texture, and was kind of thinking, "Why am I eating this? It doesn't even taste that good." See, it wasn't homemade and made of fine ingredients. It was No Name cake mix and some sort of prepackaged frosting. Full of man-made chemicals and crud. As I threw the last 1/4 of it away, I said to my daughter, "It doesn't taste like real food." Pause. "That's cuz it's not real food." (And even just the 3/4 I did eat left me with my tell-tale headache. I don't know if it's the cupcake or the frosting. Or an ingredient common to both. Or just my body's way of saying, "Stop eating this cr*p!")

I had no temptation for the rest of the afternoon.

My 7yo niece and 11yo nephew arrived after school. I let them each have a cupcake. (And part of me inside is now going, "Why am I feeding them that junk?") That left one. Which sat there. And sat there. And sat there.

I ate supper. With the cupcake sitting there still on the table. I thought, "I guess I'll eat it. I'd hate for it to go to waste."

In half a second, through my mind went the idea of blogging about how I ate the last cupcake and why-oh-why-did-I-eat-it-when-it-didn't-taste-that-good-and-how-I-catch-myself-doing-this-eating-things-up-because-I-don't-want-them-to-go-to-waste-but-won't-it-just-be-going-to-waste-in-my-body?

Going to waste in my body. 

And for something that I didn't even really enjoy.

I looked at that thing sitting there. The poor thing: its fate was doomed. No way I was going to eat it now.

I cleaned up my supper dishes and confirmed that nobody was going to eat it. Then I picked it up. It is now in the garbage--because everybody else here has the sense to not eat it. And now I do, too.

And that's how this post, that was going to be "I ate the last cupcake", became "I *almost* ate the last cupcake."

Listen to your body!

I have in my head, after writing "Listen to your body!" the song "Listen to Your Heart" by Roxette. And it being St. Valentine's Day and all, seems like an appropriate song to have in my head. :D

In any case, I just wanted to babble a bit about the messages our bodies give us. This is one of those days where my body is either speaking loudly--or I'm just paying more attention!

I woke up this morning feeling like I was coming down with something, not hungry, eventually ate a banana. Not hungry for a while, my stomach was grumbling though, decided to drink some water and saw another banana and went, "Mmm, that would be good." Nothing else was the least bit appetizing. Not even the frozen dessert made last night.

Lunch came around. I was starting to feel hungry a bit, but nothing seemed to appeal to me. I eventually settled on making a cucumber, celery, carrot salad (I won't share what I did--it wasn't a very good sauce lol). By the time I finished it, I was actually feeling quite a bit better. I decided to try my raw frozen dessert (YUM!), looked at the clock and it was about 12:15. The whole morning was raw! Woot! :D And rather unintentionally.

I was feeling like I needed something more, so I reheated some leftover rice. Again, it was one of those things of considering multiple options and when I saw the rice, I knew that was the thing to do.

After that, since we have a close-to-expiring cake mix, I made some Valentine's cupcakes. I naturally ate a couple. And now I have a headache. I was fine all day--until I had the cupcakes.

My body is telling me something!

How often do we ignore these signs? How often do we recognize them but continue on eating what causes the problems anyhow?

Someday I'll learn. Being very aware that this headache, and the blah accompanying it, came as a result of the cupcakes is definitely making me look at the cupcakes as evil little things--at least for the rest of today. lol. I really do have to try to make some raw cupcakes sometime. But I need to find one, or adapt one, so that there aren't any almonds!

All I really want now is water. I think I'll listen. :D

What just a few days can do

I was wheat-free for most of the day yesterday. Made a dairy- and gluten-free cake with a friend, a recipe from this book:

We made the Gluten-Free Basic Vanilla Cake. I hit a couple of snags, like using vanilla rice milk instead of just plain rice milk (didn't use almond milk because my 4yo niece is allergic to nuts and was going to share the cake with us and the vanilla rice milk was the only other alternative in the house), so the resulting flavour was very vanilly. And I undercooked it. And I didn't make the chocolate sauce for it and that would have been really, really good. In any case, I was a little worried because I don't think I've ever had gluten-free cake before, and this one was vegan on top of it, but it tasted good enough for people to come back for seconds, despite the mushy, undercooked middle! lol. It will definitely be one to make again. I really want to make the chocolate gluten-free cake, but I have to find sorghum flour first. Hm.

For supper, I had wheat, so later on, when I wanted a little something, I decided to have one of my son's double chocolate muffins that were left. These are the ones that the other day I realized I could have just eaten one after another all morning and never felt really satisfied. (Did I post that? I was feeling it, even if I didn't post it.) I had a couple of bites and it did not taste like it usually does. Did 3 days this week of mostly unprocessed and wheat-free food change me that quickly? It seems to have. I LOVE those muffins, but not last night. I finished because I didn't want to waste it, not because I wanted it. Confession: I had grabbed 2 because that's how many I usually eat since they're not huge. I put one back. That is not like me. lol. I really don't even want another one now. And then I felt blah afterwards. I understand a little more now how people get started on raw, feel amazing and don't want to leave it!

I like my sweets though. lol. That muffin was just totally unsatisfying, both in taste and in the stomach, so what to do now? I know: I'll head over to Rawdorable and find some raw recipes I can make. :) Of course, there is still a little cake left over from yesterday, too. ;) (Isn't that something? I would prefer the undercooked, gluten-free vegan cake over what used to be my yummy double chocolate muffins.)

I survived!

No, I'm not the least bit melodramatic. ;)

I survived a day of wheat-free. Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast:
*bowl of grapes
*small bowl of Hemp Plus cereal (no wheat!) with almond milk

Lunch:
*rice and peas with raw baby carrots and hummus
*I was still feeling very hungry and was so tempted to go for a piece of toast or bread with peanut butter and jam, but I made a couple of eggs instead

Afternoon snack:
*craving for breads was HUGE. I even wished for rice cakes. Who wishes for rice cakes? ;)  Well, I really wanted rice cakes with peanut butter. I do like my peanut butter. :D I ended up making popcorn. That satisfied the grains craving! I also had a few raisins.

Supper:
*not feeling that hungry by the time supper came around. Made some chili; family had it with pasta and garlic bread, I just had a small bowl of chili

Evening snack:
*a banana

Let me tally it up the fruits and veggies according to Canadian serving definitions:
*fruit: grapes and banana; only 2 servings; with the raisins, 2.5
*vegetables: peas, carrots and the tomatoes in the chili: 4 servings

Not bad. If I can get back into the habit of green smoothies, I'll be sure to have enough fruits and veggies each day.

The tought part: The memory of the intensity of the cravings is sitting with me hard. It's like an addiction! Part of me wants to go for a 2nd day in a row. At the same time, I'm very aware now of how habituated I am in my grain consumption. Or addicted. :/ I have to be careful to not replace the wheat with other grains. I easily consume 8 servings of grains on an average day; even by Canadian standards, I ought to limit myself to 6. Various things I have read suggest that if you are going to include grains in your diet, that is too much.

Ideally, I'd like to end up mostly raw vegan. Wheat seems to be the most problematic of the grains in terms of health, so maybe I should just keep going with it--or rather, without it. ;)

Eek!

I used one of my forms in the Free Resources section to track what I ate yesterday. It was bad. :( The good thing about this awareness is that already today, I've had more fruit than I had yesterday. Awareness can be key!

I have grocery shopping to do later on. If I want to eat better and better each day, and guide my kids toward better and better eating, I might have to sit down and plan out specific snacks, salads and meals for the week. And then spend some time later on preparing certain things ahead of time so that I don't have the excuse, "I don't feel like prepping right now/I don't have the time to prep a healthy snack right now."

Becoming Aware

I sat down this morning at my computer, my Twitter opened from last night. Right there in the middle of my page was a post from Karen Knowler with this quote:

"...become aware of what you are eating and drinking and what is driving that choice".

It stuck out at me in part because just last night, I was at a friend's house who was talking about just that, her journey so far this year to become more aware of what she is eating and drinking. And why. Was she eating because she was hungry? Out of habit? Because she felt like it?


I've been having similar thoughts lately. I need to become more aware. I have become more aware--more aware that a great deal of the time, I am eating because I'm tired and I feel like it, not because of actual hunger.


As I've said before, I don't believe in coincidences. So many references to this at once is a clear message to me that I need to become more aware of what I eat. So, I've prepared a couple of super simple, non-fancy food trackers that I have put in the Free Resources section.


I have a tendency of just eating throughout the day, so I'm starting with the food-by-time tracker. So far this morning, I've put my breakfast in and my reasons for my selection: "because I'm resisting eating fruit." I want to start my days off with fruit, and yet here I am, starting with toast. We'll see where tracking leads me in a few days! I'm sure it will help cut down on my recent cupcake consumption. ;)