Day Two - July 2, 2014

Today was a good day.   Weight - 199 (same as yesterday....I have stopped going up, YAY! I had topped out at 202 last week)

1 cup brown rice with honey and cinnamon (creature of habit here)
iced coffee with S.F. cocoa, stevia, and 1 cup rice milk
"healthy" chips, 2 helpings, no sauce or anything
3/4 c rice, 1/2 beans
1 small smoked pork rib, about 2 oz. of meat
2-3 oz. of pot roast (crock pot) with a little gravy
1/2 c carrots
1 c mixed veggies (normandy mix from Costco, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, squash)
1/2 cup quinoa (made with water and chicken broth)
1 apple

water - 48 oz
exercise - 25 minute workout on Daily Burn - enough to make me sweat + lots of housework today....on my feet a lot.

Feeling good

That's it....just, FEELING GOOD! I know the initial just-started-the-diet-and-feeling-good-about-it high won't last long, so I will enjoy it while it's around!

Day One, July 1, 2014

Today went okay, as far as food goes. 

8 oz. of coffee with sf hot chocolate powder, 1 packet stevia, 1/4 c 
      half and half, 1/2 cup 1% milk
1 1/4 cups brown rice, with 1T honey and 1tsp. cinnamon 
1/2 an avocado
1 cup (+) fresh veggies - carrots, grape tomatoes, snap peas
3/4 sweet potato with honey and cinnamon
    (honey and cinnamon are supposed to be VERY healthy and lower
       cholesterol, which I need to do)
1 bunch of grapes
3/4 cup rice with 1/2 cup beans
rotisserie chicken - 1 leg/thigh combo
1 small smoked pork rib
1/2 cup watermelon
16 oz. of water (and I'm working on a second 16 now)

Well, I realize I will have to alter my coffee drink...no more half n half, and I will make it with rice milk, to make my latte. Water will be a problem. Because I ate mostly healthy yesterday and this morning (I guess), I had to go to the restroom at work SEVERAL times today, even though I only had my usual coffee and one bottle of water which was spaced throughout the day. I can only imagine that I'm shedding water weight that I have been holding on to. But having to pee every half hour while I work as a cashier just won't do. I will have to figure out how to make it work with my schedule....maybe drink most of my water in the afternoon between work and dinner. I'll figure it out. And maybe I won't have to go so much after I have shed a few water-weight pounds.....I'm feeling good about eating healthy again, although I could have eaten more helpings of veggies. Only a few brief cravings when I passed some sweet stuff at work! 

Still there? I'm still here.

Ha! I haven't posted in almost a year, but the blog is still here, so I'm back to use it for my own personal journal, so to speak. I will be posting boring stuff, but if you want to read it, fine by me. It will truly be....what's in Annie's head. And yes, my head is a scary place, but it's all mine and I'm used to it. Here's the thing. I need to get "fitter" and quit messing around doing it for a while, then getting all unhealthy again. This yo-yo (as small a radius as it has had) must stop. So day after tomorrow, I begin again. Wish me luck, I'm gonna need some.

Talk to Me --- What's Your Favorite Song?

What is your favorite song? You know the one....it speaks to you, touches your soul, makes your spirit soar. Whether spiritual or secular (I have several of each), soft or blaring loud, fast or slow, most of us have a song that, every time we hear the beginning notes, we think, "Ahhhhh, yes! Now it's going to be a great day, because I heard THIS song." Here's one of my all-time favorites:

DUST IN THE WIND
by Kansas

I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Oh - oh - oh

Now, don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
The wind

On the surface, this song seems pessimistic, perhaps even fatalistic. But it speaks to me....deep. Some of the thoughts are even scriptural, I think. Our lives are "but a vapor," after all. I guess it says to me that "all is vanity" and don't put your trust in your money, because nothing you can buy has any lasting value, and nothing we do on this earth is going to stand the test of time. Everything comes to an end....even if it lasts a while after you're gone (like books, songs, paintings, films...). Oh, I could say a lot more on this subject, but you get my drift. And although it's a pensive, or melancholy-type song, it makes me feel great every time I hear it on the radio (of course, to me it's musically beautiful too). I'm not sure what that says about my personality (I prefer not to delve too deeply there!), that I'm a depressing person? Maybe...but I'm so thankful that God gave us music, and that I have songs to touch my heart and soul...and fit all my moods.

So, how about you? What song speaks to you deeply (brings a smile to your face or a lump to your throat), and why? What does that say about you? Talk to me.

Home Remedies and Healthy Alternatives #1

Coconut Oil--my new friend.  I am woefully and many times willfully ignorant about healthy stuff (and alternately, unhealthy stuff). I am trying to be better. I want to live a healthy, active life with my family and friends (whether it's a long one or not...that's up to the Lord). I want to be a healthy weight for me, so I can be of service to God and my family and friends and community, and so I will put less stress on my heart and joints! I want to be fit so I can play with my grandkids (which includes being able to sit on the floor with them, then get up again!!). I have been working on it, and I continue to improve.

I am committed to learning more about eating healthy and recently went on a six-week elimination diet to help me figure out some foods that don't help my body, and some new ones that do. Now, I did this same diet about a year ago (or so), and learned that soy and corn are not my friends (although not deadly for me, just some negative side affects that I want to avoid when possible....like moodiness, achy legs, sleeplessness). So this time I was going to try some different foods to isolate. All this to say, the only thing I ADDED on a daily basis this time that I didn't use last time is coconut oil. I tried a few other things, but I have been using coconut oil in place of butter every single day....on my brown rice in the mornings for a little moisture, on my sweet potato or veggies at night for the same reason, 1-2 tablespoons per day. It has been great alternative! 

But here's the kicker. I have had a tender spot on the corner of my right index finger for quite a while. I've lost count, but I'd say at least three years. It has annoyed me no end, because it seemed to come out of nowhere, just suddenly I had this weird cracked spot on the outside of my finger about where the nail and cuticle meet...you know, that spot where a little callous forms from the rub at the side of your finger. You trim it, then it's smooth, no problem. Except mine would form a bigger hard callous that would hurt, and when I would trim it, it would bleed from 3 tiny blood vessels too near the surface and ALWAYS have a split there, no matter what I did. I tried filing it, I tried deep moisturizing, I tried antibiotic ointment and a bandage on my finger. About a month after beginning to eat coconut oil I suddenly noticed that the split had completely healed and it wasn't sore any more. It's just gone....after 3 years, it's just gone. A small victory, but pretty amazing to me, since it was a constant irritant for several years.

"Wow, that's....um....interesting," you're probably saying to yourself. A healed finger. But wait, there's more! At my age, I have several small, but irritating maladies going on. Another that I have been dealing with for about 8 years is Rosacea, which is a skin condition that my family doctor once described as kind of adult acne. Having "suffered" from it for quite a while, I would say that description is not accurate, but close enough I guess. I have Googled it a couple of times, and my symptoms seem pretty common. It focuses at the center of my face, making my cheeks, chin, nose, and the middle of my forehead red, the skin gets rougher and thicker, and sometimes there are little bumps on the affected areas, like acne. Over the years mine has (very) slowly, gradually gotten worse, and I only knew a few ways to keep it at bay, not make it improve, like NOT scrubbing it with a washcloth or scrub or using hot water, which only makes it redder and irritated, and using a gentle non-soap cleaner (like Cetaphil), an enzyme peel about once a week to gently exfoliate the dry skin patches that accompany it, a gentle non-oily moisturizer in small amounts. Gentle and non-irritating is the key here, I guess you got that. Anyway, a couple of weeks after I started the coconut oil, I noticed that my skin was less red, and it was not as thick and feeling smoother. I'm not sure whether it will ever be "cured", but it has definitely improved, enough to where I don't feel the absolute necessity to cover it with make-up just to face people outside of our house! 

I emphasize the fact that I have been eating it, not rubbing it on myself. It is supposedly beneficial to put it directly on your skin too, but I feared it clogging my pores, since I have rather large ones. But that's an experiment for another day....for now, I've become a firm believer in the power of the coconut! There are actually other great benefits of this "miracle nut"....you should Google it!

Retail Manners #8

Please give the customer in front of you in line their space (and time with the cashier).  The pace of our society is too fast. Even here in this more-laid-back city, everyone seems to be in this big rush all the time. People become harried, and because of that, they become preoccupied...at least that's the reason I use to "excuse" bad or rude behavior sometimes. People are in a hurry to get where they're going, to get all the things on their lists done, to get back to work, or to get home from work because they have a list of things to do there. People become pushy and aggressive, and one way this exerts itself is to try to "push" the line forward a little by crowding the person in front of them. Back off! You're not going to get your transaction done any quicker by staring at the person ahead of you or boring a hole in the cashier with your eyes. Some crowd so closely behind the one in front that they can actually watch the person put their PIN in the card reader. That's too close. Personal space, people. I absolutely hate to feel crowded. One way I keep the hounds at bay when I'm the one in line is to keep my cart behind me once I've emptied it. At least that way I don't feel like someone is actually looking over my shoulder.

On a similar note, please wait your turn to talk to the cashier about your transaction. Just wait. It's not that difficult, just hang on to your thought about doubling your coupon, or that thing you've decided not to buy....you won't forget, honest. Just wait until the person in front of you gets their receipt and takes their bags. They deserve the cashier's undivided attention for that few minutes that its their turn, just like you do. Insisting on telling the cashier your oh-so-very-important message before they have finished with their current customer is VERY rude. You know, I like to smile at the next person in line and say "hi" while I'm scanning the first's items, but I have this habit (right or wrong)...if I can tell that the next customer is really antsy and impatient from my peripheral vision, I will purposely not make eye contact, if I can help it, until it's their turn. Sometimes it works, sometimes they'll butt in anyway, whether I've acknowledged them or not. Yes, it really bugs me. Take a chill pill, okay?