Day 3--Ugh!

Oh boy...trigger-city!!  I've decided that, for as much as I love my girls, they are one of my triggers for my sugar addiction.  We all have bad days, but I'm realizing that when we have those bad days, all I want to do is eat comfort foods (ie: simple carbohydrates, chocolate, salty stuff, etc).  I'm so glad that I'm beginning to realize this so that I can start to nip it in the bud.

My choices to nip it?  Some 78% dark chocolate, a Coke Zero, and 1 1/2 cups of my soup that I made yesterday.  Surprisingly, I feel full and satisfied with no desire to run back to the kitchen for more.  I'm also drinking my water.  How much water have you had today?

I tried a new recipe for breakfast.  This morning I had an omelet of spinach, onion and 2 laughing cow cheese wedges.  It was very tasty.  I also had my Kamut Puffs.  We are having a roast chicken for dinner tonight.  I still haven't decided on sides to put with it, but I'll get that figured out before I start making dinner.

Ooh!  I just found a recipe for rolls!  Yippee!  They're just 2P+ per roll.  Here's the recipe.  I'll let you know how they turn out.  We'll probably have broccoli and a salad to round things out.

Off to make rolls!

Day 2

Well, day 2 is shaping up to be a good one.  It's now afternoon and I'm feeling a little more energy than I did yesterday.  For breakfast, I made the same scramble that I had yesterday, but this time I remembered my 'greens'.  I did throw the spinach in at the end to cook it a little since eating eggs on fresh spinach didn't exactly appeal to me.

My snack consisted of light Activia yogurt and 14g of almonds *and yes, I measured those*. 

Lunch was some lentil soup that I made.  I did prepare all of my veggies that I needed for my soup and for dinner this morning.  I figured, why not?  I was standing there at the cutting board, I might as well.

Tonight's dinner will be homemade sloppy joes.  This particular recipe doesn't come from the new cookbook, but it doesn't have too many 'sugary' items in it.  I am going to have mine on nine grain bread.  The girls can have the buns. 

I've now picked up my kitchen...again.  I've got enough soup to put in the fridge and some in the freezer.  I pulled the buns out of the freezer, set up the ingredients by the stove for tonight's dinner, and I'm having a cup of hot decaf tea because it's cold today.

As for exercise, I've taken the week off.  I'm still doing my "Mad Abs" *a new challenge I started with the gals on the 1st*, but I'm just focusing on my food this week.  I need to focus on my food.  I need to find my energy.  When you are lacking energy, it's difficult to get some of the 'easiest' things done around the house.  It's frustrating.  And yes, I know that I have 3 children home most of the day, but I want to be a better momma.

Thank you for sticking with me while I get my thoughts out.  It helps me to write things down...kind of like a journal of how I'm feeling with the subtle tweaks that I'm making.  So hang in there!  If there is something else that you'd like me to discuss, don't hesitate to ask.  I don't want to bore you with my daily stuff.

Keep on friends, keep on!

Changing things up!

I'm still struggling with being tired a lot so, I'm making an effort to switch things up just a bit. If you know anything about me or my journey, I like to tweak things from time to time. It definitely keeps my body guessing what will happen next. So while I was in PHX the other day, I went through the cookbook section. Oh yes. It's another addiction...cookbooks. On the plus side, I probably could accommodate just about anyone's particular diet plan. The title of the book is "Beat Sugar Addiction NOW! Cookbook". My thinking in buying this book is two-fold. One, I know that I have problems with carbohydrates *and I struggle to stay clear of them during that wicked time of month...about a 2 week period*, and my hubby also has a problem with sugary things. 

The neat thing about the book is that there are 4 different types of sugar addicts.  They have a little 'quiz' to see which you are.  For hubby, he turned up to be a Type I sugar addict.  I am a Type III addict.  We both flirt with the Type IV part as well *since it has parts for both men and women.*  It also includes recipes that benefit all 4 types of addicts.  There is definitely a little bit of adjusting, but I think if I can stick to it, I'll lose a few more pounds and will find my energy again.

When I went shopping yesterday, I went to our 'local' whole foods store.  I was kind of excited about going since a friend of mine shared some important information.  That info?  That they have a bulk foods section in the back of the store.  Oh.  My.  Goodness!!  It was kind of like being a kid in a candy store, but with healthy stuff.  I know.  I'm weird.  It's okay, I've always known this.  Moving on.  What they had back there was numerous types of bulk hot cereal, various types of flour, various types of granola, nuts, etc.  I walked to the checkout with:  spelt flakes, Kamut puffs *a breakfast cereal--relatively cheap and pretty tasty*, 7-grain cereal for making bread, quinoa, barley *not pearly, but hulled regular barley*, and a 70% dark chocolate bar *that's one chocolate that I can have that won't set this Type III addict into a tailspin.* 

I came right home and put groceries away while I cooked some quinoa.  I have now officially had my first serving of quinoa and it was wonderful!  It was a bit like rice, but almost has a nutty taste.  It was very good.  Even the hubby liked it.  The short people didn't get a taste of it since hubby had already fed them.

This morning, I had a serving of the Kamut puffs with my almond milk on it.  I also made a scramble that consisted of 1 egg, 3 tbsp of egg whites, 1 minced garlic clove, fresh basil, green onion, some dried oregano, and a teaspoon of olive oil.  After cooking it, I forgot to throw it on top of some salad greens.  Eh...I hope to remember tomorrow.  Lunch was tofu egg salad.  Yeah, it was good.  I'm not sure what I will be adding to dinner for protein, but we're having multi-grain pasta.

Also, it is basket week!  Oh how I love basket week!  It will definitely help in the goal of eating to control sugar.

I can't say that I feel a whole lot of energy yet, but we'll see what a week or two does for my body.  It is trial and error.  I may make one of the soup recipes that's in the cookbook tomorrow for lunch.  It includes barley.  Yum!  I'll keep you all up-to-date on how it's going.

Bah!

That's about all I have to say about that.  And today.  And stuff in general.

The old adage of feeding the __________ *you fill in the blank....cold, illness, etc* doesn't need to be true.  Nor do I think that it was ever really true.  If you have a cold or sore throat, I think you can easily remain on plan by eating soup for lunch/dinner.  I still have turkey and or chicken stock in my freezer that I can easily thaw to make a hearty soup.  I usually use a bunch of frozen veggies and voila...you've got soup.  Sometimes I throw in some dry, minced onion with a can of diced tomatoes.  This also makes for yummy goodness.

Another thing that will keep your eating in check?  Having excruciating pain in your mouth.  Yup.  That'll do it.  Every.  Time.  So yeah, I've got some wicked pain in my mouth.  And yes, I went to the dentist today.  And no, I didn't like what he said.  He gave me an antibiotic and some high powered pain meds both of which make my stomach hurt.  I'm also leaning towards the soft foods.

I'm not sure how I feel about my teeth right now.  Part of me thinks that I may still be having problems with my sugars *the prediabetes stuff*.  The other part of me thinks that it could be residual from me having hyperemesis when I was pregnant with #3 *you can read about and see what I'm talking about in regards to hyperemesis here and here.*  I also got my blood drawn today per my doctor's orders.

Hopefully I'll have some answers.  I am so over having tooth troubles, amongst other things.  I did try to exercise today, but only made it about half way through before I thought I might toss my cookies *most likely because of the aforementioned drugs.*

So, these things to say...don't stuff your face to satisfy your sickness.  It doesn't get you anywhere and can make things worse.  If you can't make your own soup, beg someone to make some for you.  If you lived closer, I'd make it for you.  Hang in there and don't give up!

Am I truly hungry?

One of the things I read about this past week was about recognizing hunger signals.  I wonder as a society if we have totally lost this ability or what the deal is.  I think I've lost that ability myself.  Truly.  I feel like I am on my kids schedule.  When they want to eat, I figure that I should eat too because, well, I'm already fixing it.  And, why make a mess twice?  I think sometimes I'm run by the clock too.  "Oh look!  It's _____ o'clock.  It's time to have breakfast."  It's also not just about feeling hunger, but it's also learning about when one feels full or satisfied.

The one typical way to sense hunger is when your stomach growls or you feel hunger pangs.  Think back through your day.  Before you sat down with a meal, had you started to feel hungry?  My other thought was, should someone who is dealing with diabetes really wait for hunger signals?  Or would that be a detriment?  So, I looked that up.  According to a website that I visited, they call this 'paying attention' to your hunger cues as "intuitive eating."  This is what they have to say about intuitive eating, "The first step in becoming an intuitive eater is to shift away from external rules about when you should eat and to learn to listen to your body’s internal cues. We were all born with the ability to know when we are physically hungry, and you can reconnect with this natural signal.

To identify your physical hunger, pay attention to signals such as an empty or gnawing feeling in your stomach, a feeling of low energy or lethargy, a headache, difficulty concentrating, irritability, or persistent thoughts of food.

Each person experiences hunger a little differently, and your job is to learn what hunger feels like to you."

They also have this to say:  "You’ll find that responding to true hunger is one way to put the pleasure back in eating; food actually tastes better when you are hungry. To ensure that you can eat what you want when you are hungry, it’s a good strategy to always carry a bag of food with you that includes a wide range of options.

If you find that you are frequently turning to food before you are physically hungry, ask yourself, “Can I wait?” Remind yourself that as soon as you are hungry, you will eat. The more you practice listening to your body’s signals and responding to them, the less you will feel the drive to eat when you’re not really hungry. However, if you continue to turn to food for emotional reasons in spite of this work, consider doing some further reading or seeking counseling to learn how to manage your feelings without reaching for food."  This article can be found on the Diabetes Self Management website.

There is also another article called "Healthy Eating: Recognizing Your Hunger Signals."  That can be found on iVillage.

With all of that said, today I've made a true effort to rediscover my hunger signals.  It is a work in progress, but I've found myself stopping several times and truly asking myself if I'm really hungry or maybe just thirsty.  Many a time, I ended up with a glass of water instead of something to eat.

Do you know when your body is hungry?  Are you stuck by the clock *maybe you have to be*?  Find some time to reconnect with your body so that you can 'remember' what your signals are.