Blech!

So, setting new goals wasn't a great motivator, I guess.

We headed out tonight for a dinner date. We were excited to find a local burrito place that has a vegan menu. Yay!

So, I carefully ordered my vegan bean and mushroom burrito. Yum.

Then we splurged and got the special order nachos. I wanted to try the vegan chili that topped it.

It was COVERED in cheese.  And, me, the queen of "stick to the plan" did my best to dig through the cheese to find the chili so I could enjoy it.

The cheese and chili were one.

And, instead of just setting it aside, I dug in and ate until I made my belly felt sick.  I haven't felt so full in I don't know how long.

What a mistake.  Not worth the indulgence, that's for sure. An hour later, after a walk around town, I felt sick to my stomach.  Several hours later, after shopping and coming home, I'm still sick.

Tomorrow, we juice fast and I just got hold of a detox bath protocol I'm going to try out too.

I guess I need to learn my lesson somehow, right? Cheese! When will I learn??? ;)

Friday, August 23, 2013

I juiced most of my day today. 

After going out to that restaurant for dinner, I could not get over that heavy, dragging feeling. I don't know if it was the bread or oils or salt or it all together, but all my body wanted was raw food.  So, I gave it to myself in the form of juice.

By the end of the day, I was feeling more energy and much better. I juiced some things that were needing to get used up, since we were low on groceries.  Zucchini, head of romaine, lime, apples, carrots. It was drinkable.

Just a morning workout again today.  We did walk to the school this evening to watch the fireworks. Did some dancing with the little girls while we waited. That was really fun.

Tomorrow is a big day. I have a lot of food to prep in the morning and then we head down town for hay day. That will give me a decent amount of walking, at least.

In the morning I'm putting together a Brown Rice Lentil Quiche and those empanadas I've been dying to make.  I hope I am!! That's a lot to cram in before 9am. Ugh.

Reboot Juice Fast - Day 2 (again)

Today has been a little tough.  I made up my juices and got them down okay, but, well, they still taste like juice and by the time I get to the end of the jar, I'm getting pretty sick of drinking juice. ;)

I'm still in, though! I'm pushing hard to get through at least this week.

Here's what I don't get. My fingers are swelling like crazy.  They have been for weeks, to where I can't get my rings off. I don't get it. I'm drinking like crazy. When eating ETL, I'm decreasing my salt intake dramatically.  I'm losing weight.  So, why would my fingers be swelled to the point where I can't get my rings off?  The temps have cooled here so while it's still a bit humid, the air is cool.  I guess I'll need to read about that a bit.

I'm battling nausea and tiredness this evening. I felt a little better after drinking my dinner juice but now I feel gross again.  I'm going to assume I'm dealing with some detox symptoms and head to bed soon.

Today's Juice recipes (if I can remember)

Morning and Afternoon Snack
Kale
Romaine
Swiss Chard
Bok choy
Zucchini
Lemon
Green Apple
Ginger

Lunch
Beets
Grapefruit
Oranges
Collard Greens

Dinner
Beet
Collard greens
Romaine
Bok Choy
Peaches
Strawberries

For lunch we mixed up some oat and flax seed pancakes adding in some pulp from our juicing.  That made some great Pulp Pancakes that I filled with peanut butter and bananas for sandwiches for the children's lunches.

Walked up to the school to play tennis with David and the bigs for a bit and then hung with the girlies at the playground.  David and I got in a 1 mile walk this evening after the littles were in bed. It's gorgeous weather tonight. So nice to be out enjoying it even if I feel not so great.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Today's Good Things:
Water
Good choices at home
Work out after lunch

Today's Not So Good Things:
I feel AWFUL after eating out tonight

We went out with friends tonight.  We went to a burger place. Good burgers. I had a bison burger, thinking, less fat would be good. I had a whole burger and shared a sweet potato fry with David, water to drink.  Good choices, considering my options, I thought.

By the time we got home, my stomach started bothering me, big time.  I'm working in the kitchen now, getting food ready for tomorrow and I feel so nauseous, I think I'm going to be sick.  I'm not sure it's the food, but it's hard to think it isn't related.

I don't know as the bison is making me feel ill, the grease/oil from how it was prepared or just that I put way too much food in my stomach.  Ick.

I got in a good workout today on the wii again.  I've been doing more of the yoga and strength training and my body can feel it. The tops of my legs are very sore from the lunges I've been doing.  Going down the stairs right now is brutal.

David is so eager to start his juicing fast.  We need to get groceries and I need a chance to think it through and have things ready.  I know he wants to start tomorrow, but we'll be out all day and that makes for a difficult time to be starting a whole new diet plan.  I am hoping I can pull it together so we're ready to start as soon as possible for him.  Maybe after a decent night's sleep I'll be ready to take it on.

Note to self:  Order the salad.

Saturday January 26, 2013

Not a great day. Yesterday was pretty much the same, only a little less Not Great.

One puker today. My head is killing me. I am FRIED with schooling and parenting tonight. Worried we've got more sickies on the way. My energy is at an all time low.

No exercise today or yesterday. Sleep stinks. No real progress on baby's sleep habits. It's 8pm and we still have children working on school work. Just a rough week afa school goes and today wasn't any kind of break like I had hoped.

I don't forsee an early bedtime in my future, but I'm thankful that my husband will be home tomorrow so I can hopefully catch up on a bit of rest. No church, though. That's a bummer.

Up days, down days. Just do the next thing. Pray through it. Give thanks.

Saturday December, 15, 2012

Today's Good Things:
A bit of extra sleep
A few things on the list accomplished
Stacked wood with my boys
Rejoicing in the Lord's answer to prayer

Today's Not So Good Things:
Craving sugar in a big way - too much chocolate
Battling sickness

We're fighting head colds here. I am just moving so slow and feeling miserable. Baby is nursing well in spite of feeling poorly. More frequently, though, and our nights are still broken. I should have aimed for a nap today, but worked with the children on some choring and christmas gifts instead. I feel pretty good that I spent some time with them today. I'm looking forward to a restful night and day tomorrow. Praying my head feels better soon.

Best Laid Plans

Sigh. I'm always so full of good intentions. They never get me anywhere, though.  My absence here is a good indicator of the difficulties I've been having the past few weeks.

A list of health issues in chronological order since Baby Kindy arrived:

Incorrect latch/no weight gain for baby = major stress for me
Poison Ivy contracted through the bedding since I never set a foot outside. Ick. :(
Mastitis and recurring clogged ducts
Thrush in baby
Gallstones leading to an attack that landed me in the ER the night before my husband's trip away for a 3 day audit (oh, the drama)

Currently, I'm dealing with what I think is a BV infection and still struggling with yeast issues. Ick. I also have this strange sore spot in my mid-abdomen, feeling it strongly when I bend and sit. I can tell my gall bladder is still unhappy with me.

Right now, I'm struggling a bit with just trying to figure out what I can eat. The ER doc referred me to a surgeon to have my gall bladder removed, but I'm not ready for that step right now. However, as I research, I'm feeling so confused. I read so many varying opinions and advice on the correct way to eat and deal with gall stones, I'm not sure what to do. I don't believe I was eating so poorly before so as to have created this issue, but apparantly I was and still am since I'm struggling to find something reasonable to eat.

Admittedly, I've been eating poorly these last few weeks. I've developed a nasty liking for diet soda. I know *that* isn't good and had just started contemplating the negative results of daily intake of my favored Diet Dr. Pepper. I've also been joining my husband in his great love for chips. He would happily enjoy a bag of chips each day and I've been bad about sharing that with him, though not quite daily. ;)  Sigh.  These things certainly could have triggered the stones to flare up, but likely they've been there a long while.

One bright spot is that I strongly suspect that this is the cause of my sleep disturbances in recent years. I've blogged on that before.  When this attack started, I was convinced it was the same sleep issue I've battled. When it grew worse and became unbearably painful, I didn't know what to think. But, now I would not be surprised if what I've felt in the past is a minor attack.  Knowing that is certainly helpful to me. It could also tip me towards the surgery in the future if I can't find a good way to regulate what is going on in my body.

So, I continue to read and try to find some balance between the ER doc's orders of simply avoiding "fried, fatty foods" to the other end of the pendulum where I need to go vegetarian, no nuts, few beans, and pretty much eat cardboard. One irritation with this wonderful tool called "internet" is the complete frustration over having way too much information filling my head. Just wish I knew of a reliable resource that could walk me through this. In my dream world, that would be a doctor I know and trust. Sigh.

Whatever comes of it, I need to make a plan for adding in some kind of exercise and better eating. I'm hoping to get back to 50% raw food on my menu and *at least* getting in a family walk each day. We're currently working on getting into a new routine for choring and school, so I hope that as we get a groove there, I'll find a natural spot in our day to fit in some exercise.

Sorry I'm so intermittent. I'm tired, tired, tired. Longing for more sleep in my life. Longing for a body that doesn't feel like it's falling apart. Longing for some direction.  Longing for results even though I am doing nothing to bring them about. Longing for your prayers, bloggy friends. Any who are still around to offer.

Slowing Down

Our new schedule for working at the house is to meet my husband there at 4:30pm for dinner, devotions, and then we work. I love this and am so glad he's implementing this time to keep us grounded.

Last night, however, I was wiped by 7pm. Honestly, I could barely move. My arms felt heavy, my back was aching, and I was about to drop.  I felt like such a heel because all I did was vacuum rooms and take out ceiling tiles. Easy work compared to the back-breaking bending he and the bigs were doing caulking all the cracks in the wood floors to prep for painting. (it took a whole case of caulk for one bedroom. Yikes!)  Bless his heart, though. He keeps making "special" lists for me to make sure I don't have to do the hard stuff. <3

But, I have to resign myself to the fact that I am wearing out fast these days. I had one little sick yesterday, so maybe there's a bug I'm fighting that's working against me. I don't know, but I am moving so slowly it's embarrassing.

Here's a secret: I decreased my insulin last night to 9 instead of 10. I'm getting close to the end of the bottle and I don't want to have to buy another before baby comes. My fasting number was 76 this morning. That's one of my lowest. I may go down to 8 tonight and stick there. I haven't heard from my GD counselor for a month or so. Wondering if she forgot about me or what. Not that I mind. ;)

I hope you are all doing well. I'm definitely feeling my hormones swing in a big way. This week, I'm struggling with motivaiton and joyfulness. I think a big part of that is that the progress we are making on the house this week seems incremental. It's all good and will be wonderful when it's done, but the big changes are way more exciting. :)

Disconnected

Literally. 

Our internet and phone have been out for the last week. We're still in recovery mode, but the worst is over.  A few ear infections got added into the mix, but eating right, loading up on the vit. c and laying low seems to have done the trick. I think I'm the last one with some residual sore throat and tiredness still lingering.  Although, I believe the tiredness comes from my breathing issues at night that have started up again in the last 2 weeks. Lovely. 

This past week has been an intense time with my boys in particular. I've been praying a LOT. I've been reading and searching for answers. I've been putting in overtime with them physically, mentally, and emotionally. It's not been easy, but I see little glimpses of progress here and there.  Still waiting for a breakthrough of some kind, or even just some consistent movement forward. But, the Lord has been gracious is giving me direction and hope from His word.  Oh, how I need the hope. 

Afa my health otherwise, I'm doing fine. My numbers are all great. Very unexciting and I'll take it. I need to get back to some movement and exercise after the last two weeks of illness. For now, tackling laundry and housework has been my greatest feat.

I haven't caught up on the blogs and it may be awhile before I do. I hope you are all pressing on with courage, determination, and joy in your journeys. Thank you for your notes and thoughts for our family this week. :)

Sicko

That's me.  It's finally made it's rounds and I'm joining the hacking crew.  I hate this chesty congestion. But, it could be so much worse, so I guess I'll take it.

Met with the GD counselor today. Talked over meters and decided I can stick with the 10 units and hope to see my numbers stay nice and low. My fastings are good now, but not so low that it would lead us to believe I don't need the insulin at all. Especially as I am moving further into the third trimester.

Yikes.  I feel like I've been pregnant SO long this time. Yet, when I think I'm in the third trimester, it somehow seems like it's going fast now.  I'm definitely feeling like a third trimester lady.  I'm not sleeping well. Can't breathe well.  Moving slow and waddling more and more. 

I'm hoping to end the week with more rest and some more catching up on housework. At least when we get back to regular schooling next week I'll feel good about the house. 

I'd love to get into my outside walks again. With the stress we have around here, I know I need it.  I just need to DO it.  I mean, really, how bad can it get if I'm only gone for 15-20 minutes?  Gulp.

The Yeast Experiment

So, last month we decided (well, okay *I* decided and the rest of the fam grudgingly went along ;-) ) to give up yeast breads for a month.  We've battled yeasty issues forever, so I wanted to see if this would help. I'm not interested in a doing a complete yeast free diet, as that requires us to restrict our food choices to an extreme that I'm not comfortable with for our family. However, I was confident that giving up the yeast breads would be very helpful in a variety of ways, so we gave it a whirl.

I noticed some changes. First, I've battled yeast infections since I was pregnant this last time around. I didn't get it to go away completely and have dealt with itchiness off and on over the months. This past month, not at all. That's cool.

I also noticed a couple of weeks ago that my skin was looking great. I don't have major issues with my complexion, but I have breakouts every so often. I hadn't had any for quite awhile.

So, last weekend was my ds's birthday. We splurged and enjoyed yeast breads for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also, some breads that we were going to deliver to a friend weren't needed, so we ended up keeping them and eating them all this week.  It was sort of like going back our normal habits of having toast with breakfast, sandwiches a couple of times a week, rolls with dinner. Just normal for us.  Now, these are "healthy" breads. All whole grain, expensive brands that we are blessed to receive free.  So, I don't mind our family enjoying them, and they sure make life easy when I need to serve something fast and easy.

But, guess who broke out this week? Me AND my oldest dd. In fact, I've never seen her have such a breakout on her face.

Guess who's starting to notice a bit of itchiness? Me.

Guess who's NOT going to be getting more yeast breads on a regular basis?   ;-)

I'm grateful we don't have allergies or intolerances. Because of that, I don't feel the need to restrict our diet with "Nevers" and "Not Allowds".  However, I'm more than willing to keep those things that I know affect us negatively out of our regular diet.

So, Yeast Breads and Sugary Sweets...You Are Outta Here!!  We'll enjoy your company if we meet while we're out or visiting or possibly invite you again for a special occassion. But, we're just never going to be Close Friends again. :-P