Happy (Raw, Green) St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Since I will be spending the remainder of the day in classes, I will not have a chance to TRULY celebrate the day, the way that you're meant to... ;) SO, I decided to eat and drink only green (and RAW) things today! And I'm so proud of myself!

First, a Raw Green Smoothie, that I got from the wonderful Raw on $10 a day blog

I really enjoyed this smoothie! And it was SO easy to make! In case you didn't click on the link above, I will give you the recipe:
5oz Spinach
6 leaves of romaine lettuce
2 Bananas
1 Apple (cored)
1 cup of water

Puree in blender till smooth, then I added a few piece of ice to chill it up a bit but not TOO cold because in Chinese Medicine, your Spleen doesn't like cold foods, especially in the morning, and that helps aid in digestion.

For lunch, I made Raw on $10's green soup. Which, tasted a bit better than I thought it would but I wasn't able to eat most of it... :-\ Just wasn't for my tastebuds, but I'm eager to try a different raw soup recipe!

This required:
5oz spinach
1 avocado
1 cup water
1 garlic clove
1/4 of an onion
sea salt and pepper to taste
Puree in the blender. Simple enough! I sprinkled about half a tsp. of Spirulina in it as well and I warmed it up a bit on the stove, but didn't "cook" it. Cooking it begins to kill the natural digestive and living enzymes in the food.

And lastly, since I was still hungry from having only a few tablespoons of the green soup, I made a quick cucumber snack:
1 sliced cucumber
1 heaping tsp of olive oil
red wine vinegar, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

I don't really like cucumbers, although I LOVE pickles, so the vinegar and salt taste really appeals to me! :-D

Dinner will probably be a salad with oil and vinegar and sea weed salad from my school's cafeteria...

And that's been my day so far! Let me tell you the REAL happiness of my day though: I feel GREAT already! I took some powdered Spirulina in a glass before bed, and although I overslept this morning, I woke up feeling great and made myself the green smoothie. Then I went to the local library to get some schoolwork done, stopped off at the grocery store for some red wine vinegar. Then I came back home, made the green soup and cucumber salad and then I'll be off to Yoga class at 2:30. Normally, once I realized I had already missed a good portion of my first class, I would have went right back to bed and watched tv and done minimal school work. If this is the start of my new lifestyle, I LIKE IT!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Gorgeous weather and craving RAW!

It's a gorgeous day here in NY and it just makes me ACHE to be healthy! I wish I was fit and trim and could just go for a quick jog or a hike. Instead, I feel lethargic and fat and I'm so, SO sick of it.



I'm still determined to start on my path to going RAW. I found a great blog that tells you how to be raw for $10 a day or less. And she's giving away a great blender! I entered to win it, and that will be my sign that raw is the way to go for me. Although, I'm already pretty set on incorporating this lifestyle into my own. I've read numerous success stories and everyone just seems to healthy and vibrant AND they LOOK healthy! So many times you see people who are fit, vegan, in shape, whatever, but their skin is dull, they have bags under their eyes...just don't look like they're healthy on the inside. I think if i start to give my body NUTRIENTS instead of just CALORIES, it will start to respond better, crave less, and detoxify.

I know, I know...I'm all talk right now. I'm just on such a tight budget that I don't have room to experiment with recipes. SO, I need to find a few recipes that I think I would like, and just buy enough ingredients for that. That's do-able. Most involve spinach, apples, carrots, celergy, maybe some onion and garlic, and that's about it!

Plus, I turn 28 years old on Thursday and I'm sick of wasting my life. I've been going through the past few years hiding out from social situations because I'm embarrassed of how fat I am, or my clothes don't fit, or I just feel too lethargic. I want to start LIVING life! Don't get me wrong, I'm as fun-loving and good spirited as they come, but I can do better. I want to be adventerous and LIVE. And I was thinking, "Why is it so hard?" I want to be all these different girls I see: the skinny girl who's good at yoga, the healthy girl who eats well all the time, the fit girl who runs 5ks all the time. But why CAN'T I be? All's I have to do is just start DOING it! Today I'm the girl who ate pretzels and honey mustard for breakfast, but if I just make the switch in my mind of "Okay, you WERE the girl who ate junk but now you're the girl who eats healthy and nutritious foods" then I can be! And if I want to be good at yoga, well then I need to freaking start practicing yoga everyday! WHY DON'T I JUST DO THIS??? Well, I am. I'm picking up ingredients today and going to start by replacing ONE meal a day with raw foods. And I'll be happy with that for a few days, a week or maybe even 2. And I won't bash myself for not doing better. I'm going to love and appreciate myself for making THAT change. Then, when I'm ready, I will replace 2 meals with raw foods, or maybe one meal plus a raw snack, etc. The idea is that my body will start craving the nutrient-rich foods and not the empty calorie "diet" food and/or junk food.

I'm doing it, I'm doing it today for myself. I'm going to start off my next year of life on the right foot.

Are you living the best life you can lead?

RAW FOOD and my absence...

I've been struggling with wanting to try a raw food lifestyle for about a year now. My boyfriend had been a raw foodist for 2 years and still rants and raves about it. He did it while he lived in FL, and found it much harder to stick to here in NY because we don't have the abundance of fruit that FL has, all year round. Right now my reason/excuse is that I'm too broke to buy my own food, so I've been living off the foods my mom buys. I'll be 28 years old in 3 days, so I feel pathetic evening writing that. But that's what you get for going back to school full-time at this age! I know it'll be worth it once I graduate.

Soooooo, my boyfriend wants to go back to being at least 80% raw. Does everyone know what a raw food diet is? Basically, it's vegetable, fruit, nuts and seeds. Nothing is cooked above 110 degrees with the idea that once food is cooked, it loses it's natural digestive enzymes, and most of it's nutritional value, thus your body doesn't get the maximum amount of nutrition. Plus, it's the way we're designed to eat if you think back to almost the beginning of our existence. Stoves and microwaves didn't exist back then. We were natural grazers and ate from the fruits of the land, so to speak. Well, I'm due for a heft tax return in about a week or two, so him and I will shack up at his apartment for the weekend and jump start or raw food life. We'll buy an abundance of fruits and vegetables, and make all sorts of juices and smoothies. We'll go hiking, play tennis (weather permitting!) and hopefully that will help us both get into a healthier lifestyle. My boyfriend is naturally thin, and in shape, but suffers from digestive issues, some anxiety, etc. All of which, we believe, can be cured from eating a more natural diet. Has anyone tried the raw food diet? I did it for a week and felt absolutely amazing. I had sooo much energy! However, I was living off of watermelon, which I hate, so I eagerly jumped back into cooked foods. :( I don't think I could ever bee 100% raw, but I have to start getting closer to it. After our "weekend", I will start by replacing at least one meal with raw foods. And hopefully, your body will start craving the REAL food, over the processed cooked foods, and I'm hoping I'll slowly work my way up to about 80% raw, and about 2 raw meals a day plus 1 healthy "cooked" meal. The benefits of this diet and lifestyle are incredible. I mean, look at Demi Moore! She's a raw foodist and it's like she's not even aging! I do believe this is "the secret" to a truly healthy lifestyle.

I've been absent from this blog for a few weeks. I'd like to say it's because I didn't have my own computer (I just received a new netbook on Saturday as an early birthday gift, and I LVOE it!), but it's probably more because I've fallen off my diet, yet again, and am ashamed. I've stayed about the same weight, which is good, but I can do better. I'm soooo sick of trying and failing all the time. There's got to be an easier way. Why is eating right so difficult in this country? We really are a Fastfood Nation. It's sooo much easier to eat better in other countries. In England, for example, if you look at the ingredients of Gatorade it's: mineral water, beet juice for color, sugar, vitamin A, etc. etc. HERE, it's: water, high fructose corn syrup, red 5, yellow 3, etc. etc. It's SO HARD to stay away from chemicals and processed foods, but it IS do-able! And in my eastern nutrition class, he said Spring is the time for cleansing your body of all the heavy, fatty foods from the winter and to start to prepare your body for the light foods of summer. So I'm trying to take that, and run with it! Ugh, am I really going to spend yet another summer fat and ashamed?

I hope everyone has been doing better than I have. But I'm motivated, yet again! Also, my first soccer game is this Sunday and that is sure to kick my ass! :)

C25K

Well, today was my first day back to the gym! I also re-started the Couch to 5k Running Program. I had done it over the summer and got up to week 5 when I quit. But with soccer starting in less than a month, I NEED to start running! So, today was my first day of the program and it was quite easy even though I sweated like a pig and my face was BEET RED.... I feel so proud of myself after my workout though and I need to remember this feeling to stay motivated. My plan is to go to the gym at least 3 days a week and do Pilates and/or Yoga the other days. The running program requires 3 running days a week and with my hectic school schedule, it works out! I'd like to start running on the road though since treadmill running is much easier. But considering we just got about 4inches of snow here, it'll have to wait a week or so. :)

My breakfast wasn't so good. We have these damn pre-cooked sausages in the house that I just CANNOT stay away from! So I had 1 egg, 2 turkey sausages, 1 english muffin, 1 hash brown with organic ketchup. Humph. Lunch was a small salad and an orange and dinner will be a turkey sandwich on 1 slice of whole wheat toast (split down the middle) with a little mayo. We'll see....

I'm not drinking tonight since I have to be at a registration meeting for soccer tomorrow morning at 9am. Who the heck plans these meetings for 9am on a Saturday morning? But whatever. I'm going to the meeting in my gym clothes so I'll hopefully hit up the gym afterwards.

Today was a weigh-in day and I've stayed the same...no loss, no gain. Not surprised. I've been seriously slacking.

Part of my problem is lack of money. I go to school full time and only work part time, bringing in about $300/mo which JUST covers my bills. I've applied for a second part time job working with Au Pairs. Making sure they adjust to their "families" well. It's been a week since I've applied, plus I have a friend who recommended me since she's already an employee. I just want to know already! I NEED to start buying my own groceries.

Ever feel like things just don't go right for you? I also can't file my taxes because I'm missing a W2 form...I've contacted the job twice so far. SOOOO frustrating. Plus I need it to apple for student loans and TAP assistance which hopefully will leave me with some money leftover...I'm trying to remember The Law of Attraction and to stop focusing on what's WRONG, because then things will continue to go wrong. Instead, I need to have faith in that it will all work out and focus on how it will feel when everything is settled. :)

Tonight was supposed to be a date night with me and the bf. All we ever do is sit around and watch TV. He's very sweet and he does always offer to pay for things if we order dinner or something but he's not very creative and he NEVER suggests anything! I'm particularly poor this week so I don't have money to spend on going out to dinner or a movie, and he said "that's okay, let's do it." (meaning he'll pay) but I always say "No, I feel bad..." just being nice but then that's it. He just backs down. When really I want him to be forceful and say, "We're going out, I'm taking you to _______." I know I sound like a whiny little brat...we've been together for 2 years and he's been like this since day 1. I just want him to say, "Get dressed tonight, I'm taking you out to dinner!". Know what I mean? Every once in a while he has. Literally I can think of 3 times in the past 2 years he's done that. I haven't seen him since Monday so I'm looking forward to spending time with him but I just don't feel like laying around watching TV, yet again, on a Friday night! As I'm writing this, I hear all the "experts" advice saying "TELL the man what you want! Men can't read minds." and I know that's true but I don't want to have to tell him to WANT to take me out! And his family is this way, so that's where he gets it from. They don't see the need to spend money on dinner when they could just cook at home.

Okay, I'll stop complaining now. Hope you all have a great weekend and stay on track! I'm sure as heck gonna try! :)

The Scale Was Kind!

Soooo, I haven't really been on the wagon the past two weeks, plus I have my period (I always gain a few pounds) but I've decided to make Friday mornings my week weigh-in...so I did and Wii Fit said I only gained 1.5lbs in those two weeks! Now, I know it seems silly to be happy about a GAIN, but I was sure I gained the entire 5lbs back, PLUS I had a really heavy meal last night and I have my period and am retaining water so I'm hoping that I actually didn't gain any weight at all!

I feel motivated again and our soccer season is getting closer so I'm getting excited for that. Is it lame I want to look cute in my uniform even though I'll be surrounded by a bunch of girls??? LOL, I guess I'm thinking more about facebook pictures we may put up...

Breakfast: 1 apple with a little organic maple syrup and cinnamon

Lunch: about 1 1/2c. of whole wheat pasta and red sauce

and the rest is TBD...

I have YET to exercise though. Partly b/c of that whole gym scenario (which should be rectified by monday). I was able to let go of my anger by the way and my boyfriend and I are "fine" today. Whatever, I'm proud that I let it go and didn't turn it into a big huge argument (which I tend to do when I finally get mad). Oh, and the other EXCUSE is that our roads here in NY have snow on the sides and are still icy, so outside running is difficult. But I know I'm just making excuse after excuse, so exercise is next. GOTTA DO IT. I tend to over think things so I'm trying to think less and JUST DO IT...Thanks Nike. haha

Be well!

Men really were raised in barns...JUST BREATHE!

So, last March my boyfriend bought me a year's membership to the gym. A few months into the membership, I started getting notices of Past Due amounts. So I ask them and they say the ATM card the fees were coming from had expired and they would need the new number. So, I tell my boyfriend this....and then again....and then again until he finally changes it. All is fine and well and a few months later the same thing happens again except this time it's because he closed that account and switched banks. So I tell him, again, and again, and again...finally at the end of December (after them stopping me each time I signed in to tell me I was overdue by 3 months, which was embarrassing enough) they told me I could no longer keep going as of Jan 1st. So I told that to my boyfriend...here it is, February is flying by and I'd like to go to the gym and just renew it myself....the membership he bought me should be up the end of this month. Part of me is a people pleaser and I would just pay it myself but he makes me SOOOO MAD sometimes. The kid seriously does not have manners sometimes. Any normal guy would be mortified at this and would apologize for me having to ask over and over and over again for something that was supposed to be a GIFT! A gift I DID NOT ASK FOR, by the way. So he's giving me an attitude on the phone saying "I don't want them to have my card info, I'll just give you the cash"...which is fine and dandy but he never carries cash so I know I'm going to have to keep harassing him for it each time I see him. So I just asked that he swing on by the gym on Sunday since he'll be around that area anyway and he just acts like it's the biggest freaking deal. It drives me nuts. He's gotten MUCH better with chivalry things (let me tell you, he was a nightmare as far as that stuff goes. But finally he's learned to open doors, ask if I need anything, PAY for things, etc.) but my God, it's times like these he just still drives me nuts. It was his birthday last week and one of the things I bought him was GPS and I could tell he wasn't thrilled with it (he has every other gadget in the world) so I said I'd return it and try to find something he'd REALLY want, because I want him to be happy with his gift. I say I just get my money back and use that to pay off the gym membership and we'll call it even, since he's treating this like it's some business dealing. Anyone else have to deal with thoughtless men???? Don't get me wrong, he can be SUCH a sweetheart and when he does little things for me and buys me little presents out of nowhere, I literally tear up. I'm not a high maintenance girlfriend, believe me. It takes very little to keep me happy. OH, and to top it off, he tried saying that he figured he didn't have to pay for the gym since I don't go very often! Meanwhile, he's no gym whore himself...he just happens to be naturally thin.

MY ISSUE, however, is that I hold onto things. We ended the conversation on a tense note and he went to sleep. Tomorrow morning he'll be over it and will act normal whereas I'll still be mad. I've learned in holistic health that people who hold onto things like that, hold onto everything else: when they get sick from a cold or flu, it takes them longer to get over it than other people, weight is harder to get off, etc. etc. A quick fun exercise to see if you're like me: Take a DEEP inhale in....(stop reading and do it)................now, notice if when you inhaled if your stomach extended or if your stomach sucked in and your chest extended? Your lungs are the length from your chest to your abdomen so when they fill with air, your STOMACH is supposed to get bigger. That means you're letting the breath fill the entire lung. People like me, only let the top part of my lungs fill up and I suck in my stomach not letting the breath all the way down. At first I thought it was silly, b/c I just never wanted to stick my belly out but all the rest was true. When I get a common cold, I have it for a MONTH. When I get mad, I'm mad for days. Losing weight is soooo hard for me, etc. etc. So I'm working on trying to let things go and honestly the easiest way I've found? JUST BREATHING! Now, don't get me wrong...I'm the happiest easiest going person you'll ever meet. It takes A LOT to make me mad...usually things that build up over time (like this gym membership thing has been building up since the summer). But anyway, when I find myself mad at him for such things as this I just concentrate on letting the air fill my entire lung, letting the breath drop. And after a little while I'm not mad anymore and usually a few hours later I don't even remember what I was mad at. Although I kinda want to keep being mad at him for some reason, it's not good for your mind or body to hold onto anger....sooooo, here's to letting go!!!

Now, if I could just let go of this damn weight!! It's bedtime...goodnight all. :)
P.S. I need to chart my weekly weigh-ins better...and I've obviously stopped the daily weigh-ins.... :-\ I'll start the new chart soon, once I can figure it out!

Valentine's Day and a Pity Party

So Valentine's Day was nice. My boyfriend was fighting the stomach virus that's going around so he couldn't have a heavy meal, which was fine by me and my rolls of fat! So I went to his apt and he had bought me a teddy bear, a balloon, a dozen red roses and a new Wii game. LOL...I'm 27 years old but just a big kid. It was Mario Kart for wii, I LOVED it haha. He had also ordered us Greek Salads which was PERFECT for me! I looooove greek salads and I also didn't feel guilty about eating it. We just drank water. Until I came back home and my mom had left some vday Peeps in my room...I've eaten 5 since last night. :( I will throw the rest out, I swear.

I feel so lethargic lately. I'm getting my period so I have all the lovely PMS symptoms. I just feel like napping all day long and watching DVDs, but I have a few midterms this week so I must do a lot of studying. I'm also supposed to start the Couch to 5k Running Program again today. I hate running in the daytime b/c I know everyone in this town. So I'll save that for around dusk this evening. I HAVE to do it, I'll be so disappointed in myself if I put it off even another day. My Women's Soccer team starts up in a month and I really, REALLY do not want to embarrass myself too much. I played with some of these girls back in HS (10 years ago, my God...) and I was maybe 60lbs lighter then! :-\ I'm 5'11" which helps spread that weight around at least, but also makes me feel like a big huge monster as well.

I always feel like I lose my motivation around the time of my period. Got to try and re-light that spark today. Any ideas? I guess taking a shower today would help! LOL

I just feel like lying around today and feeling sorry for my fat self...Okay, this is a very boring blog and I'm just rambling on in no particular order. I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day and found a few moments to love yourself!

Fell off the wagon, temporarily...and LEMON WATER

UGH, I'm so dissapointed with myself. I sorta fell off the wagon for 2 weeks and I have a feeling that it has a direct correlation with me not posting in 2 weeks. I had computer trouble and didn't feel like typing from a public computer...and consequently my diet seemed to go down hill as well. That's another 5lbs I could've been down but now I'm up 2lbs. :( And here it is, Valentine's Day weekend and I feel so disgusted with myself I'm hoping my boyfriend and I don't even go out to dinner on Sunday. Also, I have a work party with old co-workers of mine next week and I was so excited to be down hopefully 15lbs by then, but now that looks like it won't happen. It makes me not even want to go to this party and see this people and let them see how much weight I've gained. :(

Okay, pity party over...I'm back on track now...I HAVE to be! This morning I had a bowl of cereal, lunch will be a veggie burger on 1 slice of toasted whole wheat bread (I slice it down the middle so it becomes two very thin slices) and dinner will be steamed chicken and broccoli with brown rice. So I didn't meet my short term goals for upcoming events, I still have summer to work towards! AND St. Patrick's day-where I tend to run into a lot of people from HS and college, etc. So that's what I'm looking forward to now. :) Plus, being in the holistic health field, I feel like my advice and what I say would have more of an impact if I was in shape. Also, that women's soccer team I'm joining starts up in 5 weeks and I'd like to get into better shape by then.



Today will be about eating low glycemic again and drinking lots of water. Lemon water, to be exact. My holistic nutrition class taught me the importance of lemon water...and it just so happens to actually be my favorite beverage anyway. Some of the many benefits are as follows: it kills bacteria in your body, it helps prevent new bacteria from forming, good for colds, sore throats, asthma, liver complaints and helps to move your bowels. Here's a link to a webpage I found: http://www.lookgreat-loseweight-savemoney.com/lemon-water.html

I guess it doesn't help that it's noon and I'm still in bed, huh? :-\ That's it, I'm ending this blog now, signing off and getting out into the world. Today I will paint my nails and tidy up my room and HOPEFULLY do some pilates before my date tonight. That's what's on my plate for the day, what's on yours?

At the 5lbs. Mark :)

Well, I wasn't sure what today's weigh-in would be like since I didn't drink my diuretic tea yesterday, but I was pleasantly surprised to be down .5lbs from yesterday morning! :) I'm just about down 5lbs now (I've been using two different scales, so it's a bit confusing!). I'm quite pleased with myself...I just want to hurry up and drop a substantial amount of weight so I can start wearing nice outfits again and fitting into those illusive jeans that I haven't been able to squeeze over my thighs in years! But, I have to have faith and patience, and trust that I will get there if I just keep sticking to this!

My cold feels MUCH better after I sweated it out yesterday. I don't have the headache, bad taste in my mouth, heavy head, and stiff neck anymore but I DO have a sore throat now. So, I'm going to gargle some Organic Apple Cider vinegar and hopefully that does the trick! I'm excited that the sweating method seems to have worked, how simple! AND drug-free. :)

Breakfast: 1 piece of buttered whole wheat toast and 2 hard boiled eggs
Supplements: Spirulina and organic women's multi-vitamin

That's all I've had so far, but I must admit I'm back in bed. :-\ It's a cold windy day here in NY and I'm off today, so it's hard to get motivated! I have a hair appt @ 2pm which I'm VERY excited for. My roots are terribly overgrown and it also makes me feel so good when I get my highlights done. :) So that's what I'll be doing today for myself!

Then at 5:30pm I work with a disabled young man in his apartment teaching him how to cook. Then the rest of the evening I'll be spending at my boyfriend's apartment. Which I'm looking forward to. I want to avoid having to find a snack while I'm there, and hearing his comments though, so I'm going to bring a grilled chicken breast in a Ziploc bag! hahaha I'm also going to stop at Cold Stone and get this low-fat frozen yogurt w/fruit mixed in as a treat for us. I'm going to check the calories of it online in a minute. I think I need to start tracking my calories. Anyone know of a good website? I want one that automatically knows the calorie count for foods...I couldn't be bothered looking up the individual calories for everything!

I still haven't done yoga yet, as part of my 3x's a week requirement. But I still have tomorrow and the following days, right? :)

Okay, that's all for now I guess. If I type anymore then I'll REALLY be rambling!

Be Well,
Ava

Another Pound and The Law of Attraction

First, I'm very excited to receive a blog award from my ONE follower, thefatchickweigh.blogspot.com LOL but I'm excited nontheless, THANK YOU! (I'm having problems with inserting links)

I'm supposed to name 10 things that make me happy:
1-my friends
2-my family
3-my boyfriend
4-going to school for acupuncture/oriental medicine
5-snow
6-sunshine
7-holidays
8-an outfit that fits well and look good
9-compliments :)
10-the overall good health of myself and those close to me

Now I'm supposed to give it to 10 other people, but I don't follow that many, yet :-\ But here's a few that I like:
getpastthemoment.blogspot.com
blossoming-me.blogspot.com
learningtobeless.blogspot.com
http://krystros.blogspot.com

Now onto today's post. I woke up and weighed-in on Wii Fit and it says I was down another .7lbs. yay! I'm worried that I'm losing too much water weight by drinking so much Dandelion Root tea everday, so today I didn't drink any (plus it makes me very tired) so we'll see what the weigh-in is like tomorrow. I didn't do too badly eating today:
Breakfast: Organic Flaxgrain cereal with whole milk
Lunch: grilled chicken with 1c whole wheat pasta and tomato sauce
Dinner: I slept thru dinner and was late to class and craving ice cream. So I got a VERY SMALL chocolate non-fat, no sugar added treat. :)
Snack: was starving just now and didn't even feel like writing so I had 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with butter and jelly...not that greatest but it tasted delightful and I ate so little today I think it's okay.

A month ago I had been reading The Secret, and it says that if you want to lose weight, then stop focusing on how fat you are and instead picture yourself at your dream weight. It says your body and your universe don't know the difference between "I want to be fat" and "I DON'T want to be fat"...all's it hears is "fat" so your body and your surroundings make it feasible for you to be fat. I really do believe in this because during the time I was my thinnest (10 years ago, in HS...ugh, has it been that long?) I used to daydream all the time about being thin, and having lots of boyfriends, etc. And, sure enough, I had a ton of friends and plenty of date offers and I was pretty damn thin! So that's what I've been trying to do now, plus it's a blast imagining all the things I can do once I'm not held back by my self-consciousness. I'm not obese or anything, I'm 5'11" so being over 200lbs it's still spread out fairly well over my body. It's more of a mental thing for me...but of course I have my physical limitations as well.

For example, my girlfriends and I are meeting up with two guys we used to go to college with for dinner and drinks. Strictly platonic, plus I have a wonderful boyfriend, so I'm not worried about trying to date these guys or anything...but I'm embarrassed to go because I'm a good 30lbs heavier than the last time they saw me. :( It makes me not even want to go. Infact, I seem to want to avoid all social situations due to my weight, yet I always have so much fun when I do go. SO, I will go, of course, but I'll certainly be downing some drinks to help drown my self-consciousness! Pathetic. Can't wait to be at a weight where I'm proud to show myself off. I used to be "hot"! I'll get there, I'll get there...

Today I felt like I had a cold coming on, so I sat in my personal infrared sauna to try and sweat it out. That's what Chinese Medicine says to do, if you catch it in the first stages. I'm not sure if I sweated enough (I'm always naturally warm as it is, so to sit in a sauana is complete torture for me)...but I'm hoping it works anyway. I may try again in the morning if I still don't feel great. But that's what I did today to make myself feel good. I'm not sure what tomorrow's will be!

It's pretty late here in NY. 12:30am...so I should get to bed. I'm excited to see what the scale says tomorrow after not drinking the diuretic tea today. Hopefully I won't be overly disappointed. I don't want to dehydrate myself. I did that once with this tea. I drank it all week long then drank alcohol friday and saturday night and I had shoot pains in my back...enough to make my dad take me to the ER. While in the waiting room, it subsided and I realized I must be dehydrated. I begged to go back home, and I did thankfully, before I was embarrassed infront of the doctor for being so dehydrated. So I need to be more careful this time around. Tomorrow will be water, water, water! Lemon water, actually. I learned in my nutrition class it has a list of health benefits and is very cleansing for the body. Plus, it's actually my favorite beverage, so that works for me!

Anyway, I'm rambling now. I hope everyone is doing the best they can, at this very moment. :)

Be Well,
Ava
Days: 12 Pounds: -4

Wendy's, UGH!

I caved...I had a 5 hour break between classes last night and I drove all around looking for what I wanted/could eat. I'm on a very limited budget and the chicken on whole wheat bread I had brought didn't cut it. After passing "okay" options like Panera, Chipotle (I didn't stop b/c those meals are at least $10)...I settled on Wendy's. I got the Single Burger meal, with medium fries and a medium regular coke (which is HORRENDOUS for my hypoglycemia!!!). I regretted it immediately after eating it. I need to plan better for tomorrow. Bring better options so I don't have to buy food while I'm at school. I'm so disappointed in myself I wasn't even going to blog about it, but I had to. I also didn't feel great physically afterwards either, which was to be expected. Well, tomorrow's a new day I guess!

As soon as I got home from class, I took my organic multi-vitamin, drank spirulina in water, brewed 3 quarts of dandelion root/blueberry tea with agave for today, plus whole wheat pasta with olive oil and garlic for lunch/dinner and baked chick peas with sea salt for a snack...only to oversleep this morning and miss my 8:30am class. :( I guess I needed the sleep though. Well, I certainly have enough time to prepare myself for the rest of the day as my next class doesn't start until 2:30pm...and its YOGA!

I soooo desperately want to be a slim, sleek yogi...but I'm soooo NOT. I look like a fat and sweaty mess during the poses when no one, and I mean NO ONE, else is sweating :( I've been promising myself I'll practice at home, b/c that's all it takes to be good at yoga, is practice, but I haven't yet. Although, now that I've cleaned my room I'm more motivated to do it in this space. So that's my goal for this week is do practice yoga 3 times before next week's class.

On a slightly happy note, the scale said I didn't gain any weight (no thanks to that Wendy's excursion). I did eat it at 5pm and didn't have a single thing to eat afterwards, so I'm hoping I somehow evened it out. Today will be better, it has to be!

The thing I did for today to make myself feel good was to prepare my meals and tea last night so I wasn't rushed today AND I used those Kinoki foot detox pads. And EWWW were they gross this morning! It's controversial if they're actually pulling toxins out or if its the oils from your feet mixing with the herbs in pad and turning it black...but this morning they were completely black and GOOEY. I'll try them out for the rest of the week. :)

UPDATE!!!! I got onto wii fit and it says i'm down .9lbs from yesterday, so I'll take that! That makes my total thus far:
Days: 11 Pounds: -3lbs.

Be Well,
Ava :)

The Scale Finally Budged!

I excitedly hopped on the scale first thing this morning, and I dropped the 3lbs. it had shown i gained the other day plus another pound! So I'm down 4lbs from yesterday, which I assume is water weight, but I'll take it! I think the tea I had been drinking wasn't actually Dandelion Root (I had removed it from it's box a year ago and kept it in a Ziploc bag for carrying convenience). I'm pretty sure it was actually Yerba Mate tea. But anyway, I went to the health food store yesterday and bought Blueberry Tea and Dandelion Root (both great for supporting your adrenal glands/hypoglycemia)...and BOY DID I PEE! I also didn't even eat very much yesterday and didn't really have much cravings! YAY! Controlling my blood sugar has been a BLESSING! No overpowering cravings...I feel so FREED! I'm actually going to take a pause from writing this to weigh in on my Wii Fit and make a batch of Dandelion/Blueberry Iced Tea...

Okay, so Wii Fit agrees with the scale :-D I'm happy but overall that's only a final loss of 2lbs in 9 days... :( I still feel like it's so much more, I don't get it. BUT, it's still a loss and that's with very little to no exercise so I can't complain. Has anyone tried Wii Fit Plus? It's only $20 since I already have the balance board but I'm wondering if it's worth it? The Original Wii Fit wasn't all that fun but I do like to use it to track my weight over a long period of time, plus it has a password lock so I don't have to worry about anyone seeing my embarrassing weight. :( I also saw My Fitness Coach 2 for Wii and that they give you meal suggestions and recipes based on your diet needs. I tried to look up if it has low glycemic meals but can't seem to find the answer on the web.

Yesterday I tried the Spirulina salad (lettuce, olive oil, sea salt, sprinkled with Spirulina)...it was okay but it really grossed me out eating it just because the spirulina is SOOO GREEN. I think from now on I'll just mix it with some liquids and down it that way. Spirulina has wonderful health benefits and is a great supplement for hypoglycemia. :)

I also need to be better taking my multi-vitamin...I seem to slack on it over the weekend. Yesterday I was successful in organizing and cleaning my room...it really does make you feel better inside to have a clean environment. Plus, now I have room to do some pilates and yoga in here. Have I mentioned how much it sucks living at home at 27 years of age??? New York is just too expensive for someone who's a full-time student. Heck, it's too expensive for a full-time worker as well! But I don't think I could ever leave this state for good. :)

I've been trying to "follow" other blogs and leave comments...which has been fun and I've also been hoping it'd generate some followers of my own, but no such luck yet. :( This would be a lot more helpful if I knew I was actually talking to someone. Oh well...

Now, for a little venting...My boyfriend is wonderful and supportive and also naturally THIN! He's in good shape but has a lot of IBS type issues. So, because of that, he's been following The South Beach Diet (which is pretty much the same as the diet I'm having). When I tell him "I had A BITE of my brother's burger, then made myself a salad" he tries to make me feel guilty for having that single bite. Like I can't control myself at all. So last night, we were both hungry and I munched on some nuts and he made himself a toasted bagel with butter! So I gave him the same annoying questioning he gives me "Why? WHY would you have that bagel if you know it won't make you feel great? WHY?" and I could tell he got annoyed and said "well I have no other options" (which wasn't true, he was just too lazy to cook something real. Then he had the nerve to comment on how many nuts I was eating! I may just stop talking to him at all about dieting...I hate when people add their two cents sometimes, ya know? Anyone else get frustrated? I'm an adult, I know the consequences of every action I take...and I see NO HARM in having a bite (and I do mean that literally, it was one single bite) of a food that's tempting me as long as it stops there and I make myself my real meal. Argh!

So, what will you do today to make yourself feel good? Today I'm going to re-paint my nails and finish up the last touches of organizing my room. Oh, also, I'm thinking about purchasing a netbook? Any thoughts or opinions? My laptop died and I've been borrowing my brother's, but I'd like to just have my own. I think a netbook would fit my needs (I only really go the internet and write a paper or two). Plus, it being so small it'd be easily transported back and forth to school. And they're a heck of a lot cheaper!

My Totals:
9 days down. 2 lbs down.

Good and Bad

Good Morning :)

Well, I've been both good and bad on this diet. My little night with myself Saturday night was okay. I drank a bottle of wine then indulged in some leftover Chinese food I found in the fridge.... :-\ I didn't eat the rice, but I ate a decent amount of General Tso's chicken plus half an egg roll. Wasn't total a pig, but I could've done without it. I still got on the scale Sunday morning and it still hadn't budged, one way or the other. Even though I ate poorly late at night, I was still hoping to see a difference. I've already eaten this morning so I will wait until tomorrow morning to weigh myself again. I'm DETERMINED to see a decrease in that number by tomorrow!

Also, I got my Wii back from my boyfriend and so I'll be logging into Wii Fit just to calculate my weight progress that way. I weigh A LOT more than I did when I first started using it. In fact....let me check the damage now....
UGGGHHH....I'm over 26lbs heavier than the last time I weighed in on Wii Fit...in June of '09. :( Also, I stepped on the bathroom scale anyway and I'm 3lbs heavier than my first weigh-in! I'm still not discourage b/c I'm adamant that I'm retaining some water weight. Even though I don't make absolute perfect choices, I'm still eating way less than I usually do. This Thursday will be my "official" weigh-in b/c my cycle will be over.

Today is off to a good start. I found a low GI breakfast recipe for Oatmeal Pancakes They were OKAY, more palatable than oatmeal by itself but they looked less like pancakes and more like egg white/oatmeal mush. I made half the recipe using only 1/2c. of oatmeal and 3 egg whites and I'm still hungry. So I'm drinking some Iced Green Tea sweetened with agave and I'll just have an early lunch. I will try this Spirulina salad I think.

Yesterday I had two Irish sausages, no ketchup. a small Greek salad (and I ate the pita that came with it...oops). Then I had a family party at my boyfriend's sister's house. I didn't do too terribly there. I ate two of the cookies I brought and a LITTLE of the spinach dip with pumpernickel bread (not NEARLY as much of it as I would have liked to eat!) and one buffalo wing. Dinner I ate baked chicken, string beans and a small salad with lite honey mustard dressing...I skipped the potatoes. What's great about this way of eating is that you don't have to make a scene when you're eating with other people. I get kind of embarrassed having to say I'm on a diet but with this I just have to choose the meat and veggie options and skip over the bread and potatoes. She had a great looking Italian white bread with butter which I really wanted, but found the will to skip. :) Oh, and I skipped the cake and desserts. However, when I got back to my own parents' house, they had leftover wings so I ate 6 of those, with bleu cheese. But I'm still proud of myself! Still a lot better than I'm used to eating!

I still haven't organized my room so I'm hoping to get that done today to make myself feel good. :) Then I'm going over my boyfriend's apartment to watch Yes Man. Anyone ever see that? Great movie and VERY motivational to make more of your life. I feel like I'm wasting my life being fat...I'm so unmotivated to do things b/c I'm afraid my weight will get in the way. I'm even hesitant to do this soccer team I've told you all about but I'm going to force myself. I can drop at least 20lbs by then (even though I'm really shooting for 30lbs!) It's a rainy day here on Long Island, hard to get motivated to do anything. But I'm going to do the best I can today. :)

I wish I knew how to get some readers!?!? LOL....maybe I'll also try and figure that out now as well.

Hope everyone has a healthy day today and don't forget to do at least one thing nice for yourself today!

Progress?

Good Morning!

Last night I was SURE I had lost weight. Infact, my boyfriend even noticed my face and arms looking and feeling thinner. I did well eating yesterday, aside from us ordering buffalo wings at 10pm. HOWEVER, they ARE low glycemic! And to my delight, turns out this place has the suckiest wings but they were healthy! They were just baked wings with buffalo sauce drizzled ontop...so I was a bit relieved they weren't deep fried.

I woke up this morning, stepped on the scale, and it hasn't budged at all!!! :( I DO have my period and am most likely still retaining water but I don't FEEL like I'm retaining as much water as I usually do. Plus I've been drinking a great amount of Dandelion Root Tea and that should help flush out the excess water. So, I'm a bit disappointed but still being hopeful that I'll see the results on the scale when my cycle it over. How frustrating though. :(

On a happier note, I'm still feeling more energized and healthy and I'm still highly motivated. I also plan on having a night with myself tonight that will include a new Wii Game ("Just Dance"-I heard it was a blast and plus it'll make me exercise!)...however I also plan on having some wine... ;) A girl's gotta live!

I'm not sure what will be on today's menu...maybe I will try making that Spirulina salad today. Breakfast wasn't off to a good start :-\ I saw there was a buffalo wing, bleu cheese and one chicken finger in the fridge so I heated that up in the MICROWAVE (ahhh! :( I've been trying to stop using the microwave as it's very poor for your health). BUT, I need to remember that one small detour doesn't mean I should give up on the whole journey. The rest of the day will even it out, I'll make sure of it!

Ladies, have you ever read "Good In Bed" by Jennifer Weiner? It's a great read and I highly suggest it. It's about the love life of a heavier woman. I find it comforting in the same way that Bridget Jones's Diary comforts me.

I had a problem logging into this website, so this blog was actually written Saturday morning, January 23rd. Lucky for autosave I was able to just add a few lines and I'll post it now plus one for this morning (Monday).

Iced Tea, Blogging and HIGH SCHOOL???

Good Morning All :) (ha, I don't think I even have a single reader yet, but I'll just pretend....)

I woke up feeling more refreshed than I have in awhile. This is my 4th day in a row of trying to maintain my blood sugar and being on a low Glycemic diet, and I have no doubt that's what the cause behind my great mood is! I stepped on the scale this morning (even though I said I wouldn't for another week) and I'm the same I was 6 days ago...BUT I've just started my "cycle" and I tend to retain water during this time, so I'm not too disappointed.

Last night around midnight I was so full of energy and in good spirits I found myself DANCING while brushing my teeth! I started thinking how I haven't felt this great since High School (which is a good 10 years and 80lbs ago!). I felt like I wanted to dress up, put on music and dance around my room like I used to! Over the past few years, my friends and I have talked about "what did we do way back when we didn't drink alcohol? We had so much fun and barely even drank!". These days we find ourselves out of options, and when we DO think of something we always drink thinking it'll make it more fun. In High School, I used to have these "Parties for 1" in my room. I'd dress up in my nicest clothes, hair and make-up done and all, blast music and just dance...imagining I was at some great party or a club that I wasn't old enough to get into yet. Don't get me wrong, I went to plenty of REAL parties as well, but this is what I did when I had some free time alone. I NEVER find myself wanting to do that these days...mostly for lack of energy. Last night, I would have if it wasn't already creeping onto 1am and if my clothes fit! :( But it was just more motivation to keep at this and get back down to a weight where I feel good about myself when I'm dressed up. These days I just wear clothes that hide my fat the best and make me feel the most comfortable. Which is sad and pathetic.

Next, I NEED to tell you all about my new favorite gadget. It's an Iced Tea maker made by Mr. Coffee. This it the model I have...I didn't even know they had other models but I got this one at K-Mart for only $20. http://www.mrcoffee.com/Product.aspx?pid=6105
It can take loose tea or tea bags and you can brew 5-7 tea bags at a time...even adding in lemon or your sweetener and it brews about 3 quarts right into the pitcher. Then you just add ice or stick it in the fridge and you have fresh, healthy iced waiting for you whenever you want it. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I've been making Dandelion Root Tea because it's good for supporting your Adrenal Glands (an issue I have, especially with hypoglycemics) and it's also great at getting rid of extra water weight and bloating for your time of the month. ;) I add lemon slices and agave (it's a low glycemic sweetener) and I feel sooooooo good after drinking it. Seems to be curbing my appetite as well (I guess the agave is providing some glucose!). I've been telling everyone who I think will care, even just a little. Maybe it could be the good thing you do for yourself today? And for only $20, why not? :)

Next, Blogging! This has been such a great outlet for me and it really helps to keep me motivated. Even though I'm pretty sure I don't have a single reader, I still feel like "someone" is holding me responsible to this new way of eating and I don't want to let "them" down. Plus, I get to vent and blab all I want!

Today is off to a good start. Had slow-cooked oatmeal and Dandelion iced tea for breakfast. :) Lunch will probably be my whole wheat pasta with garlic and olive oil and dinner is still up in the air, as are my snacks throughout the day. I also plan to do pilates today and maybe even yoga. I prefer to do Winsor Pilates as they've worked well for me in the past. I have to dvd's: "Buns and Thighs" and her "Ab Workout". They're both great, not that difficult to do and I definitely notice results within a week or two. My soccer season is only 2 months away, I need to start exercising as well as losing this weight. I will begin running soon as well, I promise! Aside from pilates/yoga, I decided to clean up this place to make me feel better about myself. Including the inside of my car. I always feel more organized and clean internally when my external environment is clean and in order. What will YOU do today?

Be Well,
Ava

First Taste of Success!!!

Feeling faint, shaky, dizzy and sweaty are my usual feelings during exercise, even if it's as light as just putting my laundry away!! I've been taking a yoga class for the past 3 weeks, and like usual, I'm standing in my tree pose and the room is turning white and I feel like I'm going to faint. So, I break pose to stand on both feet and try and get myself together again, praying "Please God don't let me faint, please, please, please....". Well, yesterday I did MY BEST to maintain by blood sugar and it worked! I still got hot and sweaty (but that's unfortunately due to me being fat and out of shape!) but I didn't feel shaky or dizzy ONCE! I couldn't believe it. I finally felt NORMAL exercising! My diet wasn't PERFECT yesterday, but it was pretty darn close! Here's what I ate:
Breakfast: Woke up feeling starving so ate Honey Bunches of Oats cereal with whole milk. Not the best glycemically, but at least it wasn't the bagel I wanted to stop and get! Had my Chinese dieter's tea with my blood sugar supplement (Here's the blood sugar supplement I'm taking. I'm not sure if I feel it working yet or not, but I'll continue to at least finish the bottle. http://www.gaiaherbs.com/product.php?id=22 )
Snack: In class I had an organic banana and a vitamin water (they happen to have a very low glycemic index because they use fruit sugar to sweeten it) and took my organic women's multivitamin (shown here: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?skuId=2214011&productId=xlsImpprod1790135&navAction=push&navCount=1&categoryId=cat80068#sku2214031 )
Lunch: a veggie burger, no bun, with 1/2c. of seaweed salad and about 1/2c. chickpea salad....and some pickle chips on the side.
Dinner: a pint of steamed chicken and broccoli with brown rice (I forgot to ask for sauce on the side...ugh.) and I took my B.S. supplement as well.

I felt GREAT throughout the day, until an hour or two after eating that Chinese food. The place didn't seem all that classy, so I'm assuming it was the food. I ended up leaving class early and coming home to lay down.
Breakfast: I woke up feeling great today and have already enjoyed natural oatmeal with walnuts and cranberries and 1Tbsp. organic maple syrup with a glass of lemon water. :)
Snack: 1 Orange with my Chinese dieter's tea and my B.S. supplement. I found myself starving in class, and my stomach was growling so I drank a Vitamin Water (note to self: Eat more oatmeal! I just find it so hard to get down... :-\ )
Lunch: I'm not totally sure of the overall glycemic health but I made about 1 1/2c. whole grain pasta, with a teaspoon of fresh garlic sauteed in 1Tbsp. Olive Oil, a squeeze of a 1/4 slice of fresh lemon and sea salt to taste. And okay, okay, I added a pinch (about a tsp.) of fresh Parmesan cheese. The sauce was so light you could actually taste the little bit of cheese and my gosh was it delicious! :) I scarfed that right down!

My next snack and dinner are yet to be determined, but it's very important for hypoglycemics to eat every 3 hours, something small to keep a steady glucose level (and it's just an overall great diet tip).

So, what are YOU doing today for YOU? Today I bought myself a new nail polish "Commander in Chic" by Sally Hansen...it's very cute! In yoga class yesterday, I was embarrassed to have my toes showing...they have small remnants of red nail polish left over from Christmas! :( Does anyone else find that they slack in personal maintenance when they're overweight? I sometimes feel like I don't deserve to have nice nails or clothes. I have the mindset of "I'm too fat, that's all everyone will notice? What difference does it make if my nails look nice?". But the truth is, it makes ME feel good having my hair done or my nails done and in turn I want to keep taking better and better care of myself. So if you haven't been doing it, please do SOMETHING today to make yourself feel good. My tootsies are drying as I'm typing right now! :)
Be Well!

-Ava

Rough Weekend for My Diet :-\

My cousin was visiting for the weekend from Ireland...which included going out to eat 3 times and drinking two nights... :( Needless to say, I didn't make great choices. BUT, I'm not going to let that get me down...there WILL be days or times that I don't follow the diet the best I can, but that's life. Back on track now! I won't be weighing myself for about a week as I'm retaining water due to female stuff.... ;) I always gain between 3-5lbs of water weight during this time. Hopefully I'll make some strides in my diet and will have a pleasant surprise when I step back on the scale!

I went to the Vitamin Shoppe and bought a blood sugar support supplement. It's not the most convenient thing to take as you have to take it with some warm water (I assume it helps melt down the outer capsule). But I'll start taking that today and see if I see much of a difference. I didn't buy Spirulina because my boyfriend told me I could just take his, he didn't like the taste. And, being a full-time student and only working part-time...I need to save every dollar I can!

Also, I mentioned I was an acupuncture student so I looked up the Chinese diagnosis for hypoglycemia. It's not all that different from our Western one. Basically, I have to support my Spleen (which in Chinese Medicine is actually more of your pancreas) and Stomach and Adrenal Glands. It should take almost a month to see a difference in that, but it's of course worth it.

On a side note, my friends, cousin and myself took a drive upstate and went snow tubing for a Girls' Day. We had a GREAT time and it was something different! Even though we drank before we went tubing, it was good to add a new activity to my life. I'm tired of doing the same things over and over...and at least a got a LITTLE exercise! It was also raining here on Long Island, so it was nice to leave the cold rain for some fresh snow! It is, after all, winter. And I love winter!

I'm sure I don't have any reader's yet. But I'm hoping to get a few soon. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments and YOUR stories. What will YOU do today to make yourself feel good? Today I will start taking those blood sugar pills and drink some dandelion root tea to help rid some of this bloat. :) Be well!

-Ava

P.S. I'd like to start adding pictures, but I'm having laptop issues. Those will come in the next few months I hope.

Thank God for Hypoglycemia!?

Hi All! :)
I'm starting this blog because it really helps me to write out my feelings and my daily struggles with dieting. Plus, I think i'm talking my boyfriend's ear off too much about it. I think it's therapeutic to talk about things you struggle with, plus I feel like someone's holding me responsible for sticking to a healthy lifestyle if I'm making my goal public. I'm a 27 year old woman (still find it hard to call myself a woman!) and I work part time and go to school full time for holistic medicine. While sitting in my nutrition class last semester, my professor passed out an "Are you Hypoglycemic?" questionnaire. As I started slowly checking off each question, and seemed to be checking "yes" to almost all of them, I started getting more and more amazed/shocked/excited/relieved. All these years I just thought I must be the fattest girl in the world because all I could think about when I was hungry was food and it was my first thought every morning. The questions started as: Do you suffer from extreme hunger? When you are hungry, do you get shaky, irritable, anxious, nervous, sweaty, headache, dizziness, faintness? Yes, yes, YES! Do you lie awake at night not able to get your mind to stop racing? YES! Restlessness, fatigue, unable to concentrate? YES! The list goes on and on. FINALLY I had an explanation of why I'd feel so terrible and so OBSESSED with eating once I felt the slightest pang of hunger. I also came to learn that more people than you'd realize ARE hypoglycemic, or at least borderline. Being it's a holistic school the professor said, "And why don't doctors frequently test for hypoglycemia if it's so common? Well, because there's no pill to cure it. So they wait until your pancreas is burned out, you develop diabetes, THEN they can prescribe you something for it." The truth is, if you controlled your blood sugar throughout your life, most diabetics wouldn't be diabetic. If you're not sure what hypoglycemia is, I'll explain it briefly: Basically, the foods we eat in this nation are SO processed and spiked with sugar it floods our blood with sugar (glucose), the pancreas of a hypoglycemic person overreacts and releases insulin which brings your blood sugar level back down...but in our case, it brings it TOO low so that your adrenal glands now kick in and release adrenaline and glucose-which causes the sweating, heart palpitations, nervousness, etc. etc. etc. Please, do yourself a favor and google the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia and if you think you may have it, insist your doctor test you for it.
With that said, I'm hoping I've finally found the solution to my forever struggle with losing weight. I need to eat 6 SMALL meals, of protein and complex carbs, a day. The idea is that I'll be eating foods that SLOWLY release glucose into my blood stream (unlike sugary snacks and white breads that FLOOD your blood stream with it, causing the pancreas to overreact thus making your blood sugar level crash) and I won't get the ravenous hunger I so often feel. The problem? I don't know enough about nutrition to know what's good and bad for me, so I'm left starving, irritable and craving all the wrong foods. But, I'm reading books and internet articles and trying to learn. :)
I started yesterday, having cereal that probably wasn't the best choice but I had no better options available. Then carrots with sea salt for a snack and a Greek salad for dinner. I found myself STARVING around 9pm and drank a naturally sweetened drink which helped subside the hunger pangs. But I caved around 1am and made a grilled cheese and drank Pepsi :(. However, I did feel good for most of the day and this morning I was down 1lb! My problem is that I want to eat NATURALLY so most of the diet recommendations I find aren't helpful because they suggest jello sweetened with splenda and diet cokes. If you're not into natural health at all, I HIGHLY suggest you buy yourself Kevin Trudeau's "Natural Cures THEY Don't Want You To Know About" book. It honestly CHANGED MY LIFE....but that's a story for another day.
Another battle I'm having is trying to make my social life a HEALTHY one. It seems the only activities my friends and I do are going out to eat and DRINKING! Anyone else have the same problem? Thankfully, an old friend contacted me trying to get together a women's soccer team. I'm so excited for it! I'm far too out of shape, as I haven't played soccer since High School and I'm a good 70lbs heavier!! :( I'm thinking I could play defense though and being that the season starts in March I'm hoping to drop at least 20lbs before then. It's highly motivating as it's something I really want to do AND I don't want to completely embarrass myself on the field with being so out of shape. So, I'm going to start a running regimen that I had done a few months ago but gave up on it for no good reason. It's called podrunner, and it trains you to run a 5k but starting out running in intervals. It's free to download on iTunes so I suggest it to you guys out there who think you're too out of shape to run! It's called the "Couch to 5k Running Program" and here's a link to an explanation of it http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
I'm assuming you all (if anyone is even reading this) are having the same struggle with dieting as I am so I hope you all do well today and treat yourself and your body as best you can. :)
What are YOU going to do today to make yourself one step closer to YOUR goal? For me, I'm going to The Vitamin Shoppe to buy some Spirulina. I read an easy recipe for a Spirulina Salad: a bed of greens (romaine lettuce, baby spinach, etc), some vegetables like celery or carrots, enough Olive Oil to just coat all the vegetables but not too much so that it accumulates on the bottom of the bowl, some sea salt and top it off with some Spirulina. I'll keep you all posted on how it tastes!
Oh, and if anyone is keeping score, my short tearm goal is to lose 64lbs. 1 day down, 1lb. down.
Take care, and be healthy!

-Ava