wavesoflife

Today is day 23 of the Whole 30. One more week to go.

Week two was rough. I kept wanting to have Cokes and eat candy. And pizza. I also felt bad and had no energy for awhile. I had been consuming more sugar than I had realized.

I now like drinking tea straight or (even better) with some coconut cream (taken from a jar of coconut milk kept in the fridge). I don’t plan to go back to putting sugar or stevia in my tea, but may on
occasion put some honey in. Some things that I now do, like always cooking with coconut oil or ghee rather than butter and vegetable oil, I started earlier this year and don’t plan on stopping. I’ll still
drink Coke on occasion most likely, but I won’t keep any soda in the house. I’m going to be avoiding dairy for the most part. It really makes me congested.

One thing I’m looking forward to getting back to eating again is bacon. We found nice healthy sausage without sugars or chemicals, but no bacon like that. I miss bacon. But it will be the uncured bacon we
had been buying before the Whole 30.

I want to remove all chemicals from my life that I can. I already have natural shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant, and I have some body wash, toothpaste, and hand soap waiting in my amazon wishlist for pay day. I plan to start cleaning using a vinegar and water mixture. And I want to get some soap nuts to see how they are for doing laundry.

Medication-wise I’m down to just the birth control pill, Singulair, Zyrtec, and Flonase. I had tried going off Singulair last month, but my asthma symptoms returned. I wasn’t dairy-free at the time though so
I may try again after spring allergy season. I have two more packs of birth control pills left and then I’m going off them. After allergy season I also want to get off the Flonase. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stop taking the Zyrtec then or not. I’d like to, of course.

I also take several supplements. Vitamin D, B12, Krill Oil, Potassium, Magnesium, and Melatonin. I was taking CoQ10 but had to stop during the Whole 30 because the capsules contained soy oil. I also have some Cod Liver Oil, which I need to start taking again soon.

Once I’m off the birth control pills, I’ll begin taking pre-natal vitamins… because we’re finally going to try and have a baby! It hasn’t felt like the right time until now. I’m finally taking care of
my body and eating right. I’ve lost a lot of weight, although I still have 20 lbs or so I’d like to lose. I’m not going to go on the junk food binge either that some women do while pregnant and we’ll be
raising our kid to eat paleo. I know now how important nutrition and eating right is, especially while creating another life.

Last Monday night I ate McDonalds two cheeseburger meal with fries and a Coke. This was the first time so far this year that I’ve had that, when I used to have it at least once, if not more, a week. In fact, this was only the second time this year that I’ve had McDonalds. I had Taco Bell once at the very beginning of January. I haven’t had Wendys or KFC. I had Chick-Fil-A once, the grilled chicken salad and fries. And I’ve had Burger King’s Tendergrill Salad with Ranch and a Frozen Coke several times (their grilled chicken is gluten-free…Chick-Fil-A’s is as well). We used to eat fast food several times a week.

Anyway, the burgers I had were delicious. But several hours afterwards the brain fog came back and my energy left. Once again, I felt too exhausted even to read or watch TV. It took several days for me to get over this feeling. It wasn’t fun at all.

As I mentioned in my reply to Crystal’s comment, I’m going to be doing the Whole30 Plan in March. It’s 30 days of a very strict diet. No cheating at all. I’ve still been “cheating” some. I had a Coke today. But this is absolutely No Sugar. Or Alternative Sweeteners (including stevia and honey, which I use in my tea every day). There is also no grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, white potatoes, or paleo-fying of dessert or junk food. Also no weighing or measuring yourself. The no sugar is going to be the hardest part for me (and I’m sure it will be very tempting to weight myself).

I’ve also been trying out some new things. I bought a dehydrator (Nesco American Harvest FD-28JX Jerky Xpress Dehydrator Kit with Jerky Gun) to make jerky with. So far we’ve made some with ground beef and with steak. The steak tasted better, but the ground beef was pretty good. If I want jerky that isn’t loaded with chemicals, I either have to make it myself or order it online. Even in the health food store it’s filled with all sorts of things I can’t pronounce.

I also ordered some cool new glasses (Uvex S0360X Ultra-spec 2000 Safety Eyewear, Orange Frame, SCT-Orange UV Extreme Anti-Fog Lens). I’ve been wearing them while I read in bed at night (about an hour). I also bought an eye mask to wear while sleeping. I’m still adjusting to wearing an eye mask. I don’t do well with changes to my sleep routine and I’m still trying to get over not using the muscle relaxers at bedtime. I think I get more tired while wearing the glasses than when I don’t. Blue light is supposed to suppress melatonin production, hence the orange glasses.

I’ve been using J R Liggett Old-Fashioned Shampoo Original Formula shampoo bar for a few weeks now (if you can find it in a store it’s probably cheaper than online. I got mine at a health food store). I got tired of regular shampoo drying out my hair. This is supposed to not strip out your hair natural’s oils. My hair is starting to get much nicer now. I don’t even really need to use any gel or hairspray anymore. I’m still using conditioner. I’ll probably try going without conditioner once I run out.

And finally, Thai Deodorant Stone – Deodorant Stick. For the past several years, I’ve had to use unscented deodorant for sensitive skin, since anything else would cause a rash. I found this also at the health food store and decided to give it a try. It’s been working for me. No smell at all. And one stone lasts a very long time.

I’ve been looking forward to just going out and sitting in a lawn chair in our yard, reading, once it gets warmer. I really need more sunlight and fresh air. Unfortunately, that’s still about a month and a half away.

Last year, I had posted that I wanted to:

This year I will lose the rest of the weight that I need to. I want to use the Wii to exercise regularly. We really need to keep the house clean. I will spend time working on my novel. I always want to spend more time working on my websites. We also need to pay off a lot of our debt.

Let’s see..didn’t do..didn’t do…didn’t do…didn’t do..didn’t do…didn’t do.

I weigh probably 5-10 lbs more. I don’t think I’ve used the Wii since last January. Our house is a dirty mess, as always. The only time I spent on my novel was rereading it. I only worked on one my sites and a little at that. We acquired a good amount more debt.

2011 wasn’t a good year for me. I had a lot of health problems. Nothing bad really happened…no deaths…still have my job…and so on. I just wasn’t happy or felt well most of it. Usually was unhappy because I didn’t feel well and the brain fog made it impossible to do anything. I had a couple weeks maybe of good brain function…but out of 52 weeks that isn’t very much.

I want this year to be a lot better. I want to be healthier and I want to be happier.

I will be healthier and happier.

I can’t control my illnesses but I can control my diet and exercise. Often my foot hurts and I use that as an excuse not to exercise. Not anymore. There’s plenty of exercise I can do without standing. I’m going to eat gluten-free and low-carb. Ideally, I want to follow the Paleo diet. Eat only foods our hunter and gatherer ancestors would have. I’m already trying to avoid grains. But I also need to not eat potatoes, corn, peanut butter, and dairy. Dairy is hard for me to give up. I like cheese. I also like Coke. But there’s no sugar allowed. Or honey. But I don’t know if I’m going to give up honey in my tea. You’re allowed to eat most meats (except bacon and such), but I can’t eat pork due to my allergy of it. Lamb too but I’d never eat lamb. I also am not going to eat deer, bison, rabbits, etc. And especially not ducks. So my meats are basically beef, chicken, and fish.

I’d come across the Paleo diet several times over the past few years. I was always interested in it because of the name: paleo. How could I not be interested? But I didn’t want to give up cheese. Or potatoes. Or Coke. But I need to get over that. So what if I can’t eat some of the foods I want to eat? If I’ll feel better it’ll be worth it.

And cleaning the house. It’s exercise, so I just gotta do it no matter how much I don’t want to.

We already plan not to spend as much this year and to budget our money better. We waste so much of our money.

I don’t know if I’ll write fiction much this year. I’ve been more in a coding/design/web site mood for awhile. And that’s okay with me. When I feel like writing again, I’ll write.

But one thing I will write is journal entries. On here, in my paper journal(s), in my journal software. Wherever. But somewhere…and frequently. I bought yet another paper journal. This one is big and leather bound and has a dragon on the cover. It wasn’t cheap. But I’m going to make sure I use it.

I’m also going to keep track of what I eat and how I feel. I have a little pink Moleskine day planner that I’m going to use for that.

And, of course, I want to spend more time working on my websites.

Happy New Year!