Blogging from my smart phone!

Wow, how useful!

No more sugar for me!

Yes, I should have done this a long time ago.  But I've eliminated sugar from my diet at this point.  Processed sugar, I mean, I still eat fruit and stuff like that.  I should be honest and say MOST sugar.  I'm working on it LOL.

I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, PCOS.  Or at least I'm pretty sure I do.  I was told by one doctor that I have it, another said I don't, and a third said it doesn't matter, since I have many of the symptoms of it, I should act like I do.  I agree with the third.  The main cause of PCOS is problems metabolizing sugar, which leads to insulin resistance and eventually diabetes.  I don't have diabetes, but likely have insulin resistance.  Which basically means I need to eat as if I am diabetic.

So I'm trying to eat less sugar and more fiber.  I think it's a healthy way to eat for most people anyway!  It is based on the Glycemic Load, which is very similar to Glycemic Index, but researchers are starting to see that the Glycemic Load is more important than the Glycemic Index (google it if you are interested!)

ANYWAY.  Not eating sugar is HARD!  You walk into the grocery store, and what's the first thing you see? The freaking BAKERY!  I love bread, but it is pure sugar!  Carbs, that is, and the soft YUMMY bread has very little fiber, so it's basically sugar.  Not to mention cakes and donuts and other soft, gooey buns and so forth of deliciousness!  You know how the more you are told you can't have something the more you want it? YEAH!

So it's difficult, but I feel SO much better!  It doesn't surprise me.  I've always done better when I eat better.  When I was in high school, I discovered I was/am hypoglycemic.  I was getting migraines nearly every day because I wasn't eating breakfast.  When my mom figured it out, I was pretty mad, haha!  Yeah, I was mad because I couldn't have pop or sugar anymore!  But after a few days, or weeks, or however long it took me, I realized how much better I felt.  Then it was SO worth it to stay with it!

So I'm getting myself back on track.  Once I stick with it for a few weeks, it will be a lot easier.  That's how it always is for me - starts out easy (first day or two), gets hard (day three ON) for a couple weeks.  But if I stay with it, pretty soon I stop craving sugar.  It's not that it doesn't taste good still when I DO have it - it always does - but I'm not just constantly craving it.

I look forward to that day!

Continuing my new exercise program, and Jay's (almost) got a job?

And it's a lot of effort!  I've been trying to go 4 times a week for an hour.  I've been making it about 3 times a week, and I think that's about all I can do for the time being.  I'm sure I'll work up, but I really don't want to hate going.

So my husband Jay went and applied for a job with Pace (the bus company) to be a mechanic's helper (basically this means he'll be an apprentice diesel mechanic, which is the job he's been trying to get for such a long time!).  Then he had to take a test before they would even bother interviewing him.  Well, he just heard from them today, and he passed the test!  So now he's got an interview scheduled for 2 weeks.  Two weeks AGAIN!  Oh well.  I'm just praying like crazy that he gets this job.

Cleanse is done, now I've been exercising more *sigh*

Or at least trying to.  I've been going to group classes a few times a week.  I need to go more, I know.  But it is early in the morning (8:30 is early for me!), and then I'm TIRED!  But I'm trying.  I'm TRYING!!!

I didn't go this morning, though.  hahaha  But YESTERDAY I went, and then we went swimming in the afternoon, and I think that was a lot.  So that counted for yesterday and today.  RIGHT????

But I'll go tomorrow afternoon.  I really enjoy taking the classes.  They help me stay on track better - push me harder than I'd push myself.  I need that, and I like the structure.  Left on my own, I sort of get lazy (I'm sure many people do).  They have a dancing class, but it's never at a time I can get to, darn it.  Well, Thursday at 8pm I COULD, but that would be straight after work, without dinner.  That wouldn't work for me.  So I guess I just don't get to do the dance class for now.  They re-arrange the classes sometimes (from what they say), so maybe it will be put in at 8:30 am eventually!  I hope so.

But for now, I'll be happy with the classes they offer.  There's a "boot camp" type (sounds harder than it really is, although it's pretty hard!), a cardio/weight training interval class, and cardio.  There are other classes offered, too, but those are the ones they have that I can get to for now.  Well, I could do a pilates class, too... at 8:15 am - even EARLIER!

I guess I'm being forced to become a morning person!

I'm tired just thinking about it.  Good night...

Cleanse - Day 31

Wow, what an awesome day today!  It was warm, sunny and beautiful.  I spent most of the day outside.  Well, most of the afternoon and evening anyway.  I took my dog for a short walk - short because she's old and gets tired.  But then we stayed outside.  I read and she laid in the grass looking cute!

I sat in the sun reading for a little while, then my mom and sister and I went to the flower shop and didn't buy anything, hahaha.  Then we went to the grocery store and bought a few things we needed for dinner.  Then later I barbecued ribs - for the first time ever!  I did a really good job, too!  They came out perfect - tender, fall off the bone, juicy, spicy... YUM!  Probably not the BEST "cleanse" food ever.... HA!  Oh well.

Then after dinner I sat outside and read more.  By then the sun was setting, but not dark yet, so it had cooled off a bit (it was around 90 today, so cooled off means in the mid 80s, which was beautiful and comfortable).

I'm reading a book called "the fertile female" by Julia Indichova.  It's a very interesting book, I highly recommend it for any woman looking to make any improvements or changes in her body.  It is mostly directed towards women who are trying to become pregnant (which I'm not so don't get any ideas - it is just research!), but it's really about how fertility in women applies to so many aspects of a woman's life, not just having babies, and not just physical.

I'm intending on becoming an expert in female health, in particular the health of the reproductive system.  That's why I'm reading this book.  I'm going to be taking a class in December called Mercier Therapy.  Here's a description of the class:  "The purpose of this 3-day advanced professional training certification program is to introduce integrative, complementary and traditional healthcare providers with an alternative treatment for common women's healthcare issues and pelvic discomfort."  I already have taken a "fertility massage" class, which I have realized is fantastic for women's health in general, not just for fertility.  So this class I'm going to take will help increase my knowledge, understanding, and skills in this specific area.  I'm really looking forward to the class!

So yes, today was a really nice day!  It makes me actually look forward to this summer - usually I dread the heat, but I have a theory about that, too.  I've been taking herbs for my thyroid for the past year or so.  I think my temperature is regulating better now, so the heat doesn't make me feel so oppressed.  It's just a theory, but I don't know any other way to explain it.

Cleanse - Day 30

So it's been a few days since I've been able to post.  My computer crashed.  The motherboard overheated and died.  I'm thankful the hard drive was ok, so the guys at Best Buy were able to transfer my stuff from my old computer onto my new one.  I'm also thankful I was able to afford a new one!

So only 10 days left on my cleanse.  I've sort of lost track of where I'm supposed to be - I guess this blog helped quite a bit with that!  But I believe I should be on my third day of taking 12 Liver Cleanse Formula a day, then tomorrow I'm down to 9 for three days, then 6 for three days, then just 3 for the last three days.  Does that add up to ten?  hehehe  (it does)

So here is my one accomplishment that I'm very proud of - I've given up caffeine completely!  It wasn't even that hard - I just found myself wanting it less.  I think that's because I was cleansing it out of my system, so the addiction was starting to let go.  I actually started cutting back a while ago, a little before I started the cleanse.  I would just drink half a cup a day (of coffee) instead of a whole cup.  So when I started this cleanse, I decided I wanted to really give it up totally.  But I get headaches if I go cold turkey (and get SUPER TIRED!), so I started taking a supplement that has a little bit of caffeine in it, just enough to keep me from getting the headaches.  And that did it.  I started with 3 a day of that (it's Nature's Sunshine's Metabomax Plus.  There's also Metabomax Free, which has no caffeine at all, which I'm going to switch to), and now I'm down to just one a day.  It is only 20 mg of caffeine, so I shouldn't have much trouble eliminating that completely.

So I've accomplished at least one good goal through this cleanse!  I wish I could say I did more.  Maybe I did, I know sometimes you can't see or feel health changes right away.  So I guess we'll see how things go over the next few months!

Cleanse - Day twenty one

The last couple days, yesterday and today (I think it started the day before, which is why I didn't feel like writing anything), I've been feeling a bit down.  I think it's just hormones, but I wish it would stop.  It could be worse, but ... yeah, still.

Anyway.  I'm starting to wish I could like hire someone to help motivate me!  LOL  Just tell me what to do and when to do it hahaha.  Oh wait, I guess that would be my boss, wouldn't it????  Ok ok, see, I just gotta be my OWN boss sometimes and tell MYSELF what to do and DO it!

So anyway, about the cleanse.  I'm more than half way through now.  On the way back down I'm going to cut back differently - instead of changing by one pill a day, I'm going down by 3 a day every 3 days, so I can keep track more easily.  I kept forgetting how many to take, how many I had already taken, etc.  So, for example, today I took 15 pills, and I will take 15 today, tomorrow and the next day.  Then 12, then 8, then 6, then 3.  That way I take the same number each time I take them, but I just take that number for more days in a row.  It ends up the same number of capsules, just easier to keep track of!

I know that might sound confusing, but maybe next time I do a cleanse, I'll do it that way from the beginning and I'll explain it from the beginning :-)

So yeah, I hope I feel better tomorrow.