My Three Goals!

Well, today is the day. I was up extra early to meet with my Yourishment group. We had a small meeting in front of La Taza (with the campfire going!!) before the sun had much of a start.

Coach Ivana handed out a basic do's and don'ts foods list to go by and led a brief session during which we made a few "first month" goals. I made three:

1) Exercise for 30 minutes 5 days a week.
2) Significantly reduce, if not eliminate, sugar and flour aka "white foods" from my diet.
3) Work on one activity away from the computer, AND away from work, while at home.

The first goal has been tough to do. I've been semi-successful at it since beginning the gym in February; however, I mean to step it up and get it done. 30 minutes for 5 out of 7 days really isn't that much time to take out of my day. If I'm eating well, and my thyroid starts behaving better, I may more readily have the energy to do this in the coming days so I have made it my want to be at 30 mins/5 days by 9/30/11. I have a month to conquer this. I started working out in February and have waffled my progress since, so this is a new start. I have LOTS of new starts in my personal file. What's one more?

Goal two is kind of ludicrous on the surface; however, I know that a lot of my problems can be pinned to glucose and I don't want to entertain any problems with glucose!! My mom, my grandmother, they are/were both diabetic. I have the genes to follow that path unless I figure out the way things work (or don't) in my system and eliminate what's not working for me.

So, step one is to reduce and eventually eliminate sugars, flour and other high carb foods from my meals. I've done so today and it has been hard to do! I'm realizing that there's hardly anything that exists in the world aside from celery that provides crunch when you eliminate flour from your diet. No crunchy pretzels. No crackers. No bread rolls with a crunchy top. Mouth watering yet? The no crunchy stuff but salads items is an annoying idea. I have a feeling I am going to go through withdrawal. You may need to shut me in a closet for month one. :)

Eventually, I may be able to reintroduce some carbs into my life... things with natural sugar like apples (which I love) and things like that. But, first I plan to make my body a clean slate - so to speak - and then introduce foods one at a time so I can gauge the reaction... does it make me tired? does it make my glucose go whacky? does it affect my blood pressure? etc. So, I'm calling this time period a cleansing. It may be a while before I get to eat doughy anything again...but let's see if I can swing it for the month. One thing at a time, right?

My third goal is to do something other than WORK when I'm at home here. I work so much. I work TOO much on all kinds of things and end up being scattered, leave things unfinished, don't have time for things that take time to nurture, etc. I want to choose a few things I enjoy doing and do them... like watercolor painting or just plain old painting items, or drawing, or put something together, or decorate something, or break out the hot glue gun - I can't sew a stitch, but I can glue anything!

I'd like to get into a few things I learned while at group, alas this is already getting long and I've got dinner going. I'll save that chat for the next time. :) What's for dinner, you ask?

Chicken and Bok Choy stir fry with a little vegetable stock, soy sauce, ginger, garlic & a tiny tiny sprinkle of sesame.