Back To The Whole Reason I Started This Blog

I started this blog about a year and a half ago to talk about my struggles and triumphs of balancing living a handmade and natural life.  I feel like this blog has gotten a little away from that, probably partly because I have gotten away from living my life like that.  I have been struggling to follow through with some of my beliefs that got me started writing this blog.  I feel like lately all I have been writing about is my diet, and even though that is part of what I had hoped to talk about on this blog, it is not all I wanted to talk about.  I guess, in order to remind myself why I started this blog, I want to write a few bullet points on what living a handmade and natural life means to me.

1. Diet:  I want to eat as seasonally and as locally as possible.  I know that there are going to be times that I can't or won't do this, but in the long run, eating this way is a much healthier way to eat.  I want and need to find recipes that are based on eating local/seasonal foods.  I know that there are a few books out there, I just need to find good ones.  Currently, I have "Clean Eating" and am looking to get "Clean Start" by the same author.  I am also working on moving toward a vegan diet.  I have been starting my day off with raw green smoothies.  I feel like I do so much better if I start of the right way.  I am going to try to plan a menu for the month of March up front instead of flying by the seat of my pants and trying to figure out what to make each night.  This has been a goal of mine for a while now, but I just never seem to follow through.  My other goal is to finally eliminate all of the potential allergens that cam back on my blood test.  Again, I've attempted to do this, but lack the follow through.
2. Handmade Things: I want to start to make more things myself.  This includes food, but so much more.  I don't want to always rely on going to large stores to get what I need.  There are going to be times that I need to do this for financial reasons, but my goal is to buy supplies to make the end product, not by the end product out right.  I also want to make sure that I find time to create.  Making things myself will force me to find the time to actually make the things I need.  I guess that would be the other piece of how I want to live; I only want what I need.  I don't want to have that feeling of needing to have something just because I want it!  I also want to use what I have, not go out and buy more supplies.  The only way I want to buy more, is if I run out of something or I absolutely need to buy something to make a project.  I would rather choose a different project than buy new supplies adding to all the stuff that I already have and then I can save money too!
3. Living Green: I am trying to live as green as possible.  Some of the things that I have already mentioned fit this, but there are many other things that I can do.  I need to make sure that I continue to recycle.  I need to use my reusable bags more often.  I try really hard, but sometimes I go shopping and I don't have them.  I need to start composting again.  I try to reuse ends of veggies to make veggie stock.  I feel like this way, I am using all of the food not just part of it. Since I pay for it all, I should use it all.  Also, why buy veggies to make stock and then throw them out when I can use veggies that I would have thrown out if not for the stock.  And then, Why spend money on stock with who knows what type of ingredients, when you can make your own and now what is in there.
4. Exercise: I want to start exercising and including my kids in the process.  Hopefully, with March starting tomorrow, the weather will start warming up and we can get out for walks.  Even if it doesn't so much warm up, I need the snow o be gone so that I can push the double stroller safely.  What I really need to do is find some good DVDs with mom and kid exercises that we can do together when the weather is bad.  I think it will be a good thing for the kids to do to get out some of that pent up energy that they have not being able to go outside.  I also want to add in some yoga for me and for the kids!  When the weather gets better, I want to start bringing the kids to Breakhart and places like that.  I will definitely need another adult or two with me, but I want to add being in and enjoying nature to the exercise mix.
5. Living a Wholesome Balanced Life: I want to incorporate everything that I have written here as well as continuing to use natural body products and home cleaning products.  I want to continue to use more natural remedies for the different things that ail me.  For example, this weekend, I felt the beginning tingle of a cold sore.  Since I was up at 4am, I started my lysine regime right away.  I am amazed that I neer got the traditional blister that i aways get.  I must have caught it at the right time because two days later I do not have a cold sore!  I have been using my own deodorant (baking soda, cornstarch, coconut oil and essential oils).  I want to get back to making my own toothpaste (baking soda, salt and maybe some essential oils).  I will continue to try to not use shampoo when washing my hair, but if I need shampoo, I will use those without sodium laurel/laureth sulfate.  I want to start making my own soap (I need to get my husband's cousin to do it with me so I can learn the right way).  I want to start making more of my own cleaning supplies.  I know that I have a bunch of recipes printed out, but now I need to start making them. 

I'm sure that there is a ton more that I can write.  I won't bore anyone that reads this with more things that I want to do to change my life.  This is really an outline for what I want to do with my life so that I can start living the way that I want to live.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post.  This felt really good to write and I think I need to do this every so often so that I write down my goals of how I want to live.  My next posts won't be nearly as long and won't be nearly as boring.

Amy

The Binge Monster

I just read "How to break up with your binge monster" over at http://thedailydietribe.com and  so much rang true with me.  Just last night, as my previous post states, I totally had a binge moment.  I had eaten/drank a raw green smoothie for breakfast, but that was it until 3:30 pm when my husband got cookies.  Then I went to work and has a personal pizza, then came home and had some chicken and salad (the only good semi healthy part of my binge), then I went on to eat 3 english muffins with butter and jelly.  So not good.  I just craved food and gave into to everything that I wanted.  Today was a little better, but on my way to work, I totally screwed up.  I, again, started my day with a raw green smoothie,  then we had errands to run.  I hate cookies on the way, but only 3 (as if that is ok).  I did eat a salad for lunch which was a decent decision, but then on my way to work I bought 2, yes 2, muffins, one cranberry walnut that I ate on the way and a chocolate dream with chocolate frosting (which I only ate half and threw the other half right away).  The muffins were not a good decision.  Bad on all fronts for me.  There is way too much sugar, wheat, dairy, and just generally unhealthy ingredients.  Sometimes, I just can't say no.

I think I need to have a talk with my monster.  I think literally a talk.  I want to say out loud, that I will no longer eat things that hurt me.  I want to tell my monster to leave me alone and that even though he thinks he is giving me what I need, all he is doing is causing me pain.  Like Iris over at http://thedailydietribe.com mentioned, this is going to be an ongoing battle (ok the battle part is from me), but as time goes on, I will see my monster slowly but surely backing off and not coming around as much, hopefully some day never to return.

When I go home tonight, I am sure I will snack, but I want to make sure that I snack on something healthy.  I will be snacking on carrot sticks and hummus, one of my new favorite snacks.  I will be looking to eliminate wheat, gluten, and dairy from my diet as well as the other foods that are at least 3 on my blood test.  I am thinking, not only will I be healthier, but I will hopefully lose weight and have more energy.  The other thing that I need to do for my health is increase my exercise.  Hopefully the nice weather will be here before I know it and I can go for walk with the kids.  At least if the snow melts, I can get out with the stroller and walk, since right now there is no room on the sidewalks for a double wide stroller and there is little to no way I can fit in time to exercise with the kids around.  Maybe I just need to get out of bed earlier.

I think the other thing that will help with my diet is to keep busy.  I have many projects to work on and could be reading mroe blogs!  If I keep my mind and my hands busy, maybe then I won't snack or at least be tempted to snack on things that are unhealthy for me to be eating.  Plus, I love to read blogs, I love to work on projects and I have a ton of books that I can read!

Amy, who promises not to keep ruminating on my diet and diet failures!

Blogging

This blog seems to have become a public place for me to talk about my struggles/failures/set backs with my diet. I will admit that it is also a place where I can writebabout the few successes that I have. For example, I started my day out just the way I wanted to and had a great green smoothie. Unfortunately that is all I had until about 3:30 this afternoon when I down a bunch of cookies. Granted they were Newman's so they were better quality, but they were still cookies. Then, to make matters worse, I got pizza at work. The one positive is that I did not get soda. I don't think I had soda all day, pretty impressive! Writing this you would think that things can't get much worse, but yes they can! I came home and had 3, yes 3 english muffins with butter and jam. I totally started my day out great, yet I totally failed the rest of the day. I also had salad with chicken. Not so bad you say, but I am trying to cut out meat. Yes, tomorrow is another day, and I will be making some positive changes, but I am really disappointed in how thugs went today. I will definitely be starting out my day with my green smoothie and hopefully, I can end my day and look back and say that I had a great day. No excuses, but today was a little busy, I just should have made better choices! I'm off to read more blogs and get more inspiration. Maybe some day, I'll have people that follow and comment, but for now this is a great place to document my trials and tribulations of eating healthy, living green, making and creating handmade items, and teaching all of this to my kids.

For those of you who read and don't comment, thank you for reading! If you'd like to take a moment and comment, I would love it. Thank you for ny support that you can give!

Amy

Some Progress

So I have made some progress with my diet changes.  I have been having a green smoothie every day, at least at some point during the day.  If I can eat it for breakfast, it really helps me to think about what else goes in my mouth for the rest of the day.  I have actually been able to lose a few pounds.  Nothing grand, but my docotor noticed it when I took the kids to their appointment today!  I need to make sure that I keep drinking my raw green smoothies and then coninue to make more changes as time goes on.  I need to continue to remove dairy from my diet and now I need to add gluten to that for both me and the kids.

Eliminating dairy for the kids has been an absolute success in my mind.  Michael is breathing better, sleeping better, more social, less skin issues etc.  Why would I ever give him dairy again?  The other two kids are also not ingesting any dairy either, but there have not been as marked chages in them as with Michael!  Eva Rose is not gainign weight like one would expect, but really seems to be doing well with every day life.  The boys are still on the small side, but seem to be growing on their curve.  Their doctor said that their head circumference is on target which is a good sign.  I'm really not worried.  I have come to realize that I don't have chucky monkey babies.  I have small skinny active babies that just would rather be on the move than eat.

As of right now, I am exhausted.  I really need to make a point of going to bed early tonight.  Befoe I do that, I really need to plan out my grocery list for tomorrow.  I need to have a plan in place to buy the food that I need for the week and not over spend on things that will just get wasted.  I need to plan some meat meals for the kids so that they will have a little bit better of an intake.  I need to plan more bean meals for me and my husband.  I need to plan some non dairy, non gluten desserts/snacks that will help keep me on track and do better for the kids.  Hopefully another post soon will be total progress, not just some.

I really need to work on my for my swap.  I need to get some tuck in together and get the package ready to mail.  I love doing swaps since it forces me to complete projects.  I have so many projects in the works it isn't even funny.  I'll just keep plugging away and hopefully get some more completed!

Amy

Does This Mean Anything?

Is this a coincidence or is it real?  For the last week, that is except for today and yesterday, I have been having raw green smoothies for breakfast.  I am used to eating some sort of carb for breakfast, but I had been trying to starrt my day off right so that maybe I would make better choices for the rest of the day.  Prior to making this change in my diet, I had been having pretty rough sinus type headaches.  Once I started having the raw green smoothies, I noticed I was no longer waking up with a headache.  I was getting over a cold, so I was not sure if my diet change had anything to do with not having anymoer headaches or if I was finally over my cold.  I haven't had a headache since, that is until today.  I have had a slight headache off and on all day.  It's not the piercing headache that I was having before, but none the less an anoying headache.  The funny thing is, yesterday and today I did not have my raw green smoothie for breakfast.  I did have 2 glasses last night before bed and then a 1/2 glass after my pancakes this morning.  Yesterday I had french toast.  I find it interesting that now that I started my day off with starchy carbs, my headache is back.  It's probably just a coincidence, but just in case,  I am back to my raw green smoothie for breakfast tomorrow and nothing else.  No more carbs in the morning.  Ok, no more gluten or wheat or any of the other grains that i shouldn't be eating, in the morning.  Actually no more of the grans that I shouldn't be eating ever.  I think the headache today made me realize that I really need to do something with my diet, never mind that I have lost about 6 pounds without dieting, just making lifestyle changes!

I am still researching and enjoying reading others blogs.  I love how many people out there are dealing with food issues and that they are sharing their struggles and what has helped them.  After seeing how much of a role dairy played in my older son's breathing difficulty, I am more aware of how food affects people.  I almost pushed for my son to have surgery, tonsillectomy and maybe even an adenoidectomy, and all I had to do was eliminate milk from his diet to notice a very noticable improvement to his breathing.  The best part is, others have noticed it too, so I know that it is not just me wanting to believe that there has been a change!  I am also wondering if citrus may be another trigger for my kids since they have recently been eating a ton of oranges and are again having diaper rashes.  I know we need to have them offically tested for allergies, but my anecdoctal information says that they are having issues with certain foods.  Now, I just need to maintain our dairy free diet and add a gluten free, citrus free, probably sugar free diet to what we eat.  I am really interested to see what role more diet changes play in our lives!  If anyone has good blogs regarding healthy eating, please pass them on. 

I have a little more information on my mom's cancer diagnosis.  At this time, she has stage 1 grade 2 breast cancer.  This means that the tumor was small, only about 0.9cm (about 3/4 in) and that it is semi-aggressive in nature.  It is an invasive form of cancer, so she will be having an MRI to see if the cancer has spread any where else in her body.  After that, she needs to have a lymph node biopsy, which will help to determine what type of treatment she has.  Then after that, she will have the BRCA test to see if she carries the gene for breast cancer.  This is actually pretty scary for me since I know that my great grandmother, my grandmother and her twin, and now my mom have all had breast cancer.  If she does not have the gene I will be very surprised (no one else in my grandmother's family had breast cancer except for her twin sister), but you never know.  This diagnosis has also made me re-evaluate my eating habits.  I still don't always make the best choices, but I know that whatever changes I make are going to be lifestyle changes, not just momentary changes.  I will be 38 this summer and I have 3 small children.  Thankfully, it seems as if breast cancer tends to hit after menopause in my family, but the time is now to make the changes, not wait until something happens.  Right now, I'm all about prevention.  Any suggestions on cancer preventing diets is always helpful and very much appreciated!

Here's to making lifestyle changes that will help me be a healthier happier person and making them stick!
Amy

Thought Provoking

As I've written, I am looking to make some huge changes in my lifestyle.  This includes many things, but one of the biggest areas I am looking to change is my diet.  For a few years, I have been wanting to eat a more vegan diet, but I never thought I could give up meat.  Then my husband's doctor recommended that he start eating a more plant based diet so we did.  I am amazed at how much I don't have the desire for steak.  Don't get me wrong, I still eat meat more than I want to, but I am eating way more beans and grains than I ever have.  I started adding in a green smoothie every morning and am feeling so much better now that I am not carb loading my body from the start.  Again, I still need to make major changes in my eating habits, but slow and steady wins the race, right? 

I just finished reading a post at http://sweetlyraw.com/ about how the author is no longer 100% raw vegan.  I was very impressed with her blog and very impressed with most of the comments.  Many people commented on her bravery for coming out and saying that she is no longer 100% raw vegan and that they are so happy that she is listening to her body.  I too want to commend her for listening to her body and eating what she feels her body needs.  One of my biggest goals with my diet is to get my body into a state where I can trust it to tell me waht it needs.  I think that I have too many allergies/intolerances right now as well as some food addictions (which probably play right into the allergy piece) to trust my bosy to tell me what it needs.  I have msotly eliminated dairy from my diet and I think it really has helped.  I know that it has helped my children, and I don't know that i want to try them back on dairy, especially my older son who seemed to have some fairly significant breathing issues from it.  I now want to eliminate the other foods that I seem to react to and see how I feel.  I think once I get into a healthy state, I will be able to listen to my body to tell me what it needs, and I will then feed it the food that it craves because I believe at that point I wll be able to trust it!  I think that I need to not be too hard on myself with my eating.  I know that I need to give myself credit for the chnages that i have made no matter how small.  I also know that I need to continue to work on finding the right diet for me, as I also believe tht no one diet fits everyone!

Amy

Changing One's Lifestyle

So, if you have been reading, you know that I am having some difficulty with my diet and other aspects of change in my life.  I am trying to make some pretty big lifestyle changes that I think will benefit both me and my family.  Again, if you have been reading you know my mom was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  We found out today, that it is an invasive, semi-aggressive cancer.  For me, this makes me concerned for her, concerned for me and my sisters and concerned for my niece and my daughter.  As of now, 3 generations in a direct line have had breast cancer, this includes my great grandmother, my grandmother and her twin sister, and now my mom.  There are also a number of other health issues that make me want to start changing my lifestyle now, while I am in my late 30's vs waiting for something to happen and then start making the changes.  The biggest lifestyle changes are: diet, exercise, organization, and attempting to limit my stress.

Diet:

With regards to my diet, I am attempting to move more towards a plant based diet with some raw foods added in.  I think that eating a more vegan diet will help my overall health and also since I seem not to tolerate dairy well, I think it will specifically help my digestion.  I have been making a green smoothie for breakfast every day this week and have to say that since I have been doing that, I no longer have the daily headache that I was having for more than a week.  Now, that just might be a coincidence since I was recovering form a monstrous cold/flu and was definitely dealing with sinus issues, but I haven't had a headaches since at least Monday, if not before that.  Either way, I am no longer starting my day off with the carb loaded breakfast that I was used to.  I think just starting off my day with something good and healthy is the right way to start any changes.  I am still having some set backs, but given how I was eating before, I am finding that I am overall heating a more healthy diet, and I think I owe it all to starting my day off right!

Exercise:

I don't really have much to say on this yet.  The winter here in the Boston area has been terrible.  If we had had so much snow, I would have bundled the 3 kids up and taken them for walks, but there is just too much snow, and I am sure that the side walks would never fit a double wide stroller.  And, having 3 kids with the oldest not quite 3, certainly makes exercising in the home that much more difficult.  Since we are nearing the end of February, I am looking forward to the spring thaw.  I can't wait to be able to get out with the kids and just walk.  Maybe this will even be the year that I start running (wouldn't that be a nice goal to complete?).  Now that the kids are older (right now they are 2 and almost 3), I'd like to maybe start taking them into the local hiking trails and going for mini hikes with them.  I am going to try to set aside time to exercise in the house and see if I can include the kids in that process!

Organization:

Just a quick little note on organization.  Right now, things are a little chaotic with changing schedules.  We had cleaned up nicely for the twins' birthday party, then Tom and I got sick and the house was left a little more than it should have been.  Now it's time to get back on track and keep it that way.  This goal will ultimately help with the other goals that I want to work on.

Stress Relief:

This is, in large part, something that I really want to make a priority.  Again, eating right, exercising, and being organized are all going to play a major role in this goal.  I want to keep making sure that I find time for my hobbies.  I think that in general, people don't take enough time to actually do the things that they enjoy.  for me, this is doing something crafty.  That means, while I am sitting watching tv, (or even better turn the tv off and do a project) I pull out some knitting, sewing, scrapbooking etc and work on completing the project at hand.  I also want to actually start meditating and doing yoga.  I just need to make time for this practice.  I also want to make sure that I take time to spend alone time with my husband to ensure that our relationship stays strong.

Conclusion:
These are just some of the goals that I have in my head.  I would also like to learn more about diet and nutrition.  I am enjoying reading people blogs and finding out what are good resources to have to make the dietary changes that I want to make.  I am so looking forward to meeting these goals and starting to make new ones.  For now, though, I am working towards making changes that I can maintain in the long run!

Amy

Second Post of the Night: My Diet

So this is my second post of the night.  Too Much?  Maybe, but I want to make sure that I write down my successes and my failures/set backs.  One of the big successes that I have had is drinking my green smoothie in the morning instead of my usual pancakes, french toast, bagel, etc.  I have been throwing a bunch of fruit including, bananas, oranges, berries, granny smith apples and blending them with water and then I've been adding some swiss chard for the greens.  It's been pretty satisfying along with my tea.  I haven't had any coffee for a few weeks now.  For a little while, I was still drinking coffee once in a while, but then I realized I really no longer liked the taste, it was more of a habit than anything.  I still am having trouble with eating a healthy lunch, but today I had left over rice and beans and really enjoyed it.  I also had it for dinner.  I am thinking that the left overs are so much better since the spices sit and flavor the rice and beans more.  I can't wait for tomorrow when I get to eat tonight's left overs. 

I really need to get books on how to make my own recipes.  things like, what spices go together, ratios of different ingredients.  I want to be more adventurous and creative with my cooking.  I don't want to just follow a recipe.  I want to come up with my own recipe.  I am thinking that Asian style food is the way that I tend to like to eat so I need to learn more about that style of cooking.  I am also definitely trying to lean more vegan and even somewhat raw in the different recipes that I make.  Hopefully one of these days, I will have this way of eating become a lifestyle. I don't want to ever diet again.  I want to maintain healthy eating habits so that my lifestyle ensures that I maintain my weight and my health remains good.

As for se backs, I won't write about them now.  I am going to forget about them and move forward.  I have a meeting to go to tonight and I am going to be good with what I eat.  Hopefully , there will be healthy foods and not just junk food.  If there is only junk food, I will really need to evaluate if I really need to eat it, probably not.

Hopefully I get a few readers to help me on my journey with this blog.  If not, this is my place to come clean and share with who ever reads this, the struggles of living a handmade and natural life.  Good living is not all about diet.  It's about following your passions, living a healthy active life, maintaining private time with your significant other, maintaining family time, nurturing and maintaining friendships, having hobbies, and just living a happy life.

BTW-one of the benefits, at least I am assuming it's from changing my diet (at least a little) is today was the first day in over a week that I did not have a head ache at all.  No ibuprofen today.  I was actually getting worried.  I had never had that many headaches in a row.

Amy

For the first time, I'm joining in with the Christian Homekeeper and writing about Spring time plans.  I think I need a plan and something to look forward to, hoping that spring comes here soon!




This week’s Homekeeper’s Journal is about Spring Time Plans.


In my kitchen, I plan to ….. Keep making green smoothies and increase my raw and vegan foods!

Plans with the children ….. I can't wait for spring to take the kids out to the park and let them run and play and get some of their energy out!  I just want to be outside with them!
Plans with the husband ….. I can't wait to start exercising with my husband again.  I also want to make time to have us time, maybe even more date nights or more consistent date nights
Plans for my house ….. Spring Cleaning and organizing.  Along with that I want to go through some of my extra things and either find a home for them or get rid of them.  Then I want to maintain the organization and clean house atmosphere.

Garden Plans ….. My husband and I need to sit down and plan out what we want to plant this year. This will be our second year with a garden and I would really like to plant things that we will eat and not have too much of one thing and not enough of another.  I am hoping that the kids will be better this year so that I can enjoy gardening with my husband.  I also want to work on my flower gardens and get them a  little more presentable.
Other Plans ….. I want to make sure that I keep time for my many projects that I either have started or that have the supplies to start but haven't made that leap of starting yet.

I may need to check out the "homekeeper's journal" more often and try to write about the current topic.  Now I just need to make sure that I attempt to maintain these goals!

Amy

Diet

As I predicted, the last 2 days were not all that great for my diet.Wakes and funerals will do that to you expecially those of an Italian family.  The one positive is that I did start my day off yesterday with a green smoothie, pretty awesome if you ask me.  As there should be nothing that should get in my way, I am off to get back on the wagon with my diet and do the right thing!

I found out today that my mother was just diagnosed with breast cancer.  This means, my great grandmotehr, my grandmother, and now my mother have all had breast cancer (my grandmother's twin sister also had breast cancer).  My grandmother died from metastesized breast cancer after having a double mastectomy (each mastectomy was a few years apart form the other).  The positive, if there ever is a positive with cancer, is that every one of them got breast cancer post menopausal, which is a better time to get breast cancer if you are going to get it.

I had already decided that I was going to change my eating habits, lose weight and exercise and be healthier all around.  This diagnosis confirms my need to do this.  My next goal is to research what is the best diet to prevent cancer in general, as well as breast cancer specifically.  I know that you should maintain a healthy weight with a BMI of 25 or below, exercise regularly, eat cruciferous veggies and good carbs, eat hormone free meat, and I'm sure there is more, I just need to find out what it is!

It pretty much has me totally freaked out that 3 generations of females in a row in my family have had breast cancer.  The fact that my grandmother died of breast cancer and now that my mother has it really scares me.  My mother is getting tested for the breast cancer gene.  I will be very surprised if she doesn't have it since there is obviously a pretty significant family history, or at least it's significant to me!  There is way too much cancer in my family for me not to take this seriously as well as other issues.  My uncle dies of heart disease and he was only 5 years older than I am now.  My farther died of suicide, again at the age I will be in 5 years.  I really need to watch my diet and my mood and make sure that I keep myself as healthy (all around)as I can be!

There will be more on my diet changes as the days progress and I get more research done.  I'm sure that I am over reacting to a certain extent as this news is just so new.  I just need to do everything in my power to keep myself healthy especially since I have little ones!  The one change that I have made is I have had 2 mornings where I had a green smoothie for breakfast.  I was really impressed that I was able to only have that for breakfast.  Now I just need to maintain this and add on more changes to my diet! 

I am also now even happier that I am making my own deodorant, my own creams, and using shampoo (when I actually shampoo my hair) that doesn't have chemicals in it, as well as using good soap without chemicals (and I will be learning how to make my own soap!), and just basically using good prodcuts that go on our largest organ, our skin!

Amy

Healthy Eating

Wow, I wasn't kidding when I said I have food addictions.  I am actually amazed at how significant they are.  I actually went to Mc Donald's for lunch today with the kids.  How bad is that?  I write how I am going to start eating healthier and I take my kids to Mc Donald's.  This really has to stop.  As of right now, not tomorrow, not in the next couple of hours but right now, I am going to change my eating.  I have been reading too many blogs of people who have made the changes and made them stick to not make the change myself.  There is no turning back.  Unfortunately, I am going to a wake and a funeral the next 2 days and they will have a ton of food there.  I am not looking forward to not eating all of the foods that I will want to eat, but I really need to start these changes and I can no longer say "I'll do it tomorrow" or "I'll do it when the time it right".  There is no right time.  The right time is now.  I want to start my day off with a green smoothie, and maybe even have another one for lunch.  I need to plan how to deal with the wake and the food after the wake, but if I have a plan in place, I know I can handle it.  If I am thinking that I want to, someday, maybe do nutritional counseling, I really need to focus on getting my own health and life in order.  I need to start exercising too and I will, but I just need to focus on the eating piece right now and then I will get the exercise piece down too.  It all goes hand in hand.  If I eat right I will have energy for exercising.  If I exercise, I'll want to continue to eat right.  no more Mc Donald's.  The last thing I need to do is get my kids hooked on that kind of crap!  I think the next thing I need to do is get a plan in place, what do I need to do to get to what my goals are.  Actually, I should probably get my goals prepared and then figure out how to get there.  My next step is to write down my goals and then write down exactly what I am going to do to meet my goals.  Wish me luck.  I am off to do some goal setting and then some research on how to meet those goals!

Amy

Inspiration

Am I inspired and if so, to do what?  I am inspired, but the problem is I tend to lose any energy to put my inspiration to good use.  Why do I lose inspiration?  That is the obvious question.  What is not obvious is the answer.  I have all these dreams and goals, but I don't ever seem to put them to good use.  Yes, I am a busy mom of 3, but I tend to lose focus.  I start off with the best of intentions and then, I totally lose it! 

One of the things thatI am inspired to do, is change my eating.  I start off doing well, then I lose it.  The thing is, I think that my diet, may have something to do with my lasck of energy, my lack of focus.  I really want to cut out gluten, dairy and probably yeast from my diet.  I really need to eat a anti-candida diet and see if that gives me any more focus and energy.  For the life of me, other than thinking that I am struggling with food addictions, I can not figure out why I can't eat the way I want to.  It's not like I don't like the food, it's more that I like the other foods more.  It's more that I can't stop eating the other foods.  I try going slow, but then I just explode and everything goes horrible.  I read all these blogs about people who have made changes and feel so much better.  Why can't I make the changes too.

I am also inspired to be more creative, I just can't seem to find the time or the energy to pull out my supplies.  I should give myself some credit here though.  I have been trying to be really good about fitting in some creative time every week and I have been able to do that, just not as often as I would like and more rushed than I would like vs being an enjoyable activity.

I would like to be more green in my life.  I do well at times, but then I don't do any where near as well as I would like.  I want to be less reliant on commercial stores and use more thrift items.  I want to make better choices when it comes to food, energy, and recycling.  I am really trying hard not to buy new, trying to cook at home (healthy meals), trying to not use energy sucking appliances, and trying to reduce, re-use and recycle and up-cycle.

Some of these activities are things that I would love to translate into a profession.  I know that i could go back to school and get an art therapy degree, a nutrition degree, go to cooking school for alternative cooking (not just the basic cooking that I can already do), sell my creations, and I'm sure there are more, I just have to think outside the box.  The thing is I have to get my body and mind to have the energy and the focus to decide what it is that I want to do for a career!  After writing this (which is one of the reasons I like this blog), I am thinking that I really need to focus on my diet and see if that helps with my energy and my focus in other areas.  I guess the next step is for me to start cutting out dairy, wheat, gluten and all the other potential allergens/intolerances that I may have and start eating a more vegan diet as well as an anti-candida diet and start to see if I feel better.  I need to focus on my food addictions (at least the ones that I think I have) and really be good at not eating them so that I don't get into the habit of eating things that are not good for me.  I am thinking I may even start eating green smoothies as a way to just start this whole process.  I will be sure to write about the different changes to my diet and how these changes are affecting my whole life.  The one things that I will always take from my social work education is that people are multi-faceted and that all the different areas of our life affect who we are.  When we make changes in one area, it can have either positive or negative effects in other areas.  I know what I need to do, now I just need to do it!

Amy

Finished Apron Swap

Finally!  I got to the post office before the next storm is scheduled to hit the Boston area tomorrow.  I really hope my partner likes her apron.  I attempted a new pattern that I thought was really cute.  I added in 2 pot holders that coordinated with the apron, some stickers, a set of heart cards, heart cookie cutters, heart doilies, a faux vintage pin, a small vintage looking calendar, a few heart shaped lollipops, and a few pieces of chocolate.

Enjoy,

Amy