The last three weeks of being on a low-sugar lifestyle change have been eye-opening, to say the least! Saying no to the old way of eating (mindlessly, mostly) and bringing in the new way (completely, constantly mindful) is not easy. It’s even more difficult when feeding four snack-addicted youngsters, and to further complicate the transition, we’re doing it all on a tight budget! Well, at least we’re figuring out that it can be done.
It has taken a large amount of creativity, little dose of patience, and a well-deserved and strategically planned cheat or two to make something like this work for the whole family. For example, tonight my thoughtful husband got us out of the house and over to McDonald’s, one of our family’s favorite haunts “pre-low-sugar diet.” I had a sugar-free cappuccino, which curtailed my annoying sweet tooth, and the girls and I shared frozen yogurt sundaes. Not too much damage done, while my growing obsession with something sweet is quenched.
Gigi, my bread lover, still gets to eat her carbs, just less of them. She is finding the transition smoother than she first thought it would be when she stood horrified as I threw all the “crap” that was in the pantry into the trash three weeks ago! She is relieved that I am finding creative solutions to meet her bottomless need for all things carbohydrates, even as I sneak more protein into her previously sugar-infested diet.
The variety in our diet as a family has not been eliminated; in fact, we are finding that we are getting more creative with the foods we are allowed to eat. We eat more “colorful” food now, beautifully full salads and soups, loaded with such delicacies as avocado, cheeses in all forms, and crisp, fresh nuts. I was also so happy to get guiltless permission to enjoy my occasional bacon again, and the once a week red meat serving in the form of a juicy steak is always a pleasure!
So, as we are finding, in the deprivation there is reward, similar to walking closer with Christ, right? As we die to the flesh, we find less really is more, and the small things matter more. The taste of some pure chocolate now, in a small bite, is more fulfilling to my palate than a full size candy bar used to be; that sinful treat always leaving guilt as an aftertaste.
As we enter our fourth week as a low-sugar, low-carb eating family, we have renewed commitment and an excited expectation as our waists are shrinking and our energy levels increasing. No more rise and fall all day long, of sugar levels and emotions! More stability, less irregularity. We can do this!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
New Habits, New Health
Frankly, I am shocked at my “progress” with this brand new health and lifestyle change my family and I have implemented this year. I emphasize the word progress because the scale doesn’t say anything different than last year’s weight yet. The clothes I yearn to try on without popping the front button off don’t fit me – yet. No, nothing has visibly changed as of now. On the outside, that is. Inside, however, there is change – and it’s good!
We began a low sugar, carb counting regimen early last week, and we are already noticing substantial improvement in energy and sleeping habits. Right before I began this plan, I was not sleeping much at all, averaging just four or five hours a night, due to a busy mind, and restlessness. I also was dragging all day, napping at least three days a week, and always off balance in the “regularity area!” The funny thing was, I wasn’t concerned about any of these symptoms, or how to improve them, because I had gotten so used to them and was assuming they were the norm!
So when we cut our sugar intake down to 15 grams a day, and carbs down to six or less servings a day (a serving is 0-20 grams per helping), we thought we would have withdrawal or something. Nope, nothing. Not even a headache! The tiredness and drag disappeared almost immediately (maybe two days in?), I have no bloating, gassiness or any other digestive malady (I had forgotten what it is like to “go” normally!) I’m sleeping like a baby every night, getting up with alertness (that’s before my coffee!) and going all day, no dragging or napping. It’s weird, feeling this good, I feel young again! I had heard that saying before, but never really knew how much it meant until now!
I have also been exercising –and if you really know me, you know that I DESPISE exercising! So, what I told myself was, if I just do something active for twenty minutes or more every day, then I could do it. I couldn’t just come out of the resolution gate, “working out” three times a week, I had to convince myself just to get up, get out, and move for a few minutes every day, and it would be better than nothing! So the first day, I rode bicycles with my kids around the block a couple times, the next day, I walked fast for twenty minutes with my husband, and by the third day, while walking with my friend, I was starting to get excited. I could do this exercise thing! We pounded the pavement for an hour, and I didn’t even realize it!
So, I am on the road to improvement, twenty minutes at a time. 15 grams of sugar at a time. One day at a time. That’s the moral of the story, really – just start some kind of an improvement , any improvement, and take it one step at a time! That will put you on the road to success, and that’s a road we all can travel in 2011!
What about you? Are you tackling a healthy new lifestyle too? Tell me what you're trying, and how you're feeling! I want to share in your success with you!
We began a low sugar, carb counting regimen early last week, and we are already noticing substantial improvement in energy and sleeping habits. Right before I began this plan, I was not sleeping much at all, averaging just four or five hours a night, due to a busy mind, and restlessness. I also was dragging all day, napping at least three days a week, and always off balance in the “regularity area!” The funny thing was, I wasn’t concerned about any of these symptoms, or how to improve them, because I had gotten so used to them and was assuming they were the norm!
So when we cut our sugar intake down to 15 grams a day, and carbs down to six or less servings a day (a serving is 0-20 grams per helping), we thought we would have withdrawal or something. Nope, nothing. Not even a headache! The tiredness and drag disappeared almost immediately (maybe two days in?), I have no bloating, gassiness or any other digestive malady (I had forgotten what it is like to “go” normally!) I’m sleeping like a baby every night, getting up with alertness (that’s before my coffee!) and going all day, no dragging or napping. It’s weird, feeling this good, I feel young again! I had heard that saying before, but never really knew how much it meant until now!
I have also been exercising –and if you really know me, you know that I DESPISE exercising! So, what I told myself was, if I just do something active for twenty minutes or more every day, then I could do it. I couldn’t just come out of the resolution gate, “working out” three times a week, I had to convince myself just to get up, get out, and move for a few minutes every day, and it would be better than nothing! So the first day, I rode bicycles with my kids around the block a couple times, the next day, I walked fast for twenty minutes with my husband, and by the third day, while walking with my friend, I was starting to get excited. I could do this exercise thing! We pounded the pavement for an hour, and I didn’t even realize it!
So, I am on the road to improvement, twenty minutes at a time. 15 grams of sugar at a time. One day at a time. That’s the moral of the story, really – just start some kind of an improvement , any improvement, and take it one step at a time! That will put you on the road to success, and that’s a road we all can travel in 2011!
What about you? Are you tackling a healthy new lifestyle too? Tell me what you're trying, and how you're feeling! I want to share in your success with you!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Christmas in Mexico
Freshly made tamales stuffed with spicy beef, menudo steaming on the back stove, too many kids running underfoot shouting and playing, an excited air of anticipation to the house. You wouldn’t guess it’s an apartment in northern Sonora, Mexico – it’s just Abuelita’s house to us. Warmth, joy and family was what Christmas in Mexico was about this year. A last-minute excursion all the way from Houston, Texas – we drove fifteen hours in one day to save time and money – we spent precious time with the family we left in the southwest when we migrated to Texas sixteen months ago. After building more memories, eating way too much delicious holiday food Mexican style, and visiting Nana Antonia’s gravesite, we headed back home. Another fifteen-hour drive straight through.
It was on that drive home that I realized how hard this trip had really been. Not for the kids, they had the usual “too much fun, candy and fireworks!” But for Juan. And his siblings. And Zenon (Abuelito), and everyone else who loves Kikey (Abuelita) and her family. This was the first family Christmas in Mexico in twenty-two years.
She lives in that apartment now, located just a few yards from the fence that towers over the border between Mexico and Arizona. Just a few miles on the other side of the fence sits her ghost-like house, empty of her matronly spirit, no mouth-watering smells in her kitchen. No more sitting under the cool, expansive porch next to the rosebushes, watching the kids play baseball. There is no one swinging quietly on the porch swing, spitting out sunflower seed shells while the bees cruise the garden.
I realize that this is a familiar story for too many in this country now. There are far more tragic stories out there, children separated from their families, spouses forced apart by the law. But when it happens to your own, and you live a moment in their struggle, and experience just a glimpse of their pain, it changes perspective a bit. Just a bit.
So we accept this new trial; anyway, what can be done? We stand by our Abuelita and try to give her enough hugs, enough love, to last until the next visit. She does have family there, thank God. They take good care of her and are truly holding down the fort. So we pray for them all; for strength to get through this, creativity to find a better way if there is one, and most of all, that God keep everyone safe and healthy, as He so graciously does.
It was on that drive home that I realized how hard this trip had really been. Not for the kids, they had the usual “too much fun, candy and fireworks!” But for Juan. And his siblings. And Zenon (Abuelito), and everyone else who loves Kikey (Abuelita) and her family. This was the first family Christmas in Mexico in twenty-two years.
She lives in that apartment now, located just a few yards from the fence that towers over the border between Mexico and Arizona. Just a few miles on the other side of the fence sits her ghost-like house, empty of her matronly spirit, no mouth-watering smells in her kitchen. No more sitting under the cool, expansive porch next to the rosebushes, watching the kids play baseball. There is no one swinging quietly on the porch swing, spitting out sunflower seed shells while the bees cruise the garden.
I realize that this is a familiar story for too many in this country now. There are far more tragic stories out there, children separated from their families, spouses forced apart by the law. But when it happens to your own, and you live a moment in their struggle, and experience just a glimpse of their pain, it changes perspective a bit. Just a bit.
So we accept this new trial; anyway, what can be done? We stand by our Abuelita and try to give her enough hugs, enough love, to last until the next visit. She does have family there, thank God. They take good care of her and are truly holding down the fort. So we pray for them all; for strength to get through this, creativity to find a better way if there is one, and most of all, that God keep everyone safe and healthy, as He so graciously does.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)