This week's post comes to you a week plus one day late since I was traveling and, although I could have written on the road; I honestly was just way too busy catching up with my dear friend!.
I've had a lot of thoughts lately about the "deep end". We all know the phrase about 'going off the deep end' - typically in reference to someone who has "lost it" or gone, well, a little crazy. But I heard the phrase "deep end" referred to recently as that place or space that we all are a little (or a lot) afraid to go. It's deep. It's over our head. What if we can't stay afloat? The shallow end is so much nicer...easy, calm, manageable, warm. Heck, some shallow ends are SO shallow, you can honestly just sit in them and still have no worries about the water rising over your head. But in using this metaphor for life, it becomes clear that the shallow end is really our comfort zone and, yes, that is a nice place to be, but nothing exciting really ever happens there does it? At least nothing big. It's in the deep end that we learn to become stronger and tougher. We learn to breathe deeper. We even learn how to become more buoyant. In case you're wondering if this little philosophical meandering is actually going anywhere, let me assure you that it isn't. Just an interesting thought. And a good time to resolve to play in the deep end more.
And, while I'm testing out the deep waters, I want to take a moment to talk about why I do what I do; why I have chosen to begin a home-based business.
There are many who look disdainfully upon sales and 'salespeople' and so on. I often do it, too! And I guess there are a lot of salespeople out there who have given the industry a bit of a blemish, with pushy techniques and only commission checks in mind. I have sales in my blood, although I lack a lot of the grit that usually accompanies it and so that is where I seek to grow myself as a businesswoman.
While those who are in sales do usually get paid based upon how much they are able to sell, the difference in choosing the company I represent is that no one need ever worry that I am going to recommend a product that I do not honestly feel is one of the best, if not the best, choice for you.
And I don't recommend products to people I care about to make money off of them; I do it because I care about them and about their families.
Anyway, with this product line and the detox I've been doing....let me tell you, I have faced some challenges. Staying on-task was note always easy, and I found it too easy to make excuses for myself. But I am happy to report that I am down 5 pounds! Can you imagine if I would have actually held myself more accountable?? :)
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Monday, January 12, 2015
So far, so-so
Having proclaimed my commitment level in last week's post, I am now left wondering just how committed do I have to be to be REALLY committed?? I think I may have an interpretation issue.
Actually, both my husband and I have done quite well this past week. Yes, Wednesday was my birthday (according to my 5yo I am now 18, and that's fine by me) and so it would be rude to not enjoy some cake with family, right?? Just one piece. Homemade carrot cake. So good. Still thinking about it. At least it had veggies in it.
OH, and then I had grapes on Friday. Really old grapes. Fermented. Liquefied even. A few glasses. Word of advice: while detoxing, choose your re-tox poisons carefully. Oy.
And so you see that I am now using this forum as a confessional. Forgive me, for I know not what I do.
Despite my transgressions, though, some noteworthy moments (that I can be proud of) did occur:
I actually looked at myself at one point and thought, "wow, my eyes and skin look GREAT!" - so clear and bright.
Also, my skin isn't itching, which is quite something for me, especially in sub-zero Wisconsin weather.
I lost my bloat.
I sleep better.
I'm in a good mood, despite feeling convinced I might starve once or twice. Old habits die hard for sure.
AND, thanks to some more personal purging assistance, my bedroom is a much nicer place to be! Additionally, the smaller, more-manageable stack of reading material next to my bed is actually being read! Personal growth, here I come!
I feel like I have A LOT of irons in the fire right now. I do!: purging, cleansing, getting older. Not surprisingly, some things have been shuffled to a lower spot in the pile. I do believe I have figured out that I am not actually lazy, as I have thought for so long, but rather life just moves too quickly for me to keep up. By the time I accomplish one task, the time to complete three more has flown by. And if I stop to actually BE in the moment? Well, forget about it. There's no time to sit and be still and just be me. Figure out what's going on with Lauren. Do some self-analysis. Meditate (which I am told and have read would make a lot of difference in my world).
I seek balance now. People always talk about work/life balance, but there's so much balancing that has to even occur within those two areas before you can balance them to one another. For me, I believe it's all about time management. Lists aren't cutting it. I have various lists in different locations: in notebooks, scrap paper, post-it's, my phone... which of course are scattered about as well.
I'll let you know when I get a system down. That's one goal for this week.
Another is to love my kitchen again! That means cleaning and organizing it well.
And also to take down my Christmas tree. I hate to do it. I honestly love my tree this year more than I have ever loved any tree of my own before.
I am remaining "committed" to my cleanse and purge. The oldest son is here this week, so I will likely be doing a little more cooking so that I can appease multiple palates. I don't mind, though - it makes for good food for the freezer later on this winter when I don't feel like cooking.
Here's some stats on how it's going:
Me: down 3 lbs (slow and steady...), 1/2 inch down around my waist, almost a full inch down around my abdomen (told you about that bloat), almost TWO inches down around my hips, and by some freak of nature, my thigh is .2 inches larger. I have no idea what happened there. It's likely due to inconsistent measuring spots. My upper arm is down 1/4 inch.
Hubs: down 4 lbs!, 1 1/2 inches down around the waist, 1 inch down around the abdomen, 1/4 inch down around the hips (like he even has any anyway), 3/4 inch down around the thigh, and 1/4 inch down around the upper arm. Crap, I think he's winning.
Here's a brief summary as it pertains to the name of this blog (which still may change- I think this is harder than naming a kid)
Family: UP! Fun week with birthdays, time with in-laws, love sent in the form of cards and well-wishes, plus some mild celebrating
Food: UP! I'm loving some of the new recipes we are trying and, most importantly, I love how much better my body feels
Fun: UP! a phone call with a friend (plus a surprise trip revealed), sledding with the kids, playing a game with friends Friday night
Fitness: DOWN -> see "sledding" above(I only walked it once, but that hill is a beast), also laundry.
Actually, both my husband and I have done quite well this past week. Yes, Wednesday was my birthday (according to my 5yo I am now 18, and that's fine by me) and so it would be rude to not enjoy some cake with family, right?? Just one piece. Homemade carrot cake. So good. Still thinking about it. At least it had veggies in it.
OH, and then I had grapes on Friday. Really old grapes. Fermented. Liquefied even. A few glasses. Word of advice: while detoxing, choose your re-tox poisons carefully. Oy.
And so you see that I am now using this forum as a confessional. Forgive me, for I know not what I do.
Despite my transgressions, though, some noteworthy moments (that I can be proud of) did occur:
I actually looked at myself at one point and thought, "wow, my eyes and skin look GREAT!" - so clear and bright.
Also, my skin isn't itching, which is quite something for me, especially in sub-zero Wisconsin weather.
I lost my bloat.
I sleep better.
I'm in a good mood, despite feeling convinced I might starve once or twice. Old habits die hard for sure.
AND, thanks to some more personal purging assistance, my bedroom is a much nicer place to be! Additionally, the smaller, more-manageable stack of reading material next to my bed is actually being read! Personal growth, here I come!
I feel like I have A LOT of irons in the fire right now. I do!: purging, cleansing, getting older. Not surprisingly, some things have been shuffled to a lower spot in the pile. I do believe I have figured out that I am not actually lazy, as I have thought for so long, but rather life just moves too quickly for me to keep up. By the time I accomplish one task, the time to complete three more has flown by. And if I stop to actually BE in the moment? Well, forget about it. There's no time to sit and be still and just be me. Figure out what's going on with Lauren. Do some self-analysis. Meditate (which I am told and have read would make a lot of difference in my world).
I seek balance now. People always talk about work/life balance, but there's so much balancing that has to even occur within those two areas before you can balance them to one another. For me, I believe it's all about time management. Lists aren't cutting it. I have various lists in different locations: in notebooks, scrap paper, post-it's, my phone... which of course are scattered about as well.
I'll let you know when I get a system down. That's one goal for this week.
Another is to love my kitchen again! That means cleaning and organizing it well.
And also to take down my Christmas tree. I hate to do it. I honestly love my tree this year more than I have ever loved any tree of my own before.
I am remaining "committed" to my cleanse and purge. The oldest son is here this week, so I will likely be doing a little more cooking so that I can appease multiple palates. I don't mind, though - it makes for good food for the freezer later on this winter when I don't feel like cooking.
Here's some stats on how it's going:
Me: down 3 lbs (slow and steady...), 1/2 inch down around my waist, almost a full inch down around my abdomen (told you about that bloat), almost TWO inches down around my hips, and by some freak of nature, my thigh is .2 inches larger. I have no idea what happened there. It's likely due to inconsistent measuring spots. My upper arm is down 1/4 inch.
Hubs: down 4 lbs!, 1 1/2 inches down around the waist, 1 inch down around the abdomen, 1/4 inch down around the hips (like he even has any anyway), 3/4 inch down around the thigh, and 1/4 inch down around the upper arm. Crap, I think he's winning.
Here's a brief summary as it pertains to the name of this blog (which still may change- I think this is harder than naming a kid)
Family: UP! Fun week with birthdays, time with in-laws, love sent in the form of cards and well-wishes, plus some mild celebrating
Food: UP! I'm loving some of the new recipes we are trying and, most importantly, I love how much better my body feels
Fun: UP! a phone call with a friend (plus a surprise trip revealed), sledding with the kids, playing a game with friends Friday night
Fitness: DOWN -> see "sledding" above(I only walked it once, but that hill is a beast), also laundry.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Downsizing
It's January 2015 and 'tis the season for improvements in our lives: eat better, exercise more, stop this, start that, and so on. While a bit cliche', jumping on the January "fresh start" bandwagon is always a great idea. While we don't have to wait until the launch of a new year to make changes, there is always something about the promise of a new year that excites us and causes us to yearn to make each passing year better than the last. My husband and I are no different.
Before the end of the year, I began working with some friends who have begun a 'purging' business. This process of someone else coming into my home and forcing me to take a hard look at my 'stuff' and how much of it I really needed has been so liberating. I find myself anxious to chuck another item, donate another bag of items, and sell off items of value that, although worth money, have little actual value in my family any longer.
Along with this continued purge into the new year, I embarked today (as did my husband) on a 28-day Clean Eating/Detox Challenge. In short, the outcome of this Challenge is to create a more alkaline state within my body (read: less illness and issues, healthier body and skin) and to remove some inches from my waistline in the process. I am going to be adding in more physical activity to help propel this reduction in size. I am, once again, the biggest I have ever been. My son saw a picture of me recently from the winter of 2008 and could not identify me. Ouch. Despite what the scale has been telling me, I somehow have kept seeing the same person that I always have in the mirror. Upon further inspection, I can now say that I really don't know who that person is - the one in the mirror. That woman certainly is NOT me.
I have started so many 'things' in the past. What will make this one different? Well, a couple of things, I hope: the first being my commitment level to myself; to being a product of the product for my business and also to simply be the best possible me I can be. The second is the commitment to my family; to be able to go on adventures, to have fun, to keep up as best I can, and to honestly just continue to be around: in light of my mother's early death, brought upon mainly by lifestyle choice, it has become a concern to both me and my husband that I may very well be on the same path.
This will undoubtedly be a struggle. I will hold on to positive thoughts and develop mantras. I have an actual emotional overeating problem and so I will be clinging desperately to any support I can get. I am having fleeting thoughts already of 'maybe I can just go to bed and hibernate for a month or so and wake up thinner - that way I don't even have to think about food'. Hook me up to an IV and a catheter, I suppose. Yeah, I have a problem.
After weeks of 'pre-toxing', here we go! I'm excited and optimistic. I will likely be making changes even in who I see and what activities I engage in just to spare myself temptation as much as possible. I am determined to find success as well as a healthier, happier me at the end of these 28-days. I'm hoping she will be loving her new reality so much that she continues with this lifestyle. This could be the first day of the rest of her life.
Before the end of the year, I began working with some friends who have begun a 'purging' business. This process of someone else coming into my home and forcing me to take a hard look at my 'stuff' and how much of it I really needed has been so liberating. I find myself anxious to chuck another item, donate another bag of items, and sell off items of value that, although worth money, have little actual value in my family any longer.
Along with this continued purge into the new year, I embarked today (as did my husband) on a 28-day Clean Eating/Detox Challenge. In short, the outcome of this Challenge is to create a more alkaline state within my body (read: less illness and issues, healthier body and skin) and to remove some inches from my waistline in the process. I am going to be adding in more physical activity to help propel this reduction in size. I am, once again, the biggest I have ever been. My son saw a picture of me recently from the winter of 2008 and could not identify me. Ouch. Despite what the scale has been telling me, I somehow have kept seeing the same person that I always have in the mirror. Upon further inspection, I can now say that I really don't know who that person is - the one in the mirror. That woman certainly is NOT me.
This will undoubtedly be a struggle. I will hold on to positive thoughts and develop mantras. I have an actual emotional overeating problem and so I will be clinging desperately to any support I can get. I am having fleeting thoughts already of 'maybe I can just go to bed and hibernate for a month or so and wake up thinner - that way I don't even have to think about food'. Hook me up to an IV and a catheter, I suppose. Yeah, I have a problem.
After weeks of 'pre-toxing', here we go! I'm excited and optimistic. I will likely be making changes even in who I see and what activities I engage in just to spare myself temptation as much as possible. I am determined to find success as well as a healthier, happier me at the end of these 28-days. I'm hoping she will be loving her new reality so much that she continues with this lifestyle. This could be the first day of the rest of her life.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Toot Toot!!
That's me, tooting my own culinary horn. It's no secret how much I love food. I hate wasting it, though, so if I can manage to create deliciousness by re-purposing some 'forgottens' in the fridge, then I REALLY feel like I have accomplished something beautiful. Here's the dealio: had some leftover sauces I had combined in a container, thinking I could throw them in to something at some point. Also had about a third of a green cabbage leftover from St. Patrick's Day. I started plotting and I knew the crockpot would be my friend. So, on an early morning shopping trip, I noticed some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on super-sale due to an approaching expiration date. I snatched three packages up, thinking I would use some now and freeze the rest for later. I also bought the cilantro (might as well be a staple in my house), green onions, and radishes I would need for a slaw recipe I had pinned on Pinterest (link for recipe below).
After finishing my Easter-prep shopping upon returning home, I set to work 'throwing something together'. I put two packages of the chicken thighs in the crockpot. I took the sauce mixture from the fridge (which was actually leftover chipotle in adobo and some wacky salsa we decided we didn't like but hated to throw out). There was about 2 cups of it and I threw it on top. It looked like it needed more moisture, so I added about a cup of water. Then I remembered the ton of garlic I have stored in my basement from a recent Costco trip, so rough-chopped almost a whole bulb's worth and threw it in. And then I opened the fridge and spied the remaining half-cup or so of homemade French dressing from the weekend before. I shrugged, thought 'what the heck' and threw it in, giving it a good rinse to clean the dressing bottle completely out. I threw some chili powder and ground coriander on top Then it was a quick stir and a setting on low for as long as I had until I picked Bryce up from the airport. (this ended up being about 10 hours).
Then I whipped up this easy slaw: http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/cabbage-salad/
First of all, my house smelled AMAZING all day. And I had big plans for putting that chicken on some corn tortillas I had leftover.
Second of all, I was super-satisfied to have done some fridge-cleaning-out while ALSO putting together a dinner using almost exlcusivley whole-food ingredients.
Third of all, when it came time to eat it, the hubby and I didn't even want to mess with the tortillas. The chicken fell apart as soon as you touched it. We shredded it into out bowl, gave a squeeze of lime, a couple of slivers of avocado, and a healthy helping of slaw on top. It was really delicious. The flavors had all come together and we got a satisfying, fairly healthy, and just a touch spicy dinner.
The yummy Ale Asylum beers we had with it undid the healthiness, but reaching the end of a busy week seemed to require some celebration.
I neglected to take pictures (hey, I'm new to this blogging thing), but have made the mental note to better record any future creative endeavors.
Cheers to yummy dishes and less stuff in the fridge!!
After finishing my Easter-prep shopping upon returning home, I set to work 'throwing something together'. I put two packages of the chicken thighs in the crockpot. I took the sauce mixture from the fridge (which was actually leftover chipotle in adobo and some wacky salsa we decided we didn't like but hated to throw out). There was about 2 cups of it and I threw it on top. It looked like it needed more moisture, so I added about a cup of water. Then I remembered the ton of garlic I have stored in my basement from a recent Costco trip, so rough-chopped almost a whole bulb's worth and threw it in. And then I opened the fridge and spied the remaining half-cup or so of homemade French dressing from the weekend before. I shrugged, thought 'what the heck' and threw it in, giving it a good rinse to clean the dressing bottle completely out. I threw some chili powder and ground coriander on top Then it was a quick stir and a setting on low for as long as I had until I picked Bryce up from the airport. (this ended up being about 10 hours).
Then I whipped up this easy slaw: http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/cabbage-salad/
First of all, my house smelled AMAZING all day. And I had big plans for putting that chicken on some corn tortillas I had leftover.
Second of all, I was super-satisfied to have done some fridge-cleaning-out while ALSO putting together a dinner using almost exlcusivley whole-food ingredients.
Third of all, when it came time to eat it, the hubby and I didn't even want to mess with the tortillas. The chicken fell apart as soon as you touched it. We shredded it into out bowl, gave a squeeze of lime, a couple of slivers of avocado, and a healthy helping of slaw on top. It was really delicious. The flavors had all come together and we got a satisfying, fairly healthy, and just a touch spicy dinner.
The yummy Ale Asylum beers we had with it undid the healthiness, but reaching the end of a busy week seemed to require some celebration.
I neglected to take pictures (hey, I'm new to this blogging thing), but have made the mental note to better record any future creative endeavors.
Cheers to yummy dishes and less stuff in the fridge!!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Stalling in the Big Easy
It is not without an 'I told you so' and eye-roll to myself that I must admit that I more than hampered my previous efforts by indulging in New Orleans' local fare. Food (and drink) won big on this one, and I don't even feel like I got to sample all that I truly desired.
So, I am back at home and the hubby is out of town until Friday. While 2 out of 3 of us remaining here have viruses, I am committed to trying my best to keep myself in 'check'.
And so I tell myself I am back on track, but I know better since I let the 9yo pick dinner last night and we wound up at Taco Bell. Just as it takes longer to create a good habit than it does to undo it, so I know my journey towards healthy eating has suffered due to this setback and I still have quite a hill to climb.
I had quite the lunch, cleaning out the refrigerator and into my stomach (although I had just worked up quite an appetite at the YMCA), so a slim dinner is on the horizon.
So, I am back at home and the hubby is out of town until Friday. While 2 out of 3 of us remaining here have viruses, I am committed to trying my best to keep myself in 'check'.
And so I tell myself I am back on track, but I know better since I let the 9yo pick dinner last night and we wound up at Taco Bell. Just as it takes longer to create a good habit than it does to undo it, so I know my journey towards healthy eating has suffered due to this setback and I still have quite a hill to climb.
I had quite the lunch, cleaning out the refrigerator and into my stomach (although I had just worked up quite an appetite at the YMCA), so a slim dinner is on the horizon.
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