Friday, December 18, 2009

Just the thought makes me cry

Our high school receives annual grants to put on a presentation about the dangers of drinking and driving. It's a pretty big deal and even involves LifeFlight airlifting 'accident victims' as part of the show. Last night, Bonnie mentioned that this is being performed on her birthday, and that she is going to be the one dying. Her friends want me to be the grieving parent.

This is such an important message to get across, that I'm honored to be asked. I'm sure I could be convincing, as every time I even think about it, I start bawling. Am I ridiculous or what? I couldn't sleep last night, I cried the whole time in the shower this morning, sniffled my way to work...my face is getting hot just typing this. I hate that Bonnie is even pretending to die. Yikes, tears again. Sheesh.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Pursuing abundant health

I've been seeing this awesome naturopath since mid August. I say awesome, cause she's so in tune with what makes my body healthier... And, she says I'm one of her best model patients. Only thing is, the longer I see her, the more challenging it becomes to knowing what I can eat...

1. She says get off the sugar. (Even fruit is to be eaten with cheese or nuts to slow the sugar absorption) I get off the sugar and my blood sugar has dropped to well within the normal range. woohoo :)

2. She recommends a primarily vegetarian...or flexitarian as I've recently come to learn...diet, with my only animal protein coming from eggs and fish, and rarely chicken. No problem, I happily give up the other animal proteins, and often all animal proteins. Digestion is way better, off reflux meds, losing weight...more woohooo.

3. She treats me for sugar successfully, first treatment. By treating, I mean my my immune system is altered in the way it reacts to the allergen I'm being treated for.

4. She treats me for starch, which means no starch intake until the treatment takes...one treatment does the trick. Yes!

5. She then treats me for wheat. No wheat she says until the treatment takes. No problem, as I'm not much of a bread person. It takes a couple of weeks until mission accomplished.

6. She treats me for gluten, with instructions of no gluten until the treatment is successful. It takes a few times, plus regular self treatment, until again woohooo.

7. But nooowwww....she's treating me along with home self-treatments for a combo of gluten and some kind of brain chemical (endorphin?) that works with gluten, so NO gluten still.

So that means...no sugar, minimal animal proteins, and no gluten which is in bazillions of things... Not only am I trying to learn how to cook period, but now I'm learning how to eat creatively and extremely selectively as part of 'Brown Rice-Spinach-Yams 101'. It's a challenge, but one I'm more than happy to take on as my health continues to improve. I'm actually looking forward to my next cholesterol screening!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

B-r-r-r-r-r Baby!

We're now into day 6 or 7 of a cold snap not seen in this area in the last 40+ years. Not as cold as one of my online Canadian friends, who is dealing with -40C (which, btw, happens to be equal to -40F); but definitely colder than we're used to. Lots of folks finding their wells frozen up. Pipes bursting...one along our road, which caused a temporary loss in our water. Thank you to those who figured out where the leak was coming from, so that our inconvenience was much less painful than could have been.

Duke has easily adjusted to sleeping indoors at night. Although in spite of "the rules" and boundaries, Mike thinks he secretly tip toes about (probably in search of a midnight snack) once the rest of us have turned in. Don't know if Duke actually enjoyed watching 'The Incredible Journey' with us last night, or if it was the hours of tummy rubs. Me thinks it might be the latter....that, and the M&M's Mike kept sneaking to him whenever I was distracted. Bad Mikey.