Sugar Detox Redoux - Day 18/28

Sunday cometh.

Having just finished another helping of left over confetti mac n cheese I thought I should follow up on how it came out. Delicious!

Here is a recap of the veggies that went into the dish because I had to look it up to figure out what was giving the little bites of crunch. Jicama!

Healthy 8 is a colorful blend of red and green cabbages, carrots, broccoli, jicama,

 bell peppers, radishes and celery. The veggies are chopped into smallish pieces that make them easy to eat, quick to cook and beautiful to envision. Add them into soups or stews,

 simmer in pasta sauces, make these vibrant, vivacious veggies the star of a spectacular

 stir fry, or even include them in fresh-pressed juice concoctions. 

This was so good, but of course I was analyzing why I was eating it as my portion spun around in the microwave transforming from a block of leftovers into a hot and creamy dish of delight. (So maybe going a little overboard with the prose but it is awesome. I think it's the cheese I used this time, half jack and half a cheddar, gruyere blend.) And I immediately knew why I was filled with the urge to eat; tired and bored. Plain and simple. No hunger involved. Big Sigh.

I had such high hopes for the new thyroid meds and the sugar detox, and I have to admit that for a couple of weeks I thought I could really feel a difference. But this weekend my energy is just gone, kaput, vanished. I want to mow the back yard, vacuum the house, go on a bike ride. Instead I am in front of the food network eating leftovers. (Speaking of TFN there is probably going to be a sweet potato salad happening around here soon. Orange zest and chives - i'm in!)

I need to back off on the typing, coloring, dishes, and SALT. My limbs are not happy this morning so I added extra ground pepper to my mac n cheese to avoid the sodium blast. I also need to STOP EATING SO MUCH and fricken lose some pounds so I feel better. Arghh.

Deep breath, time to go calm down, take stock of the fridge, and plan a healthy week. OR NOT!

I feel like I am back in my year of disability when the doctors told me to rest my back, to do nothing, and let the inflammation subside. I still have that problem, nothing they suggested worked, and today I sat in front of the tv doing nothing and once again letting my hands and therefore my back rest. I did color a few tiles of dragon, and played one game of solitaire, but other than updating my blog that was it. I didn't venture forth from the house with the exception of one quick trip in the heat to the recycling bin.

I am exhausted from doing nothing. Has it been a waste of a weekend? IMHO, yes. And now the pinching has just begun and I'm off the keyboard.

Sugar Detox Redoux - Day 17/28

Saturday slipped by with chores and naps, an oil change for my little car, some coloring and a finally a movie once I was tucked safely into bed. A fog has once again descended, and it does worry me some. I hate to be in that place where I consider it a blessing just to be walking and breathing through the day; is that life? Really? Technically, yes, I suppose it is. But it is not how I imagine it should be at all.

No added sugar, but I snacked my way through the day; banana with PB, a bowl of confetti mac n cheese, the last of the asian salad with added sunflower seeds, and finally finishing up with delicious veggie fajitas from a local taqueria courtesy of R. So too much salt and fat, I should probably weigh myself soon but the snugness of my clothes has already told the story and I dread stepping on the scale.

Such gloom, such sadness about it all, and for what? I have so much to be grateful for as I constantly remind myself. And my hand is tingling with the precursor heat of numbness that is lurking and ready to strike. No more typing or coloring or anything today. Time to rest.

Sugar Detox Redoux - Day 16/28

Confetti Mac n Cheese
One pot, maybe six servings?

1 tub of chopped veggies from TJ's
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2T of red palm oil
16oz brown rice and quinoa spiral noodles
1T butter
2C milk
1T magic mushroom mix
2C cubed cheese (the more you love cheese the smaller the cubes, the healthier you intend the dish to be the larger the cubes - mine were cut in about 1/2" squares, a generous serving of cheese.)

Saute onion in palm oil until soft in a large ceramic covered roasting pan, stir in chopped veggie mix and stir well with magic mushroom mix; cover and cook on med low until veggies are not quite done; 5-10 minutes depending on your pan and the heat so keep an eye on them.

Cook noodles per pkg directions until al dente, about six minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°

Stir butter into veggies, add flour and keep stirring until all is blended and flour is cooked (5 minutes?)  Add milk and stir gently but thoroughly. Add cheese and cooked, drained noodles and lightly toss together with as much of the pasta water as is needed to do the stirring.

You now have a pan of brown mush laced through with bits of green, red and purple from the veggies; hence confetti mac n cheese. Sprinkle with parmesan shavings and put in the oven for half an hour or bubbling or until done to your likeness.

I don't expect anyone else here to love this, and in fact it is an experiment so I don't even know how it will turn out. If it tastes as good as it looks awful it will be wonderful.

No sugar at work today, all the pastry boxes are gone. I had a mandarin orange and a banana on the way home thinking about dinner and then stopped at TJ's to get the fixings for the recipe above. There is also leftover salad from the stash at work that I brought home, it's being Friday and all that entails when leaving work for the weekend.

One last item from shopping, a flat of a dozen peaches that will be ripe in about five days if I am gauging them correctly. I know the girls will help me gobble them all down once they are ripe, and there may be a cobbler in our future.  Time for the wicked to take a breather!
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Sugar Detox Redoux - Day 15/28

My weekdays are a repeating pattern, and like many other good souls I stay in my flight patter of commute, work, commute, arrive home tired but needing to at least fix something to eat, pick up a little, and finally try to have a little me time. Often I listen to a story while playing solitaire, but lately it's all been about colouring.

A is not bringing homework from school, and I am not pushing her reading right now; she has had an amazing school year and has advanced her reading skills much faster than I could have hoped. So we are taking a little break before the Summer reading program begins, and instead we colour or write and make things up and watch Fake Out and just goof off in general. It's all exhausting, but also a blessing and I wouldn't miss any of it.

The evening flew by too, and after some more comings and goings for food and meetings it is finally time to retire and I am sooooo looking forward to that moment of relaxation when one's body hit's the mattress and releases all of the strain of the day.

Sugar Detox Redoux - Day 14/28

Half way through my twenty eight days of saying no to sugar and I had an It's It for dessert. Go figure, one of M's friends dropped some off - family business no less - and I had no desire to refuse my share of the bounty.

The rest of the day was fairly typical with the exception of another brilliant thought. What if my Thyroid meds are improving  my blood pressure and affecting my beta blockers in such a way that I am being more forthcoming about my thoughts. A severe lack of editing has been apparent these past couple of days as I say what I think without benefit of a sanity check first.

I am often in 'self check' mode trying to figure out what is right or wrong in any given moment. I think I will give this another couple of days to figure it out. The timing is right - it's been almost a month since the new script showed up and something should be going on inside about now. I'll check the dates in the morning when I am not so ready to fall into bed and shoot a note to the Dr.

In the meantime, it's bed for me. Oblivion here I come.

Sugar Detox Redoux - Day 13/28

I don't know if I would call this an epiphany, but I realized today that my recent bout of anger at the least perceived slight may be an emotional reaction that is part and parcel of the sugar detox. This insight came after repeatedly denying myself the pleasures that the kitchen at work had to offer today. Two big (and I mean bigger than normal) pink pastry boxes filled with an assortment of small tarts, donuts and muffins, three smaller brown pastry boxes filled with scones (some of them glazed) and bottles of orange juice. I did fix myself a cup of fruit from the plate that was also in the array of goodies and it was wonderful; fresh green grapes, pineapple and strawberries. And I did go to Costco at lunch (no pizza or polish dog thank you very much) to pick up a bag of raw nuts (mixed, unsalted) plus a carton of raspberries for A and us to share and a bagged salad mix to keep at work for the rest of the week. Oh, and a hot dog for C and I still didn't order one for myself.

I fought for this victory, through the day and then again off and on during the drive home. Finally stopping at the store for tortillas, jack cheese, canned refried beans and bananas. I ate a banana on the way home to satisfy the hunger and urge to eat, and now I have time to cook up some veggies to go in my burrito for dinner. I think I just needed the tortilla to have something 'bad' since I had said no to so many things over the course of the day. And I know the rest of the Fam will help eat them up so I don't overindulge - they are a processed food after all. As are the canned beans, but I want the creamy fatty tradition beans, not my healthy beans from the freezer that are full of greens. It could be worse, I could be chomping away at a loaf of sourdough spread with butter. But I am not, nor will I be in the near and foreseeable future.

My brain is in a good place today caring about what I put in my body, wheeling and dealing to come up with alternatives in order to keep from making really bad choices. It's nice, I wish I felt this way more often - must be the extra salads and the seeds I am remembering to add daily. Nutrition does matter! Please let this last, please let this last, please let this last; my prayer going up in sparks to the universe.
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Foiled again. The last few bites of leftover cheesecake and strawberry bundt cake were shared by us girls. Now the house is clean again - except for the strawberry ice cream, but frozen fruit does nothing for me and it is safe in it's cardboard container tucked away from the light of the world and my notice.

More drawing, no reading, lots of cuddling with A, and the day is finally winding down. I have chamomile tea steeping at my bedside, Kaylee waiting patiently at the foot of my bed, for a change. Normally I have to move her from being curled up exactly in the middle. The rascal. Not tonight though - maybe she is enjoying the cool air coming in the window after the heat of the day.

I'll count this a good day, most of the battles won and all that, and I'm ready to get up and do it again tomorrow.  Let's hope that feeling lasts 'till morning.

Sugar Detox Redoux - Day 12/28

Almost half way through my latest sugar detox and I feel like I am starting over at day one again. Just like everything else I am stuck in a do-over rut. Dishes, laundry, chores, eating, not eating, and now not eating sugar. The day went fine, no big temptations, a big chopped salad at lunch with my fresh lovely new dressing, and then my stop at TJ's resulted in a margherita pizza that is currently in the freezer waiting for the day to cool off so I can fire up the oven.

Short vent: My boss thinks I am an idiot, of course he feels the same way about the rest of the world so I shouldn't let myself get so mad. Arghhhhhhhh. Just let me do my F'ing job already. Obviously another nice day at work.

Time to open up and preheat the oven because Pizza fixes everything except your pant size, right? Or breathing, where is my inhaler - the wind is stirring everything up and my lungs are rebelling. Because I needed one more thing on my plate. Am I done? Anything else I want to get off my chest?

Early to bed with some extra Immune to fight off whatever allergen it is that was bothering me on and off all day. Tomorrow will be better, it's all in the mind, remember your psycho cybernetics sweetie and do some visualizing for god's sake.