Mulligan Day(s) and an Uncontrolled (aka 'out of control') Experiment

Whoever put money on April being the month I would 'cave' wins.

I am hereby declaring April 19th 'Emergency Sugar Intake Day' (for myself). Sunday night, my head got all stopped up, and I started getting super congested. After tossing and turning and coughing in bed for two hours, I realized that my normally hectic Monday was going to be unbearable if I didn't get some sleep. I then knowingly consumed sugar in the form of night-time cold/cough medicine. I did sleep, however, Monday was still insane. I got all of my invoicing tasks completed by 2pm . . . had too much left to do to go home and make something for lunch, and my stomach was eating my backbone. . . . . so I picked up a sandwich at the convenience store (sugar in the mayo and the bread). That makes twice in the course of a day that I knowingly ingested sugar.

After work, I hopped on a flight to the Southwestern United States. Thanks to my Chiropractor, the congestion is gone, and I can breath. Today, however . . . . . . I was still super tired after only five hours of sleep and seven hours with my clients, that I didn't have the energy to venture out and find acceptable dinner fare. I sat myself down at the hotel restaurant, and perused the menu. Thought about being a good girl and ordering a salad . . using my own dressing, and calling it a day. . . . but then thought 'I had sugar yesterday and I felt OK . . . . I wonder. . . . . '. So I ordered a chicken and pasta dish with a tomato based sauce. I didn't ask the sugar content. I ate about half the meal, including one piece of garlic bread. Right now, I am certain that I would feel better if I could throw up. I am so bloated that I am pretty sure I am not going to get any work done from the hotel tonight.

Sugar consumption - Fail.

Well, now I know better. Not that I didn't 'theoretically' know better before now. . . . . . but the way my stomach feels tonight, I am unlikely to repeat this behavior.

Here's to hoping you are wiser than me,

JamiK

I am stronger than the cookie.

Hello friends!!! I am back.

Armed with a new laptop, and two extra hours in my day thanks to my trip to the Pacific Northwest, I am here to regale you with a few random notations.

1) While travelling home from Delaware last month, my flight from Philly was delayed by an hour, and I couldn't find anything edible (free of added sugar, that is) at the Philly airport. When I landed in Chi-town I had to walk very quickly to another concourse to catch my connecting flight. . . . . I wasn't walking quite fast enough. As I passed the Cinnabon booth, my nose and empty tummy started to take over. The only thing that kept me from jumping behind the counter at that Cinnabon booth and gorging myself on a tray full of sugar was the fact that the booth had already closed, and the metal 'fence' had been pulled down over the entryway. If I hadn't been vaguely aware of the fact that I was close to missing my connecting flight, I might have pleaded with the guy cleaning up the booth to sell just one last bun for the day.

2) Life seems to be moving rather quickly these days. . . . . Since I last posted:
-----I have lost another 5 lbs. I am within reach of my ultimate weight goal (that I didn't think I would ever be able to reach) of 160 lbs.
-----My 31st birthday is fast approaching, and I am hoping to be able to fit into my favorite jeans of all time by then (end of June). I haven't worn these jeans since I was 16 or 17 years old.
-----My sister moved in with me for the Summer (based on the case of Pepsi sitting in my kitchen, I don't think she is ready for life sans sugar), but she is doing some great research for me, and helping me with meal planning.
-----I have been on the road for work almost every week. It's looking like I'll be on the road 3 weeks out of every month for the remainder of the summer, and maybe for the year.

3) As I sit here in my hotel room in Portland, OR there is a warm, chewy cookie calling to me from the other side of the room. It comes complimentary with my room. I'd throw it away, but the garbage cans in the room are cleaner than my refrigerator. . . . . If I was really going to eat the cookie, a garbage can wouldn't stop me. So I will continue with my mantra for the evening. . . . . . I am stronger than the cookie . . . . . I am stronger than the cookie.

May your evening be blessed:)

JamiK

I'm still here. . . . sort of.

Please forgive me folks. My laptop crashed two weeks ago, and the new one won't be ready until tomorrow. . . . . I'm blogging from work right now. . . .

I'm still off the sugar, but I came close to losing it in the airport on the way home from Delaware. . . . . I'll tell you about it as soon as I can:)

JamiK

Nothing Is Easy

Being on the road is not that difficult. Having to eat out is difficult.

The Publix here in Fairburn, GA has a great organic selection. The Super Walmart in Los Angeles last week did not. In the South, it is customary to put a mini-fridge in every hotel room. In the West it is not. My mini-fridge is currently stocked with hummus, vegies, and fresh juice. I don't think it will be difficult to go without sugar this week. Last week, I'm pretty sure I failed twice.
Despite the fact that I was packing my own salad dressing, there was something in the rice at one restaurant that made my tummy not so happy, and one day I settled for sushi as it was the least of many evils at the food court. Working in an industrial neighborhood is rough on the sugar-free folk.

Despite the look of incredulity on the faces of the folk I tell about the experiment, there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to my tale when I inform my new friends/coworkers/clients why I'm giving up sugar. It's pretty cool to know that not everyone thinks I'm a nut. I should be posting more often, but 12 hour days are rough.

One of my clients karaoked for the first time last week. He sang a song that is pretty applicable to my life. . . . . . Oh the wheel in the sky keeps on turning. . . . . I don't know where I'll be tomorrow . . . . .

Peace
JamiK

AUGGHHHHH! - this is the sound of me freaking out.

This week has been so busy, I haven't had time to post. So busy, in fact, that I have had to consciously tell myself to stop what I am doing to go pee before I wet my pants.

The good news: My eyesight is improving (left eye only for now)!!!
Old prescription: ---------New Prescription:
D: -1.75 -------------------D: -1.50
Cyl: -1.25 -----------------Cyl: -1.25
Axis: 110 -----------------Axis: 120

Technically, I have no idea what this means, but my Optometrist explained it by saying that my left eye had improved by almost two steps. My new prescription is for a one step change. Hopefully I'll be able to go back in a couple of months and see more improvement. My astigmatism has also changed.

The bad news: I am not even remotely prepared for another trip. I am supposed to be leaving for Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Need to do laundry, pack, and clean my house, which currently qualifies as a disaster area. All without a sugar binge.

See Better - Avoid Sugar.

JamiK

Could it be?

So I have been getting headaches at work for the past couple of weeks. I thought it was just stress, until one day, when my left eyeball started twitching. I dumped some eye drops in, and closed my eyes for a minute, but it kept twitching. It was like my eye was trying to get away from my contact lens. I am pretty sure my prescription is changing. I got home from work that evening and quickly exchanged my contacts for glasses, but it kept going. My eye does not want to be hanging out with my current prescription. In examining my eye after putting my contacts in one day, it looks like it doesn't even 'fit' anymore. There is a little pucker in the contact on one side of my eye.

I am hoping to get an appointment to see my optometrist this week. Until then, this is what I feel like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WLCSHoc4ZM

Based on MomK's experience with her eyesight improving after giving up sugar, I can't help but wonder if that is what is happening to me to. As a child and teenager, I had perfect eyesight. Then after a year in college, I showed up for my first class of my sophomore year, I realized I couldn't see the notes on the chalkboard. My eyes had gone from great to awful in the course of a year. (Please note that my daily food intake in college included a frappachino, two doughnuts, and several trips to the vending machine).

Here's to Hoping I'm right!!
JamiK

Time Marches On

I have nothing exciting to report.

Random observations:
1) I am pretty sure I could live on the cinnamon raisin bread I baked last weekend. I have three slices left, and they might not last the night.
2) The Mediteranean Quinoa is a whole different dish if you add a little dash of Melinda's Habanero Sauce. Yum Yum.
3) Baby carrots and hummus are the perfect snack food when you just want to eat 'because'.

Perhaps I shall have something more interesting to say by the weekend.
Peace,
JamiK