New Beginnings: Week Three

Part of blogging requires a certain kind of honesty that sometimes you would rather keep to yourself.  That's how I feel this week. I'd rather keep this week under the cover but since you all have been apart of this journey I'm going to put it all out there.

This week was my hardest clean-eating week.  I began to have some serious chocolate cravings and since I wasn't going to find "clean" chocolate I ignored those cravings.  At first it seemed awkward because this is week 3.  Why would I be having these craving in week 3?  Well I posed that question and someone asked when was my cycle.  Welp...They were right (why didn't I think of that?).  Normally, the symptoms I experience are migraines, leg and stomach pains.  The pains I had were minimal and I did not experience any migraines.  Unfortunately I felt extremely weak and even had a dizzy spell.  Increasing my food intake helped some but for 2-3 days I had minimal energy.  By day 4, I felt more like myself.

Although it has only been a short time, I do feel like this has become apart of me.  I don't pick up much of anything without reading the label.  I can tell my stomach is smaller and we won't even talk about the amount of weight I've lost in such a small period of time.  Exercise is even become an important part of my life.

When I began, I did not expect to make it this far.  This started as a four week challenge; meaning next week will be the end of the challenge.  However, now I know that this can really be a life change for me.  I won't say I would never indulge in some of the things that I gave up but I don't plan on it ever having that kind of control over me ever again.  I will continue to take it one day at a time.  I'm enjoying the ride.

I truly encourage all of you to look within to see what kind of changes you could do to improve your health.  Nothing is too small as we all have to start somewhere.  Change isn't easy but when you work hard at something the reward is wonderful.

New Beginnings: Week Two

The excitement of the change wore off this week but I am happy to report that clean eating is becoming more of a habit.  I am continuing to experiment with different dishes and vegetables.  What I didn't expect is the change I feel towards food.  I see it more in the light of nourishment; a source of energy.  I don't find myself constantly thinking about food anymore and must admit that I'm shocked. I've heard that this happens, but to have this happen so soon is truly amazing to me. It may be a sign that I was truly ready and prepared for change.

This week brought on a new challenge of reminding myself to eat.  I don't know why it is that I rarely feel hungry; maybe my stomach is shrinking or maybe I don't recognize the new hunger signs.  Either way, I don't think about food as much as I use to.  I utilize MyFitnessPal to keep track of the amount of calories I eat and the majority of days I end up trying to find something to eat just to reach my 1200 calorie mark.  It also doesn't take much for me to have that full feeling.  So I have to continue to be mindful of this because I don't want to "starve" my body.

I have had more sugar cravings this week but no headaches.  It isn't so much that clean eating eliminates sugar because there is raw sugar and honey.  I have just chosen not to use much of either because I do have a concern about exchanging one addiction for another.  The good thing is I've gotten use to drinking plain tea and when I have a craving usually almonds fulfills it.  I don't feel like I've given up sweets either.  I know that if I really want something I just have to get in the baking mood.  The Internet has plenty of "clean" baking recipes.

I am so proud of myself.  I've learned so much but mostly that food does not have control over me as much as I believed.  I am giving this my all and have had to make major changes in my life to accomplish what I have thus far.  Meal planning is a MUST.  It is part of the reason why I don't have to consistently think about food because I already know what I will be eating.  This coupled with exercise has been wonderful for me.  I don't feel sluggish or heavy.  I push myself more because I've conquered something that I really thought I never could.  I'm no longer the sweet queen and am glad to pass that crown on...

Are you serious?

March 2008, July 2009 were months that my coworkers passed unexpectedly. Today I came to work only to find out that another one of my coworkers is in ICU in a coma secondary to a heart attack. Words are truly escaping me right now and all sort of emotions are running through me.

You would think that after two unexpected losses that management would have learned (or even taken classes on) how to deal with these situations. Yes it is true, most of us know that these companies could care less about us. But we generally just feel this way. To have it outright displayed conjures up a lot of other emotions. So what do I mean by outright displayed...the way they (management) decided to tell us (keeping in mind that the office just lost someone a little over a month ago) about our co-worker was in an e-mail that read:

I'm sorry to let you all know that yesterday at 3:15, [he/she] suffered a major cardiac event. [He/She] is currently at [name of hospital]. It is reported that as of yesterday [he/she] was in a coma. We don't know what [his/her] condition is this morning.

While we hope [he/she] has a complete recovery, it is pretty clear [he'll/she'll] be out of the office for an extended period of time. We are therefore reassigning [his/her] backlog this afternoon. This reassignment will count as intake, but examiners won't see the relief on intake until tomorrow.

As additional information becomes available, we will try to keep you all informed.

Are you serious??? I could point out many things that are wrong with this presentation but I will only say this...cases sit longer when people are on vacation!! In every effort to keep my mind in business mode I really have to move on...

But what should YOU know (because I am trying to find the positive in EVERY thing):

1. Know your worth. If you depend on others to show it to you, you may never know it.
2. Know that your actions/comments affect other people.
3. Know that people are human even if they don't act like it (do you see the consequences of forgetting this?)
4. Know how important it is to stay healthy and listen to your body (while we don't know what caused the health problems, we do know that stress, mandatory overtime, enormous backlogs and careless people didn't help the situation).
5. Know that your job will go on without you (so you better do what you gotta do!)
6. Most importantly, know that God is still on the throne. We are overwhelmed with negativity and with that it is sometimes hard to remember this. The word is true and is being fulfilled whether we know it or not. There is a reason that we needed a savior.

It is a lot to not let fear set it (especially considering that these people are all African-American, work in the same office and under 60 years of age) but fear is not of God (He has NOT given us the spirit of fear!). But I cannot stress it enough. Take care of yourselves people! Learn your bodies and listen to them. Yes we have to work to earn a living but don't let the job work you (you see that they don't care and will go on without you)! Pause for a moment...think about it! Stop chasing it and learn to enjoy what you have!

and seriously...have you shown love today? I sure hope so because tomorrow really isn't promised.