The Cost of Being Unprepared

So yesterday I shared with you my food diary.  You can see that I had the most random dinner.  I was starving when I got home. I didn't have anything thawed out.  I threw a random dinner together of leftover fish and leftover sautéed cabbage.
I didn't realize at the time that the fish had been in my fridge since Friday.  It was not frozen when I got it.  After writing the post within about 30 minutes of eating I stared feeling terrible.  I could not pick my head up off the couch.  I was sweating and my stomach had swollen up like a balloon.  I had to curl up in a ball on my bed and I could barely move.  Throughout the night I was so bloated and had severe stomach cramps and nausea.  I did not sleep. I laid on the bathroom floor for hours.
I had to get up and go to work because I had a meeting that involved several people, and I couldn't cancel it.  My temperature was high this morning before I even got out of bed.  The commute felt unbearable. I finally started to feel better around 2pm or so. I did some research and I'm thinking I had food poisoning.  Specifically, scombroid food poisoning, caused from fish. It can even be from cooked fish. My symptoms matched up perfectly:

Symptoms are described below. They occur within 10–30 minutes of ingesting the fish and generally are self-limited. People with asthma are more vulnerable to respiratory problems such as wheezing or bronchospasms. However, symptoms may show over two hours after consumption of a spoiled dish. They usually last for about 10 to 14 hours, and rarely exceed one to two days.

Initial[edit]

The first signs of poisoning suggest an allergic reaction with the following symptoms:

• facial flushing/sweating
• burning-peppery taste sensations in the mouth and throat
• dizziness
• nausea
• headache
• tachycardia
• cold-like symptoms

I don't know what else could've caused it the way I felt last night. It was terrible.  Even today I have only had a banana and a green smoothie with avocado.  But I feel like I've been eating nonstop for weeks.  My stomach is so swollen and in so much pain.  

So... not so fun night last night or today.  I'm just relaxing this afternoon and I can't wait to feel better.  I will definitely be more careful about how long I keep things in the fridge.  I probably push the envelope way too much with it! 

What I Eat In a Day

I'm back!  I can't believe its been almost a year since I've blogged!  Where has the time gone?

I decided to start with this post because its one of my favorites to read on others' blogs and watch on YouTube. It gives me some ideas and I just enjoy reading about it.  

I should preface this by stating that I have been doing the Whole30 for the past 23 days. If you're unfamiliar with the Whole30 I encourage you to read about it here.  I'm sure most of you have hard of pale before.  Basically, no grains, sugar, dairy, gluten, refined anything, soy, or anything processed or from a package except a few random things.  Everything all natural!  I've mostly been eating meat, fish, veggies, eggs, and fruit. If you're interested in completing one I recommend the book- It Starts With Food.  I've really enjoyed this way of eating.  But it has really taken a lot of the enjoyment out of my meals. I've just been eating to nourish my body rather than eating for entertainment.  I haven't eaten in a restaurant in several weeks other than the occasional Chipotle lunch in a pinch.  I plan on doing a full post on the Whole30 and my experience once it is over this weekend.

So on to what my typical day looks like in food!

Breakfast: 

-2 fried eggs with fresh eggs from the farmers market cooked in ghee

-A side of green beans- so random- but I try to eat veggies at each meal. Usually for breakfast I just have whatever veggies are left from the night before

-an orange

-a glass of ginger kombucha

I drink a ton of water all day. When I get to work I have either hot tea or coffee with coconut milk or homemade almond milk (tutorial coming).

-Around 10am I have one of my herbal supplement drinks: Solle Vital I will do a post on all of my herbal supplements soon

 Lunch:  forgot to snap a pic until almost done!
-salad with leftover chicken, avocado, strawberries, dill, and a boiled egg
-baked sweet potato with ghee

I had to run to Home Goods at lunch to return something and I found these snacks.  I love stuff like this. I ended up eating this whole bag. Both have only fruit as the ingredients.  No added sugar!

 And 2 pieces of this:

 Around 2:00 I got hungry and had this:

When I got home around 5 I was starving!  I randomly ate a boiled egg and drank some water to hold me over.  Then dinner was not my favorite. I actually ended up throwing half of it way because it just wasn't good.

Dinner:

-Tuna steak marinated in coconut aminos, ginger, cilantro, and green onion

- sautéed cabbage and sweet potatoes

Then after dinner I had a big spoonful of Sun Butter. 

Not the most glorious or exciting meals but this is what a typical day looks like these days!  Each meal I try to include protein, fat, and carb. Nothing fancy.  On the weekends I will cook more elaborate meals that my husband and I can enjoy together. But for now- this works.  

Hope you enjoyed a little sneak into my day:)

Embrace

I came across this website for a documentary while reading this post on CleanandDelicious.com.  I read her post and then immediately went over to the website to watch the video.  It hit home.

I struggle with confidence and self esteem.  I guess digging REALLY deep I can say that I always have. In high school and unfortunately as young as junior high I turned to drugs for a sense of belonging in a group of people and to make me fun or fit in...  Luckily I got out of that crowd of people by my senior year of high school and before it ever became a real problem.

And then I think a lot of people get hit with the shock that who you were in high school doesn't matter in the real world anyway. That sense of belonging I had in my tiny town didn't matter when I graduated and moved away.

Then after high school I put on weight. At the time I thought it was the worst thing!  But now looking back- I think it was just me growing into my body.  I finally started to get hips and a butt. Now those are things I try to embrace.  Back then, I didn't love it.

Then of course started the ridiculous dieting cycle that I think most women go through.  The ups and downs and calorie restricting then putting the weight back on when I realized I can't maintain that forever.  I am just now realizing and accepting these patterns.

I have a huge problem with comparison.  I always have.  If only I could have her hair or her thighs.  That's what usually ends up bringing me down.  I think I mentioned before that I unfollowed a ton of people on Instagram recently because of this problem.

All of this is huge for me.  I have never admitted any of this out loud or even to myself until recently.  So I am working on it.  I am working on accepting me.  I am working on not turning to other people for my acceptance.  I am working on loving my body the way it is and working hard to become strong healthy and not just skinny.

I love the concept of this documentary and I think its something that women need to watch.  I hope they make it.  Its something we all need to see!!!

You can watch the video here.
You can contribute to the campaign here


XO,
Heather

Intuitive Eating: My Thoughts

Now that you have a little backstory about what brought me to this book I want to talk about the book.

Here are the basic principles of the book:

source

The most informative section for me was the "reject the diet mentality" section.  It basically says the reason diets do not work is because we tell ourselves foods are good and bad.  We eat the good foods and stay away from the bad.  Then when the temptation gets too great we give into the "bad foods."  This causes us to feel bad about ourselves, like we are failures, which then causes us to binge.  The binge usually leads to more "bad" eating.  Then on Monday we vow to do better.

It also talks about the last supper mentality.  I know I've been guilty of this.  Sundays we stuff our face with everything because we are starting a new diet Monday.

It basically says to put weightloss on the back burner.  Your goal for eating this way should not be to lose weight.  It may happen. But it may not.  You should fall into your natural weight.  Your natural weight is what you maintain without trying.  

Another one of my favorite principles is "Exercise- feel the difference."  I like this because it says to find something you enjoy doing and do it.  Don't use exercise as a form of punishment.  Don't use exercise to burn X amount of calories because you were "bad" during the day.  I am VERY guilty of this.  I have 2 heart rate monitors and a fitbit.  I had been wearing one or the other or both all the time.  I wanted to see how many calories I burned to compare that to my eating in My Fitness Pal.  This is not the right way to look at exercise.

About two weeks ago when I started to try to change my thinking I decided to give those devices a rest.  I decided not to use them for a while.  I also decided instead of following a schedule for my workouts every day I would do what I wanted that day.  If I want to rest I will.  If I want to run instead of lift I will switch my days.  If I want to do yoga I will.  I am trying to change my thoughts about exercise. I used to enjoy running.  I did it almost every day because it was fun for me.  Exercise stopped being fun when it became about burning calories. I want it to be fun again.  For the past 2 weeks I have listened to my body every day to see what I wanted to do for movement that day.  This has felt so much better than telling myself well its back/bicep day so you better suck it up and do it whether you feel like it or not...

There is also a section on raising an intuitive eating child/ teenager.  I skipped that part.

The books has way more to offer.  These are just some of the chapters that stood out to me.

I think this book is great tool to start to see food, nutrition, and health from a different perspective.  Its the opposite of what we read every day in magazine, see on Instagram and social media, etc...  I have been trying to follow these principles daily, and I can say- I feel so much more free.  I haven't beat myself up about my eating habits since starting this.  I have overeaten a couple of times.  That is because at the time I let myself get too hungry before I ate again.  I would highly recommend it to anyone because it is just refreshing to see it all from a different view.

You can buy it here on Amazon.  Let me know if you read this book or have read it before and what you think!!

XO
Heather

I also wanted to include this AWESOME blogpost that I read yesterday about why this blogger stopped counting calories.  I honestly felt like I could've written it myself.  : 

Intuitive Eating: The Backstory

source

I figure I should start with the backstory of what brought me to this book.  I picked up this book last week on my way home from work after stalking Paige's blog, facebook, and instagram for suggestions on learning how to eat... I have been in a bit of a funk lately.  I feel like I have been on some type of diet for the past 2 years or so when I know I don't need to be.  At the time I did have some weight to lose and wasn't happy with my body.  I wasn't healthy.  I ate a lot of junk food and randomly did some kind of "work out" every once in a while.  That's when I found Tone It Up and running.  I lost the weight  and I enjoyed it all at the time.  But it sort of started a vicious cycle for me that I haven't quite learned how to recover from.  

But I honestly don't know how to eat.  This is a big thing for me to admit b/c I feel like amongst my friends and co-workers and family I am the go-to person for advice on healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.  See, on the outside it may look like I have my shit together. I really don't. I mean, who does?!

My weight has fluctuated so much (according to the scale) for the past couple of years.  The crazy thing is that 1 year ago today I actually weighed 10 lbs more than right now but I wear the same size.  Its because I started lifting weights in November. So I know its MOSTLY muscle gain and some fat.  I let that scale # dictate my feelings about myself.  I know better. I don't know why I let it bother me.  Then it causes me to think I need to diet.  When in all reality I don't need to diet. I need to learn how to eat.- how to eat to fuel my body and maintain my weight.  I have no clue how to do that.

A few weeks ago this would be a typical day/ week for me:
Monday-Friday I would meal plan and bring my food to work every day.  Never eating out with co-workers or deviating from the plan.  I would eat at 7, 10, 12, 2, 5, and 7... Every day... Those exact times.  Regardless of whether I was hungry or starving I would eat at those times.  Because someone told me this is the way to eat.  Then if something unusual happened- like someone brought donuts- I would have 1, then another, then another... (True Story- this happened a few weeks ago).  I think its because I would tell myself "You can't have the donut. It is bad for you.  It is processed.  You are going to Mexico in a month."  But then after about 2 hours of telling myself that I would give in.  Then after having one I would get the f*ck it mentality b/c I already screwed up. So I would eat until I felt sick.
The weekends were a different story.  Because I was "good" all week I would splurge on the weekends.  Except I would splurge at every single meal.  We will eat out every meal Friday afternoon- Sunday night.  Add in some drinking with friends and I screwed up everything I did during the week.  So because I felt so bad about myself Sunday night I would vow to do better Monday and the cycle would start again.  I am positive I am not alone in this.

I had a realization a couple of weeks ago.  I honestly don't even remember  how it came about.  Maybe I looked at a picture of myself or something.  But at that moment I said to myself, "You look great. WTF is wrong with you?  You don't need to diet.  You need to learn how to eat."  So that is what I am on a quest to do... Learn how to properly eat and accept/love my body.

I went through and unfollowed a ton of people on Instagram.  I had to stop looking at everyone's pics of their abs in the morning.  I don't want to be a bikini competitor therefore I don't need to look to those people for inspiration or advice.  Its not practical.

Tone It Up was great in helping me initially lose the weight.  But now I need to learn how I can eat for the rest of my life.  Something that is easily sustainable.  Something that will make life easier and bring me joy and not stress.

So that is where I am right now.  Learning to listen to my body.  Stop dieting.  Stop restricting.  Learning to love to exercise again instead of doing it for calories burned.  Learning to love myself.  Learning to love my body.  Its a struggle.  Just yesterday I found myself looking at old pictures of myself thinking I needed to go on a diet before our trip to Mexico in 4 weeks b/c the scale says I'm 10lbs heavier than last year.

Next I'm going to do a book review/ overview of some of my thoughts on the book!

Have you ever tried Intuitive Eating?  Do you diet all the time?  Are you going through something similar?

XO,
Heather