Sayonara sleepless nights

I am exhausted! It's the happy kind of tired though - I had my girls here my daughters and my grand daughters and a good friend - didn't get a lot of sleep but enjoyed them sooo much - then the day after they left my son and his wife have arrived...I think I may need to sleep into the New Year.

So, even though its been fun...I am not as young as I once was and this is reaaaaaaaally taking its toll on me. (Not that I would change even one of these visits to include more sleep because I don't get to see any of them as much as I want)

I know that sleep deprivation can cause a great many things to happen (and let me state its not that one time staying up late -- or even the 2 weeks of no sleep I will have had from having company over...well mostly lol)

Did you know that lack of sleep can cause a weakened immune system, blood pressure to rise, depression and anxiety, moodiness, type 2 diabetes, and weight gain? Yowch!

For the weight gain its all about hormone responses - lack of sleep causes stress in the body (because hey it's not functioning at its best with no sleep) - which increases cortisol - cortisol causes your body to store fat instead of burn it, it lowers leptin which tells your body when you have had enough to eat - which can lead to over - eating annnd can raise levels of ghrelin which is an appetite stimulant also causing your body to want more food more food more food!

Remember last week we were talking about tracking -- I keep track of my sleep (so gee, this week I know how pathetic that has been) and have been looking at my bodies reactions to food this last week...definitely something there with this science stuff! (Sooo not a science girl -- my husband however, would totally be able to geek out over this information)

So, I will go into sleep and sleep habits next week, but this week was just about the information that it can cause issues (or a whole subscription) with your body if this is a continual chronic thing -- with the over eating -- hate to say that can happen after just one night -- that is why listening and paying attention (journal will show trends) to what your body is telling you...its a pretty smart thing and can give you more information for whats going on in YOUR body.

So -- try to get those ZzzzZZZZs in -- its as important as going to the gym and eating right -- it all plays a part -- and say sayonara to sleepless nights

Goodbye Holly Daze

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Joy Noel! Happy Hanukkah! -- Whatever your flavor is may you enjoy the best of the Christmas season!

I love the holidays. The kick off with Thanksgiving, the picking out of presents to give to family and friends. the food, the smells, the tree, the lights -- the magic!!! I especially love my time with my family.

Did I mention the food? It starts with Thanksgiving - the huge feast! Then comes the Christmas baking -- and all the joys that brings! Ooooh and then candy in the stocking, and the Christmas dinner. Last but not least -- not to be outdone -- New years eve - the finger foods, the fancy snacks and of course the booze! It is no wonder that people tend to gain over the holidays.

So, options here

1) Do what you have always done -- but expect those same results. Do not be blind to the fact that you cannot continue to make the same choices and expect different outcomes  (Lord knows this was my option of choice for many a year...we just didnt "count" the holidays!)

 

2) You can be self sacrificing -- stay away from all of those things. Now, if this option doesn't bother you or if you know that for you having any of the goodies at all is a slippery slope that leads to a 10 pound weight gain over the holidays...by all means pick this one.(I have done this one as well!)

3) You can enjoy the holidays with your friends and family without over feeding. Listen to your body -- really listen. If you are hungry eat to satisfaction, but don't gorge. If you know that you want a Christmas cookie or fudge or pumpkin pie -- plan for that but don't have the pumpkin pie after dinner and donuts and cocoa for breakfast and 2nd helpings at all meals...Do you see where I am going here? Enjoy without overindulging.  (this is the one I am picking this year!)

I only have one life and I know for me that I can not keep going down with that time off mentality. I also know that not only did not having any treats make me miserable but those around me as well because I was whiny and had the poor whoa is me mentality. This year, I will have a glass of wine with a friend, a cookie after dinner, the turkey with all the trimmings -- what I wont do is - make it an all day train wreck waiting for a place to happen. I wont eat the whole tray of cookies in one setting (not even in 2) I will indulge but I will not OVER indulge. I will feel good about the choices I make and enjoy my time with my family and friends while continuing our age old traditions.

I will be saying goodbye to the Holly Daze -- you know the one where you continue to blindly eat because omg dinner was so good you ate until you had to undo your pants button and then followed it by pie -- not just one slice but 3 because there were options...and options are a wonderful thing right? And then that is proceeded by the brain fog of having just way to much food in your stomach and your brain turns to a cloudy foggy place that just wants a nap somewhere --soooo not me this year...goodbye to that mindless eating and the daze that comes with. 

However you choose to celebrate and with whatever option you choose....Have a joyous holiday season from start to finish and a wonderful time with your family and friends!

Let It Go

My beautiful granddaughter Marlee just turned 2 and her favorite movie ever is Frozen. She loves anything related to frozen and that includes the songs, but in all actuality -- that's the part she loves the most. So believe you me when I say that if you are a member of her family -- you have heard the song Let It Go more than you could possible imagine! So -- lets talk about that a little bit -- about letting go.

I have carried a lot of baggage from the past around with me - and I am fairly certain that if it was measurable in a weighty sense that it would weigh at least as much as my body does -- coincidence? Probably not....let me explain.

We all have things in our lives that have shaped us into the eaters that we are today. I am no different. I have some things in my life that have been huge blessings - the mother that I have, my sisters, my husband, my children, my grandchildren and my dog. I have also lived through nightmares that most people can't conceive of in their normal everyday lives. It has shaped me (literally lol) into the person I have become.

When something happens in our lives we have ways to process it, and sometimes those ways are not the best for us emotionally or physically. A lot of us with weight issues tend to eat our emotions (I do!!), we tend to stuff those feelings down to deal with another day and use food to make us all better. The problem is -- tomorrow is always a day away. We don't deal with those issues - we gain weight and years later struggle to lose that weight because we no longer remember what it was that we were stuffing down originally anyway.

Look, I know everyone in the diet industry preaches keeping a food log - and it makes sense - it can let you know where your demons lie. For me I hate logging my food -- because it lets me know where my demons lie! Seriously, it can be scary to face those inner demons - and let me explain by example

Food Diary Example -

Breakfast - Avocado and Egg with salsa and bacon (started pretty good here)
Lunch - Chicken Salad - (still pretty good)
Got asked to do something at work that angered me because I was already busy and had plans -- and and and ---
Snack - candy bar (or 2), chips, popcorn, bowl of cereal
Ok - so this may sound crazy -- and it wasn't all at once but the one bad thing snowballed into really bad eating - I wasn't hungry - I didn't really need to fuel my body but it wasn't about hunger it was about stuffing the feelings of anger and frustration (or boredom, or tiredness etc etc -- insert your feelings here) - and trying to patch those over with food.
Dinner - fast food - because hey I have already ruined today might as well just have something easy that I want (although I was already way over fed and didn't need to eat at all)

Quote - Lao Tzu -  If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Pretty profound quote there -- I am heading by eating that way to stay over weight, to diabetes, to health problems for life. That has to (and has started to already) change. 

So, food diary, lets go back to that -- Don't just phone it in -- (this my friends is directed at me..but if the shoe fits put that baby on and wear it around!) - Put your food that you eat certainly -- if you want to really track it you can put how much but you all know when you go down that road how much you are capable of eating - I am worried less about the how much if I am eating healthy..but more importantly put when your tired, your angry, your happy -- it really helps you find those trends that started back in your past of using food as a drug of choice to self medicate away your feelings. If you can track these things for 2 weeks and then go back -- look at your trends and then make changes slowly based on what you find - you also can find a way to get rid of the old baggage and just let it go.