I quit smoking part 2 - A few weeks without nicotine

First, real quick I know there are comments in the blog that have been kindly left by readers, I will address them within the next 24 hours. Thanks!

So it's just over a few weeks since I quit smoking. Or "weeks into my Quit" which is a phrase I picked up on one of those quit smoking websites. I kind of like referring to this as "My Quit" rather than anything else. 1- it seems to take the stigma out of the word "quit" I mean no one likes to be a "quitter". 2- it personalizes it, which is good because everyone's quit is different it seems. So where have I been? Well... I've been kinda re-learning how to live day to day life.

I. Can. Not. Stress. This. Enough. That first week... Was. The. Hardest. Week. Of. My. Life.


Having gone cold turkey, I'm not entirely sure I made the best choice. Of course having said that, I'm not sure that it's not just my body thinking it really still wants nicotine. I'm sure going through some kind of six week patch or gum program might have worked, but then I think you're really just delaying the inevitable or giving yourself an out on your quit date.

So lets take this day by day... exactly what happened this past week? Well I'll line it up for you and I'll set it up along with what is documented happened to my body (your body too) as you go through withdrawal. These things I didn't read until yesterday because I didn't want to talk myself into having symptoms as they were supposed to be happening.

Friday Morning February 3rd, I woke up and as happened most mornings my chest was kind of heavy....it usually cleared within the first hour or so of waking up, but for that first hour I always felt like I couldn't take a deep breath. I rattled my pack of Marlboro Silvers to confirm only one smoke left and stepped outside to have it. Once it was finished I stared at my outdoor ashtray and made the mental note that anytime I wanted another smoke I would have to firmly answer myself with a No!

I then went back inside and prepared for the rest of my day which consisted of going to walk my sister's dog  in the late morning, hair appointment late afternoon, and meeting friends for our Friday night tradition late evening. In between there I have a business I'm trying to get off the ground and a myriad of other chores, but for this day that was the highlight of my schedule.

Thirty Minutes after quitting blood pressure and heart rate which are both elevated by nicotine begin to return to normal. 

I went and walked the dog, then decided to stay at my sister's place until it was time to leave for my hair appointment. I was already starting to think about smoking and figured the longer I stayed in a location I wasn't used to smoking, the better I would be. Oddly enough driving and not smoking isn't really a big deal like I thought it would be, I used to smoke in my car all the time and it hasn't bothered me yet that I'm not doing it.

I had an awesome hair appointment, which was easy cuz I don't smoke at the salon either. I got back home and glued myself to the couch and watched TV until just before it was time to go out for the evening. I couldn't run around my place much because I was thinking I needed to smoke and I have found when trying to quit in the past that if I just sit with the TV on and let the internal battle wage on I actually do better at winning.

Eight Hours after quitting CO (Carbon Monoxide) levels in my blood begin to decrease because I'm not inhaling smoke anymore, which also allows for the Oxygen levels in my blood to increase. 

Friday night most weeks is the only time I drink alcohol in the form of beer... I was not about to cut that out this week! Fully aware that drinking and smoking go hand in hand for me I relied on the facts that 1- my whole group of Friday night friends are non-smokers and 2- it has been years since smoking was allowed inside so it's not like I'd be staring down an ashtray or anything.

I did really well!!! I didn't stop at one of the three 24 hour tobacco selling places of business on the way home.

I'd say I had a moderate level of craving for smoking, but nothing a piece of regular chewing gum couldn't resolve.

Saturday February 4th - I woke up earlier than I usually would, and nearly immediately the internal battle began. It was more of an internal monologue with a three year old. If ever that constant visual of the angel and the devil on each side were true it's moments like this. I should go smoke. No. Time for a smoke. No. Now would be a great time for a smoke. No. Oooo, just enough time to get in a smoke before I... No.  All in all the firm No. was working pretty well. Since I never really got in the habit of smoking inside my apartment I decided I would make one run to the grocery store to stock up on a few things and stay inside my apartment for at least the weekend. If I don't go outside, then I'd have less temptation to smoke.

24 Hours after quitting the chances of having a heart attack begin to diminish ever so slightly. 

Sunday February, 5th - Super Bowl Sunday - Even before I quit smoking I planned to watch the Super Bowl. Which some of you may find amusing, because I don't follow sports generally, and I know about as much about football as my cats do. However I am generally interested in all things that literally capture the world's attention, and of course there are the television ads. :-) This was the LONGEST DAY! All day from waking up thru the next day I wanted a smoke, more than I ever wanted a smoke in my life! I even peeked out my window a few times to see if any of my neighbors that smoke were out and about so I could casually bum a smoke. I spent most of the day watching pre-game, snacking on my carrots, pretzels and layer dip I treated myself to. I actually forced myself to sit on my couch for a few hours because I would have gone straight to buy smokes if I moved. 

My mom called me at one point and told me I sounded very wound up and tense, because I was! Towards the end of the football game I needed to rant and roar and my Facebook status reflected as such. I then decided to turn to happier events such as the crazy last 52 seconds of the game and some of the ads. 

When I tried to go to sleep that night, sleep just wouldn't come. So I picked up my handy dandy Nook Tablet, and dialed into my Netflix app. I then proceeded to watch the entire first season of Downton Abbey, which is an amazing show now airing in it's second season on PBS. Between each and every episode I wanted to go smoke, but instead clicked on the next one in queue. It worked! I found a new show to watch and sleep finally came at about 6am...Monday morning. 

72 Hours after quitting the entire body will test 100% nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites (the chemicals it breaks down into) will now have passed from the body.  Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness and insomnia. The number of cue induced crave episodes experienced during any quitting day will peak for the "average" ex-user. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and the lungs functional abilities are starting to increase.  

So I would like to throw a warning out to those trying to quit, if you make it through day 3 without question reward yourself and be PROUD! 

I woke up Monday February 6th, and I could immediately tell the nicotine was out of my system. That it was all about the battle of the habit from here on out. I made it to the middle of the next week before I broke down and ordered some herbal cigarettes. Calm down, they're the kind use in theatrical productions and movies for actors who don't actually smoke. They're filled with things like clove, tea, and other various essences that make them smell terrible and taste even worse. I ordered a pack just to try and shut my brain up, it still... STILL wants to smoke.

Well it's a lot quieter now, because I smoked about three of those herbal cigarettes in two days and tossed the rest, thus proving that my brain is not looking for a smoke, but looking for nicotine...which it's not getting so it's just going to have to deal.

My creative process has been severely interrupted. Although I'm noticing that copious amounts of caffeine or sugar or B12 seem to help. This must be why people who smoke gain weight I can't even describe for you what a sugar high feels like these days... it's pretty awesome. But I'm trying to keep the sugar intake to a minimum still. I had one can of regular pop today and felt like I was queen of the world for about three hours.

I do have to say that I may still be in crap shape, but I don't get out of breath as easily as I did a few weeks ago, although my back now hurts because I spend significantly more time in my desk chair. I'm not constantly getting up to go smoke or anything. That's my next big step.... taking this Single Serving Life Mobile and getting my ass in to the gym.

Still though, I feel like I've gone to slay the dragon and after so many before me have failed...after I have failed.... I have now SUCCEEDED!

Hi! My name is Kat... I'm a Non-Smoker. :-)


  

I quit smoking part 1--- Nicotine and ADD/ADHD.

Oh what a week! I haven't left my small apartment since Saturday... I have good reason though. See... on Wednesday of last week I watched the film "50/50" which if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter (@SingleServeLife) you read that I found it very powerful. It was a good movie, there were some things I would have liked to see a little bit more on, but over all well put together. In a nutshell the story follows a 30 year old guy who lives a very quiet clean lifestyle and gets a terrible form of cancer from which he has a 50/50 chance of surviving.

There was something about he way the lead character went through the moment of diagnosis and the way he handled his somewhat overprotective mother that just really hit home for me. Leading up to this viewing I'd been entertaining the idea of quitting smoking. I had tried after the fall I had (read about here) but I was only successful in cutting back to around 1/2 to 1 pack a day depending on the day.

Then I watched this movie and really identified with the lead character. I decided that I didn't want to get cancer, and I can't very well write about all these positive food changes I'm making and talk about how all of this can reduce my chances of getting cancer if I continue to participate in the one thing probably the MOST linked to cancer of anything in the whole world. Not only that, but I am not about to get diagnosed with cancer and have everyone around me say, or think "Well of course she has cancer, she smokes." No way Jose am I going to continue to open myself up to a battle like that, or comments from those I may rely on the most like that.

So I started to think really hard about not smoking, and what my life would look like if I weren't smoking. I've been smoking all but maybe a handful of days for the last 12-13 years...so, life is going to look and feel a lot differently! I smoked regularly as I planned my cessation, and my last cigarette was very unceremoniously smoked at some point on Friday morning. I think it's important that I didn't make a big mental deal out of quitting, I think  that would have made this past several days even harder, if that's possible.

I will absolutely outline for you what the last several days have been like for me, but first I'd like to focus on how the body is addicted to Nicotine and how quitting it is affecting my ADD/ADHD brain.

Nicotine is nature's pesticide, it is! Nicotine is the tobacco plant's defense mechanism so that it doesn't get eaten by insects. In humans nicotine (and many other narcotics like heroin, meth and cocaine) increases the brain's release of dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical that our brain produces when we're in a good mood, so smoking makes our brain think that we're doing something good. Dopamine also gets released when we want food, water, sex, and receive praise among other things. Our brain gets used to that and craves it to unhealthy levels. Nicotine also stimulates the central nervous system to make the user feel a bit more "alert." So smoking makes the user feel good about themselves and alert, the more the product is used the more the user wants to feel that way.

One thing that isn't really discussed with Nicotine addiction, or addiction in general is the ADHD factor. I have written before that I am a card carrying member of the ADD/ADHD club which means the chemistry in my brain is done up a bit differently than the non-ADD/ADHD individual. I am not physically hyper, but mentally I can be all over the place, I notice things that others seem to let slide, I will sometimes hyper focus on a topic or task that interests me to some truly unbelievable levels, and I can become overstimulated (overwhelmed) much easier than non-ADD/ADHD people. Nicotine, similar to the prescribed medications actually seems to HELP ADD/ADHD SYMPTOMS. *sigh* I really had to think about this before I quit, I don't like when my ADD/ADHD flares up anymore than the people that have to deal with me when it flares up do.

So how does that feed into addiction?

Well.... it makes it that much easier to fall into the trap of addiction and a million times harder to get out of it. The medications that are prescribed to treat ADD/ADHD also cause the dopamine levels in our brains to increase, thereby being part of what helps us manage the world. It has also been linked several times over that individuals with ADD/ADHD experience a wider array of the disadvantages of immediate smoking cessation such as memory issues, slower reaction time to external stimuli (.05 of a second slower, so measurable but not really noticeable) and others. However because the ADD/ADHD mind does have such a varied response to the removal of nicotine (some studies have even recorded the opposite (faster) response to external stimuli) it is really hard to pin down an average set of additional or differing symptoms that the ADD/ADHD brain may experience.

I interpret all that to mean that each case of ADD/ADHD is going to react slightly different than another case. Well, I do pride myself on being unique! What all reputable sources I've read agree on is that the ADD/ADHD brain is more prone to obtaining and keeping an addiction that increases the neural transmitter dopamine, among others, and quitting is harder than that of a non-ADD/ADHD individual.

I read all of this before I decided to quit...and I still did it... cold turkey (which I always used to associate with actual Turkey lunch meat or something)...and it was a FIGHT...still is... I'll give you a 3 day blow by blow of what was going on in my head in my next post. I didn't recognize myself inside or out for almost 24 hours on Sunday. It was one of the most unreal experiences of my current existence.

Sources for ADD/ADHD and addiction are:
You Mean I'm not Lazy Stupid or Crazy?! - Book by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo
ADHD Treatments - blog
National Center for Biotechnology Information- Medical Library Website 
WellSphere.com - Health website

Post Script Note... Even now I had the thought that I would step outside and have a smoke right after I hit "publish" on this post, and then had to remind myself that we're not doing that anymore. I guess I'll find an alternative. 

Having the option...

I'm so pleased with all the discussions that are being had because of what I'm writing! One ongoing question I seem to get is "Why are you choosing to eliminate so much from your diet/life?" or variations there of. The answer is simple.... Because I can.

There is something that was brought to my attention about 6 years ago by one of my friends. To explain it properly requires a tad bit of back story...

One of my friends grew up in the USSR, in the country now recognized as the Ukrane. In the USSR my friend and his family were not allowed to practice their faith, which happens to be Judaism. When my friend was 15 or so they moved to the US and it was sometime after that when my friend decided to practice and honor his faith in a way he never could before. One of the practices he picked up was eating Kosher, which very briefly means that he restricts himself from eating certain animals, parts of animals, and certain animal bi-products as well as other dietary guidelines as outlined in the Torah. (It is of course much more detailed than that which you can read about here) I remember while we were at work one day I asked him why he decided, after he came to the US, where he could do anything he wanted, did he decide to restrict himself from some of what this country had to offer.

His answer was so painfully simple, three words that were said with no more effort or thought than one would use to say "Hello" to answer the phone.

"Because I can."

It was that simple... and my whole definition of what it really meant to have it all, and live in the "land of the free and the home of the brave" changed instantly. I didn't really recognize it until later, but for at least 5 of these years I hear that thick Russian accent in the back of my head "Because I can."

My friend had been denied the right to practice his faith and now he practices it because it's important to him, and because he can.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should, could, or want to... and... that's okay. I think I had fallen into that rat race we have here of "More, bigger, faster, better, NOW" that I lost sight of what having a choice really means. It means you have the right to chose what you want, AND what you don't want.

So I am doing this now, making a concerted effort at changing my diet, striving to be what I view as the best I can be, providing more than lip service and taking action, because it is what I think is right for me, and because I am fortunate enough to live in a place and time that affords me the choice to do so.

I choose to avoid foods that I know are going to raise my cholesterol and contribute to high blood pressure.

I choose to make the daily effort to do what I have to to lose weight and increase my endorphins, which help me feel better.

I choose to make my journey public because there are others that need to know they can do it and they don't have to face odd choices alone.

So what is it that you do just because it's there? What do you do because you can? What do you make an active choice to do because it's what you truly want?

What are some alternatives to animal based protein?

Why do you eat meat? Seriously...why do you eat meat, what is meat's primary function in your diet? (The term meat here is being used to define all forms of animal protein, beef, pork, poultry, and fish.) Please e-mail me if your first gut reaction wasn't to say "Well it's my source of protein." or something similar. :-)

That's right, we all eat or ate meat because we have been informed by just about everybody on the planet that we NEED the protein. Part of this whole new way of looking at food has taught me that there's a lot of protein out there in astonishing supply...and it has nothing to do with animals!

Protein is absolutely a building block that our bodies need in order to function properly, and it's essential in larger amounts if you are trying to add muscle or live an active lifestyle. Yes the highest amounts per serving can be found in animal based meats. However, what the body actually needs vs what the average American Diet supplies is really out of whack. Not only that, but animal based proteins are significantly harder to digest and metabolize.

There is a formula you can use to figure out how much you yourself need every day, read about here. The basics are as follows

1. Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = weight in kg
2. Weight in kg x 0.8-1.8 gm/kg = protein gm.
Use a lower number if you are in good health and are sedentary (i.e., 0.8). Use a higher   number        (between 1 and 1.8) if you are under stress, are pregnant, are recovering from an illness, or if you are involved in consistent and intense weight or endurance training.

So you now know the total in grams of protein that you need for the day.... be honest about your lifestyle when you pick the number to multiply by...don't worry we can't see your calculator! :-) My number is 116. So I need to get as close to 116 grams of protein into my diet every day, and I don't want to eat meat... I could turn to soy milk, tofu (soy product), actual soy beans etc... that's one way to look at it...but too much of any one good thing ends up not being good.

In fact it has been documented that too much soy in a diet can make it harder for women to produce estrogen which is a hormone vital to little things like reproduction... sadly in all the research I did, no one could tell me how much was too much or what % was too much...they all just say..too much is bad. 

That doesn't mean put the tofu down.... unless you are also eating soy milk, soy based meat look alike products, and soy beans all in the same day...I would venture to guess that's too much. (try Almond milk - yum!)

Tofu does in fact have 20g protein per 1/2 cup serving which is pretty much on par with most 3 oz servings of animal based protein.

French beans also have about 12 g of protein per 1 cup serving (ooo...more nutrient filled volume to make you full!)

In fact... most dark green vegetables carry about a gram or two of protein with each 1 cup (cooked) serving.

Popular nuts for protein (1/4 cup serving) are Almonds, Walnuts, Peanuts and Cashews which average between 7-9 grams. (Special shout out to Walnuts for also having the Omega3 fats you need, that most people can get from fish)

Even seeds pack a protein punch for their little size! Flax, Pumpkin and Sunflower seeds carry about 6-8 grams per 1/4 cup as well. (Shout to the Flax for also being a great Omega3 fat source!).

There are even grains with great levels of proteins, most notably Quinoa (said Keen-wah)  which is up there with the nuts at about 7grams of complete protein.

So with a balanced diet of all this to choose from and more...getting near that 116g of protein per day isn't an issue. Not to mention that I didn't even TOUCH on all the other great nutrients these food items have in addition to protein that meat just doesn't have. I will be continuing to post about what I've learned and learning as we go.... but protein is a big one I wanted to get to first.

These sources of protein are serving multiple tasks within the meal plan I am working on.. for example- a piece of chicken is good for protein, but a handful of walnuts is good for protein, Omega3 fats, and fiber. Remember the idea is to pack as much nutrient punch as I can for each calorie of food that I eat. It's an ongoing mission that is actually a really fun challenge!

I invite you to please take 32 seconds of your day and watch this preview for Forks over Knives. I'm just about to go through my 4th viewing where I will be taking copious notes. (Took me 4 hours to do the same thing for "Chow Down") I find "Forks over Knives" to be absolutely essential to learning about this plant based/whole foods way of living...and strongly urge everyone to watch it once (it's less than 90 minutes long). It's also quite entertaining and very easy to follow. It may not make you pick up a fork at a vegan meal...but it may just inspire you to keep you from the knives at the operating table.




It is available to watch at www.hulu.com if you enroll in HuluPlus and is also available at most libraries, and for purchase on any major site that sells DVD's. If you're really nice to me... I may even lend my copy out :-)

Animal, vegetable, or mineral...my motivation for change

Did you ever try to go vegetarian when you were a kid? I did, a couple of times, with a friend of mine. We loved animals so much that we decided we didn't want to have any part of eating them. I think we were about 13 years old at the time, heavily dependent on our families for the meals we ate. At the time (very early 1990s) the only reason we had to go vegetarian was because of our love of animals. We decided to forgo anything leather and chemical based, and we learned all about animal testing too, we even became literal card carrying members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). I know... scary right?

Well I learned a lot in those months and years we flexed our rebellious muscles, much of which has stuck with me to this day. Including the fact that while I admire the goals PETA has, I find their tactics a little too extreme for my liking.

I also learned that I really like meat, dairy, and all other manner of animal food products. I still believe that we as humans are designed to eat meat, fish, cheese, eggs, etc as part of the fuel that feeds our bodies, but my attitude towards what and how much is healthy to our modern day diet has changed drastically.

Now before I go any further, let me say that the above are MY beliefs and I have absolutely no intention of pushing them onto you, or preach from a soap box about why you should or shouldn't do what I do. I am a firm believer in live and let live when it comes to these decisions.

So back to the really liking meat thing... I do... I think some animal proteins are beautiful things, and some are gifts from heaven above. I do have trouble with being able to recognize what I'm eating in it's living form, which I reason is because of all those PETA things I saw back when I was a member. (I now believe that PETA is way too aggressive in it's promotion of it's beliefs, no matter how much I agree with them)

Then I became unhealthy.

A few months ago, well several at this point, I was feeling like crap. There didn't seem to be a way out of it and I was looking for one. I would spend my days eating take away or cooking up a Paula Dean quality meal and then I would feel even more lethargic than when I started. Oddly enough Paula Deen just announced that she has Type 2 Diabetes, and instead of considering changing her ways, has decided to become a spokesperson for Diabetic medication.... this makes me sad.

Then I was introduced to the book Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Dr. Fuhrman practices medicine with his patients using a whole foods, largely vegetarian, and even vegan approach to help his patients reverse disease, lose weight, improve blood pressure and cholesterol. I love this book. It's not just Dr. Fuhrman's opinion, but it's also full of documented proof of results from his own patients and from some other very well known physicians that practice the same ideals.

Before this book, I didn't know that adult onset diabetes can be reversed, that people who take certain medications can work through diet and exercise to be off of them, and that with the proper fuel the body is significantly less likely to produce cancer. I read chapter after chapter screaming in my head Why does the world NOT KNOW THIS?!? I wasn't even finished with the book before I was buying vegetables I'd never cooked with before like Kale, Mustard Greens, Leeks and pound after pound of carrots to try and make these recipes in the book. I had to try this! I seriously thought the only REAL reason to go vegetarian or vegan was to help live a love for animals. I didn't know that doing this could so radically reduce my chances of an early grave!

Of course one of the main reasons why everyone doesn't know this (as featured in each and every item I read or watched) is that the US Government isn't in favor of anything that is going to hurt the Meat, and Dairy lobbyists, and of course there's no drug company that's going to be part of a major announcement that says you can reverse your need for their product.

The book asks it's readers, if they wish, to try the eating plan as mapped out for 6 weeks, and so I did. I have to tell you that I felt amazing after two weeks and dropped 11lbs without even going into the gym. Then I'm not sure what happened, but I stopped. I did continue my research though. I watched the following list of documentaries which totally and completely opened my eyes to food in this country. All of them are available for viewing on Hulu.com if you're enrolled in Hulu Plus.

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead - A really entertaining documentary about an Australian trying to live his best life through a juicing program, and whole foods.

Chow Down - Another entertaining documentary about three patients of Dr. Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic, and how they reversed their health issues with the Whole foods approach. There is also some great info about how the US government is advising us about what our diets should be based on which industries have the better lobbyists in Washington DC.

Forks over Knives - This is a very serious look at the diet in the US and how it compares to other countries. It includes a LOT of really great information on The China Study  and statistics regarding how a change in diet can keep you off the operating table.

The Future of Food -  Offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.


And countless blogs, news stories, and blurbs....


One of the most notable things to come out of these films (some to contain the same information, but I consider that learning through repetition) has to deal with the American Heart Association, an organization who's mission it is to educate and help prevent heart disease, the number 1 killer in the US today. The American Heart Association says that a cholesterol level of 200 is healthy, then why do studies show that 1/3 of the heart attacks that happen are with people that have cholesterol levels between 150 and 200? Basically, that leaves you with a 33% chance at getting a heart attack if you follow their guidelines.

More "amusing" still is that the spokesperson for the American Heart Association is in the film "Chow Down" stating that the reason they haven't changed their guidelines is because they feel it's to drastic for the American people and they fear no one will follow it.

Then, there was the nutritionist who was on the team researching and building the original food pyramid to advise the American people how to eat and be healthy. (This also appears in "Chow Down") She was offered a very large sum of cash in a very shady manner by a government official to NOT publish the actual findings, but instead make it so that the food pyramid and any other documentation published didn't upset the lobbyists for the meat and dairy industries!

It just makes me angry that things can't be simple... it would be so EASY if it was simple! I'll be writing quite a bit about the things I learned in all these sources about what is healthy, "healthy", and just plain junk. When I was learning all this, and taking copious notes because writing things down helps me to remember, I had one of those moments...one of those "Shit has got to change" moments and made some very radical changes to my diet. Which is what my next post is going to be about. I haven't gone completely to the other end of the spectrum and live a vegan lifestyle (vegan being no eating of any animal product or by product) but I am slowly working it more and more into my every day. Not just because I love animals, I do, the same way I did when I was 13 and tried to go vegan the first time, but because I know I already have high cholesterol, I already know that I carry around more than 100lbs of excess weight, and I don't want to die in the next 10 or 20 years because I couldn't put the cheeseburger down.

Now as I'm learning to do this, I have to do it on a budget as well which throws a whole new challenge into the...well... challenge.

New year, new attitude

Happy Birthday to me! (Well a few days ago anyway) Yeah, I know it sounds all cocky, not my general attitude, but I completely embrace my birthday and my age! I'm starting this, my 33rd year, with some new attitudes!

With this new year I'm bracing for some amazing new adventures and embarking on a new (official) career!

In my absence from blogging I've been neck deep in some hardcore research....if one could lose weight by reading, I'd be at my ideal weight already...

At the end of my last post I posed a question about knowing why you get hungry so fast after eating certain foods, and not when you eat others. The answer is nourishment! Foods you eat with a higher nutrient level give your body more to work with as it burns the food into energy so you can function.

Think about it... the more vitamins and minerals that are good for your body to nosh on in every calorie of food you eat the longer you stay full and the better you feel!

So for example if you have a bowl of your average run of the mill cereal, you know the ones that all advertise that they are part of a healthy breakfast? They are.... PART of that healthy breakfast, you really need to add some fruit, perhaps some green juice (like the one found at Trader Joe's) to round out those much needed nutrients before heading out for your day.

So part of this new attitude is making sure that my food is filled with as many nutrients as possible which can be accomplished by eating whole foods, nothing processed, and very little animal proteins.

I'm accomplishing this by cooking for myself, a lot. Which means I have to do dishes, a lot. There's a trade off for everything! It's worth it... I've never been so positively excited about food before! (I'm bordering on obsession) So, I will make that part of this blogging experience too.

I recently went to a work out class that made me fall in love with the endorphin rush again... man I tell you those endorphins have GOT to be better than Crack! (I don't know from first hand experience, but I would have to imagine that it's true). I haven't become obsessed with chasing that endorphin high yet, but I'm hoping to get there... Ok "obsessed" is a strong word, that rings of unhealthy negative behavior...but I plan on flipping the script on what an "obsession" can really be!


What are you hoping to put into and get out of 2012? Share your thoughts, plans, goals, wishes, hopes and dreams... lets get the missions accomplished together!

This just in! Follow me and the posts on Twitter! @SingleServeLife

Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food....

Hello dear readers!
I promise you I have not gone away, I just had to go and find my voice for a bit. I have been researching what direction I wanted to go in...life...eating...you name it!
The title is actually a very famous quote by the "Father of Modern Medicine" Hippocrates. Ever heard of the "Hippocratic Oath"? It's the oath medical doctors take that first states "Do no harm." It has also become one of my new Mantras!

I have recently taken a new direction in my dietary life, I'd been looking for one that made sense ever since the fall back in September. (For which I am still having one lingering mild injury). This new path started about a month ago when I was taking care of one of my neighbors, she had become ill and I was over making sure she had fluids etc. She showed me a book she was reading about an eating plan that focused almost solely on eating a plant based diet. I read a few pages and then quickly ordered us both a copy (the one she had was from the Library). Together we began reading the book, each taking from it inspiration and ideas. I, even though the book said not to skip around, immediately went to the menu and recipe section and decided that I might as well try to eat this way as I was reading this book. (I'm not going to divulge the name of this book just yet, as it is the mere tip of the iceberg and I want to make sure I can stick with it for a bit longer first).

I was intimidated by the recipes, but not by the book, I carried it everywhere with me! Thank goodness I carry a big purse! I was constantly seeing things in the regular American culture, food related, and medicine related, that this book swore against. The book even states that this way of eating will never catch on to the general public because it is so counter culture.

Then another scary health thing happened (well scary to me anyway), about a week after I purchased the book I was going down the stairs from my old bedroom at my parents house to let their dogs out, my knees sounded like marbles were rattling inside them. Then I remembered a little factoid that a friend had posted when she lost a few pounds...she said for every pound lost, 4 pounds of pressure comes off the knees. After caring for the pups I immediately made a comprehensive grocery list, and cost be damned I was going to start cooking some of those intimidating recipes! This was it, before I have to find a doctor and figure out if I'm hypertensive, diabetic or that my cholesterol levels have me at death's door....

Well the first attempt was a complete failure! I had attempted to make an intense vegetable soup, with a base of carrots and about 13 other ingredients, to do this one should juice the carrots...well all I had was a food processor which made the carrots a very lovely mush... all 5 pounds of them. (the idea was to cook and freeze portioned containers). Yeah, it didn't taste horrible, but it wasn't good either. I ate most of it over the next couple of days as I tried to devise a better plan. By the time I got to the last portion I could stand, I decided to chuck the rest, and start researching juicers.

I found one! It's not one that's really designed for daily use, but it's relatively easy to hand wash (I don't have the luxury of a dishwasher) and it gets the job done until I can put some money aside for one of those higher end models. Best part is, after some left over gift certificates and a coupon it only cost 9 dollars!

So I made some soups, I got to know my produce departments at my local grocery stores really well, and aside from the occasional uber craving for a nice piece of read meat, ok... ANY piece of red meat, I had lost 11 lbs without seeing the inside of a gym!

I continued to read my book, which contains tons of information about how being on a whole food/plant based diet can help your body find it's best weight naturally, how diseases can be reversed and/or prevented like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. It also explains how the information we get from the government, and government sponsored "healthy eating" programs aren't telling the truth because of lobbyists in Washington D.C. and it goes on..... Well I'm all for a good rebellion, and this book is really well cited, the bibliography goes on for days, but if I was going to commit myself to this "radical" type of eating then I was going to have to find more evidence to back it up!

State your source....
"State your source..." is something my dad started telling me when I was in High School and really starting to get my own opinions about the world. Basically it meant that if you have an idea that contradicts mine or the general populous you better have credible sources to back you up. I'll still use it to this day when someone tries to come up against me on something I am really on a soap box about, and sadly nine times out of ten the response is something like "Wikipedia" or "TMZ". News flash, those are NOT credible sources! (I'll let you figure out why). I usually like to find two or three credible sources to back my new ideas up. Credible being defined as honorable, having a good reputation, and respectable.  I found them and it didn't take long!

(As I write this now, perhaps I should have began writing this for you earlier, as a LOT has happened!)

Within days I had books and documentaries all agreeing with this new way of thinking I was developing, most cite the same sources as my book, but one really goes a bit further and has some nice interviews with some medical professionals, and former government employees. Another goes out on a limb to explain how the farming community that grows the food that's supposed to be healthy for us and the animals they feed (not generally the same crops, which scares me) is all twisted up in a genetically modified mess!

I will write in my next post how I found these sources what they are, and what they say... suffice to say it all made me, an all American, red meat loving, can I have a side of mayo with my duck fat fried potatoes, I'll eat the garnish and call it my vegetable, eating girl. Now asking for her dressing on the side, thinking of having a container garden in the spring, and wondering if her veg is dark and leafy enough.

Food for thought before I go... Are the calories you eat at every meal filled with enough nutrients to keep you full? Ever wonder why you can have a fast food meal, that consists of more than enough calories you should need for an entire day, and be looking for snacks in a matter of hours?

I know the answers.... do you?

Changes.... They Are Here!

Hi Gang! Sorry it took me so long to do a follow up. I went ahead and implemented some changes that just made me a complete snoozer ... like literally. Sleeping ALL THE TIME!

Ok so first let's start off with post energy drink fall recovery. I probably SHOULD be icing something, well a few things, but in typical me style I'm kinda letting it go. My left knee, and shin area which seemed to take most of the weight in my crash to the pavement is still very sore. It makes it's presence known a lot of the time. I also have several deep bruises on both legs (joy) and both my wrists are showing some wear and tear when I try to do an action such as pick up my laptop or open a window, that kind of "pinch and lift" motion. Then there's my ankle... I have no IDEA how this happened. I have a long sorted history with my right ankle and it now hurts again too.

So, being that I'm not exactly feeling as 100% as I'd like to be. I've been concentrating on some changes I can handle. I'm still as committed to change as I stated before, I just have to go about change a little differently than I was originally hoping.

(My 64oz H2O Bottle)

Step one- Hydrate. To start out I'm drinking 128oz of water in a day. That's 1 Gallon. It's hard, but I have to tell you that 4 days in, and my skin feels firmer, my cough that's left over from my cold is better. I wake up feeling less groggy. It's totally worth the hassle. I know that once I get the rest of my diet in check I can cut back on my direct H2O intake, but for right now, because water is the #1 delivery system for nutrients to the body, and also helps flush out impurities (of which I'm sure my body is chalk full).  Doing this and maintaining it will likely improve circulation, help with blood pressure and cholesterol (the latter of which I know I have an issue with) and just help my body be it's best, even on the days when I can't be good with my eating plan.

So, how do I manage to get 128 oz of water in me in one day? Well I'm starting with good old tap water. I found at my local drug store two 64 oz plastic water jugs (BPA free of course) that I rotate in and out of my fridge. I will be switching to a filtered water shortly because I am getting a chlorine after taste on some of my tap water that I don't enjoy. I just keep the jug with me all day. When I leave the house I have a much smaller and easier to carry around 32oz bottle that I bring with me. Here's the tip... if you live in a warm climate DO NOT leave your plastic water bottle in your car. There is a chemical that can be released as the sun warms up the bottle. It's not good for you. So if you're not comfortable walking around with a bottle of water, figure something else out.

Another tip about good old water, and this kinda depends on how your body reacts to additives. You can start with your own water regime by using an additive like Crystal Light, or Propel I know makes a water additive. Personally I'm on water ONLY and yeah it's kind of boring, but I've done the additives in the past and too much of those makes my kidney's hurt. How do I know? Well if you ever get this ache in your lower back from nothing at all, no strenuous activity, that kind of thing, switch to water for a day and I promise you it will go away. The ache is your Kidneys telling you they've had enough of trying to filter out all the crap that's in the additives. I also get this ache if I've had too much diet soda, which is something I only drink on the rarest of occasions. No calories does not mean it's good for you. In fact, it generally means there are so much additives in it that it does nothing but damage your organs a little at a time. Now I do have one night a week that I chill out with friends and on that night I take the opportunity to have some beer, but that's the only night I drink at present. 

Step two- Cut the nicotine. I'm on day three of being smoke free! In some respects it's harder than I thought and in other respects it's easier. The part I hate most is that I feel like I can't trust my inner monologue anymore. I'm constantly reasoning with myself about going to get smokes, or doing something or not doing something that will make me want to smoke. I may still end up buying some kind of nicotine delivery system to hang on to the sanity I feel like I'm losing, but I will NOT buy cigarettes ANYMORE! Even in the few days I'm also feeling physically feeling much better. I will also mention that I have attempted to quit many many times before... but let's face it. I'm done. I can't afford to smoke literally or physically anymore. So far I'm munching on carrots to handle that whole oral fixation issue with quitting which is helping so far... I think I may pick up some celery too. After all it is the only food on record that you burn more calories eating than it actually contains. :-)

Step three - Cut the Caffeine. Yeah I'm pretty much a "rip the band-aid off" kinda chick. So I've also spent the last several days without ANY caffeine. THAT didn't go nearly as well as the rest of these changes are going. I would sleep well for 8-9 hours, then wake up do some chores for a few hours and then go back to sleep for 2-3 hours. Now, some of that could be avoiding the nicotine, but the majority of it is my body just missing the nicotine. So I did have some coffee today (I'm not doing any energy drinks/shots at the moment) and I felt a million and one times better than I did after my nap. I'm not much of a napper usually anyway so it felt very strange. I'll just keep the caffeine to a minimum, you know.. enough to keep me going, but not over stimulated. Now that it's fall I love tea and coffee anyway.

Next step is to get organized into a daily routine again, I have been fitting in some stretching for the last two weeks but I need to start some low impact cardio, at least low impact while I figure out these post fall injuries.

Any suggestions for low impact workouts?

American Spirit

You can be sure that the American spirit will prevail over this tragedy. --Colin Powell

I've always been proud to be an American. It was on this day 10 years ago that I became FIERCELY proud to be an American. So it is on this day that I would like to take my small corner of the web and celebrate the American Spirit. Celebrate the strength we have and the unity we've shown. Honor the heroes and those that have gave their lives on that fateful day. I thank you. 


I will never forget....   

The Wake Up Call....

This evening I ventured out to one of my favorite Chicago Irish Pubs to celebrate a birthday of a dear friend, I'd call him my BFF again but he'd likely not take to kindly to the emasculating verbiage. ;-).

I will preface the following re-telling of the events by saying that I did have a fantastic time with my friend and his girl friend, as I usually do. But this evening I received a wake up call of one of the highest orders.

I arrived at the pub shortly after my friends and after some hellos went to the bar to order my pint of Guinness. It had been an especially long day for me in particular and I was feeling quite drained, but there was no way I was going to skip out on my friends. I drank that pint and as we were chatting waiting for the musician to begin we began commenting on how awfully stuffy it was in the bar this evening. Great, I'm tired, the bar is warm, and I'm drinking alcohol, this is a sure recipe for disaster I thought to myself. Thinking more in the terms of my current actions were going to do NOTHING for my current frame of mind. So, next drink up I ordered an energy drink, straight up, no vodka or alcohol of any kind. I NEVER mix an energy drink with booze... the idea of mixing an upper with a downer has always seemed dangerous to me and counter productive. Not to mention, expensive. I will take this opportunity to let you know that I had also had the majority of another type of energy drink while driving to the pub, so this would have been my second in a short amount of time. Something I have done before and wasn't concerned about. I just wanted to rally for my friends and be in a good mood.

As I was finishing my drink, and we were talking away, I was sending a few texts to other folks about ideas and to see if maybe they wanted to join us. I occasionally get ideas about things that I feel the need to tell a potentially interested party about immediately, once I did I was back in on the conversation at hand. We then got up and went outside for one of our classic smoke breaks. Yes, for those that don't know me in person I am currently a smoker. As the case was my two companions for the evening also partake in this rather nasty habit which only makes it easier to have. While outside there was what I would call a non-descript guy standing up against the building also puffing away. He decided to introduce himself to us, which is slightly unusual since we were very clearly a threesome and he was very clearly alone. As we finished up all three of us made some cordial comments about "see you inside" and the like, I somehow managed to catch his attention and I got an extra special pat on the shoulder as I headed in, that was accompanied by a very flirtatious look. Oh crap... here we go. Was the only thought that came to mind.

As we resumed our seats I told my friend's girl about the "extra special pat" I got upon re-entry and we both rolled our eyes I made a sad face and we giggled about it to my friend. Moments later as I finished my seriously caffinated beverage, Mr. Non-descript decided to test his luck with me. I will tell you that it is the rare occasion indeed when I allow a beverage to be purchased for me, not that it is offered all that often, but I'm of the mind that I wouldn't encourage a man I'm clearly not interested in getting to know in any way shape or form.... My friend on the other hand has told me time and again that "it's only a drink" and I should allow it. I will give Mr. Non-Descript credit, he was very polite when he came over and said "You look like a lady that could use a drink, what'll you have?" and before I could self-edit I uttered "[energy drink] straight up, please." This... was where I went wrong.

Mr. Non-Descript brought my drink and then decided to join us with one of his own, followed by telling us he'd just come from home after having 10-12 beers of his own, and then asking my friend where in Ireland he was from (My friend is American). Where I knew there was going to be a problem was when my friend had to tell Mr. Non-Descript he was from America and then Mr. Non-Descript repeatedly asked when my friend came to the US. Hmmmmm.... this is officially the last time I deviate from my norm of not accepting drinks. At least my friend and his girlfriend were having a bit of fun with him, I just sat there my sense of humor becoming exceptionally sarcastic and I'm staring at my friend hoping against hope that there was nothing I was doing to encourage further attention.

Turns out nothing is exactly what got me additional attention. At one point Mr. Non-Descript almost thought I was a lady of the night, which is just the most ludicris thing there ever was, and I quickly corrected his drunken assumption. My friend's girl went to the bathroom and as she was gone Mr. Non-Descript tried to hit on me some more, (joy of joys) and decided that my green top, wasn't actually green but was a lovely "green like" shade, and slurred on to include...

"You have very nice.....ummm....redish...um...yeah (he's actually touching my hair at this point)...this isn't natural is it?" I'm fuming, I reach up and sweep his hand away from my hair, which I happen to love, and rather agressively tell him that it's not natural, while my friend starts laughing hysterically telling Mr. Non-Descript that he really does know how to compliment a gal, not in so many words.

Cut to another smoke break at the end of my third energy drink, and as we're outside laughing about the situation I seem to have landed myself in, I reiterate for my friend the conversation about being in the world's oldest profession. He makes a comment that popped an image into my head that I found absolutely hysterical. I start uncontrolably laughing, which then started some of the "ah-oooga" coughing of a few weeks ago.

Then it happens, nearly simultaniously I'm coughing, I can't inhale, I double over, I start to get dizzy and disoriented, I fall against the front wall of the establishment, and I then crash to my knees and I watch my purse plop like it was dropped from the sky about two feet in front of me. All around I hear some shouts of concern and for a split second I didn't know who I was, all I knew was that I had fallen, I was dizzy and my purse was out of reach. I quickly found my breath, paused for the briefest of moments to take the mental inventory of any possible injuries and state that my purse is out of reach. I also remember that the first time a voice asked me if I was ok... I actually didn't know. Thankfully as luck and fate would have it a paramedic happened to be outside also getting his niccotine fix, he helped me to my feet and my friend's girl grabbed my purse. By the time I stood up I was shaken but ok. The paramedic asked if I was drunk and I remember looking right at him saying "No, it was just too much [energy drink], thank you." I'd only had one Guinness at that point, alhtough I did remember that I hadn't eaten much before I left the house, which is never a good plan either.

Minutes later back at our table, I was given some water, and I felt fine, I felt damn near great! With the exception of a scrape I could feel on my knee and that lasting feeling that happens when your palms hit pavement, I felt like it never happened. In the back of my mind, that scared me. How can I go from a moment of wondering who I was to total and complete clarity. We talked a bit about the whole incident and I of course slightly played down ALL of the feelings I had in that breif moment, for fear of actually sounding looney toons. As we discussed the possibility that it was the energy drinks I checked my pulse and sure enough it wasn't out of control, but it was going. I was then on water, and WIDE AWAKE, for the rest of the evening.

Sadly, Mr. Non-Descript kept trying to hit on me, and after the fall I didn't even speak to him. At one point just before last call he actually picked up a bag of potato chips I finished and SNIFFED IT!!! Stranger still... as if that wasn't strange enough, he only did so after confirming that they were actually mine. *sigh*

I left my friends just after last call, a good 2.5 hours since my fall. My friend, being mindful of Mr. Non-Descript, kindly escorted me to my car just in case.  On the 30 minute jaunt home the evening's events came feverently to the surface.

Bottom line, and please excuse my course language, shit has got to change, and it's got to change NOW. Do I know what caused my brief lapse in sanity and my fall? Beyond a shadow of a doubt it was the energy drink combined with lack of proper diet, but who's to say I'll get another wake up call regarding my health? At my current height and weight it is entirely possible that I could fall again (without losing my mental faculties) and actually break a bone, or worse. It is entirely possible that if I decide to go in excess on caffine that my heart won't handle it as well. These are real concerns, especially now! There is NO WAY I want to go through that again, there is NO WAY my friends want to see that again, it scared them too. There is NO WAY I can walk through this life being a wickedly smart individual, and simultaniously take that intelligence and toss it like garbage when it comes to my health.

This night is going down in history as one we'll be telling around the pub table for years undoubtedly, and it's probably one of the biggest wake up calls I've ever had.