Food

It's already been established that I cannot go walking, which, contrary to my last entry includes rollerblading and elliptical time as well. So, I've just been focusing on my diet.

Breakfast and lunch have always been tough meals for me to remember to eat or just to make time for. Dinner is never a problem, but portion control is...most likely because it's been the only actual meal I'd eat in a day. Thankfully, I've found a balance, and have been sticking to it pretty well.

Breakfast. My mornings consist of coffee, a yogurt, and a muffin with some kind of spread (Nutella, Apple Butter, or a whole fruit jam). Some days I'll change it up with fruit (pineapple usually - I live in Hawaii, what can I say), and an omelet. The omelet of choice lately has been 2 eggs/one yolk, turkey bacon, avocado and smoked Gouda cheese. It's a fantastic way to start the day!!!

Lunch. Lunch can be a little challenging, but I've been getting better. Today was a Chicken/Asparagus/Smoked Gouda Wrap:

Cut the asparagus stalks in half, put in small frying pan with water, lemon juice & sea salt to taste, drain the water after a minute or two of boiling; lay the asparagus out on top of the slices of smoked Gouda already down the middle of the tortilla; heat the chicken strips in the pan until warm and add to the tortilla. That's it. Just roll it up and your lunch is ready. Total kitchen time...maybe 5 minutes.

Dinner. I have a husband that is terrified of veggies. The man refuses to eat them. If he had his way, he'd have brats and some starch or pasta every night of the week. It kills me because his cholesterol is just 128...and we're not discussing where mine is...let's just say it's over 200 and under 235. Anyway, Cooking one dinner that we'll both eat can be difficult at times. I am not the kind of woman who will make two separate meals just to please the husband. Too much work, and you'll eat what's put in front of you. (Lord, I'm starting to sound like my mother.) That being said, I've tried a few new things: Sweet Potato fries, Basmati Rice, brown rice, turkey burgers, and chicken sausages. These are things that I can get the husband to eat without tying him up and force feeding him. Although, he's not too sure about the Sweet Potato fries, but he did eat them!! (One point for the wifey) On occasion, maybe once a week, I will make pasta of some kind. I love Costco ravioli and tortellini, so I've always got them in the house. I can even get the man to eat the spinach ravioli if I just put it on his plate and hand it to him. (Two points for the wifey) I like to make my own sauce, that usually consists of olive oil and various organic herbs and fresh garlic. Again, Costco saves all with their Organic No Salt Seasoning, which is good on absolutely everything from meats to rice to potatoes to fish to veggies, and of course with olive oil on pasta. As far as the meats I keep in the house...almost no red meat, or pork. We eat a ton of chicken, and we love turkey burgers (yet again, Costco - so much better than Jennie-O). Basically Dinner is covered!

Then there's the snacks: Tortilla chips in homemade avocado/ranch dip; home-mixed trail mix; a spoonful of Nutella (ya, ya, I know), Granny Smith Apple with Smoked Gouda cheese or Nutella. Does dessert count as a snack? Ok, yes, it does... Who doesn't love ice cream?! Well, if you are watching what you eat for any reason at all, and you choose to let ice cream back into your diet, you MUST try Skinny Cow. Not that you haven't already, just that you should if you haven't!!! You would never know that it was low fat! BTW, The Husband likes the Skinny Cow too!

I've decided not to touch on my complete and utter failure at the McDonald's drive thru with a friend on Monday. Suffice it to say that going from healthy, non-processed foods to McDonald's foods is NOT a good idea. Not a good idea at all.

And, on that note, I will leave you for today.
Aloha!

Issues...

What are we supposed to do when life gets in the way of our healthiness???

Admittedly, I have not walked in 5 days. Nor, have I utilized the elliptical. I'm not feeling good about it.

My shins still hurt. My feet are killin' me. And, my knees, they start aching at the mere thought of walking.

I'm in a quandry... Do I make an appointment to go see the doc so that I can get a referral to a podiatrist? Do I spend $120 + on a new pair of walking shoes that have the specific support that I know I need? Do I just buy some inserts for my the shoes I currently own, to the tune of $60-ish?

Option 1: Doctors = time = waiting ...not all that appealing
Option 2: Shoes = choke kala (lots'a money) that's just not in the budget right now
Option 3: Inserts = do I really wanna spend $60-ish on a pair of inserts that may or may not do the trick

Oy! What to do?!

On the food side of things. Costco won on Monday. However, I found lots of really healthy foods that could be split up into single serving sizes and frozen. Should have plenny food for the rest of the month!!!

Note to self: Nutella is the devil!!! I love it! I'm addicted to it. I can eat it by the spoonful, right out of the jar. This is NOT healthy!!! (Will be having Granny Smith apples and Nutella tonight for dessert or snack!)

Other exercise options... crunches, rollerblading, biking. Now I REALLY need to figure out how to get tunes onto my phone...

FAIL!!!

I'm so disappointed in myself today.

I stayed up too late last night. I fell asleep on the chair with the dogs. I forgot to take my meds. And, my Izzie Alarm Clock didn't wake me up until almost 0800.

We didn't go for our walk this morning, and now it's too late...not time-wise, but heat-wise. As much as I love to "sweat it out" I am not going to walk a brisk mile in 90* heat. It's just not going to happen.

Fail! Fail! Fail! Fail!

Update on pain:

1. Feet are still killin'
2. Shins are on fire
3. Knees are not really very happy
4. Lower back is stiff - probably from sleeping in the chair and not the bed

I didn't do anything all day today. No exercise whatsoever. I'm going to blame it on the pain. It hurts to walk. It hurts to stand.

The ONLY thing that I didn't fail at was food. I ate healthy and snacked healthy and drank a ton of water.

Tomorrow is a new day!!!

I'm going to bed now, and will be a-walkin' at 0700!!! NO EXCUSES!!!

Pain...

Yes, I said PAIN!

Back in the day, the days of being an active teenager, I was on the track team. My events were: 100m, 200m, 100m hurdles, 4x100 relay, and 4x200 relay. Sometime between 8th grade and 9th grade track, I started having knee pain. An orthopedist told me that I should join the swim team to strengthen my knees before 10th grade track. I did, and loved swimming. It helped my knees too! And then, the foot pain started. Excruciating, sharp, debilitating pain. It felt like someone had taken a hammer to the tops of my feet. Off to the podiatrist I went. He diagnosed me with inflamed metatarsals. Hellooooooo custom orthotics! That was fun...NOT! The orthotics helped, and now I think it's time for a visit to a podiatrist again.

Today is Day Three, and my feet and hips hurt like I can't even tell you. Izzie, Mia, Zara and I went on our one-mile walk anyway, and other than the obvious pain, I'm feeling pretty darn good. I have plenty of energy, and not everything hurts...just the parts effected by walking and using the elliptical.

I  have multiple types of athletic shoes, none of which seem to support the metatarsals properly, so my feet, again, feel like someone's taken a hammer to them. I wore my Oboz trail runners today for our walk, and while my feet didn't hurt too much during the walk, my toes went numb (no, the laces weren't pulled too tight). As soon as the shoes came off, the real pain started, and I can hardly stand now.

The first two days I wore my Asics Gel Treadmill's. I don't know if the Asics just don't have the front/ball of the foot support that my feet require or if just the action of walking is whats causing the issue. I think that I will try my Oboz again tomorrow and see how that goes. If things aren't any better, off to the doc I'll go. Ugh!

I have a pair of Nike Shox too, but they're a little too narrow in the front, so I tend to not wear them. I love them because they look great, but they don't have the support that I need. Oh well.

Did I mention that I'm an over-pronator, and that I had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee in 2004? I know that my Oboz keep my feet pretty straight when I'm walking, so that helps with the pronation. I've put extra arch supports in my Oboz too, so my knees don't bother me when I wear them. Now if I can just get the metatarsals figured out!

So, no, none of this has anything to do with FMS and the pain associated with it. However, once I can correct the correctable issues, I will be able to better address my FMS pain and determine the effects of my daily diet and exercise changes.

DAY THREE

• 0700 - one mile walk
• 0800 - feed the dogs
• 0830 - feed self (3/4c Special K Red Berries w/1 half cup soy milk, 8 oz. Goji Raspberry V8 Fusion, 16 oz. black coffee)

And now it's time to run some errands.

Dinner, Day Two

Make a healthy dinner that even The Husband would eat. That was the goal for tonight. And, I did it!!! He really liked it. The Husband doesn't usually eat two helpings of anythng, but he went back for more tonight!!!

Here's the recipe, cause it's pretty darn good, and I just have to share it.

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts (Mine were frozen individual 2-packs from Costco)
1 Box Swanson Organic Chicken Broth
1/4 Sweet Onion sliced
4 Garlic Cloves peeled & thinly sliced
1/2 small bag Organic Baby Carrots
1/2 bag of Organic Pasta (I used Garofalo brand Casarecce style pasta from Costco)
Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

In a large pot combine chicken, broth, onion, garlic, carrots, and salt & pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally. Remove Chicken, and cut into bite-sized pieces or shred, whichever is easier for you. Return chicken to the pot and add pasta. Return to a low boil. Cook until pasta is done.

It turns out as more of a stew than a soup because the pasta absorbs most of the liquid. Serves 4.

We'll be eating leftovers tomorrow for sure! I'm already looking forward to lunch!

Day Two

Day one started out fantastic. I was quite proud of myself, and did well for the majority of the day diet-wise. However, after making some candles and running errands with The Husband, I faltered a bit.

Until one has eaten a Leonard's Malasada, one cannot know the effect of even the fragrance of it's fried fatty goodness. Through some research, I've learned that Leonard's Malasadas are Portuguese, not Hawaiian, but really, it just doesn't matter. Leonard's Bakery is on Oahu, and it's the devil...in a good way (unless you're on a diet or just eating healthy)!!! A malasada is deep fried dough, coated in sugar (or cinnamon-sugar if you like, OR Li Hing Mui-sugar if you go to the actual bakery). You can get them without filling, but the best way to eat them is with some haupia in the middle. Haupia is a really smooth coconut milk pudding. But, if you aren't into coconut, you can get plain custard or dobash filling. Honestly, no matter how you get your malasadas, they're wicked 'ono!!!

Haupia filled Malasada (photo: http://www.leonardshawaii.com/bakery.html)

So, I ate two malasadas yesterday: one after running errands, and one after dinner. TWO of them. Bad, bad, bad. But, dinner was good: a Costco turkey burger (WAY better than Jennie-O) with a mini Babybel Gouda cheese round sliced on top, with homemade ranch-avocado "dip", on 1/2 of a sandwich round; a pile of cauliflower w/some sea salt; and, a handful of tater tots w/ketchup. Don't even get me started on how much water I drank throughout the day...what's six times twenty-four??? One hundred forty-four ounces of water. NO soda...all day!!! Major accomplishment.

Side Note: If you like bread, and buns for your burgers, you have to check out these sandwich rounds!!! They're super healthy, very versatile, and taste fantastic!!! My mother introduced me to them when I was visiting at the beginning of September. I know there's another brand that makes them, but I buy the Oroweat ones: http://www.oroweat.com/Thins/DescriptionProduct.aspx?sSku=7341013547c

Ok, so now that you know all about my Day One, let's deal with Day Two.

My Izzie Alarm Clock woke me at 0630. Perfect timing to get up and get ready to go for our walk. I took Mia with us this morning, and we walked a brisk mile in under 30 minutes. I feel fantabulous (with the exception of achey hips and feet), and the walk was easier than yesterday. Just goes to show that the more you do it, the easier it gets, and I'm only on day two!!! Next week we'll go for two miles!!

I haven't eaten yet, but my 3/4c. of cereal w/one half cup soy milk is calling my name. I did make fresh coffee this morning, but only 1/2 a pot. I live for coffee, and it just didn't taste very good to me today. Could this healthy eating/exercise thing be turning off my coffee craving??? I would be so very sad...

The rest of Day Two: another fifteen minutes of elliptical hell; delivering some candles; mailing some candles; and, cooking a healthy dinner that even The Husband will eat.

Look out Day Three!!! Here I come!!!

Day One...of the rest of my life

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~ Marcel Proust

I LOVE my Franklin Covey Planner!!! Not just because it keeps me wicked organized, but because it includes the most amazing inspirational quotes for each week! I don't think this quote could be any more perfect for the beginning of my own "voyage of discovery."

This morning started out a few minutes late. My Izzie alarm clock woke me up at 0705, but we went for our walk and the girls did great. I felt fantastic walking and am already looking forward to tomorrow's trek around the block.

We were home and ready to wake up the boyz for breakfast by 0800. While the doggers all got their regular measured amount of kibble, I went into shock over my measured bowl of cereal. Who knew that eating according to serving suggestions meant that I'd be eating only 3/4c of cereal?! Apparently I've been eating three times that much...at least! OY! Measuring out my food is soley for portion control, as I have none. I'm hoping that eating appropriate quantities of healthy foods will keep me at a healthy, acceptable and stable weight; and, that eliminating the food overload will help my energy levels.

The elliptical and I didn't bond for 30 minutes, but we did for 15. This is NOT a failure. This is a beginning. I haven't worked out in....let's not go there... Fifteen minutes on the elliptical after a one mile walk is not too shabby for day one! I'll take it and try to do more tomorrow.

The yard is going to remain neglected until this evening or tomorrow. I'm not feelin' the heat outside at this point, and think that it might not be a bad idea to lay low in the hale (house). There's plenny to be done inside.

Summary of my morning:

1 mile walk with Zara & Izzie
24 oz. H2O
3/4 c. Special K Red Berries w/ 1/2 c. Soy Milk
16 oz. Black Coffee
15 minutes on the elliptical
24 oz. H2O
8 oz. V8 Fusion (Acai Mixed Berry)

My one whole artichoke is boilin' on the stove with fresh lemon slices & a touch of sea salt for lunch.

Day One is turning into a GREAT day! With the exception of some achey feet, I'm feeling fantastic!

Project: Blessed Life to commence in 19 hours

This is kind of scary for me, because getting started is always the hardest. And, I don't want to fail.

REMINDER: Failing is not an option...do not fail self!

Day One of  my lifestyle betterment will begin at 0700 on Monday, 11OCT2010. (I'm an Army wife, so just go with the military time.)

0700 = all dogs out to potty, and a one-mile walk around the block with said puppy & my Iggy Girl Izzie. (We have 5 dogs...4 Italian Greyhounds and 1 Rhodesian Ridgeback. We're also fostering the sweetest little terrier mix puppy that you've ever seen.)

0800 = feed all dogs and ME - one measured bowl of Kellogg's Special K Red Berries & Soy Milk with 8 oz. of fruit juice (note to self: make only 1/2 pot of coffee, and drink only 1/2 of it)

0900 = mow the yard and weed the flower beds

1100 = 30 minutes on the sadly neglected elliptical

1200 = light lunch of veggies...an artichoke maybe

Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! Plenty of H2O! ALL DAY!

OK! The first 5 hours of my new life. Not too overwhelming. A good start to a new forever.

I can doooooo it!!!

The Third Year - Changes Abound

To celebrate my life and living with FMS, I am dedicating this blog to all of the positive lifestyle changes I'll be making as I enter into my third year with Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

I'm not going to get into everything that I have gone through in the last 15 years that has led up to this blog. I am, however, going to focus my attentions on the transition of feeling cursed with FMS to being blessed because I've decided to make changes in my lifestyle.

First let me tell you where I am with FMS now.

I'm almost always tired. It's kind of a downer. There are days when I am full of energy, so I tend to take full advantage. I will run myself ragged and then I'm out of commission for a week. Oh, and don't forget my sleep schedule! If I vary at all, my entire next day might even not come...I'll sleep right through it, or just plain not have the energy to get off of the couch, regardless of how long my list of things to do is.

My list of daily medications includes: 50mg Cymbalta, 60mg Lyrica, 2000IU Vitamin D3, 400mg SAMe, and a Women's One-A-Day multivitamin. A recent visit to my rheumatologist resulted with the addition of a twice-a-month dose of Vitamin D2 1.25 MG (Ergocalciferol).

Exercise...well, not so much. I know that I should exercise, everyone should, but I especially should, FMS & all.

Diet... I eat pretty healthy. Veggies are a staple in my diet. Chicken, and turkey are my primary meat sources, with an occasional hunk o'beef thrown in there. Salmon, Ahi tuna, Mahi Mahi...all fresh of course...and never fried. I drink a ton of water, too much caffeine in the form of coffee, and Diet Pepsi whenever I can get my hands on it (I try to NOT keep it in the house). Fruit, yogurt, brown rice, some pasta, soy milk, yogurt based margarine, sea salt, salads as often as I can get 'em, olive oil, not much sugar, and lots and lots of other yummy stuffs. Don't get me wrong, I love me some junk food, but I try to keep it to a minimum. Everything in moderation.

That all being said, change is a comin'. I am looking forward to starting an even more healthy diet, and adding in some regular exercise. After all, I have an elliptical that's never been used!

Week One starts in 30 hours.