6/36. All's well that ends well

Day 6 got off to a shaky start but ended well.  Food, exercise, meditation.  Check. Check. Check.

Feeling vunerable this morning. Need to post

Perfect choice of a photo this morning with the precariously but perfectly balanced rocks.  I, however, am feeling more precarious than perfect.  It is 6:40, and I am already in the office to participate in a 7:00 Skype appointment.  I rolled out of bed, took a quick shower.  Have not meditated, have no clear exercise plan, added Nutella to my toast with pb....not good signs.  So what do I need to do?  1.  Use this time to meditate.  2.  Send a message to a friend to commit to a walk this afternoon.  3.  Brush my teeth to get rid of the Nutella aftertaste.  4.  Drink lots of water.

To be continued....

5/36 An even better day

Last evening almost went as planned....meditated, dined on spinach and a poached egg with rice and beans, AND I slept 7 full heavenly hours.  Seven hours!  No yoga last night, but I did not hesitate to get up this morning to begin my routine.  Meditation was followed by 22 minutes of yoga that was followed by 15 minutes of warm up laps and then 60 minutes of water aerobics.  Amazing.

I ate before hitting the pool and then shortly thereafter to avoid the "I am starving, I will eat anything" reaction of Tuesday. 

Food report as of 5:00:  tostada, avocado and cheese at 7:00, green drink at 8:15, toast, pb, banana and tangerine at 11:00, veggie burger, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce and onions plus a slice of cheese at 1:30 and rice, beans and spinach just now.   A papaya smoothie is planned for dinner. 

My only guilty secret is that I am drinking a small can of Diet Coke a day.  I hope to give it up soon, and I am not beating myself up too badly over it right now. 

Office cleaning and dreaming continues.  Might be time right now for more pinterest work. 

Spring break officially started today when classes ended.  No classes next week; all but one student are traveling.  I will be in and out of the office.

4/36 A better day

 

I was at the Central House at 4:45 this morning to take a student, Jessica, to the airport.  She is on her way to Guatemala to visit her Guatemalan relatives for the first time.  Both of Jessica's parents immigrated to the US in the 1980s and have not returned to Guatemala.  Jessica was being met at the airport by her great-grandmother, grandmother, aunts, uncles and an army of cousins.  The least I could contribute was a ride to the airport.

After dropping off Jessica, I walked for 45 minutes and then arrived in the office at 7:00 for a monthly Skype conference with the European program directors.  Since then, I have been cleaning my office  like a woman possessed because I decided while walking this morning that I want a new look for my office.

I could say I want a new look for every aspect of my life right now, I concentrating on the office is much more manageable.  I threw out three huge trash bags of files and other accumulated stuff.  Painting will take place in April when I am in Iowa.  I have some ideas, but in the meantime, I am also pinteresting my little heart out in search of inspiration. 

I will do my yoga and meditation when I get home later today.  Foodwise, today has been much better than yesterday:  toast, pb, banana, laughing cow cheese, tostada shell, sliced avocado, beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, one corn tortilla, two tangerines.  I am planning to have poached eggs with spinach and the green drink for dinner to increase my daily veggie count. 

Life is looking better each day.

3/36 I might be onto something good

I did 13 minutes of yoga when I got home last night and slept until 4:30 this morning.  Well, I was awake before then, but I held off on checking the clock until 4:30 which means that I slept past 3:00 which has been rare lately.  Could just that much yoga combined with the walk and a third day of clean eating made such a difference?  I want to say yes!

I did make it home last night without stopping for ice cream nor did I eat anything for the remainder of the evening.

I did have toast with pb, a banana and a mango around 5:00.  I did my meditation, 20 minutes of yoga, had the green-drink-of-the-week and then went to my Tuesday morning water aerobics class.  I  arrived in the office at10:30.  Given I will be here until 8:30 tonight, I feel great about arriving at 10:30.

The down side of the day is that when I walked in the kitchen, Doña Lupita was fixing lunch for the students as she is usually doing at that time.  Ham slices plus this ball of rice and cheese that she then rolled in bread crumbs and deep-fat fired.  I inhaled TWO of the balls in about 3 seconds and have been vomiting ever since. 

Luckily, I paid a price for such an automatic and uncontrolled reaction.  I have also felt lethargic and have had a hard time concentrating.  Being aware of what I did, however, has made a difference.  In spite of simply wanting to lie down on the floor, I am pushing myself to get through my things to do list.  I am drinking lots of water.  I am heading out for a walk in a few minutes to get some sun and fresh air. 

My plan for Thursday when I have water aerobics again?  Have something ready to eat in the car when I leave the gym, before I arrive at the Central House so that I don't arrive "starving" and thus susceptible to whatever may be close at hand.  What more can I do?

2/36 Living clean

 

Shades of AA...just admitting my life has become unmanageable was a huge relief.  It is 6:30, and I am about to leave my office to walk with a friend.  I meditated this morning upon awakening.  I took a break every hour to get away from my desk.  I was productive in working through my list.

Food intake has been positive.  I feel almost certain I can make it home without stopping for my usual liter of chocolate ice cream.  In detail:
Insomnia-induced breakfast at 2:15:  toast, pb and tangerines
Breakfast:  famous green drink with cucumbers and celery
Lunch:  gluten free pasta with broccoli and carrots, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Snack:  Cup of broth made last night from a recipe I found in a magazine, beans, baked tostada shell, pico de gallo

My real goal is to do some yoga when I get home.  I could be happy with 10 minutes.

36 days of living clean

This has been a difficult semester.  All of the good feelings and high energy of post-vacation December disappeared far too quickly in January with two back-to-back specialized programs followed immediately by the arrival of 22 students and a visiting biology professor.  The majority of the students are sophomores with no experience outside of their own small world of rural Iowa.  They need lots of hand-holding, patience and encouragement to do even the most simple tasks.  As a result, I have been putting in what seems like a million hours a week with very little to show for it.  I have been on a roller coaster of eating well/eating poorly, exercising/not exercising, meditating/not meditating, oversleeping/insomnia. 

I spent a week  in North Carolina (Feb 17-23) during which I did some marketing/recruiting and participated in a conference where I presented an academic paper...two more stressful tasks.  The "highlights" included some serious southern-style eating....biscuits, grits, fried chicken, more biscuits, more grits, more fried chicken.  While fun, I did not return feeling good nor did I have any energy. 

Since my return, the roller coaster has been a little less scary but still there.  I have been swimming and walking regularly, but my food history has been horrendous and yoga and meditation efforts have been dismal.  I want to/have to make some changes.  Besides being able to deal with students, I am facing another trip to the US April 7-19 that will include four full days of recruiting/marketing beginning in Rochester, New York of all places and ending in Davenport, Iowa.  In between there will be travel days and a series of meetings in Pella where lots of changes that will affect study abroad programs and directors are in the works.  Personal time will be extremely limited.

To make a long story even longer, I decided yesterday that I have to feel as good as I can today and everyday in order to just keep up with daily responsibilities.  I have 36 days in which to eat well, swim and/or walk daily, complete 30 minutes of yoga and 13 -15 minutes of meditation daily and just generally take care of myself.  I spent yesterday planning meals, grocery shopping, fixing food for the week ahead.  My goal is to report daily here. 

Saturday:  Water aerobics - 1 hour
                  Meditation - 13 minutes
                  Yoga - 0
                  Food:  Chilaquiles at Central House, green drink of cucumber, celery and lemon, beans, 2 eggs, pico de gallo, toast with pb and mango, chicken

As of 2:00 Sunday:  Laps - 1 hour
                                Meditation - 13 minutes
                                Toast with pb and mango, same green drink as above, chicken

Any and all suggestions, words of wisdom and support are welcome.