What's that smell?

Depending on where your mind spends its time, your first thought on reading today's title could be interesting.  Not be too indelicate, but Annette says I don't smell so bad in some ways since I have been eating a more balanced, less greezy diet.

Diet.  A word I hate.

But today is so beautiful outside I will leave any hatin' for another day.  That is not exactly true.  I am gonna hate on my first month of tries at 'smoothies'.  I usually get motivated to make one because I am trying to jazz up a whey mixture that I dread.  I try and drink it after a hard work out just because a gym rat told me too.  I ended up buying a bucket of it at a local health food outlet.  The sales guy was priceless, telling me not to add yogurt or I would look bloated.  I asked him how much more bloated could I look?

Complaint number one is that it gets all foamy.  How do you mix up this blech without it getting frothy?  I've tried adding some fun stuff...bananas, strawberries, blueberries and some homemade pomegranate juice.  The taste improves, but the fluff is OUT OF CONTROL.  Then, this morning, I got the distinct smell of rotten eggs hitting my nose right before I gulped.  This version tastes the best so far, but the smell is a disincentive.  Well, I will just keep my mad scientist wig on and keep trying.

*****

189.  The 80's.  Jeffy is smiling.  Great run through the cherries Thursday.  Hamachi and Sake for dinner Friday night.  Circuit kicked my tail at the gym this morning.  And, I am writing this while listening to Catherine Russell, my current female singer crush.  Just puts me in a great place.

Survived and Thrived

I did not go to Ronald's house of fried flavor and poison.  Check
I ate several small, balanced meals.  Check
I looked forward to and enjoyed my circuit training.  Check
I crossed from the 90's into the 80's.  Check.

It is easier to enjoy the journey when you can check a few things off the list.

Jeffy vs. Ronald - The Rumble in the Tummy

Banana, yogurt w/walnuts and almonds, the perfect fugi, a power bar before pilates and some leftover Weight Watchers chili with a hand full of spinach tossed in.  I have been into spinach on/in everything lately.

Then, a 3 hour battle with the most insane need (not want) for a QPWC topped off with a FO'F.  Just typing it makes me jittery.  I think I win, because I expect to go to bed now.  But I have to walk past my keys.  I hope I pass this test.  If my only consequence for self-discipline is dreaming of hot tubbing with the HamBurglar, I count it a victory.

*****

I have been stuck around 191 for a while, but was rewarded with running out of holes in my belt on the opposite side of where I had to punch a couple of holes at the end of last year.  Yippee for me.  I hope someone hid my keys because a I want a QPWC NOW!!!!!!!!

Whole Lipstick

I cannot remember the first time I heard the word holistic.  It might have been when I started studying psychology.  There were two tracks at school and one of them was traditional and the other was holistic.  What I do remember is that I thought the person I was talking to said Whole Lipstick.  It took a second to get what he was saying.

Why is this important?  First, because I think it is funny.  But for the purposes of this blog, I wanted to comment on a most daunting task.  I find it almost impossible to dig my way through the mountain of information on what we eat.  Frankly, a lot of the confusion comes from the holistic side of things.  In a future post, I hope to tell you a bit about a book that feels clear to me.  For now...a short story about the way I experience a lot of the information in books and on the web and from people and friends interested in the same things.

The story:  I spent the weekend at a huge Boy Scout gathering commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Boy Scouts in the U.S.  All that youth, mostly boys, gathered for a good cause...no threat or fear of violence.  I found it remarkable.  I woke up on Saturday feeling sure I was coming down with the flu.  I took a couple of Advil and for fun I put a moleskin patch on my forehead.  In short order I felt fine.  I told several of the boys that the moleskin patch is all I use for headaches, hoping they would tell their parents or maybe try it themselves. :)

Except what exactly made me feel better?  If had left well enough alone would the funk have passed on by?  Did joking and laughing with the boys about something as absurd as a moleskin cure get me up and going?  Did focusing on a spot in my body help me control my pain response?  Or was it the cinnamon rolls?

Learning to understand and listen to my body is gonna take some time.  Learning to dig through all the advice and passion in the world might take longer.  I think I'll just lay on the couch and put on some lipstick...the whole thing.

*****

191 after a tough Saturday of camp snacks.  I did O.K. at first...Banana's and Power Bars, but at the end of the day I was finishing the kids left overs as we 'cleaned up'...fries, chips, muffins, etc.   The good news is that I think I logged 7-10 miles walking.   Today was a great day of apples, cheese, yogurt, nuts, salads, veggies and a great Weight Watchers chili we got from Jeanine Pells.  Annette and I watched the sun set on a beautiful afternoon while walking a couple of miles.

Honey Comb

I live in a very cool place. Mandarin and nectarine orchards to the West.  Cherries North and South.  Fallow to the East.  Sometimes when I run, I just run around the trees.  Today I was daydreaming about everything hitting my nose...citrus, new mown grass, fresh cut wood, rotting mandarins and a little rain.

Which brings me to the reason this is the most fascinating and worth while blog in the bloglag (I am trying to get a new word going to replace blogosphere that imparts some of my feelings that the internet can be as much a prison as a free space.  Get it.  Gulag.  Bloglag.  It doesn't flow but it is my first idea).

Which brings me to the reason...because you just don't know what is coming next.  I was smelling my way around the orchards when I ran right into some portable beehives, literally.  Only the buzzin' brought me out of my reverie.  I took off at a fair trot and the buzzing would not stop.  I have super bottle brush hair and a bee got stuck in my muck.  I think he wanted out.  I wanted him out.  But he finally gave up and stuck me.  Owiee.  A hit to the melon.

Beside that, it was a very good run today.  I felt good the whole way.

****

191.  I forgot breakfast, but had a nice lunch of bananas, yogurt, walnuts, spinach and lunch meat.  I roll up the meat and the spinach.  Tastes good to me.  I am off to a Scout Jamboree for the weekend.  I ate some left over pizza to get ready.  Jeez, my head is pulsing.

Distractions

For good reasons, I didn't do anything active today.  So why am I grumpy with myself?  I skipped a pilates class I like but thought I would make it up with a run.  How do good reasons pile up or become more important than something I considered 'most important' when I started my day?

You must have heard that story about how to get the most stuff in a jar...big rocks first, then smaller rocks, then sand.  Sometimes all the big rocks don't fit.  You can keep shoving, but eventually the jar breaks.

****

191 this morning.  Pho for lunch.  It tastes so I good there must be something killing me.  What do you think that plum sauce rolls up at?  Snuck a couple of meat balls in yummy sauce at the Dental office.  We got some pizza for visitors at the house tonight, but I only had two pieces where I usually eat, no kidding, a whole medium pizza.  Pepperoni and Bell Pepper...mmmmmm.

Then I tried a recipe I saw on the Barefoot Contessa.  That woman knows how to cook with everything forbidden (or as my friend Ty says...poison).  This seemed safe enough.  Fresh shrimp, a little olive oil, a little lime juice, a little garlic (ok, a lot of garlic) and some S&P.  Bake at 400 for 8-10.  Tasty.

I skipped the homemade Thousand Island she demonstrated...mayonnaise, add some mayonnaise, sprinkle some mayo, pickles, capers and lard...never mind.

The Shining

Yesterday was the first inkling of the shine coming off the rose.

I made my plans.  I read some new books.  I got my new running socks.  I tried some new foods.  I started my blog.  I have been at it since late January and a lot of the newness has been driving me and the newness ran out.  So I am very interested to see what happens next.  I wonder if I am going to keep going or repeat past patterns where I maintain for several months then make my first trip back to Jack in the Donald's and slather myself...for four years.

Stay tuned.

I was re-reading The God Father.  Never tell anyone outside the family what you are thinking again.  :)

****

194 and holding steady.  I had a great run yesterday...about a mile and half and felt good and strong the whole run.  Annette ran with me which is a miracle.  She doesn't like to run so I thought it was cool she came along.

I went to the gym tonight right after work.  Bosu push ups, squat rows, Bosu curls, squat one arm deadlifts, standing kickbacks and some funky lay-on-my-back hip lift whack-a-doodle.  I really liked the circuit but I just felt weak.  I remembered that I forgot to eat something before the workout.  I made that mistake a lot several years ago when I was working out early in the morning.  Hopefully, lesson learned.  Car can't go on an empty tank.