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One woman's journey to a healthier tomorrow

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A Bad (Unhelpful) Weekend

So my Progresso soup victory (see previous post) was very short lived. My stress overwhelmed me the past few days and well...lets just say I resorted right back to unhealthful eating habits. I'm not even going to try to put a positive spin on it. After 2 weeks clean eating...no flour products...bread, pasta...I have binged to the point of feeling woozy on carbs. Bread in particular...lots of bread.   I work in the education field...I've taught high school math and science and now work for the Army where I am in charge of about 55 people doing everything from teaching Soldiers how to teach, to designing curriculum, to building educational technology. Once every three years we get accredited which means a bunch of people descend on our organization and tell us whether we are doing a good job. This is the first year I am responsible for so much (last time I just had the teaching Soldiers how to teach part).   I mention this because as I've prepared for this visit, I've been looking at what the Army believes about training and education and one of the key beliefs is that Soldiers should be "self-directed learners". That is an awesome phrase and I understand what it means...the problem is, we don't do a good job teaching the young Soldiers how to be that....its as if we expect them to be born with the ability.   That's how I feel about stress management. I logically understand that my stress reactions are not helpful, that I should "shake it off" and "not let it derail me". The problem is I don't have a clue how to do that! I know how to eat. I've found myself thinking this afternoon that I just need to survive the week and then I can get back after it...after all I will still have 2 full weeks before I have to go weigh in again...sigh...I'm tired of just surviving.   So here's what I'm going to try...no I'm going to channel YODA and say here is what I'm going to do. Before I eat a meal, I'm going to walk for 5 minutes. I can do that, I can do it at work by walking through the halls to the other end of the building and back, I can do it at home rain (on the treadmill) or shine (outside). It might not solve all my unhealthful eating reactions to stress....but it IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT! I'll let you know how the experiment goes. Beth
4me4them

4me4them

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Better Sleep (or what I learned at Miraval Health and Wellness Resort this weekend)

So my husband of almost 29 years booked us a long weekend at Miraval Health and Wellness Resort this weekend...a place I have wanted to go to since moving to AZ over 20 years ago. Why didn't we go before you might be asking...2 main reasons...1. It is kind of expensive and 2. I always thought I'd go when I was skinny (not healthy mind you but skinny). He is supportive of my weight loss surgery and he booked it as a 50th birthday celebration, and as a way to learn some tools that might help through this life changing journey I'm on to have successful weight loss with surgery. This is the first of a few posts to share what I learned.   The first class we did was called Better Sleep. I know my sleep struggles are neither unique nor are they as severe as some, but when I have a bad stretch it really screws up a lot of things. I was reminded that sleep is the ONLY time the body is in repair mode. It is doing all the maintenance stuff it needs to do to keep me going. Even one night of too little sleep messes up the body's ability to repair itself.   The RN who taught the class (you can access her Better Sleep Blog at the Miraval site here: http://www.miravalresorts.com/blog/post.cfm/6-myths-facts-on-adequate-sleep ) gave us what a "perfect day" designed to promote sleep would look like. Yep I said DAY. Many of the things we do all day long, including first thing in the morning can interfere with a good nights sleep So here goes: 1. Get up within 1/2 hour of the same time every day...even weekends. The body likes to know what is going on. Having wildly differing wake up times keeps it guessing too much so it tends to make you feel sleepy because it is worried that you wont give it enough. 2. Get some AM Sunshine. The color of light in early morning sunshine shuts off the body's natural melatonin production which is good because melatonin is a hormone that regulates the body's clock. 3. Get some AM Exercise. This is not to short those of you who like to exercise in the afternoon, but most people get an energy boost from exercise so it makes sense to time it early in the day....even better if you can combine numbers 2 and 3. 4. Confine caffeine to the morning. Double steep your tea to reduce the amount of caffeine you get from it (steep for 1 minute, throw that away and then steep to desired strength). 5. Carve out some time daily to drop your "hyper-aroused state" which is totally NOT a sexual thing . When we try to multi task, the body can interpret that as a danger...which engages the fight or flight response...which triggers cortisol...which is the stress hormone...which in an overabundance can do bad things . Some ways to do this: Set aside one hour in the AM and one hour in the PM when you will NOT MULTITASK. You will focus on one thing at a time for that period.
Use a calming "breath walk". Breath in through your nose for four steps, then release the breath for six steps and repeat... can be used when you are walking down the hall to another office, walking to your car...
6. Stay hydrated....I didn't write down why and now I can't remember....but I underlined it so it must be important 7. Stop eating 2-3 hours before bed time. Food energizes body functions which is not what you want when trying to wind down.   I had a hard time with this next part....Bed is for sleeping and sex only! I LOVE to read in bed before turning out the light....have done it since I learned how to read. When I asked her about it after the lecture, she said to try the other things first...but to realize that reading may be too stimulating and if the other things don't work I may have to change that habit.   Tomorrow I'll post about creating a night time ritual....something I'm trying for the first time tonight...so I'll let you know how it goes! Beth
4me4them

4me4them

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Better Sleep (part 2)

So I'm a believer in the night time routine I learned about at Miraval Spa. I've been using it for the past week and my sleep is deeper, and I can get back to sleep quicker. Some pre-stuff before the routine: 1. Make your room as dark as possible. We moved our phone chargers, turned the clock so that it was not facing the bed, and stopped leaving a light on in the main living area...we now use a night light out there. 2. Create a cozy place to do your routine. If your spouse is on board, the living room is just fine. I have an old recliner in another room that I'm using when hubby doesn't want to get zen with me   About an hour before you want to fall asleep: 1. Put on pjs (even if you don't sleep in pjs, put on clothes that you can begin to associate with sleep. This becomes a signal that you are going to sleep. 2. Wash face, brush teeth, take meds... 3. Find some relaxing music that you can listen to...or use fan to create white noise. I found a couple of cheap massage music things on I-tunes. 4. Light should be very low...I had to wrap a lamp with a scarf to get it low enough even with a 40W lightbulb 5. Take a few really deep breaths. Breath out should be longer than breath in. Think about pulling your belly button back to your spine on your exhales. 6. Sit quietly and notice what you are thinking about. 7. Use a journal to record what you are thinking about, any action steps you want to take the next day...the point is to get it out of your head and onto paper. You can also write about your day, include things you are grateful for...really anything. 8. If you like to read before bed....use the remainder of your time to read....not in bed. (this was hard for me at first, but the results speak for themselves!) 9. When you are ready for bed, move to the bedroom, using as little light as possible.   If you can't fall asleep within 30 minutes get up and repeat....or if you wake up and can't fall back to sleep repeat.   Let me know what you think and/or if you have any success with this! Beth
4me4them

4me4them

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