Travel Snacks

Today is the beginning of the two week vacation! Two whole weeks!!!

Tomorrow, I will be driving down to LA to visit my cousin and we'll be eating dinner with my best friend... and that's just the beginning! It's so exciting to know I'll be spending so much time seeing my fave people, visiting my fave places, and eating my fave foods... and it all starts when I wake up tomorrow! Woohoo!!

I feel like I'm heading into this vacation with a head start on health. I got on the scale for the first time since Thanksgiving... ready to face the brutal truth and expecting the worst... and I didn't gain any Holiday pounds! Omg, that never happens - it's unbelievable! LOL

So, I've made myself a little No Fun Food Life friendly travel pack... Pistachio nuts, trail mix w. peanuts/almonds/cashews/cranberries, and a couple of Nature Valley crunch bars. The gluten-free Nature Valley Peanut Crunch bars have the lowest carbs & sugar content out of all the boxes I looked at in the grocery store... I seriously spent about 15 minutes in that aisle. There are 13g Total Carbs and 6g Sugar in each bar... I normally wouldn't eat these, but no harm in packing them in case I get a little tired driving or just need the extra boost in blood sugar.

I already know I'm stopping by Whole Foods to get my mom this hand cream she likes and I'll grab a bottle of Kevita/Kombucha for the first leg of the drive. Then, I usually stop by the Starbucks in Bakersfield to get a Venti Iced Green Tea. Yup... everything's planned.

I'm going to try and be as good as I can this vacation, but I already know I'm going to eat some delicious Korean barbeque, dumplings, pho, my mom's home cooking, and then one solid week of my mother-in-law's home cooking.

Don't worry though, I've already planned 2 hikes and will wear my Fitbit to make sure my exertion level can keep up with my consumption level... hehe. ;P

Fixated and Irate

My ob/gyn prescribed Clomid for me based on the data that I've been dutifully tracking, another round of blood tests, and my long history (6 years) of PCOS. She has significant reservations that I am dropping any quality little eggs at all. :( The Clomid will block estrogen receptors in the brain so the body secretes more of it and other hormones essential to a healthy menstrual cycle. I started it in December and there was a drastic improvement in a few things. For instance, I stopped having epic 2-3 weeks of insaaaaaane PMS symptoms. I had like 2 days of symptoms and they were barely anything! Yay!

The down side? I take the pills from cycle days 3-7... which is during my period... and it shortens my already short fuse to non-existent status and raises my fiery temper to volcanic new heights. I think next month I may do everyone, and my career longevity, a favor and lock myself inside my home on the worse days... Sorry, Will.

I totally snapped at a friend at work... and even though she said it wasn't that bad... I KNOW it was bad because of the way I felt during and after the episode. My heart was beating fast, breathing went short and shallow, and I got fixated and irate. ... and afterwards I felt so guilty. Another friend at work likes to get me worked up for amusement. I usually handle it better, but I almost lost it today. I am on a precipice and I have to tread carefully.

I struggled with intense depression, anxiety, and PTSD through my teens & twenties, and this medication seems to be putting me into a bad emotional state for 5 days out of the month. It's hard for me to see my way out of it, even if it's only momentary.

I talked to my desk neighbor at work today about some of my feelings and issues, and he asked me if I would go see a counselor again. And I responded that... at some point, I've talked to everyone about everything and heard all the tips, tricks, and techniques. I just need to walk the walk.

So... I've dug up my Checklist of Cognitive Distortions that I worked on with my last therapist. I use to possess 7 out of 10 on the list... I'll let you postulate which ones.

1) All-Or-Nothing Thinking
2) Over Generalization
3) Mental Filter
4) Discounting The Positives
5) Jumping to Conclusions
6) Magnification or Minimization
7) Emotional Reasoning
8) SHOULD Statements
9) Labeling
10) Personalization and Blame

Now that I've written them here, I can always pull up this post at work to check myself and make sure I haven't fallen back into bad habits.

So, my mission is to make sure I focus on the mental/emotional aspect of my health during those 5 days. In the equation of "eating, moving, and relaxing my way to good health," I can't ignore one leg of the tripod. Lucky for me, today is Day 5, so I will most likely feel like a million bucks when I wake up tomorrow morning. Good night.

Sweet Potato Sausage Soup

Sweet Potato Sausage Soup
In a large pot, heat 1 tbsp olive oil w. medium-high heat. Cook 1 yellow onion (diced) and 4 cloves garlic (minced), until translucent. Season w. salt & pepper. Remove 3 Italian sausages from their casings. Add sausage to the pot with onions & garlic... break up meat with a wooden spoon and brown meat.

Add 4 cups chicken broth, 2 cups water, and 2 sweet potatoes (peeled & diced) to the pot. Bring to a boil. Add 3/4 cup small pasta shells and cook until al dente. OR skip the pasta and boil for about 7-8 minutes until sweet potato is soft.

Reduce to a simmer. Add 1 bunch of kale (rip leaves into edible size pieces, leave out the hard parts). Leave heat on for about 4 minutes until leaves wilt.

It's yummy... hits the spot on a cold afternoon! It fed me for quite a few meals this week. And Italian sausage usually comes in packs of 4, so you can have a lovely breakfast the next morning. Perfect!

EXERCISE UPDATE
So, I accompanied my friend to another on-site wellness class today. It was at the end of my work day, and I didn't want to go... just lacked motivation. I also had a weird, bad-ish day and didn't feel happy. One of my teammates was also affected by the events of the day and in a bad mood for a spell. I noticed the two of us were sitting there hunched over our keyboards and feeding off each other's negative energy. I was like: Omg! I'm going to just keep feeling crappy and bring it home with me... go work out!!

So, I went to Bootylates by Nina Waldman... the fancy lady on the right. This class was definitely at a much more manageable intensity level. The class started late due to technical difficulties, and I had to leave early... so I only probably worked out for about 30 minutes, but she made that short time count! My booty is sore! haha