resolutions, v. 2010

i wasn't going to make resolutions this year.

but i found a bit of hope in a rather commonplace text received shortly after midnight, on new years day: "happy 2010! make it a great year."

at first i didn't think much of it -- i'm sure i have received a similar text or email or something every year since bread was first introduced to peanut butter -- but, i read it a second time and it hit me that *i* can make it a great year. immediately, the cynic on my shoulder chimed in with a "well, you can try ...", followed by a "but you can't control most things anyway."

i decided i am tired of that faithless argument. and i'd like to ride the wave of hope a little longer.

so, here we go:

1. de-stress. i intend to keep a longer-range perspective on time and other commitments. i know that because i am who i am, i need to keep my calendar full; however, i can't keep over-filling it. i will make conscious effort to more realistically fill my calendar, allowing time for the unforeseens. additionally, if i think i've mis-estimated, i'll adjust.

2. exercise. as is the case every year, with busy season looming, i hesitate to set a specific goal for this, but if i don't do it now, i never will. i'd like to get out and jog or run twice a week: monday and tuesday. pronto.

3. scripture reading. i've been out of this habit for far too long. i'll work my way through the Doctrine & Covenants, one verse at a time until i can pick up more momentum.

my stress level just increased, so i better stop. if any of y'all have suggestions, i'll take 'em. thanks!

resolved for the better

last week, i went to the hotel gym for an hour each on monday, tuesday, *and* wednesday. then i went running in my neighborhood on saturday morning.

the week before, i went to the hotel gym for about 45 minutes each on tuesday and wednesday, then went running in my neighborhood on saturday morning.

i had oatmeal 2 or 3 times a week the past couple weeks. plus now i am doing the vegetarian day thing.

i think i am doing much better with my new year's resolutions than previously anticipated. and it feels good to be doing something good for me.

upward and onward, friends. upward and onward.

vegetariano por un día

my sister called me on tuesday with the latest and greatest fad diet for me to try for my cholesterol woes:

vegetarian for one day a week

so here's how the gig goes:

• choose one day a week to eat no meat.

okay, maybe i didn't really need to explain that, but ... i did ... live with it.

anyway, so i thought i could give it a try in order to add some structure to my resolution número uno.

being that it was tuesday afternoon that my sister called and told me, the week was about half over before i even knew about my resolution. but because i wanted to get a jump-start on this, i planned for a wednesday vegetarian day. but then the client had brought in yummy mexican food with chicken and steak burritos for lunch. so wednesday was out.

thursday was the next option. and i did really well through all of breakfast and most of the morning. then my co-worker suggested that we sushi it that night and run the charge through. well, can't go to sushi and eat vegetarian. it would be a waste. so ... thursday was out.

and today is friday. gotta do it today. because a vegetarian weekend certainly spells n-o f-u-n. it really does. i looked it up. anyway, i was delighted when my co-worker suggested that we work through lunch and take off early. that meant that i could spend the day un-tempted by restaurant menus and un-influenced by what others are eating. plus, i am way better at maintaining some food self control when i am not eating with others. (don't know why. hmmm. that might be fodder for another self-analysis blog post.)

so today my diet consisted of oatmeal, eggs, hash browns, and o.j. for breakfast. then yogurt with granola, edamame, and (of course) chocolate through the noon hour and the afternoon. i got home from san luis obispo around 9 and i had a grilled cheese sandwich. (on wheat! woot!)

look at that! i did it! a vegetarian for one day!

here's to a great start. check back for updates. y'know, if this is the sort of thing that interests you. yeah.

resolutions, v. 2009

so it's the middle of march. shoot me.

i can still make resolutions.

yeah, huh!

okay, so this year, i would first like to announce my great success related to my prior year resolutions. whereas my cholesterol did not go down as much as i had hoped ... i successfully complied with my resolution for one year.

i deserve a pat on the back.

*pat*, *pat*, *pat*

okay, and now on to the main event:

this year's resolutions!

1. red meat and cholesterol - i think i started a theme last year. so we'll see about continuing in that great cause. however, i will not limit my red meat intake to weekends only anymore. because ... well ... just because. so ... this year, i am eating red meat whenever i choose, though not as much as i did in the pre-2008 years. if my resolution last year had any impact on me at all (besides 4 points lower cholesterol, thank you), it has broken my addiction to red meat. don't get me wrong: i still love the stuff. but it is no longer the only thing i eat.

   i am trying to work oatmeal into my diet as a combatant to high cholesterol. i freely admit that this resolution this year is not as well-thought-out and thoroughly defined as last year's. but ... it's busy season. i hardly have time to think about anything. but here's the general idea: eat oatmeal. yeah.

   (if anyone has suggestions for helping me get this goal into action, let me know. keep in mind that i don't have time for breakfast, so oatmeal will be an evening meal. hmm: oatmeal ... evening meal. interesting.)

2. exercise - there was a month a while ago that i went jogging / running 3 times a week. really. i calendared it -- yeah -- i can show you. so ... i think i'm going to do that again. jogging / running 3 times a week. it was easier when i had a buddy, but yeah. no more excuses.

   until busy season is over, i can't promise anything more than maybe 15 minutes at a time, but that's something at least. when summer gets here, we'll talk about maybe stepping that up a notch.

3. spiritual - my stake relief society released a new program called the personal righteousness program in which we make goals around 7 different values and the complete a 15-hour project. it's kind of like the personal progress program in young women.

   as of this moment, i have read through the suggested goals for exactly 1 of those values. i'll remedy that. and then i will do those goals. (if anyone wants more detailed information about the program, let me know. i have a pdf of the whole thing i can send you.)

okay, i think that is all the burden i can pile on my own shoulders right now. i am getting a bit overwhelmed just re-reading all that. [deep breath] just gotta remember that i have the rest of the year to work on these things. yeah.

anyway. there you go. someone once said that a goal not written down is just a wish. so these are my goals: they are written down.

the results are in (again)

last year, i set a goal to limit the amount of red meat i was eating in order to decrease my cholesterol. it's been difficult and i have whined a lot, as you may recall, and i have had to really expand my ... umm ... horizons ... ? (something. can't think right now.)

anyway. i got my lab results back today. here are the highlights:

---

	PY (2007)	CY (2008)
triglycerides	97 mg/dL	82 mg/dL
cholesterol, total	215 mg/dL	211 mg/dL	(should be less than 200)
- hdl cholesterol	60 mg/dL	58 mg/dL
- ldl cholesterol	136 mg/dL	137 mg/dL	(should be less than 130)
glucose	80 mg/dL	83 mg/dL
sodium	138 mmol/L	138 mmol/L
potassium	4.0 mmol/L	4.3 mmol/L
white blood cell count	5.9 thousand/uL	5.7 thousand/uL
red blood cell count	4.91 million/uL	4.71 million/uL
hemoglobin	13.0 g/dL	13.4 g/dL
hematocrit	38.4 %	39.0 %
platelet count	283 thousand/uL	308 thousand/uL

---

okay. so ... my cholesterol is still a high. grr. it went down 4 points. woohoo. but ... honestly, i kinda expected more. i mean, i cut my red meat consumption by roughly 73%. so ... yeah, i kinda expected more. [sigh.]

so now what? as i see it, there are a few options:

1. continue the red-meat-on-weekends-only regime.

2. amend the rules such that i can have red meat on any 2 days of the week. i mean, c'mon, it went down 4 points: that deserves some kind of reward.

3. eat oatmeal everyday (or on some regular schedule) to fight this with a little proactivity instead of just restraint.

4. give up entirely and eat red meat whenever i darnwell please since it's not making any difference anyway.

anyone care to vote? c'mon, we all did it a month ago ... let's exercise our right to vote again!!

meatatarian

i just saw the most fabulous commercial for the new wendy's baconator.

there's a couple sitting in the wendy's dining room, enjoying lunch. the chick offers a bite of her salad to the guy, but he turns her down with an, "ah, no thanks. i'm a meatatarian." "a what?" "a meatatarian. y'know, beef, bacon. it's a personal choice. you gotta be committed."

friends, i am a meatatarian.

... i mean, i'm a recovering meatatarian.

... man, this is hard.

healthy evidence?

oh, no. look what i just found on the internets ...

"beef has a rep as a diet buster, but eating it may help you peel off pounds. in a study published in the american journal of clinical nutrition, women on a diet that included red meat lost more weight than those eating equal calories but little beef. 'the protein in steak helps you retain muscle mass during weight loss,' says study author manny noakes, ph.d. try to consume local organic beef; it's healthier for you and the environment."

i may have to re-think my new years resolution. afterall, i want to be healthy: the primary purpose of the resolution is health-related ... to reduce my cholesterol ... so ... hmmm ...

thanks, eden, for sending this article my way. i may be able to turn it into some sort of rationalization for ending my beef ban. hmmm ... 8-/

i'll let y'all know.

(p.s. -- i must admit that i didn't read anything further in the article after the beef part. ha. i got what i needed out of it. the rest of the article might really be interesting, though. lemme know.)

beef day!

so the red cross just called to remind me that i am donating platelets on saturday at 7am. yea! you know what that means, don't you ... ??

... today is beef day!!

yea! ryan (here at work) informed me that we will be dining on some *fab*ulous burgers at the munch box today and the habit tomorrow. i am *so* excited!

a favorite, with a twist

the other night, i was whining about my no-beef resolution again and cute guy just wasn't letting me get away with any of it. he had lots of ideas and suggestions ... and i have to say that i have fallen completely in love with one of them: grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.

oh my goodness. i love grilled cheese sandwiches -- but this is so much better.

see? it starts out as a regular grilled cheese sandwich -- i make mine with dark rye bread and shredded colby jack. mmm. and i always butter the pan, not the bread; that way i don't get butter on my fingers or on the counter.

so, butter the pan, put your first slice of bread in and load on some shredded cheese. but before you put the second piece of bread on, you put a couple slices of fresh, ripe tomato! yeah, huh! it's just so dang good!

when it's ready, flip it over (yes, buttering the pan for the other side).

wow. makes me salivate just thinking about it ... maybe i'll go make me another one ... yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

side effects

well, my new years resolution may have more of an impact on my life than i anticipated.

first, an update: after a cruel and enlightening discussion with my brother-in-law, i have made an amendment to the resolution as previously stated. in order to compensate for the one exception stipulated, i will, in turn, refrain from eating red meat on two weekend days to offset the two weekdays that i am allowed to eat red meat before donating platelets. i hope there is some cow mama somewhere who is happy to hear this news.

now, for the discussion of the side effects of my resolution ...

1. i have no desire to eat fast food anymore. some of you may not know this about me, but i am quite sincerely a fast food junkie. my favorite restaurant? mcdonald's. not kidding. what do i get there? a double-cheeseburger and a mcchicken sandwich. every time.

   but ... i'm not allowed to eat beef on weekdays anymore. so ... i actually have *no* desire to stop at any of the 3 mcdonald's that are on the way home from my office anymore. (by the way, my office is 3.65 miles from my house and there are 3 mcdonald's along my route home. cool, huh? guess i picked the right place to live!)

2. lunch is no longer exciting or any sort of highlight to the day. it's actually kinda exhausting to think that in order for me to have lunch now i am going to have to be *way* more creative and adventuresome in my menu selection.

   and dinner isn't all that appealing either. life is so hard.

3. i feel like i have been hungry for a week -- i eat, but i get tired of lifting fork to mouth long before my stomach feels full. when i eat beef, i feel full for *hours* ... now i clean my plate and still feel empty.

hopefully this is all just part of the adjustment. i mean, my stomach is used to having red meat in there ... it's probably just not used to what other food feels like. :S

resolutions, v. 2008

okay, i've never been much of a resolutions-maker. (mostly because i don't want to set myself up for failure, but i like to tell people that it's because if i decide to make changes in my life i can do it right then and not wait for the new year. yeah.)

this year i am gonna try the resolution thing. i'm starting small, though. so, since i found out that my cholesterol is too high, i thought that could be an area for improvement for the coming year. so ... during 2008 (at least until i lower my cholesterol to a satisfactory level) i am going to eat less red meat --

*gasp*!

calm down. take a deep breath.

-- and to do that ... i am going to only allow myself to eat red meat on the weekends. now, i am *fully* aware that even restricting myself to weekends only is not what is recommended for red meat consumption. but keep in mind that we will be going from once or twice a day to once or twice a week.

see? this is a big deal. really.

oh -- one exception: because i have to make sure i have enough iron in my blood in order to donate platelets regularly, i decided that for the 2 days before i donate, i can eat red meat. this is the only time i'll be allowed to eat red meat on days other than weekends.

this is going to be rough. wish me luck ...