We have unusually warm weather for January. It made it into the low 50's earlier in the week and lots of sunshine. It is nice to have some warmer temperatures. January seems like it last forever. We are now 58 days away from spring. There is hope that flip flop weather is getting closer.
I was looking at pictures of myself from last September and couldn't believe how bad I looked. I could tell from the pictures that stress had caught up with me. I looked like humpty dumpty. I wish I had measured my waist at the time. I was happy yesterday as I had fit into one of my sweaters that revealed a much flatter stomach. The muffin top has deflated and it reminds of how a cake looses it nice puffiness after we take it out of the oven. I feel like I have come out of the oven, as my hot flashes are gone. I am continuing to feel better everyday. My doctor told me it could take up to a year to completely heal from the stress. It took a lot of years of stress to make me ill, so I guess a year to heal is not bad. I have to remember it is a life long commitment to changes I have made in my life to continue to stay healthy.
I have always believed in monkey see monkey do. I am slowly seeing some loved ones in my life changing some of their own non healthy habits into some good healthy habits. We all have to take that ownership of taking care of ourselves. I can share what I have done to get healthy, but the others have to do the work for themselves. I am not mentioning any names, but I love my family and hope they continue to learn as much as they can about healthy living. You can change your life and habits. It does require patience and work, but it becomes a good habit after awhile. I am proud of my own changes and very proud of the changes that my loved ones have made. I love you all!
When I finally reached a point the beginning of 2014 where my stress had consumed me, I made a decision to give up my coffee. I only had one cup a day of coffee, but it was enough coffee to cause havoc with my adrenal glands. It was a good decision to stop my habit, as coffee has caffeine which stimulates those adrenal glands and was adding to my stress I started weaning myself off the coffee by switching to decaf. The decaf coffee actually has some caffeine and made it a little easier to wean myself off without caffeine withdrawl. I eventually started drinking decaf coffee only a couple of days a week and substituting some herbal teas. My son actually bought me a tea kettle and today I am caffeine free. My favorite tea is cinnamon spice. It has chamomile, cinnamon, rose hip, lavender, etc. It not only tastes good, but smells wonderful.
My soul mate has actually given up diet coke, as it is loaded with caffeine and artificial sweeteners. We all have our guilty pleasures, but we can learn to substitute some healthy pleasures. He has developed a habit of green tea sweetened only with natural sweeteners. We also have been drinking natural flavored water that does not contain any artificial sweeteners. These small changes have made such an impact. Artificial sweeteners are as bad as caffeine, because they stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin and can cause intestinal problems.
One other change which has made an important impact especially on my husband is eliminating wheat from our diet. My husband was having a lot of intestinal problems after chemotherapy and we decided to eliminate foods to see if we could stop his bloating. I got the suggestion actually from my doctor about wheat. We are now eating whole grain gluten free bread and it has made a big difference. We also eat Greek yogurt everyday to get probiotics in our digestive system. We are feeling good.
No magic wand can be waved to change your life. I heard that statement from someone, and I will agree with that. You have to want to change and believe in yourself. You have to have love and determination, and remember to be strong and patient.
Life is beautiful!!
Elizabeth:)
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