Well as far as anti-inflammatory living goes, this week could have been better. It started last Saturday, with a catering event for some long-time clients. Now, I don’t wan’t this to come across as braggartly, but I make really good food.
As a matter of professionalism, I do have to taste the really good food to ensure it really is really good. (Aside: I have a colleague who is an amazing chef and cookbook author and is allergic to garlic. I have no idea how she manages.) My tasting portions in preparation for and at this event were actual tastings – not big huge bowlfuls – but little bites add up.
And then came the final push to put the finishing touches to the Garden Journal I’ve been working on for weeks and weeks. I absolutely, positively wanted to get it print-ready and up on the site by Thursday so gardeners could have access to it by mid-Ferbruary, latest, before too much gets going in the garden. Well, mission accomplished (yeah!), but not without throwing my commitment to more sleep and less caffeine under the inflammation bus.
Yesterday, the adrenaline rush of wrapping up a project behind me, I became a human mattress for my sick and feverish little boy. Which would have been great if I hadn’t stayed up half the previous night, high on Garden Planner completion and reading about fingerling potatoes. My poor sleep behavior was compounded by Homebrew Husband switched my coffee to decaf (“Let see if she notices…”) yesterday morning.
Still, I maintain that everything – sick baby, no sleep, no coffee – all of it would have been fine if it hadn’t been for the giant bag of organic chocolate chips in the cupboard.
"Pssst....you. Hey, you? You know you want some chocolate. First one's free." Image credit - Wikipedia / Creative Commons
Now, I don’t want it to seem like I have no will power. On the contrary, I have tons of willpower. Just not for giant bags of organic chocolate chips.
So, in the delirium of little sleep, less coffee and feverish baby tending (which was mostly just: Never set him down. Ever.) I had one little chocolate chip. And then another. And then another.
I may have had a few giant handfuls more after that. It was a bit of an anti-inflammation stumble.
On a positive note, not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips, and (with the exception of the pork bun I ate without realizing it last Friday ) if crumbs of gluten or grain have snuck in, they really have been crumbs.
I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym, but mostly so I can check my kid into the attached childcare center (which sounds terrible, but I work there part time and it’s a good spot, staffed with good moms), hook up to lobby wi-fi and get some work done (it turns out becoming a very small internet retailer is harder and more time consuming than you might expect). Still, I’ve gotten a few good workouts in and I’ve done a fair bit of walking too.
I’ve been ok but not great about the omega 3 and vitamin D and turmeric supplements too. It’s really like my own health needs and goals just slipped to the back burner with the added activity this week of catering a major event, finalizing a big product and building store functionality into the site on top of all the normal stuff.
All told, I give myself a C for the week. Maybe C-.
The long weekend is coming up, and I’m going to use that as an excuse to re-start and re-boot. When you stumble over chocolate chips, it’s very tempting to just wallow around in a big Willy Wonka-style lake of chocolate Failure and celebrate Not Being Perfect by taking yourself out for a big bowl of ice cream and toasting your martyrdom with a half bottle of wine.
But we’re not going to do that.
Nope, it’s all about progress in the Anti-Inflammation Challenge, and the reality is it’s hard to incorporate new habits and take on new restrictions when a lot of other things are vying for your attention. It’s not exactly anti-inflammatory behavior to beat myself up and take on more stress ’cause I had a few damn chocolate chips – organic, dark chocolate chips, at that.
So, for me, it’s: stand up, brush yourself off, get some good sleep and get back on track.
How are you doing? Have you stumbled over anything, and if so, how are you getting back on track while staying kind to yourself?
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I put mine recap in a post again. Like you, I had some setbacks, but overall, I think I’m feeling better.
Only one dose of ibu for the knee yesterday, and it’s not popping and crunching with every step now. Progress! :-/ Still not using the exercise regimen I have available to me. Spent yesterday feeling like I’d been drug on a chain behind a truck all night the night before, particularly my shoulders and arms; in all fairness, that might have to do with the fifteen bales of hay I got and the approximately four hundred pounds of produce I’ve gotten into the hog pen—both within 24 hours. Wish it had crossed my mind to take some extra D3, but it didn’t. My fridge died last week, and “someone” (only one other person in this household who shall remain nameless….) left the big upright freezer slightly open and it’s now an Arctic anthropologist’s dream wall o’ frost. Have been spending considerable time getting The Association for Sustainable Cuniculture up and running; it will be a fantastic resource when it’s done, but at this point I’m starting to dream in HTML again. I’ve been having to turn potential customers away for lack of product on at least two fronts 🙁 and am approximately two weeks behind on garden timing and farm goals. It sucks.
I swear I’m going to scare up some herbal calmatives and soporifics to take about 9p every night. Am just up and awake (but entirely unrested) between three and four every morning lately. It sucks.
Having observed that a nice piece of meat in the crock pot when I go to bed makes a very nice breakfast that makes a HUGE difference in my subsequent day, I promptly ceased doing it…as if it were an accomplishment of a short study and not a lifestyle change. As a matter of fact, had it not been for a couple three different people popping in and either needing to be fed or announcing I was being kidnapped for the purposes of being fed, there were at least four days last week that I most likely would have finally figured out that I was completely drug out and crabby due to lack of food ….by about 10p. 🙁 That sucks.
If I can get a minute, I’m going to print out that observation you made about treating one’s Self as well as one treats one’s livestock—SEVERAL copies, and post them around the house so it gets into my subconscious.
I know some of it is the time of year, but it just feels like the faster I run the behinder I get lately. As a matter of fact, I should be under a goat instead of in front of the computer RIGHT NOW—–
Lest anyone think my wife is accusing me of some sort of nasty trickery (“hehe…I know Erica got five hours of sleep last night…but let’s see how she does without caffeine!”), the actual unannounced switch to decaf was much more along the lines of “crap, it is 6:15 and we’ve only got decaf…well, let’s do with what we’ve got…”
Another OK week. I did a ton of cooking last week so we have not had to resort to take out or mindless sandwiches or quesadillas. Since I’m trying to cut down wheat/gluten/refinded carbs and not eliminate them, I’ve done pretty well except for the box of locally made chocolates a coworker brought in to the cafe. Still waiting to get a fish oil supplement, I keep forgetting to order anything or to have the info I need when I’m faced with the wall o’ supplements at the store.
I have spent a lot of the week reading Marks Daily Apple, reviews of primal and paleo diets, and associated blogs especially ones with lots of recipes. I’m a highly suspicious person when it comes to diets and eating trends, so I like lots of information. On tasty side, I’ve been eyeing the Nourished Kitchen Recipe for Potted Cheese with Bacon and Shallots, and thinking about trying a Zumba class near my house, both for exercise and to beat back the mid-February doldrums.
PS: sleep is still elusive. Once I get to bed it goes well, it’s the getting there that’s hard.
Certainly a tough area for us as well!
Overall it has been s good week. I feel great with increased energy. I did have a cheat day when I took the kids out to pizza last weekend. I had a large slice and a beer. I totally regretted my decision not to cook. I felt awful after eating the pizza and was sluggish and tired the next day due to one beer. I think beer is too much of a carb overload for me these days my body rejects it.
All in all I feel better when I eat a high protien vegetable filled meal.
If I can’t have dark chocolate chips, I couldn’t be up for the challenge. What’s the point in living without chocolate?