update on the sleep schedule shift...

          So it's been a few days... actually coming up on a week... since I set my first goal of being in bed by 10pm, and so far, I've been doing pretty good! The first 2 days were more like 10:30 and 10:45, but since then I've been hitting closer to 10:15. I'd say that's progress, people! I'm not quite making the actual 10pm with any consistency, but considering where I started (2-3am or later) I'm pretty pleased :)
          I have to say  that this change has not come without its minor trials, though. There is definitely an adjustment period to this kind of drastic shift. A couple of nights I woke up after 4-5 hours and had a time trying to fall asleep again. Also, getting my brain to relax when I lay down has been an issue. More than once it's taken me well over an hour to finally slow my thought processes down enough to fall asleep. I was tempted to blog a time or two (as for the most part it has been post ideas running around up there),  but seeing as how I am using this as a means of accountability in my goals, it seemed rather counter-productive. I put a notebook and pen next to my bed to write my ideas in, as well as the inevitable to do list items that generally accompany them. Putting them in writing has actually helped a little, I am not spending a long time working through, or rather trying to not work through, each idea.
     
Anyway, we are at that time again, so I will bid you a lovely night and pleasant dreams...
Erika

getting down to the goal setting business...

So, I said that one of the ways I was going to use this blog was to explore (and whether explicitly stated or not) to track my progress on the road to better health. Well, part of that journey involves the act of goal setting. Following in that vein, may I proudly introduce you to goal number one:

*to be in bed every night no later than 10:00pm.*

A curfew! What? Craziness, right? I mean I am a fully grown adult, after all. If I want to stay up until 3 o'clock in the morning, that's my prerogative. Well, so is eating an entire box of macaroni and cheese, but it won't help me on my weight-losing, life-changing journey any more than my ridiculously skewed sleep schedule.

So this is a big one for me, and your prayers and encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Maybe tomorrow I will disseminate some of the scientific info on sleep and health, but as it is 10pm, I am already falling short of the mark on night number one...

sweet dreams,
Erika

temptations arise...

         Pretty much any good southern girl can tell you that a holiday occurring between the months of May and September is a great excuse for a cookout or picnic. Fried chicken, bar-b-cue, hamburgers, hotdogs, steaks, ribs, potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, corn-on-the-cob, chips, pies, cookies and ice cream, in any number of tasty, belly-busting combinations, are likely to be the fare on many a table in the hospitality-heavy states.    

        So what's a good dietitian, albeit recovering food addict, to do in the face of such monumental opportunity to regress? Well, this one is going to hang onto two small commitments with the potential to make all the difference between this and too many years of ugliness in the past. These simple promises? 

1. To not go hungry.

and...

2. To pile on the produce. 

        

         Hoarding calories early in the day, by either skipping meals or eating much too little, won't help me say no to big portions or extra helpings at the feast, and only increase the likelihood of over-indulgence.  And bulking up a hamburger with plenty of lettuce, tomato, and onion will make it more filling without adding lots of calories. Choosing a little more cucumber and tomato salad over that huge scoop of potato salad, or a nice big slice of watermelon instead of a slice of pie, will help me make the most nutrition of my calories, as well.

   
         Change may not happen overnight, but it can happen any night (or day.) If you need to adjust your eating habits, focus on making one small step in the right direction today, even if it's something as seemingly insignificant as replacing a handful of chips with an apple.

         I wish you all a very blessed and Happy Memorial Day!!! Enjoy your fellowship with family and friends while remembering the sacrifice of those whose lives bought our freedom.

Erika

                                      "They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast,
                                      And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest."                                                                                                                                     -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

entrée into a brand new virtual world…

         I’m finally starting the blog that has been a persistent, if not necessarily constant, idea in my mind for the last many months. As this is my first foray into the blogging world, I’ve been contemplating the best place to start my story and hopefully spark a mutually satisfying conversation with those of you who come to read it. Where to begin this momentous step out into the collective psyche and potential criticism of the world at large? Well, though certainly far from earth-shattering in concept, the point that I keep coming back to is simply this: why? Why write a blog? Why send my sometimes hyper-sensitive, sometimes deeply personal and private, sometimes shame-inducing thoughts out into a realm of public inspection?

         It’s simple, really. I want to help people. I want to help others and, in so doing, to help myself as well.

         I’ve thought about the areas that I’d like to ruminate on, and thus far they stand at these four basic categories:

1. food – what can I say, we dietitians love to dish about the nosh. What’s good, what’s bad, what’s hot, what’s fad… I hope to throw a lot of information out there in a user-friendly and easily digestible manner, to share (and hopefully receive) healthy and interestingly delicious recipes, and to clear up some of the rampant nutrition misinformation that seems to circulate so successfully these days. (My title, after all, is inspired by the epidemic of obesity in both my family, myself included, and our country, and the desire to facilitate change in my life and others’ lives in the pursuit of health.)

2. fitness – a subject that I am keen to further explore. I can see this being one of the areas in which I gain a lot from conversing with others.

3. faith – it’s the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I think sharing faith helps to grow faith, to dispel misconceptions, clarify misunderstandings, and to encourage one another.

4. femininity – avoiding the pitfall of being my own worst enemy by talking about expectations, both realistic and unrealistic, from faith, family, community, society, and anyone or anything else that makes a comment on what we should or shouldn’t do or be.

         I would love to know what any of you think about any of the things I’ve just lobbed out there. Drop me a line if you have a chance, and have a blessed week!

Erika