Third Monthly Assessment – March 31st

In my third month of health I feel like I’ve made some progress, but not without sacrifices!  Remember I wrote about my personalized cleanse?  Well, I stuck with it pretty well, quite well in fact, for the whole month of March.  I lost four pounds, down to 133, and ¾ inch around my waist, to 31¾.   Overall, I'm feeling well and sleeping well.

January 31st

March 31st

January 31st

March 31st

Here’s how I did on each item in my cleanse:

Coffee – I have actually not had any coffee this month!  I substituted tea, mostly Irish Breakfast, but also Earl Grey, Lady Grey and Twinings Green Tea with Lemon.  I take my tea without cream or milk so this eliminated a lot of dairy, and I found that after one or two cups I didn’t want more and I was hungry for breakfast.  Not like coffee,  which leaves me less hungry but wanting a third cup.  I love coffee, and when I got a whiff of Stan’s I really missed it, but I’m going to be more aware and more cautious now – maybe have tea-only days, and switch to decaf, and sometimes drink it black.

Wine – Not too bad.  I had nine wine-drinking occasions during the month, and for most I only had one glass.  It’s getting easier at home now to just have my kombucha before dinner and drink water at dinner.  Still need to work on social occasions, but I think a glass now and then is okay.

This is non-alcoholic wine that I thought might be nice for special dinners.  Ariel Vineyards makes the only non-alcoholic wine that has won medals in competition with regular wines.  For me, however, it tasted like nice grape juice - it just doesn't have the zing of regular wine.

Sugar – I was sad to note sugar is the fourth ingredient in my favorite creamy tomato soup.  Also in pizza sauce I used for an experimental gluten-free pizza.  I didn’t have any dessert items other than my daily square of dark chocolate, and occasionally two squares.  Oops – and a spoonful of ice cream one evening when we had guests for dinner.  My only sweetened drink was the club soda with lemonade I had with Mira on our trip to the Great Wheel.  I guess my feeling about sugar is that when I eat it I want to know it and enjoy it.  That would mean a really nice dessert is fine (or an eggnog latte?) but I don’t want it hidden in my regular food and I don’t want to waste it on ordinary store-bought cookies or cake – only the really good stuff!

Gluten – I did okay avoiding gluten, though not perfectly.  I had a slice of bread at The Outback while waiting for my salmon dinner with extra veggies and ate a crouton or three on a Chicken Caesar salad.  We ate a favorite easy meal that is potato-encrusted cod fish made by QFC and I know there are bread crumbs in the crust.  I don’t feel any symptoms when I eat gluten and I don’t think having it occasionally hurts me, but I'll continue to avoid it most of the time. 

Dairy and Eggs – I missed eggs for breakfast at the beginning of the month, but soon got used to my sausage and veggie stir fries.  I did eat some paleo muffins I had in the freezer that were made with eggs.  To my knowledge the only dairy I had was a few times when I forgot and ate cheese.  I had several chicken Caesar salads without cheese and was surprised to find I didn't even miss it.  I love a little milk when having a wine-free dinner, but I got used to just having water.  However, when I start drinking coffee again, then I know I’ll want milk or cream.  I'll add it back into my diet slowly, and watch to see if I start gaining weight.

Weight machines at the Y Wednesdays and Fridays – Both Stan and I have been quite faithful – I think we only missed two days – once to go golfing and once busy around the house.  It feels like the results are happening very slowly, but hopefully muscles are being made.

Try out Gentle Yoga class – never happened.  I’m loving walking so much that I don’t really want to start something else.  I was swimming twice a week for a while, but I really prefer walking – my last walk was 7.8 miles, with a stop for Jade Citrus Mint green tea at Starbucks.  (Just remembered – I ordered a slice of pumpkin bread with my tea – sugar and gluten!  Even as I was eating it, it tasted too sweet and I noticed one of their slices is really as big as two slices.  I wished I had gone for the package of salted nuts instead.  Hope I remember that next time!)


How about the non-health-related items on my list?  I noticed just having written out what I wanted to do caused me to remember these things and take action.

Get up by 7:30 AM – this was easy until the day we sprang forward for daylight savings.  It took awhile to adjust, but all month I’ve been up before 8.  I like the quiet early morning, and it is when I write most of my posts.

Tidying up clutter – This worked well, but mostly because I’ve been too busy blogging to sew and mess up my office/sewing room!  My desk is tidy and I’ve been careful to file papers instead of putting them on the desk.  I still get a pile of books, papers and magazines around my chair in the family room, but I have sorted it out more often this month.

Paint the family room – not done, but we realized we weren’t one hundred percent happy with the color we were planning on, so I got a few more samples and we're ready now.

Visit with Tyler, Alethea and Mira – had two nice visits!  Mira and I had an adventure to the Seattle Great Wheel, and I went up to see her in a school play, a fun mix of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, with a nice opportunity to chat with Alethea while waiting for Tyler to get home. 

Facetime with Melanie – well, we didn’t use Facetime, but we talked on the phone several times and we have a mother-daughter getaway planned for April!  We’ll spend a weekend at Cannon Beach, and Melanie's husband, Ben, and my granddog, Wilbur, will join us for part of a day on the beach.  I can’t wait!  

Goals for April:

Keep up the good work!  I know if I just stop the cleanse and go back to what I was eating and drinking before, the effort will be wasted. I want to see if I can add back a limited amount of coffee, eggs and dairy without regaining weight.

Do physical therapy exercises more often