So much updating….

 There are so many things that have happened in the almost decade since I wrote here regularly. Is it worth it to recount everything? I’m not sure I could remember everything if I tried =)

Maybe that’s not the approach….maybe meandering through my brain, things will come up, and we’ll leave it at that =)

Last night was fun. I feel like I’ve been running this whole week. One of my besties had her birthday last night and we had asked her what she wanted to do. She wanted to go eat gluten-free pizza and drive around looking at Christmas tree lights. Sold!

That’s me on the far left of the picture. We were out until almost 10, though, which is past my bedtime, so I’m sleepy this morning. I hadn’t felt much Christmas spirit this year, so it was cool to be child-like and roam around town, twisting and turning wherever it looked like we could see light displays. Still not a Christian, respect all belief systems, but tend more towards the solstices and nature-based stuff and generally eschew all organized religion. I like the season for what it is. I HAVE GRAND KIDS NOW!! Seven of them, to be precise =) It’s so much fun! I enjoy it for their sake, the looks on their faces. It doesn’t all have to mean something…or enjoying it for the sake of the magic it brings to our lives. I absolutely loathe rampant consumerism, so I tend to try to gift people experiences or less material things. Christmas is a cool time of the year.

There is a cookie exchange that I’ve participated in for about a dozen years that’s coming up this weekend. I feel sort of ambivalent about going, part of me wants to because this is the only time of year I see some of these folks, which in itself is sad. It’s also work. Baking six dozen cookies is no joke. Plus, just recently, I’ve started transitioning to a Keto lifestyle. There are conversations that go along with all this….I am basically making things I cannot eat for people I see once a year. Ahhhh, friendship…..hahaha…I will be glad I did it when we are all sitting around eating and laughing and wondering why we don’t get together more often on Saturday afternoon, but right now, it just feels like work.

So, about this Keto thing and the sad state of affairs for Americans. Our health care system is so broken. I know anyone who doesn’t have Congressional benefits knows this, but I got a very small taste of the degree to which it is broken this year and I’m so disgusted, I can’t even. I work for the state, so I have been pretty insulated with this type of thing and while I knew and advocated for things to become better, it was always at arms reach because I knew I had decent benefits. Then, this year, my insurance got into an argument with the large HMO provider in the area that covered us, and the HMO threatened to pull coverage. I saw the notices go by, but then they told us they had worked out their difficulties and everything was fine, we could still use our same providers and such. Except that was a lie. We can still use the same providers, but they have moved us from an HMO into some “premium preferred provider” service, which means nothing has changed….and everything has changed. They changed the pharmacy provider, because why the hell not?!? So, starting JULY 1, I had to start battling with the insurance companies just to receive medication I’ve been on for over five years. New provider means “proving” you need your medications again. I’m diabetic folks….I’m not trashing my liver for general fun and entertainment, I’m taking meds to try to stay alive. We need single-payer now. We need to take profit out of medical care, period. Ugggh….so disgusted, I cannot even.

So, basically, I decided if there were anything in my control I could do to not be dependent on this stupid, broken system, I had to do it or the medical establishment is going to kill me. I’d read about and done research on the Keto lifestyle and have decided to try it. I played around and slowly started cutting back carbs about a month ago, but went sort of hard core, 25-30 carbs a day five days ago. It’s kind of hard because changing routine behavior is hard. Learning how to cook differently takes thought and mindfulness. Reading ALL THE LABELS takes time and effort. It’s also disgusting to me how Americans tend to put sugar in ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING we eat. Regular, jarred spaghetti sauce? It’s made from tomatoes, it should only have the carbs of the fruit, but if you read the label, they almost always put a ton of sugar in it! So gross. I’ve often been lazy about what I’ve eaten and it’s easy to just not think about it. But we all should, because American’s, in general eat atrociously and with a mind towards convenience, not health. I hate preachy vegans or any other type of food person, but from my personal experience, so far, this is a way of eating that makes my body happy. This week is the first week I’ve had blood sugar values under 200 in a looong time, and it feels different, but good. That’s enough about that, for now.

That’s my immediate morning

Keto, week one…

 

This is more for myself and my tracking purposes. Last week, I started Keto pretty full-bore. I protest the disgusting state of health care in our country and I vow to do everything in my power to obtain optimal health so said sucky system does not kill me.

I have been a type 2 diabetic for over a decade. My mom died from complications of Diabetes, and I do not want to go like that. If I die when my mom died, I have 27 years left of life. I’d love to be around longer than that. I want to see my grand children grown with children of their own, I have lots left to do.

So, last Sunday I hit it hard. I knew this would be a challenging time because this last Saturday, yesterday, was going to be an annual cookie exchange I have participated in for more than a decade. I started out thinking I would make keto-friendly cookies for everyone, but once I got a load of the prices for ingredients for keto baking, I decided everyone got one keto bar and I would make the rest regular =) I actually did really well making the things and not eating them all =)

I chose lemon bars this year. Not something I’d done before. They looked super easy, then when I started making them, I remembered what a pain zesting a lemon was. All things considered, though, it wasn’t too bad. And I found a keto version. Then they all didn’t turn out the way I wanted, so I supplemented with chocolate chip cookies. I also have stuff to make keto chocolate chip cookies, but that’s another task for another day.

Here are observations after one week:

1. This is the first time since the medication debacle began back in July that I’ve had consistent blood sugar numbers under 200! Yay!
2. I generally have a very hard time with leg and foot cramps at night. Since beginning a keto way of eating, I have not had any cramps.
3. I think I am starting to feel higher energy.
4. I know that if I come from a place of deprivation, I cannot succeed on a diet. Keto seems to have a lot of options and ways to make food that make me not feel deprived. I like this a lot.
5. It really isn’t that hard, it’s just a different way of eating. Honestly, the bread and potatoes thing is the hardest for me. I’ve always said, if there were a friend potato diet, I would be thing. The Irish in me, perhaps.

That’s about it.

I live in a beautiful place. The pic is a sunrise from a couple days ago. Taken by my friend Pinktini

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!

The last scary decision…

(this was a transferred post from Open Diary, my first online journaling home. They used to do a "topic of the week" and that is my response to that weeks post.)

What was the last scary decision that you made?!

Wow. That’s putting things out there. There are a lot of scary decisions to be made, always. There are those that say that the definition of courage is being terrified of something…..and doing it anyway =) That’s kind of my philosophy, if you will.

In June of this year, I had an opportunity. I prior scary decision had paid off in spades. After Burning Man in 2016, I made a commitment with some friends that we were GOING to go to New Zealand….to attend a regional burn, Kiwi Burn. As time passed, all the people who had also agreed to go, dropped by the wayside, but dammit, I had decided I was going to go and was determined. I went by myself. I spent three weeks there and had an amazing time and made what have turned into friendships I still cherish and cultivate, hoping they will be lifelong.

Two of those friendships were with an awesome couple named Cody and Ally. She was from Scotland, he from Canada and they’d met globetrotting in Australia and I encountered them in New Zealand at Kiwi Burn. We’d remained in touch, mostly through Facebook. I knew they were getting married in 2018, but hadn’t really thought much about it . I got a message one day asking me about an RSVP, the wedding was to be held in Nova Scotia. Hmmm…never been there, might be fun. Talk to the happy couple and they offer me space in the lodge where the wedding is, so it will really only be plane fare and a few days of lodging, and I can see a cool place.

Aaaaaannnnd, GO!

Did it! Always glad, had an amazing time, would definitely go back, and I am again amazed at how, when you direct your energy in specific places, it’s so awesome to see how the universe works, with your energy, for things to find a way =)