Well it’s been quite a hiatus. (I last posted nearly a month ago – so ‘Day 78’ should definitely be ‘Post 78’!) It’s been a busy and successful January in many ways. Work has been very busy. Moreover, I was (incredibly!) successful in going CAC Free for January. I’m so pleased! However…….. I barely lost weight!!! 6 pounds. Upping and downing in weight and size… It was a mixed experience – and the bottom line is probably that stress and lack of sleep delete many gains from dietary discipline.
Here’s my learning from a month without Carbs, Alcohol or Coffee:
- CARBS: While I gained energy from being 90% carb free, I realised that it was going to take much more than just restriction of carbs to create inner balance and optimal health. I NEED to be stress-free, well-rested and well-slept for my body to cease being inflamed – otherwise the insulin / adrenaline / cortisol s**tshow is still calling the shots, and my gut continues to be a biotic-storm. I’ve now upped my supplements / ACV / green powder drink. And I’m aiming for some Intermittent Fasting or Time Restricted Eating in Feb, to allow my gut and system to heal between meals. I’m going to download The Obesity Code by Dr Fung as an audio book when I get a new phone.
- ALCOHOL: I’ve been really blessed to have a Dry January. I’m gently letting it roll forward. I know I’m only one evening’s ‘treat night’ away from a habit again. It’s a shame that I seem not to suit the ‘moderation approach’, but I know (eg from the lovely Dry Jan facebook community) that many, many people are in the same boat wherein abstinence is simply the securest and healthiest way forward.
- COFFEE: I didn’t think I’d manage this one as I’ve had daily coffee for 15 years with one short-lived break in 2016 – but I did it! – so, a real victory for willpower and inner patience. However, I’ve brought coffee back in now, because a) it didn’t seem to make much difference taking it out, and b) I missed it in a fond (not cravey) way and found that tea was much less of an incentive to get out of bed in the morning. I don’t like tea so much first thing in the morning, and unless I’m going to get rid of caffeine altogether, losing coffee per se doesn’t seem so helpful. Also so many of the keto dudes talk enthusiastically about the role of coffee for them either for fat (eg bullet proof coffee, with MCT powder) or for fasting (as an acceptable drink).
So what about the MEDS overall now?
- Meditation: I’ve been doing short 10 min meditations – all good. Not a deep practice at the moment, but I’ve often had 5am starts for work this month, so what you gonna do? Little and often is a fine balance for now. And I’m just appreciating the morning routine of QT + Meditation… then,hop out of bed. I could incorporate more Mindfulness in my training delivery – that would get some in during the day!
- Exercise: My younger daughter got me on to the ‘Yoga with Adriene 30 Day Yoga Challenge’ on Youtube. I love it! I’m on Day 15, so I guess I’m doing a session (20-30 mins) every other day – not bad when it’s been so busy. Where I’ve really fallen short this month is on aerobic activity. I stopped the trotting, as I was leaving the house early for work, and it’s been bloody cold. My Steps haven’t been too bad, but I need to get more hill walks in, or swimming, or cycling. Let’s move house (eek – in two weeks) and then use that lovely open space, and G’s companionship, and the lengthening evenings… to get a new rhythm going. I’m tracking ‘active minutes’ and ‘av calories burned’ on a weekly / monthly basis now.
- Diet: see above (CAC) – I’ve really appreciated the emphasis on ‘protein and veg’. I suspect, while I haven’t lost much weight, I’m less full of gunk… I didn’t get the full ‘purification’ I got the year I did Veganuary… so I realise that I need to tweak things as I go.
- Sleep: Man alive, this has been my achilles heel. I’ve been stuck at 6h30 average per week, which is NOT enough. I need, frankly, to nap/siesta more, and relax more, and keep my body less in the contracted state. As noted above, this is now the remaining critical factor for my health. I will get there!!
And on writing these posts…? Why the month’s pause in writing?
- I went out there with DoD as my strapline for my business, and hurriedly put this blog on maintenance mode…. which seemed to shift my feeling about it!
- I think I needed just to get on with the new regime (CAC) and all the business work at hand…
- Maybe tracking everything here had become a bit laborious – especially once the public tracking had successfully pushed me into taking radical action on my dietary intake!
- I felt this was becoming a bit of a lifestyle blog… when what I really need is the DoD with myself… I was becoming orientated to the assumed ‘reader’, not to the Dialogue.
So where am I at with this blog series, and with the MEDS Project? Nearly time to wind up? Maybe. I suspect so. I’m going to drop the tracking on these posts as it was. I’m tracking Steps, Sleep etc (via my FitBit) in my Planner, so maybe I’ll share the odd photo here, and that will cover it.
My desire is, really, to get back to checking in with my inner being and its lovely, infinite, nourishing, nurturing personalised life lessons. So, here we are….
Dear heart of my soul…. Long time no see. Thanks for the awesome set up with the CAC Free project and all that we have been processing, achieving and learning away from here too. Good to be back in touch with you in the written form. How are you?
Eternally happy, content, proud and delighted with all that is seen through your physical eyes.
I’ve missed this.
We haven’t missed a thing. All is present to us now and always.
May I ask you. What do you think I’ve learnt in the last month?
Restraint. Reliability. Focus. Determination. Self-determination. Optimism. Decision-making. The power of your decisions.
Yesterday, I determined that my word for the month ahead (Feb) be ‘Decided’, as in ‘I decided’, ‘I have decided’, ‘I trust my decisions’, ‘Now the decision is made, the fun begins’… Did this come from you?
Of course. You asked us about what focus would benefit your mind as a fruitful ‘occupation’ for the month, recognising that the mind is best equipped to benefit the person’s reality when given a positive ‘end goal’ focus (as opposed to unrestrained access to ‘things to fret about’ and thus manifest!). Then you reached in, in a meditative state, and collected the offering from the platter inside you.
Firmly-made, optimistic DECISIONS are portals to your best next realities.
What decisions have I hesitated on recently, that I could make firm decisions about and thus benefit my future reality..?
Why not list the many ‘firmly-made, optimistic DECISIONS’ you actually have made?
- New home – great choice by the way
- New logo – awesome (AT, DoD)
- New booking systems for your business
- New ventures for your business
- Huge amounts of decluttering and releasing a la KonMari (each item consciously decided upon)
- The future of your CAC Free regime
- Starting the 30 Day Yoga Challenge
- New weekly planner (and letting go of the daily Full Focus Planner)
- New health tracking protocols
- Asking for dignified rates of pay for work done
I’ve been playing with a phrase I surmised from Reality Transurfing (which I’ve almost finished). I think it’s fitting…:
Everything is unfolding wonderfully
Infinite intelligence within me, speaking to me at whatever highest frequency I can arrive at to connect to you with… How can I make ever more confident, swift, intuitive decisions, on a daily basis? How can I dissolve hesitation or doubt sooner?
Reduce the ‘importance’ you attribute to things. Say: ‘It’s not important whether I choose A or B. What’s important is to choose and act.’
As in… ‘Brexit means Brexit. Let’s get on with it.’?
The difficulty around Brexit is that the result was pretty much ‘undecided’. There was no ‘clear’ decision. Mainly because the ‘choice’ at hand was never truthfully laid out. This is a perfect example of choosing without full information taken into consideration. So there’s a tip for you for good decision-making: gather as much neutral information as you can – and then stop, consider what you see, and plump fully for a decision that your heart and mind can get behind.
What if my heart and mind have got different protocols for decision making? Then they become Leavers and Remainers, battling over the winning decision.
Here is the power of consultation. Allow the heart and mind to consult the facts fully, until the truth emerges in plain sight for both to throw themselves behind.
You say ‘until’… What if they need longer than the time available?
Practice. It takes practice, and being unafraid about the consequences of making the ‘wrong’ decision – hence the initial comment about attributing less importance to the decisions at hand. Imagine you make a 100 conscious decisions, and get 50 of them wrong. You have still made more progress than had you made just 20 hesitant decisions in the same time period.
But what about all the time ‘undoing’ and mopping up the 50 wrong decisions?!
Were they 50 ‘wrong’ decisions – or were they 50 hypotheses tested and then tweaked according to resulting data?
So, some things you can’t know the answer to until you test out one way or the other… Makes sense. That gives me confidence. And less of a sense of haplessness in the face of getting resulting data that shows that the ‘other way’ would have been more beneficial.
I’m reaching the end of MEDS Project. Though I haven’t solved my health issues, of weight gain and adrenal fatigue. What other decisions do I need to make?
Lady, you need to get out in nature again! There is no way you can revive your energetic field whilst sitting indoors, engulfed in EMFs, with no direct sunlight, and no access to the healing waves of luscious energy (QI!) flowing abundantly out of the Earth and her plant world.
Well, that was a clear enough answer! 🙂 Thanks! And yes, so true. I’m looking forward to living in a rural environment again in 2/3 weeks time!
It will do you SO much good! Just ‘get out the door’! Can you do that today, city-bound as you are? It’s snowy, and sunny!! The fields are GLORIOUS! Get out the door, lady!
Ha! Yes. Um… What about my work (law firm follow up) and packing boxes?
Let’s put this to you again… Lovingly. Deeply lovingly. Ok: *strong voice* “Lady, you need to get out in nature again! There is no way you can revive your energetic field whilst sitting indoors, engulfed in EMFs, with no direct sunlight, and no access to the healing waves of luscious energy (QI!) flowing abundantly out of the Earth and her plant world.”
When you get back you will a) be revived and energised, and b) realise that you don’t need to work again til next week…
But I do want to do the law firm follow up…. 🙂
Then you shall have the energy and clarity of mind to do it more swiftly after a walk in nature. And then you shall have the nap you wanted. And then you shall pack. Awesome.
Then it is DECIDED. I shall go out for a good hearty walk. Then I shall work. Then I shall nap. Then I shall pack. And then my lovely G arrives. Good day. Thank you!
Today, I am DECIDING…
