Ohdearohdearohdearohdearohdearohdear...
I have eaten such a lot of crap over the last three days. Yes, three days. It always happens to me when I travel- it is almost Pavlovian I'm sure. I am one of those who kind of eats when asleep, and unfortunately it takes me two or three days to recover from a medium or long haul trip. Now I feel completely polluted and also I am still dog tired as the food I have consumed have made me more sluggish than ever. However, on a much more positive note, I had a nutritionist appointment today. I have had a number of investigations for some medical problems I have and my doctor felt that a nutritional support programme might help. I thought I would document what I need to do in the next month, all seems completely compatible with the No S approach with one exception of a pre-run snack. If anyone wants to understand exactly why I have been advised on any of the following, please email me on niceglassofshiraz@googlemail.com and I would be happy to elaborate. I have a lot of digestive issues caused by diet and stress.
I have been on a number of programmes over the last ten years and today was the first day where I felt that I was offered realistic manageable changes over time and the scientific evidence was discussed in a clear yet non-patronising manner, hurrah!
All the changes will be introduced over time, so this month's programme is all quite general:
1. Coffee and diet coke. I have a seriously bad DC habit...I am to cut one coffee or diet coke every three days until I reach my personal tipping point, around one of each a day.
2. Bread. Bread acts as an opiate for me and I have a very difficult physiological and psychological response to bread and bread products. I am to limit it to twice a week maximum (this will be HARD)
3.Breathing and flexibility to aid digestion. Yoga and swimming (as a change from running). I have, oddly enough, just enrolled on an Iyenga Yoga foundation course and have enrolled for swimming improvers lessons as I want to attempt triathlon so that is a good thing!!
4. Cut out artificial sweeteners (I think Reinhard would agree on that one!) It is keeping my sweet tooth and doing God knows what else...
5. Cortisol issues leading to weight gain around the middle. This will be a programme in itself but includes taking a walk after each meal, cutting refined and simple carbs in the evening, upping the protein and veg, and following a blood sugar balance diet. I am to have a small snack before my run.
6. Cut out the fruit but grate it on my porridge or use it as my pre lunch snack only as it may be causing some of my bloating symptoms.
7. Increase water to 2 litres over the next month and try white tea.
8. Apple cider vinegar- 2 tsp in warm water first thing for a digestif.
9. Large dose probiotics, rhodiola and a good multivit. I can't take tabs so I have capsules.
10. Bed by 11pm (again a hard one for a night owl like me)
I'll let you know how I get on!
SusieB
Friday 15 May 2009
Tuesday 12 May 2009
At 37000 ft on a UK generic airline......
Greetings to all fellow No-S’ers from the World Traveller Plus section of a certain airline (I believe it is the “World’s Favourite”) en route from London Gatwick to sunny Florida. Good news- I got an upgrade, yay! Bad news- the food options are the same, boo!
It is three and a half hours in to a nine-hour-ten-minute flight and already I am bored s**tless. I USED TO TRAVEL LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME. HOW DID I DO THIS????? Seriously. The ex-job involved travelling across the globe, and if I had a pound for each time that someone admired my “glamorous” job I would frankly never need to work again. I never really could explain to people that it wasn’t always “All That”; If someone could enlighten me as to which bit of the job- from the endless airport waiting/ boring flights/jet lag/dehydration/another city/hotel-by myself 80 per cent of the time is the glamorous part I’d thank you because I never really figured it out....OK, ok, it wasn’t all bad. Oh no. Some days, some places, did give me that “I LOVE my job today” moment and I am really pleased to have had the opportunity to see China, Singapore, India, the Middle East, and lots of Europe as well as the USA several times, and sometimes it did work to my advantage. For example it was really cool to meet my ex-boss Nancy (who worked in the UK on secondment managing me and others from the US) for dinner in Santa Monica for dinner as I was en route to Beijing... “just dropping by, are you around this evening? Off to China tomorrow”...but those days are a) over and b) it means I can get my life back, as there was no such thing as a routine in that job- and keeping in touch with family and friends was really hard, so I can at least do that now. The other thing of course was that I went from being a super-fit 6 days a week exerciser to an occasional gym user, and by the end of year one I had gained 20 pounds, which I got off through wising up to the fact that exercise was a much needed part of my life and that I also needed to try and offset the internally polluting effects of time zone changes, stress and eating differently. I got the weight off in time for my wedding in 2007 but since then have gone up and down by ten pounds or so, depending on my exercise and stress levels, as I respond to stress by eating- or have done in the past!
Which brings me on to airline food and travel-day eating. Does anyone else have a major problem with this? I did drop a note on the Everyday Systems forum yesterday about whether it was bordering on the obsessive to bring food on board the plane, and given that most airline food is truly awful I decided to do just that – then forgot. So here I am, having had the delights of (very little) food as it was just crap- fatty and sugary, and today is an N day. Actually, the food on this particular airline is considerably better than most others I have tried, and believe me, I have tried a few in my time. I could have organised a low-fat meal but didn’t, as they are soooooo disgusting, and I am trying to make each meal “count” now. So much for that idea!
The other potential trap is that boredom period when you have exhausted the Duty Free shopping and there is still an hour or so to go before boarding. Cafes and restaurants abound. I would say that the sensible thing to do is eat beforehand, but I don’t yet trust myself to not eat the airline meal as well! Hopefully that will change as I get in to this programme.
Five hours to go......ho hum
SusieB
It is three and a half hours in to a nine-hour-ten-minute flight and already I am bored s**tless. I USED TO TRAVEL LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME. HOW DID I DO THIS????? Seriously. The ex-job involved travelling across the globe, and if I had a pound for each time that someone admired my “glamorous” job I would frankly never need to work again. I never really could explain to people that it wasn’t always “All That”; If someone could enlighten me as to which bit of the job- from the endless airport waiting/ boring flights/jet lag/dehydration/another city/hotel-by myself 80 per cent of the time is the glamorous part I’d thank you because I never really figured it out....OK, ok, it wasn’t all bad. Oh no. Some days, some places, did give me that “I LOVE my job today” moment and I am really pleased to have had the opportunity to see China, Singapore, India, the Middle East, and lots of Europe as well as the USA several times, and sometimes it did work to my advantage. For example it was really cool to meet my ex-boss Nancy (who worked in the UK on secondment managing me and others from the US) for dinner in Santa Monica for dinner as I was en route to Beijing... “just dropping by, are you around this evening? Off to China tomorrow”...but those days are a) over and b) it means I can get my life back, as there was no such thing as a routine in that job- and keeping in touch with family and friends was really hard, so I can at least do that now. The other thing of course was that I went from being a super-fit 6 days a week exerciser to an occasional gym user, and by the end of year one I had gained 20 pounds, which I got off through wising up to the fact that exercise was a much needed part of my life and that I also needed to try and offset the internally polluting effects of time zone changes, stress and eating differently. I got the weight off in time for my wedding in 2007 but since then have gone up and down by ten pounds or so, depending on my exercise and stress levels, as I respond to stress by eating- or have done in the past!
Which brings me on to airline food and travel-day eating. Does anyone else have a major problem with this? I did drop a note on the Everyday Systems forum yesterday about whether it was bordering on the obsessive to bring food on board the plane, and given that most airline food is truly awful I decided to do just that – then forgot. So here I am, having had the delights of (very little) food as it was just crap- fatty and sugary, and today is an N day. Actually, the food on this particular airline is considerably better than most others I have tried, and believe me, I have tried a few in my time. I could have organised a low-fat meal but didn’t, as they are soooooo disgusting, and I am trying to make each meal “count” now. So much for that idea!
The other potential trap is that boredom period when you have exhausted the Duty Free shopping and there is still an hour or so to go before boarding. Cafes and restaurants abound. I would say that the sensible thing to do is eat beforehand, but I don’t yet trust myself to not eat the airline meal as well! Hopefully that will change as I get in to this programme.
Five hours to go......ho hum
SusieB
Monday 4 May 2009
A weekend of two halves...
This weekend was always going to be challenging....a weekend that included:
the army v navy rugby match at Twickenham...with 18 others...
a 50th birthday party and
a family barbeque!!
Let me explain, for the uninitiated, about the Army-Navy Rugby match. Really, it is about a day of drinking rudely interrupted by 80 minutes of rugby. Everyone brings a picnic and lots to drink and has a really good time regardless of the result. Which is just as well for Navy supporters ( like me) as every year we get soundly beaten by the Army, what with an ever-increasing number of rugby nationals and Fijians on the Army side (am I a bad loser???????? Ha!!) Anyway, this year we were thoroughly and embarrassingly hammered. And I'll not say any more, other than that I was very moderate in my eating and drinking and had what I wanted and remained in control. Success!!! Oh yes, and we had two QUALITY streakers :-)
Yesterday was all about my brother-in-law's BIG birthday, the (whisper) BIG-5-OH!!!!
Another day of socialising and partying, buffets (which I don't actually like so actually not a problem for me, so had a good, sober time and felt great. I decided to move my two N days to Sunday and today due to the long weekend and the family barbeque today. Although today was therefore an N day and I shouldn't feel bad about relaxing foodwise, I still overdid it and ate too much cheese and too much cake. I am a long long way from moderation. Old habits are dying very hard.
Next challenge is that I fly out to Florida for a wedding on Wednesday for a week. I'll be blogging daily as I'll appreciate guidance on how to cope on vacation!
Back soon!!!!
Susie B
the army v navy rugby match at Twickenham...with 18 others...
a 50th birthday party and
a family barbeque!!
Let me explain, for the uninitiated, about the Army-Navy Rugby match. Really, it is about a day of drinking rudely interrupted by 80 minutes of rugby. Everyone brings a picnic and lots to drink and has a really good time regardless of the result. Which is just as well for Navy supporters ( like me) as every year we get soundly beaten by the Army, what with an ever-increasing number of rugby nationals and Fijians on the Army side (am I a bad loser???????? Ha!!) Anyway, this year we were thoroughly and embarrassingly hammered. And I'll not say any more, other than that I was very moderate in my eating and drinking and had what I wanted and remained in control. Success!!! Oh yes, and we had two QUALITY streakers :-)
Yesterday was all about my brother-in-law's BIG birthday, the (whisper) BIG-5-OH!!!!
Another day of socialising and partying, buffets (which I don't actually like so actually not a problem for me, so had a good, sober time and felt great. I decided to move my two N days to Sunday and today due to the long weekend and the family barbeque today. Although today was therefore an N day and I shouldn't feel bad about relaxing foodwise, I still overdid it and ate too much cheese and too much cake. I am a long long way from moderation. Old habits are dying very hard.
Next challenge is that I fly out to Florida for a wedding on Wednesday for a week. I'll be blogging daily as I'll appreciate guidance on how to cope on vacation!
Back soon!!!!
Susie B
Friday 1 May 2009
Oh Lordy....
Well, shows what happens when you get too smug, too soon....
I said I would publish my journey, good, bad or indifferent, so here we go. All was going really well until Tuesday. I had to attend an event which included work from my old company that I had been involved with and I was not looking forward to seeing people that I used to work with- I don't know why but I feel very awkward about it as I am still very angry about my redundancy and the way it was all handled, so I got a bit churned up about it all. However, I got through it, met an ex colleague for lunch and got on the train north to stay with my sister that evening. I had been out with my sis and bro for dinner and I had managed a day of moderation a la no S diet- then I happened to check my emails. This was about 10 30 UK time (pm). Without going in to too much detail here, when I was made redundant I was offered an oportunity on the US side of the company; same level of responsibility etc, based out of a great city there so as I was going out to the US for a wedding in May it was decided that I should interview then. I changed my flights, booked additional flights, sorted everything- and it was all set up for next week. The email was asking me to call the interviewer- on my own cell and my own expense incidentally- as she didn't know the time zone difference (???????) and how to call me internationally (????????????????!!!!!!!!!) so anyway at 11pm I got to speak with her only for her to tell me that they had gone ahead and interviewed locally and appointed so they wouldn't be interviewing me. She said that there was an opening at a lower level if I was interested- but why would I uproot myself and my husband to a new country, where he couldn't work for a good six months, for a job on a much lower payscale- and the likelihood of obtaining a visa at that level would be zilch anyway- So I declined. I was fuming. They obviously had no intention of seeing me and were going through the motions as an HR exercise. I was really angry as I had been looking quite seriously at this one.
The following day I got two more job application rejections so I was in a pretty depressed mood as I got on the train to go to yet another interview for a position I actually applied for prior to the redundancy and was pretty interested in but wasn't available yet. That went really well BUT it was a very long day and on the four hour journey back I was hit with the most overwhelming exhaustion- I can't explain it; it was as though I had suddenly been hit with a sledgehammer! From that moment all I wanted was sugar and carbs, and in a nutshell I spent the next 24 hours (cos it took that long to sort myself out which is why I am only blogging now) eating, well, crap. Things I NEVER touch usually. Today, Friday, I feel poisoned. seriously. I feel absolutely lousy, as though I have been drinking heavily and am hungover. This is the worst case of carb-blowout/ binge that I have experienced in a long time. But am I going to let it put me back? Not a chance.
In the past, If I had had a "bad" day (eating "off" whatever plan I was "on" at the time) I would really cut back the next day to make up for it. I realise that this will set up up to do the same again because I will get tired and hungry so I am going to act as though they didn't happen and revert to a normal N day. This is a marathon for me, not a sprint. I'm changing the habits of a lifetime.
Hope that wasn't too depressing. There's a lot of people out there going through the same stuff, I know.
I'll be back after the weekend> It's a big family bank holiday weekend so may not have time to post but I'm hoping that I can hold it together a bit more over the weekend than I have during the week!
Have a great weekend
Susie
I said I would publish my journey, good, bad or indifferent, so here we go. All was going really well until Tuesday. I had to attend an event which included work from my old company that I had been involved with and I was not looking forward to seeing people that I used to work with- I don't know why but I feel very awkward about it as I am still very angry about my redundancy and the way it was all handled, so I got a bit churned up about it all. However, I got through it, met an ex colleague for lunch and got on the train north to stay with my sister that evening. I had been out with my sis and bro for dinner and I had managed a day of moderation a la no S diet- then I happened to check my emails. This was about 10 30 UK time (pm). Without going in to too much detail here, when I was made redundant I was offered an oportunity on the US side of the company; same level of responsibility etc, based out of a great city there so as I was going out to the US for a wedding in May it was decided that I should interview then. I changed my flights, booked additional flights, sorted everything- and it was all set up for next week. The email was asking me to call the interviewer- on my own cell and my own expense incidentally- as she didn't know the time zone difference (???????) and how to call me internationally (????????????????!!!!!!!!!) so anyway at 11pm I got to speak with her only for her to tell me that they had gone ahead and interviewed locally and appointed so they wouldn't be interviewing me. She said that there was an opening at a lower level if I was interested- but why would I uproot myself and my husband to a new country, where he couldn't work for a good six months, for a job on a much lower payscale- and the likelihood of obtaining a visa at that level would be zilch anyway- So I declined. I was fuming. They obviously had no intention of seeing me and were going through the motions as an HR exercise. I was really angry as I had been looking quite seriously at this one.
The following day I got two more job application rejections so I was in a pretty depressed mood as I got on the train to go to yet another interview for a position I actually applied for prior to the redundancy and was pretty interested in but wasn't available yet. That went really well BUT it was a very long day and on the four hour journey back I was hit with the most overwhelming exhaustion- I can't explain it; it was as though I had suddenly been hit with a sledgehammer! From that moment all I wanted was sugar and carbs, and in a nutshell I spent the next 24 hours (cos it took that long to sort myself out which is why I am only blogging now) eating, well, crap. Things I NEVER touch usually. Today, Friday, I feel poisoned. seriously. I feel absolutely lousy, as though I have been drinking heavily and am hungover. This is the worst case of carb-blowout/ binge that I have experienced in a long time. But am I going to let it put me back? Not a chance.
In the past, If I had had a "bad" day (eating "off" whatever plan I was "on" at the time) I would really cut back the next day to make up for it. I realise that this will set up up to do the same again because I will get tired and hungry so I am going to act as though they didn't happen and revert to a normal N day. This is a marathon for me, not a sprint. I'm changing the habits of a lifetime.
Hope that wasn't too depressing. There's a lot of people out there going through the same stuff, I know.
I'll be back after the weekend> It's a big family bank holiday weekend so may not have time to post but I'm hoping that I can hold it together a bit more over the weekend than I have during the week!
Have a great weekend
Susie
Monday 27 April 2009
Monday. Greetings from a grim hotel room in London
Hi All,
Well the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it is freezing. I have had to come up to London this evening to take part in an event linked to something I was working on prior to my redundancy. It means I will see some ex colleagues for the first time in a few weeks and frankly the level of support I got from these particular guys was zero....very disappointing...most people were great but just not these....so anyway I am a bit stressed out at the thought. Ordinarily this would send me directly to the bread bin but no, I will rise above it all and I will be fine.....
Food today consisted of a bowl of porridge, a ciabatta sandwich and yazai yaki soba with a small glass of wine at Wagamamas. I'm a BIG fan of the Wagamama chain....yum- the portions are large and in fact I couldn't eat it all! I could have cheerfully demolished another couple of glasses of wine to calm the nerves but a) it is Monday night and b) my motto is "Nil Illegitimus Carborandum" which in Latin roughly equates to "Don't let the b-ds grind you down" so I had better start practicing what I preach, eh?
Got an exercise class in today as well so feeling pretty good on that front too.
Got some work to do so signing off for now. Hope you guys are all having a good day!
Cheers
Susie
Well the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it is freezing. I have had to come up to London this evening to take part in an event linked to something I was working on prior to my redundancy. It means I will see some ex colleagues for the first time in a few weeks and frankly the level of support I got from these particular guys was zero....very disappointing...most people were great but just not these....so anyway I am a bit stressed out at the thought. Ordinarily this would send me directly to the bread bin but no, I will rise above it all and I will be fine.....
Food today consisted of a bowl of porridge, a ciabatta sandwich and yazai yaki soba with a small glass of wine at Wagamamas. I'm a BIG fan of the Wagamama chain....yum- the portions are large and in fact I couldn't eat it all! I could have cheerfully demolished another couple of glasses of wine to calm the nerves but a) it is Monday night and b) my motto is "Nil Illegitimus Carborandum" which in Latin roughly equates to "Don't let the b-ds grind you down" so I had better start practicing what I preach, eh?
Got an exercise class in today as well so feeling pretty good on that front too.
Got some work to do so signing off for now. Hope you guys are all having a good day!
Cheers
Susie
Sunday 26 April 2009
Day One done
Hi- just a quick observation note at the end of day one- given that as I don't yet have a copy of the No S book I have no idea if this has been a day of doing it "right"- but one thing I have noticed already is how much I am inclined to mindlessly nibble while preparing dinner...maybe it's only veggies but not the point really- I need to really focus on stopping that habit. As soon as I realised what I was doing I stopped myself. The other is...I have a really gross diet coke habit. I don't know why, but it suddenly struck me how much I was consuming and that it must be full of crap. Think I'll do some research on that and post it up on here...watch this space!
Today I ate:
Porridge with water sweetened with splenda...that's a habit as I freak out about having sugar but what with all the artificial sweetener in the DC as well...need to think about that!
Lunch was a ciabatta sandwich filled with lean ham and salad
Dinner was chicken with potatoes and veggies. (plus a bit of veg nibbled while preparing )
I have to say that I did feel hungry about an hour or so after the porridge, but it might have been thirst as it did disappear after a while.
Off to fill in my daily "result" now on the everydaysystems forum- I'll post the stats up every few days> Hope you are all having a good day!
Best
Susie
Today I ate:
Porridge with water sweetened with splenda...that's a habit as I freak out about having sugar but what with all the artificial sweetener in the DC as well...need to think about that!
Lunch was a ciabatta sandwich filled with lean ham and salad
Dinner was chicken with potatoes and veggies. (plus a bit of veg nibbled while preparing )
I have to say that I did feel hungry about an hour or so after the porridge, but it might have been thirst as it did disappear after a while.
Off to fill in my daily "result" now on the everydaysystems forum- I'll post the stats up every few days> Hope you are all having a good day!
Best
Susie
The Morning After...
Morning All, apparently my blog isn't too rubbish lol (thank you for being nice cos I know that it is AT THE MOMENT!!). It's 8 45 am and I normally go out for a run with a group on Sunday mornings but I have something on which means I can't - but I will later, promise! I love my Sunday runs. We go around the countryside near Salisbury in Wiltshire which for the uninitiated is one of the prettiest areas of the UK, and the views are fantastic. One of my favourites is the "Llama Run"- there is a Llama and camel farm nearby and I have to tell you that the first time I ran by the camels I thought I was hallucinating- I hadn't been running for long then and I thought I had a serious problem with lack of oxygen to the brain....as unless I have been missing something you don't tend to see a lot of llamas/ camels in the English countryside!
www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/salisbury/home
To add to my motivation to get my a**e out of the door later on today is that I am watching the TV coverage of the London marathon - it is going to be a WARM day today so those runners are going to be having a tough time of it I reckon....maybe next year...haven't run a marathon before...could be my next challenge...but actually at the moment I need to keep my main focus on sorting my diet out! Oh yes, and get a job....soon (please!)
So, here we are, day one. D-day, or rather, no S day. Yes, I know it is Sunday and even I have figured out that this would be an S day, but I feel I have had quite enough of those kinds of days recently and I really need to try and get some order in to my day as far as food is concerned. Here we go then.........................See you all later!
Oh, by the way, the Latin phrase....spelling might be a bit out (don't know any ancient Romans to check it out with) but the rough translation is "Don't let the bas***ds grind you down".
Cheers
Susie
www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/salisbury/home
To add to my motivation to get my a**e out of the door later on today is that I am watching the TV coverage of the London marathon - it is going to be a WARM day today so those runners are going to be having a tough time of it I reckon....maybe next year...haven't run a marathon before...could be my next challenge...but actually at the moment I need to keep my main focus on sorting my diet out! Oh yes, and get a job....soon (please!)
So, here we are, day one. D-day, or rather, no S day. Yes, I know it is Sunday and even I have figured out that this would be an S day, but I feel I have had quite enough of those kinds of days recently and I really need to try and get some order in to my day as far as food is concerned. Here we go then.........................See you all later!
Oh, by the way, the Latin phrase....spelling might be a bit out (don't know any ancient Romans to check it out with) but the rough translation is "Don't let the bas***ds grind you down".
Cheers
Susie
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