Keeping food light and mood right

It's been a busy week already, but a good one.  Monday morning I got the 2nd round of my injections in the knees with the Euflexxa.  Getting shots into your knees is not as much fun as it sounds...but the improvement I'm already sensing is worth it.  I definitely felt a slight improvement last week which the ortho told me was a good prognosticator for a good result.  I like that

I saw the podiatrist Monday afternoon about my numb left toe and he was essentially unconcerned because I'm walking fine with it and it's not impairing any function.  He noticed I've developed a small bunion I didn't have before and said that's likely the culprit of the numbness.  Sciatica is the 2nd contender, but given the lack of any more substantial symptoms and the fact that it's so intermittent rather than constant, he feels it's prudent to leave it alone unless the symptoms increase or change in any way.  He thinks neuropathy from diabetes is highly unlikely because I've been so well controlled and not required medication or testing.  The chance of diabetic neuropathy with my clinical picture is very small.  I'm fine with all that.

Monday night I went with hubby to an Alanon anniversary meeting where they had a speaker from AA, Alanon and Alateen.  All 3 had excellent messages of recovery and hope.  I was out until 9:40, a time at which I'm usually sound asleep because I'm up so early in the mornings (4-430am), and then stayed up another hour reading.  Really unheard of for me these days.  I can stay awake if I'm out doing stuff, but once home where the possibility of getting horizontal is 100%, I fade fast.  Last night I spoke at a meeting which had me out past my bedtime again.  I'm feeling like a grown up staying up so "late"! 

My sleep patterns definitely changed with menopause.  I stayed up 'til midnight or later for all of my kid-rearing years, then slept without waking until the alarm sounded.  But since mother nature began to send my hormones into underdrive as she does as we hit late 40s and early 50s, the quality of my sleep changed dramatically, and I haven't needed alarm clock since!

Food and exercise has been good this week thus far and I'm hoping for a loss at weigh in Sunday.  I've recently been on a new breakfast kick - I have oatmeal with 2 Tbs of flax meal stirred in after cooking and just a bit of salt.  The flax meal makes the oatmeal thick, dry and a bit grainy and gives it a sort of nutty taste.  The texture is heavenly to me, though my husband said it looks "disgusting".  Thanks dear.  ME LIKE!  Somehow the flax meal gives it a heartiness that keeps me full all morning.  Having a cup of TJoe's FF plain yogurt with unsweetened applesauce on the side has the protein hit (22 gms!) to also keep me satisfied, which is almost more important than being full.  (Any good food addict knows that.)  When at work, I usually don't eat lunch until about 1:30 because this b'fast is so substantial that I really have no desire to eat until then.  Unfortunately, after lunch the absence of desire to eat drains away quickly and once home from work, it's a constant effort to stay out of the fridge and pantry.  But I press on, hoping for the elusive peace with food to finally settle in.  Siiigh.

Tonight I have my meditation meeting from 7-9 that I think I mentioned a week or so ago. It's for people in any kind of recovery (with a 12 step focus) so there are some folks from OA, AA and even some with no official recovery program but wanting to meditate with a group. This is just the 3rd week, and so far it's been really good and helpful for me in my endless effort to establish a consistent meditation practice for myself.

Have a good day folks.