Down but Not Out, Desert Food Lover is Back!

I feel like I'm coming out of a darkness and into the light around health issues. It's been a great but hard year in that I was feeling healthier so got more active and I also gave into the temptation of eating out and making poor food choices, and peer pressure to eat things I know I shouldn't, but I'm back! And I'm going to refocus on eating healthy. Last night I finally gave into people saying nah you're not really allergic to ginger, it's probably a food intolerance and now that you haven't had it in ages you can have it. So I drank a cup of ginger ale. It was delicious, and horrible. I spent the night itchy despite allergy meds, with swollen scars from surgerys I went through last year and hives. I have some magazines left from last year's attempts which have recipes in them I liked and which I was working on revising so that they matched my allergy and food intolerance list.

I've been having some allergy problems and health problems which I know are related to eating the wrong foods, so I need to get more consistent. I think the place to start is planning meals and going shopping to get the food to make healthy meals. Or rather, finding healhty foods we can afford, and then planning meals that I can make with those fruits, veggies, nuts and the occasional meat. Tomorrow Patch is taking me to the local fruit and veggie store. I'm excited. Last time we went, we picked out all these yummy looking foods that fit in our budget, and then boom debit card didn't work. This time we will take cash with us. The other good thing about taking cash is we will stick to our budget.

Carlie just recently said she thinks the 2 of us need to commit to losing weight, which is great to hear. Because last time I tried to eat healthy I didn't feel like Patch and Carlie were on the same page. They wanted to be supportive, but that's not the same thing as the whole household being dedicated to eating healthy. For Carlie, this means a desire to lose weight which comes from within, instead of just doctors telling her to do so. Same for me of course. Although for me it's less about weight, and more about eating healthy which, for me, naturally results in weight loss. I think we are coming at the same issue from different directions, but this time at least we're both committed to change if our conversations are to be believed. She also got down the magazines and was the one to suggest it was time I start making food plans and we go shopping for healthy foods.

One challenge this year is that I was told my vertigo is due to inner ear problems, and is unlikely to get better without surgery which is at this time considered unnecessary. I agree, I have no desire to have surgery any more at this point in my life. Maybe after a break my body and spirit will be OK with me. I know there are still things that need some work. But I have found there is a strong component between what I eat and my migraines, and my vertigo gets worse when my allergies act up. Because of the vertigo, I was told to give up on my hope to drive, that it's not going to happen again in this lifetime. My vertigo can get worse, but not better due to the type of inner ear problems. At first I was very upset to give up on my dream of getting my licence back. It seemed like I was being told I was losing all hope of independent travel in my life. But then I got an idea...

My next health goal is to get or make a recumbent trike. I can't drive. OK, well that's one less driver putting pollution into the air. But I think that I will be safe on a trike. I can go as fast or slow as I'm able, and it would be a way that I could get outside to workout alone, without having to wait till someone is able to go with me. (Since when I walk by myself I sometimes lose my balance and fall) Riding a bike isn't doable, but riding a trike might be. I want to try it. I've gotten a lot better at controling my vertigo (it tends to hit when I look over my right shoulder too fast) It might be a bit over my physical ability right now to go very far, but I was thinking that I could get an electric motor assist, the kind you can turn on or off so you can peddle with or without. I could go to the stores, farmers markets, and library by myself, and become more independent. Who knows, eventually perhaps I can even ride it to the bus, put it on the front of the bus, and get around town if I can get healthy enough to sit up on a bus when it goes around corners, I could get around a lot better than I do now, without adding more pollution to the planet, and I believe I would work up to where I could use it on an almost daily basis, which would allow me to get cardio, which I don't get enough of walking. Especially since right now I can't do a ton of walking if other people aren't around and I can't get to the gym alone, which limits where I can work out. I'm really hopeful and looking forward to getting out there on a trike. If I can't afford one maybe I can go to the rusty spoke bicycle collective and maybe they could help me build one. Plus I found out you can get a kit to make it an electric bike. So I'm hoping that's really simple too. They say it is and it doesn't look like it's beyond me. A good project that could lead to a more productive, and self sustainable lifestyle.

Looking through these magazines I've got some great ideas. After we try them out I'll share the successes and failures. Please let me know of any vegetarian or vegan recipes you like since I'll be doing Meatless Mondays.