We have had a lot going on here in the south and some of us are just starting to feel normal. I was lucky and didn't have any damage to my property. The other two people on my team are part of the 6% here that still don't have power here.
My neighborhood isn't even in an evacuation zone even though I am on a river inlet. A huge tree came down on an adjacent street. It landed on top of a van parked in the driveway. With Mathew last year most of the older more brittle trees fell so I was surprised to see it down.
Two friends were staying with me for the main part of the storm one had been evacuated from a high rise at the beach. All went well and they were able to go home after two days. I got my power back the second day and we were all back to work by Wednesday.
Our phones and Internet were off and on at work and people have been coming in when they couldn't get us on the phone. One customer stopped by in person to make sure I was able to run their credit card and get their carpet ordered before the storm on Friday.
Life goes on and we are lucky we can adapt to whatever happens to us. For most of us here we are feeling grateful that we were missed. Getting back to work was a blessing. It felt like coming back after you have been out sick for a week. Like I was in a fog. With no email and Internet it gave us an extra day to come out of the fog.
I am grateful to be working and not dealing with the loss they felt in the Keys and the Islands. Paradise has it's drawbacks but for most of the time it is worth it. I wonder if after this there will be a northern migration.
This blog is for those searching to find hope and support from living with the effects of alcoholism.
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Could it be the food? - My sweet tooth
I have always believed that with help you can talk yourself
through most emotional problems and that it is your core belief system and
personal distorted ideas about things that really hold you back. We are so sure
that our thoughts are the truth and rarely do we challenge those beliefs.
We look for people that agree with us and stick close to them limiting any
feedback that might poke holes in our own rigid ideas. This keeps everyone in
the same place and feeling self-righteous and dismissing all other
possibilities. But what if something else is contributing to the way we think. Could the food we eat affect the way we think?
I had some recent blood test that indicated that I am borderline
diabetic. With that news I went out and bought 3 books on Autoimmune diseases -
Hashimoto's disease - diabetes. While reading I came across a chapter about the
effects of thyroid disease on the emotions. Almost word for word describing my
on thoughts and my lack of interest in things that use to excite me. Almost and indifference. Could my eating
habits and my thyroid be causing this?
There is so much conflicting information about autoimmune diseases
as well as diabetes but almost everyone agrees that sugar is the Satan of all foods.
I know that no matter what I will not be able to continue to use sugar for
escape when life becomes too much. I
remember as a kid going to some extreme lengths to find sugar in my house after
my own mother decided we had to give it up.
I had been diagnosed with ADD and the school wanted my parents to
put me on Ritalin. This was the early
70's. I had trouble concentrating and spent a lot time standing in the hall
outside my classroom. I was disruptive and they wanted a solution. Just like me my mother did some research and
found that studies showed that eliminating sugar from the diets of children
calmed them down.
I remember this time period well because I loved sugar. Even
before this time I would steal my sister's Easy Bake Oven icing mixes and eat
them out of the box hiding behind the couch. Chocolate was out too and my mom
substituted carob for chocolate and ruined a lot of good recipes. I
decided to spend more time at my friend's house scoping other sources of sugar.
Sugar is a physical craving even though just yesterday I heard a doctor on You
Tube say otherwise.
When my mother got cancer the sugar famine at my house ended. My
parents were focused on her diet and we spent hours at the hospital drinking as
many sodas as we wanted. With my dad in charge we were left to fend for
ourselves and we gave a list of what we wanted to whoever was grocery shopping
for us. I was eight when this began so you can imagine Coke was at the top of
the list.
My mother wasn't in the hospital all of the time but when she was
home they were focused on the macrobiotic diet still used by cancer patients
today. My parents weren't hippies, but even
before she got sick, we ate mostly vegetables that were organically grown by my
dad in the back yard of our suburban home. We were taught that your body is
your temple and God expects you to treat it that way.
I did get my present eating habits from them. I don't eat processed food and make my meals
from scratch. It is no big deal to me since it is all I have ever known. I even have controlled my sweet tooth except
in the worst of times.
When I was reading the paragraph about thyroid disease and thoughts
people were having. How some had lost interest in things they loved a generally
had an apathy for life it was almost word for word what have thought. During my
meltdown I didn't really eat and when I did it was sugar I wasn't sure if I
wanted to live so diet wasn't at the top of my list.
Just a side note. The body
processes sugar in the liver the same way it processes alcohol. There is an
epidemic of non-alcohol fatty liver disease right even in children. The experts
say it is from soda and hidden sugar in processed foods.
The past few weeks I have been contemplating what I am willing to
change about my eating habits. Can I totally give up sugar, wheat and
dairy. Not likely in the long run given
my history.
I did think that if I never felt apathy for life again would that
be enough of a prize to at least consider it. The answer is yes so I am just
trying it out - no sugar, dairy or wheat. I have been watching my eating since
I got my test results. I already do feel better mentally and physically and I
have lost 5lbs.
Overall I eat like my parents taught me to eat even if I use sugar
in time of stress or boredom. I never imagined that it could be affecting my
thoughts.
Ironically the diet I have chosen seems pretty close to the
macrobiotic diet my mother was on except with a little more protein. Mom and
dad would be pleased.
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