Amazing!  Yipeee.
I haven't posted in two weeks.  That is crazy.

I've been kinda busy at work.  And it's been hot hot hot outside so it kind of takes the life out of me.

Happy to say I have not had any diet soda to drink since I declared my diet soda freedom.  I have had a few times when maybe i might have craved it, but it was not difficult to say no.

I've had a few times where I almost picked one up out of habit as I was walking through the cafeteria.  That was funny.  Habits are serious things.

I feel better since not drinking the soda, although I've also tried to eat more vegetables and have been having acupuncture, so I don't know what effect the lack of diet soda is doing to me.

All three together, I am feeling GREAT!

Keep up the good work, keep exercising and eat more green veggies.
I tell everyone to eat more green veggies when they complain about anything.  LOL  I think it is the cure-all for everything.  Funny thing is...it probably is!


 
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Well, I finally made it!  I have given up diet soda.  [and they could hear the sound of trumpets, off in the distance, heralding the accomplishment!]

I've done it before, but this time feels different.  Before when I gave it up, it was more of a...conscious decision and a bit of a struggle.  I still craved it and had to make myself not drink it.

THIS time, it was sort of spontaneous.  What happened.

A friend of mine sent me an article about aspertame (artificial sweetener in diet beverages, a lots of foods).  And, if reading about aspertame wasn't bad enough, the article also talked about Donald Rumsfeld (former Secretary of Defense for President George W. Bush of the USA). 

It appears that Rumsfeld, the day after the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the USA, allegedly called in some sort of debt owed him and Reagan got aspertame approved for use in diet beverages.  Here is a link to the article, should you also be interested in reading it.  That really pisses me off.  It's all about the $$$.

Anyway, after reading that article last Thursday afternoon, I did not touch the diet soda stuff again.  I don't crave it, I don't want it.  A-frickin-mazing.

I think the article is what pushed me over the edge.  In a good way. 

I have been doing the raw food thing for a while and beginning to feel better, but still feeling the attachment to my beloved diet soda.  (and my more beloved apple fritters).  But, since that amazing Thursday, as I have said, I haven't had a diet soda...NOR...have I had an apple fritter.  I walk right by them.

All in all, I am feeling pretty good and so maybe I've leapt into a new level of maturity...LOL   I don't have the "but, I WANT its" anymore [see my blog post from 7/15/12]

So, THEN, since i FINALLY quit the diet soda, I could finish my pop can top art project.  I had started this project about two years ago, the last time I seriously planned to get off the diet soda. 

I collected all my pop tops and wanted to make a piece of art to visually represent what a year's worth of two cans a day looks like.  So this is it.  It has approximately 650 pop can tops on it...roughly 1.78 cans a day.  So, we all know I drank more than that.  Probably not a lot more than 2 a day, but there were some days...

The background of the art piece (I use that word lovingly) is the cover of the box of cymbals I bought for my drumset.  I thought it an appropriate backdrop.

Action step
Hmmm, let's see. 
How about...celebrate something that you have accomplished.  Make something.  Have a party.  Tell someone.  Do something about it.  You earned it.  Tell us here!  Write a comment, let us know what you accomplished that you are so happy about and how you celebrated it!

To learn more about the raw food thing I'm doing, click on the fruit below
 
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Today, I was in the kitchen preparing some lovely green veggies for lunch and this rockin' song came on the radio.  Immediately I began to dance around the kitchen.  It was SO fun and felt SO good.

The funny thing is that I have not danced in the kitchen for many months...maybe a year?  I'm not sure why, but I guess I haven't felt like it.  I haven't had the energy. 


Music is so important to our lives, it gets our toes tappin' and our feet movin' and really helps to elevate one's mood. 

Well NOW I feel like dancing.  Why?

I've been concentrating on the raw food thing pretty good for the last three or four days AND I gave up diet soda four days ago. (Curses, aspertame!)   I have SO much energy I can hardly stand myself!  It's great!


Action Step
Give it a try.  If you are shy, do it when no one is home.  You will feel great.   It doesn't take long for your energy to swing up and you get to have lots more fun. 
Expect it.


 

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Have you said that about some food that you have wanted to eat, because you want it!   

It is an emotional response to something we want and we want it now.

Babies can get away with it, we, as adults, not so much.  I talked to a therapist about this a couple years ago, she said my need for some fast access to whatever comfort food I was craving was an immature need for immediate gratification.  Now she didn't CALL me immature, but she said it was an emotional response to stresses in life that hadn't maybe fully developed. 


Action step
Starting today, let's work on lessening the power of "but, I WANT it!". 

Today, when I want something to eat that is not real "food", I will wait.  I will pause.  I don't have to give in to it all the time.  I WILL survive the wait.

However, if I DON'T wait, there will be no negative head talk, let it go.  Next time the opportunity presents itself, is another change to wait.    It is a process, it takes time.

What action step will you take to diminish the power of that emotional tug to eat some comfort food.

 
Today I found out that a familiar face in the neighborhood had a debilitating stroke.  Carleen is her name.  She's about...70 years old, if I had to guess.  Carleen is one of those salty, old broads.  Smokes like a chimney.  Probably weighs about 90 pounds soaking wet.  She drives around in her little purple car; a Cavalier?   Up and down our neighborhood streets.  Her very talkative Yorkshire Terrier always by her side.  People joke with her that she's the only person they know who has 60,000 on her car odometer and she never left the neighborhood.  She always waves.

So, she's apparently had several strokes lately and some procedure to clean out some of her veins.  But this last one knocked her flat.  She will now go into a nursing home or hospice. 

It really makes you think. 

What is all this crap we eat and drink?  Why must I be so stubborn that I resist changing my dietary habits.  What am I gaining from it besides weight and health problems?

What does it take to make lasting changes in one's life?  Does it take a disaster?  A health emergency?

I don't want to wait until then.

Action Step
It's a crap shoot and I want to have too much fun before that.  Start taking better care of myself  Eat two servings more of a fruit or veggie each day.

Cheers, Carleen. 

Thanks for the wakeup call,
Mary

P.S.  I found out yesterday that Carleen passed away. 

    About the blogger:

    Hi!  I'm Mary.  56 year old female, mother of one and a dog owner, dabbler, experiencer and person on a mission to get rid of all prescription meds I am taking.  It can be done!   I'd like you to come along with me and get rid of (or avoid in the future) any prescription meds you are taking.

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