the diet, the rain, and desire.

so, a quick apology to the few readers i have: i noticed that the last couple of posts i’ve made have “sounded” a little forced. i guess i was just not quite up to blogging, but i did it anyway. so my sincerest of apologies for putting crap out into the WWW. xOxO’s to make up for it!

now, i’d like to talk about my diet: dukan failed me.
or maybe i failed dukan. at any rate, i don’t like meat enough to eat it, and it alone. it’s not really in my nature to follow a strict diet though – i’ve tried many a time, and always failed. so right now i am trying to do low-carb, kind of primal, kind of whole, kind of delicious, and completely Candice-like. i truly am feeling good about my decisions though. i’m listening to my body and it feels so amazing. 🙂 also – i’ve been trying (and succeeding admirably) at keeping it to 3 meals a day, instead of snacking like i used to. i am down about 3-4 pounds since last week. i broke into the 160s this morning!

i’ve also been combining my two favorite activities: walking + reading. i haven’t really felt up to doing much exercise (c25k, visual impact 4 women, barre method) so I’ve just been going to the gym and reading away while walking on the treadmill (thanks iPad!). i am currently reading the new Habit book (the yellow/red covered one) and am also reading the Primal Blueprint. for fiction, i’m working through the Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, and am still on the first one, the Witching Hour.

the photos in this post are some of the foods i’ve been pining over lately.

and on the note of desire…and dreams…

it is pouring down rain here in Washington. i love the rain, when it looks like this. it’s like the gods are blessing the earth with fertilizer. it reminds me of beauty in an extraordinary way. i’ve been craving mineral-rich, nourishing foods lately. maybe it’s because the rain just seems so nourishing to the earth, that it makes me want to nourish my body. i’ve also been desiring sunshine though.

i’m dreaming of a perfect life for me, and i think it would involve some time spent between my beautiful birthplace, washington state, and some time spent in my beautiful desert of arizona. i miss the sunshine and the smell of sage waking me in the morning, and i miss the light-heartedness of days spent lounging by the pool, eating grapes and drinking delicious draft beer. i hope to be able to work some telepsychiatry into my career. i’m still a long way off from a DNP, but dreams never die, my friends.

xoxo,

Candice

the war on … the SUN?

the sun.

i feel like lately, the media has waged a war against this splendid thing that brings me so much joy.

 we’re supposed to stay out of it to avoid skin cancer, wrinkles, and other signs of premature aging. but we’re also supposed to get out in it, in order to get adequate amounts of vitamin d. they say that skin cancers nowadays do not provide adequate protection against both UVA and UVB rays. But we WANT the UVB rays to get the vitamin D. and then of course, I read on sephora that clinique’s moisturizer has some deadly ingredient in it that is carcinogenic? talk abotu a catch-22. what’s a sun-starved Seattleite supposed to do?!?

but i think that information overload is a problem here. i know i love my sunshine, especially when it comes around in Seattle (which is not often, especially during the winter months). i have such fond memories of laying pool-side in Arizona, eating cherries and blackberries, drinking iced green tea with organic honey, and snacking on salami, cheese, and crackers.

i would often wake up to the sun, naturally – no alarm clock needed. go for a quick run (i love my c25k), and then come back and relax outdoors. the kindle brought me joy for it’s lovely non-glare screen.

it’s gray outside today. it’s making me miss the sun. i’m so tempted to go back to indoor tanning, too. decisions, decisions. after all – everything we do has a risk/reward – even driving cars. me – i’ll take my sun when i can get it. sometimes. 😉

xoxo,

Candice

to O or not to O?

I feel like there are a lot of things that are very en vogue now when it comes to groceries: reusable bags, gluten-free, and buying organic. I’ll be honest: I can’t remember the first one, and I haven’t yet fully attacked the second one, but buying organic is a decision I struggle with due to price. Recently, I came across some interesting + challenging ways to deal with whether or not I buy organic.

Is Organic Food More Nutritious? Is it worth it?

So, I don’t know where the idea came that organic food would be more nutritious than conventionally-produced food, but it must have come from somewhere because there news articles all over the web touting the fact that it is not in fact more nutritious. I think nutritional value misses the point of organic food – with organics, you are getting food that is not pesticide-ridden and full of chemicals. I’m not a health nut by any means but avoiding poisons is one of the Primal Blueprint laws that I really agree with (especially since I have quit smoking and quit drinking alcohol) so it makes sense for me to purchase food that does not contain poisons, pesticides, or chemicals. So, it is not any better for you than conventionally-produced food from a nutritious standpoint, but I think it is better for you because of what it does NOT contain.

On Organic Food + Food Budgets – Yes, it’s Expensive

I try to create a hybrid diet and exercise theme that fits my life and my values and beliefs. I take a little bit of different programs and schools of thought, and customize them for my own. One thought that I have been coming across lately is that you have to change your thinking about food. In a documentary on Netflix called Food Matters, one of the guys mentioned that we have it backwards in America: we think it’s more important to spend money on cars and homes than on food. I’ve also noticed people are mentioning the fact that you don’t have to go all or nothing – buy organic when you can, when you feel like you should, and when you want to.

The picture above is of my most recent Safeway haul, if you will. I’d say about half of the products I got are organic/natural, and the other half are not. It cost about $75 for that food (there are some organic chicken thighs and 93/7 lean ground beef under the eggs, as well as 2 extra lean pok loins hiding behind the shrimp and crab – yes, some of this shopping was for my Dukan Diet Attack Phase).

Now, to give you some perspective on my income and my decision to buy organic sometimes – I make less than $11 an hour right now, and I work full time, between 37 and 40 hours a week. I have the regular bills that most Americans have, save for a car payment. I understand that it takes some paradigm-shifting to change your thoughts about food, but I have really come to feel that paying the extra price for Organic items is worth it! I want to live to be 100 (I’m serious). I want to eat as clean as possible, when I’m going to eat clean.

What do you think? Do you buy organic food, ever? I think if we change our thoughts to “I’m buying health, beauty, fitness, and fat loss,” it might be easier for us to fork over the extra cash for more real, natural foods. 

the dukan diet: initial thoughts.

i’m currently reading The Dukan Diet. i downloaded the digital edition to my Kindle today, and am pleasantly surprised with the contents thus far (note: i have not finished the book yet). in case you’re wondering how I stumbled upon this book, I was actually reading a Cosmo article online about Kate Middleton, and this book was linked/mentioned somewhere in there.

the basic gist of this diet is that it has 4 phases:

1. the first phase is protein only, done for 3-10 days
2. the second phase involves alternating protein and vegetables, which is done for approximately 3 days x # of lbs you wish to lose. you stay in the second phase until you lose the desired amount of weight.
3. the third phase then it goes to protein/vegetables/cheese + bread + fruit, which you do for 5 days x # of lbs you lost
4. then the final maintenance phase (4th phase) involves eating as you please, with Thursdays being a day that you revert back to Phase 1 (basically, Protein Thursdays). you also swear off of escalators and elevators, and eat 3 tablespoons of oat bran per day.

Well, here are my initial thoughts:

– I’ll probably give this a go. I have been interested in intermittent fasting, primal eating, and have been reading some of Rusty Moore’s blog and I think that the theory behind The Dukan Diet can integrate well into a hybrid approach that involves all of these. Basically, it seems doable for my life, and my taste in food.

– I may or may not skip the Oat Bran. Primal eating really is based on excluding grain from your diet, and the more I read and educate myself, the more this makes sense to me.

I plan on starting phase 1 tomorrow, and doing it for about 5 days. We’ll see how it goes. I hope to post updates on how I feel, whether or not I was able to sustain the diet, etc. 

a lovely long weekend.

there is something about a long weekend that is so relaxing. I love the thought of just lying in bed in the mornings, waking up without an alarm, and falling asleep to the sound of midnight rain. i had to work on saturday, but thanks to the holiday (courtesy of all those who served or are serving our country, which I thank you for) I have Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off from work.

i did a little bit of shopping – a new comforter for our bed, some holiday candles which i’ve been saving a coupon for, and a room heater. my office at home is so chilly, especially since it’s been getting below freezing here in western Washington. i bought the california king size, even though our bed is a queen, because the BF is so tall and he’s a total blanket thief at night! i picked this up at Ross for around $30, and it came with a bedskirt + 2 king sized shams.

this is only my second post. I feel like i’m still stumbling around a little bit, unsure of where to start or what to talk about. i really have a yearning to share my life with people though. my ups and downs, fashion, fitness, health, food, books, and everything else that my life encompasses. i also have a yearning to write. hopefully this blog becomes all that i hope it will.

xoxo,

candy