Hindsight Is Wonderful

…but foresight would be more useful.

Last night ended up kind of messy. I was exhausted, but didn’t notice the feelings of tiredness. On the contrary, I seemed to get a second wind and couldn’t sit still. I spent the evening jumping from the sofa to the fridge (looking at what was there) to the computer (looking up information) to a huge stack of notepads and nutrition textbooks, making list after list, plan after plan. I spent hours obsessing- is my diet ‘clean’ enough? Should I go vegan? Should I go raw? Should I increase my intake of some random nutrient that promises great miracles? All of this made perfect sense last night. It didn’t occur to me that maybe the problem was a lack of sleep- all I could do was focus on food and what needs changed/tweaking in my diet, I scoured the internet for information- devoured every morsel of knowledge on the web. Blogs, articles, forums…you name it, I read it.

The problem with something so vast as the internet is that there is a major overload of conflicting information. There have been countless studies done- thousands of research papers written and a myriad of people sharing their stories about what they learned through personal experience. For someone still struggling to figure out what works best for them, this can be a bit of a minefield.

If one website says one thing, there is bound to be an article somewhere contradicting it. One person swears by their method of controlling their weight/health, somebody else does something completely different that works for them.

Suffice to say, last night ended up with me literally lying on my sitting room floor with over 15 windows open on my browser, 8 notepads around me and a heap of textbooks piled high with a calculator perched precariously on top. Feeling guilty for not following certain rules, feeling anxious about what I eat/don’t eat, panicking equally about the long-term effects of cutting stuff out of my diet and not cutting said item out.

I get like this when I am tired. It doesn’t occur to me that I need to sleep- instead my thoughts start racing, becoming more and more incoherent as they pick up speed- end result being that I am completely exhausted, unable to make sense of my own thoughts and am an emotional and confused mess. By 9pm, I had burned out. I called it quits, went to bed. I slept for a GLORIOUS 8 hours. I walked into the sitting room this morning and was greeted by the leftovers of last night. I rifled through the pile of papers and books- none of it made sense this morning. Bizarre calculation, random untitled lists, recipes, budget plans. I am back to my rational and sensible usual self today.

Moral of the story: a lack of sleep can cause your brain to go haywire

What are your signs that you are overtired?

Speaking of lack of sleep, this morning I figured out why I have been so hot in bed. I was changing my sheets as I do every weekend and noticed that my duvet was actually kind of thick and lump. On closer inspection, I noticed- I HAVE BEEN SLEEPING UNDER 3 DOWN DUVETS! Quick on the mark, I know I usually just grab the bundle and stuff it into a clean cover- no wonder I have been so hot! It wasn’t the menopause, it was just the cumulative effect of an 75 tog bed cover. Oy.

 

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Last night’s dinner was already cooked after Saturday’s indecisiveness.

I didn’t heat it up- cold lasagne is bomb dot com. It reminds me of when I was little and would eat cold leftovers from dinner the night before for breakfast before we had a microwave. Take-out? Lasagne? Brisket? Kugel? All tastes better cold the next day. The zuchinni ‘fries’ aren’t burned- blame the paprika.

This morning’s oats…

Cooked oats mixed with blueberries and fromage frais topped with a crumbled chunk of coconut bar. Put the rum blueberries in the coconut…

I had SO much energy this morning- sleep is miraculous, no?! I bounced around town, got caught in a thunderstorm, got annoyed at the poncho parade zillions of tourists that have taken over the city centre and bought some hummus. Sunday mornings are so exciting I think my highlight was the “eureka” moment when I discovered the duvet situation.

I snacked on two little protein bars…

I love these but refuse to call them ‘energy’ bars- seriously, if 1 is a serving providing 70 calories (calorie being a unit of energy), how much energy can they actually give?. They have a weird texture that makes me feel like my throat is closing in and I am going to choke. Maybe it’s the adrenaline rush from that? Whatever. They taste great, though I always eat 2 at a time.

I promised something different for lunch…

Fiesta salad! Tuna, rice, kidney beans, salsa, alfalfa sprouts and spinach. I’ve missed this! Though in a boxing match, felafel would win. Hands down. Food fight!

Anyway, it’s Sunday afternoon. This week’s agenda:

• Monday: doctor’s appointment to follow up about my stomach. I am hoping she prescribes cheesecake. If not, a second opinion may be needed.
• Tuesday: as Dr Cox would say, I take my “blah-blah to the blah-blah-ologist”. Ie, therapy. Hoping for some feedback about bone scan results and HOPING I get the ‘okay’ to go to a dance class…failing that, more poppin’ and lockin’ in my kitchen will be necessary.
• Wednesday: I am pretty sure I have something important on, but I can’t remember what. I have 2 days to remember.
• Thursday: I am going to see my new apartment I think! Camera and tape measure coming for the viewing… Possibly a dance class *fingers crossed*
• Friday: another dance class? I think I have something to do on Friday too*. I do have a diary and I do write stuff down, but I switched bags this week so have been without my diary and writing stuff on post-its- likely on the back of my ‘Operation Beautiful’ notes…so not only are people getting inspiration, they are getting pre-booked activities too!

* it’s important to make plans so you have something concrete to forget!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! What have you got on this week?