a moment to refocusonlife - betty white is hungry

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Does candy tempt you on this spookiest day of the year? Do your kids go trick or treating and come home with bags upon bags of candy?

Luckily, for me, I'm not in the least bit tempted by candy. I do enjoy a piece of dark chocolate or sugar free candy from time to time, but for the most part, I can easily turn that candy down. But, I know chocolate is a huge weakness for many people, so I thought I'd share some strategy. And, I'm not going to lie here, I could TEAR up a snickers bar right now! I have not had a Snickers in years! I'm beginning to feel like Betty White playing football (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXL8QPWLbBo).

But I digress, some techniques to get thru tonight without turning into Betty White:

Duke Power Lineman for Halloween :-) 

• Eat a piece of dark chocolate. Make sure it's 70% cocoa or more. There are actually studies that suggest Dark Chocolate is good for you in small quantities. 
• Grab a couple pieces of sugar free chocolate. The Sugar Free Reese's Peanut Butter Cups actually taste great, but be warned, the sugar alcohol's that are in them can cause disastrous side effects of the gastrointestinal kind if you eat much in a single setting. Besides, they are NOT low calorie, they just do not impact your blood sugar as much as a regular piece of candy would. 
• Go for the fruit! It's apple season! Grab an apple. Eat it whole or slice it up! But, eat the peeling and all. That's where the fiber is at. The fiber helps it to stick to your ribs and creates that feeling of fullness. 
• Speaking of sticking to your ribs, nothing is better than a spoonful of natural peanut butter or almond butter to fill you up, give you that sweet taste you're craving, and gives you a big bang for your buck. Don't eat too much, because it's high in calories, but it's a filling treat full of protein! (As a side note, if you're a diabetic experiencing hypoglycemia…nothing works better than a spoonful of peanut butter to cure that quickly and make you feel human again.)
• Drink water. Oftentimes, if feeling hungry, your body is telling you something. One thing our bodies tell us often is that they need more fluid! Water is the best. The next time you are thinking of reaching for a piece of candy, grab a bottle of water and down it. I guarantee it will help you ease those feelings of hunger. I know it sucks, but give it a try. Who knows, you might even feel proud of yourself for saving the calories later! 

Regardless of how tonight goes, if you decide to partake in some candy, like Betty White with a Snickers Bar, make sure you don't beat yourself up tomorrow. Hop right back on that wagon, grab the reins of the horse, and take control! Just because you had a slip up today, doesn't mean that you have to have a slip up tomorrow! 

Until next week, take a few minutes to refocusonlife and enjoy Halloween! 

Peace out y'all. 

a moment to refocusonlife - getting old?

Hey everyone! Sorry I missed last week. It was a crazy week for this old man! But, the show must go on, right?

Well, speaking of going on, Mark is going on 40! In fact, he turns 40 this week! Thank goodness I've got another year and half before that horrific birthday slips up on me, but just the fact that we are staring down our 40's like a hawk stares down it's prey, is becoming increasingly harder on me. 30 was bad for me, hopefully that is out of my system and 40 will just float right by me.

Yum, Yum Eat 'em up! 

What's odd to me is that at 38, I've started acting like an old man. On Friday, Mark and I went to dinner at Longhorn. We split a meal and drank water. We were, as pointed out by several Facebook friends, the old couple too cheap to buy our own meal and drinking water to save money! It was also suggested that maybe we should have dinner at 4pm to get our senior card fully punched! No, everyone, we are NOT ready for dinner at 4pm yet. 5:30 is about right. Give us a couple years.

The premise behind ordering one meal and splitting it was actually saving calories. We ordered one 12 oz steak, 2 salads, a baked sweet potato and an order of green beans. The 12 oz Ribeye split between the two of us actually creates a normal portion of meat for an adult male. No one needs more than 6 oz of meat as a serving. Sure, I WANT more than 6 oz, but I know that my body does not need more than a 6 oz serving. It's a great way to save money, calories, and share dinner with someone you love.

Speaking of love, I really am a lucky man. I want to wish Mark a happy 40th birthday. Really, Mark, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds. Wait, actually, it is because for the next year and a half, I'm going to be in my 30's while you're in your 40's. Good luck with that honey!

Don't forget to take a moment and refocusonlife.

Until next time y'all!

a moment to refocusonlife - just say no?

Happy Beautiful Fall Tuesday everyone!
For those of you that do not know, "a moment to refocusonlife" was inspired by my good friend Donna Rauschenberg. In conjunction with a wellness program she was doing in our office, she asked me to send out a weekly "inspirational" blurb to everyone at the office. At the time, I had just begun writing about my own personal journey in this blog, so I just decided to combine the two ideas and write about my journey once a week while sharing an inspirational message at the same time.

Now that you know the history, let's talk about the present. I'm not sure that Donna would want me to share this or not, but she and I have had many conversations over the past month or so in regards to her weakness for cake. There's a wonderful group of restaurants at the Forest City mall (Cafe at the Mall) that have beautiful cakes, pastries, and cookies along with an awesome menu that you would expect to find in Charlotte rather than Forest City. But, alas, there that place sits smack dab in the middle of a dead mall in Forest City tempting people on a daily basis. Donna has succumbed to that temptation on several occasions.

Evilness wrapped in a pretty pink bow...

I'm a foodie, but I definitely do NOT get tempted by cake, or at least I thought I did not until this past weekend. I had not eaten an entire piece of cake for over a year (at minimum since July 8, 2012). Do you see that past tense I'm using? I HAD not eaten...
Well, this past weekend, I went to a Christening and Adoption party for some dear friends of mine. (Congrats to their entire family!) At the party, they had an amazing professionally decorated cake. At first, I had resolved, "no cake for me". Then Maggie started talking about one layer of the cake being rainbow swirl and the other layer being strawberry. I admit, I was intrigued. With that intrigue over the rainbow swirl came the thought, "I'll just see what it tastes like."

As I walked up to get my piece of cake from the serving station, I thought, "if I'm going to eat cake, eat the whole slice!" And, I actually told Maggie, "if I'm going to screw up, I'm going to do it right!" So, I walked away with a small piece of cake that had been cut for me and a medium sized piece of cake that I asked to be cut for me. It was delicious. Then, like I was on the cast of the Walking Dead, I walked up and got a piece of the Strawberry cake! I went from not eating any cake to eating 3 pieces of cake. And, the night before, at another event, I had eaten cheesecake. Shame on me!

When I left the Adoption party, I decided Mark needed some cake (he had to work homecoming and sadly did not get to the adoption party), so I grabbed a plate with two pieces of cake to take home. Mark did great. He ate the smaller strawberry piece and tasted the rainbow swirl, but left most of it on the plate. I packed it up and left it in the fridge.

That night, I had a serious headache and my blood sugar was up at both of my next two readings. Lesson learned, right? Nope, I got up on Sunday morning and immediately thought of that cake. Thankfully, I was able to say no on Sunday. I made Lauren eat the cake before I was tempted further.

Donna, I owe you an apology because I did not know how difficult it actually was to avoid cake. The point here is twofold;

• Food can be an addiction and like any addition, difficult to break.
• Never under value the struggles others are facing. It may seem trivial to you, but monumental to them! 

So, with that said, I'm back "on the wagon" and thankfully my wagon is cake free! 

Enjoy this beautiful Fall weather! Get outside, exercise, and remember to refocusonlife without too much pastry...