Hello, next life.

What if today was the first day of the rest of your life?

What would you do differently?

I’m changing my life today, for good. From this day forward, I won’t be eating gluten in any form. No more beer. No more spelt toast. No more panko on sushi. No more breaded or battered stuffs. No more horribly upset stomachs. No more bullshit.

I won’t be tested until next Wednesday at the earliest. I’m changing my diet a week early, I’m okay with skewed results.I felt so amazing last week, and thats really all I want. I need to feel less depressed, less fatigued, no more tingling in hands and feed, less headaches, not have itchy skin, and fewer bathroom issues… I just want to feel less of anything that ails me. I want to feel less of anything that has been an issue or occurrence for the past 8 years.

I want to feel good all the time.

Hi, my name is Jackie and I’m gluten free. I’m looking forward to see what this will bring me. I want the challenge if it means being as healthy as I wish I can be. I don’t feel deprived.

Today is, the first day of the rest of my life.

Whole Foods and hopes to make employees healthy…

I was roaming through Google Reader catching up on blogs… like you do.

I found a very interesting article via Carrots ‘N’ Cake. Whole Foods is going back to its roots.

I found the article pretty interesting for a couple reasons.. I work at a co-op and Whole Foods is our biggest competitor, I have a huge interest in being healthy, and I’ve lost 45 pounds and dream of losing 40 more.

Going to Whole Foods is pretty overwhelming for me. Not because I don’t know the lay out of their stores, but because I feel there is just to much stuff! Expensive cookware, pizza stations, Simple Shoes, InStyle magazine, popular CDs, a deli that takes up one side of the store and a huge amount of flowers. There seems to be all this extra stuff that doesn’t need to be there.

I’ve worked at the co-op I’ve worked at for almost 8 years. At my highest weight evar! I was something crazy like 258 and it was mainly due to Paxil. But looking back, I have to say I ate a lot of healthy junk food with out of control portions! Just because you have access to really healthy fruits and veggies doesn’t mean you choose to eat them. Have you seen the deli and bakeries in some of these co-ops and stores? Some of the people who work there also just work there, meaning to them it’s just a job. They aren’t interested in a healthy life style. They don’t work out , they go to McDonald’s for lunch, and smoke like a chimney.

I think there whole idea is right on, but I also know that people won’t change just because you ask them to and wave perks in their face. People have to want to be healthy and choose that lifestyle for themselves and if you’re going to try to force them to do it, you’ll have unhappy employees and people will go else where for a job because to them that is all it really is… a way to pay the bills.

Cha cha cha changes!

Look at this yummy bowl of stuff I made for lunch!

• 1/3 cup red quinoa
• 2/3 cup water
• hand full of washed and trimmed brussels sprouts, halved and sautéed in some EVOO and cayenne
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp Tapatío sauce
• 1 tsp olive oil

So I’m changing my ways, again. I’ve been inspired by strange things, again. It has to do with being healthy, again.

(This post might be long, but no one reads my blog anyway.)

So. I went to Napa and Oregon and had a wonderful time. I gained 5 pounds in 2 weeks but was okay with it because I had limited exercise, lots of great beer and wine, and consumed a lot of bread.  I cut out the bread again and lost the 5 pounds. Since I have returned home, mind you this was August, I have been trying to be wheat free. I feel better without wheat… no bloating, no painful gas, and my skin seems to look the best it has looked a long time. I feel lighter, even when the scale says I’m not.

Since I’ve been home I’ve also gone on crazy walks, done lots of stretching and did one session of my Pilates DVD. Yay exercise! My back loves it when I have my crap together and exercise. But, the weather has started to turn and it has been on and off rainy. Oh Seattle, sometimes you make me wonder why I love you… What is one to do for exercize when walking in the rain bums you out?

So. Where does this leave me? Um, I guess it leaves me to using google reader and reading about other people and their lives and clicking on their links and winding up at Heather Eats Almond Butter. Heather is truly beautiful and looks so healthy and radiant! She seemed to have this love for kabocha squash, oats, and almond butter. I added her to google reader and looked forward to her posts. She too is a massage therapist, although she still does it professionally I don’t.

Okay, and her is the bit about Weight Watchers and how I’m not sure on where to go from here. I joined Weight Watchers in May of 2008 at a ripe weight of 230. Right away I lost weight, I was stoked. The program really worked. But I was a slow weight loser. I also gained a few times. It is now November 2009. I’m so sick of counting points. I’ve learned so many things. I’ve changed my BMI to overweight instead of obese. I discovered last year, after gaining 8 pounds and caving, I really enjoy the meetings and my leader. For a while, I was obsessed with weight loss. But now, I’m sort of over it and want to be more fit and lean. I’m 31 and I feel beautiful but I need to eat better and focus my energy on something else now.

Hmm. So I’m looking at these blogs about all these amazing healthy people who look fantastic and do yoga a few times a week. Hey, I can do that! I can do yoga in my spare room in the basement. I can be lean if I do Pilates a few times a week? Sweet. I can eat a bunch of oats for 2 points instead of a packet of oatmeal with extra shit in it that I don’t need for 2 points? I can roast any sort of veggie I want! I can buy all this amazing food at a discount, be in the kitchen and make myself healthier, too! I don’t want to join a gym again, but I can stop at the community center and work out on their equiptment for $3 when I choose? All these great resources are around me, but sometimes I guess it takes a bit for this to click.

Maybe this all started when I decided I was going to give up bread and wheat after vacation. Or maybe I’m bored. Maybe I feel better knowing winter is on it’s way and am looking for motivation to stay busy. Either way, I think I like where it is going.  And after having this thing not work out with our new dog, I’m happy to have a focus just up ahead.

So back to the whole Weight Watchers thing… I’ve decided to eat the way I feel like I should be eating. No soy, no wheat, less sugar, less coffee, more grains, more tea. I’ll walk my crazy walks when I can. I’ll work out at the community center once a week. I’ll do yoga and Pilates at home. I’ll track points and still a Weight Watchers member for the next 2 months.  But, I won’t stress about my grains being high in points. I won’t stress that 1 tablespoon of almond butter is 2 points. I’ll eat when I’m hungry. I’ll eat better meals. I’ll eat less crap. I’ll eat less sugar. I’ll track points and weigh in every week, but not freak about my points.

Cha cha changes!