In all honesty ... recent struggles

I'm trying to be better about posting once weekly, but last week go away from me. Actually, last week was a bit of a struggle for me. I have been home now for a little over a year and some weeks are hard to get through. There are many reasons I like not working - I keep up with all of the housekeeping, banking and shopping so that my husband doesn't have to worry about it. Well, sometimes, he comes home and ALL of the laundry is on the bed to be put away, but .... he never complains and we put it all away together later. Having four dogs requires time as well, so it's nice to be home to tend to their needs. My oldest dog is starting to decline somewhat and I'm not sure I would be comfortable with him home all day as he has very limited sight and mobility.

We are all trying to eat healthier as well and my being home means that I have time to prepare menus and cook dinners for us all without having to make dinner after a long day at work. When I was working, I often didn't feel like spending time in the kitchen at the end of the day. I FINALLY lost about 15 lbs last year and I KNOW it is because I was home and away from the food people bring in, the potluck celebratory lunches, and the out -to-eat lunches with my fellow employees. In addition, I now have time to exercise in the morning when it suits me best. Finally, I have time to enjoy my own pursuits - crafts, reading, learning on the internet, etc.

However, being home means that I am alone most of my day. Being introverted means that isn't such a bad thing, but I do miss the chit-chat that occurs when working with others. I often find myself spending hours on the internet hopping from page to page reading up on health or spending time reading posts on various group pages. Often I consider this wasted time and feel guilty for being home doing absolutely nothing. Bleh. My biggest issue is I feel like I should be doing something productive with the time I am given and I feel bad when I don't do anything. My husband doesn't care what I do with my day as long as I am happy and the basics are taken care of, so this is pressure I am putting on myself. It's still something I need to work on, I guess.

My biggest struggle lately is thinking about food ALL DAY LONG because of my desire to eat keto and sugar free and to try to heal some of the medical issues I deal with. However, I am failing miserably at losing my craving for sugar. I have not bought a candy bar yet this month, but I have had some desserts and foods that I shouldn't be eating. I have the first two books below which I would like to use to try to get off sugar. However, I think I may need to buy the 21-Day Sugar Detox Daily Guide book to get it done right!

    

The only problem is that I cannot have ANY artificial sweeteners while trying to beat my cravings and I just cannot imagine NOT having my morning coffee with my husband before he heads off to work. I've fixed a morning coffee daily for years and years now and I love the ritual as well as the taste. I drink decaf so it's not about the caffeine, and it's not like I can switch to hot cocoa because I still put sweetener in that. I'm just not sure if I will ever get over my sugar cravings and that bums me out big time.

I was feeling a bit frustrated trying to eat keto and fixed myself some recipes from my cookbooks by Maria Emmerich, Quick and Easy Keto and Easy Dairy-Free Keto. I looked for some yummy breakfast fixings and these hit the spot. Unfortunately, I had a really hard time eating only ONE of them, but both the Pumpkin Cream Cheese and Blueberry Mug Muffin were great! We won't discuss the fact that I ate SIX of the pumpkin cream cheese muffins in ONE day ... sigh ... so, for now, I will not be making recipes like these because they just taste too darn good!

I love collecting keto cookbooks because eating low-carb is probably going to be a rest-of-my-lifetime thing for me as it helps me control my weight and I find myself eating whole foods when focusing on this type of eating. So, for my birthday (which is tomorrow the 24th!), I bought the last keto cookbook on my list, Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen, and boy, is it a good one! Here are some pics of the Table of Contents and I can't wait to dive in and try some of these recipes!

Unfortunately, the caveat with eating low-carb and keto is that I have three food sensitivities which really put a damper on preparing meals. I have an intolerance for nightshades - these include tomatoes, potatoes and peppers as well as spices that include these items. I also find that if I eat too much dairy then my asthma/mucus production flares. So I am trying to figure out what wiggle room I have when using these items in my meals because sometimes they just cannot be avoided. So far, I think I can have tomatoes 1-2 times weekly and I can have a bit of dairy daily - some cheese on a salad or heavy whipping cream in my coffee. What I cannot do is have dairy at every meal or eat tomatoes daily. Everything in moderation, right? I've also pretty much eliminated all grains/gluten from my diet because it causes GI issues for me. I will have a piece of bread a couple times a month, usually when eating out, and that doesn't seem to bother me at all.

I'm glad that it is still January as it means I have 11 more months to work on these struggles and figure out what works for me. In the meantime, I will be thankful that I can stay at home to take care of my family and make things easier for them. I did crochet a baby blanket last week, so my time was well-spent on that. Time to start up another crochet project and my these hands to good use!

I hope you have a productive week while also taking some time for yourself each day!