Last Night was the Super Bowl, and MY BOYS WON!!! That was awesome and feels really good, but y’know what doesn’t feel good? My body. Some of this is hormonal, some is from the fact that sleep was wrecked all weekend (again…so frustrating, but we are determined to re-train ourselves!), and some is from the fact that we ate like GARBAGE from Saturday evening till about 8 last night. Saturday dinner was supposed to be this really great Oktoberfest stew, but I guess we got distracted and even though we said we were going to chop the veggies before naptime so we could just throw it together after, we did not. By the time we realized our mistake it would have been close to 8 PM by the time it was done,s and nobody was waiting that long. So, Bojangles. Scott asked me if i was going to be okay with myself, and I shrugged and said ” It’ll teach me to make sure i do what i need to…” and, I guess to my credit, I didn’t beat myself up. I also really don’t need to have fried chicken again for a long long time.

My plan for the Super Bowl was to make buffalo roasted cauliflower, and serve it with some wings and salad. It seemed like a good and wise plan, and I was set. But… Scott came home from grocery shopping with tortilla chips, bean dip ingredients, buns, pre-made brisket (with sauce), and spinach and artichoke dip. WHOMP! Now, to be very clear, I don’t think Scott was intentionally sabotaging my plan (I also don’t think he was really supporting it either, but I still love him.) because I did not have to eat a crumb of that stuff. I still ordered the wings, and I didn’t eat a bun with my little pile of brisket, but… there was a lot of bean dip and chips consumed. Mistakes were made.

But oh well. I could obviously have done better, and I could have stuck to my plan. I have plenty of willpower. I just didn’t, and I have to be okay with that. The part of learning intuitive eating that is very new to me is the balance between not living restricted and just sliding right down the rabbit hole. I have lived all or nothing for long periods of my life and it worked in helping me discover what made my body feel best, but eventually I had to give myself a balance of freedom to live and enjoy! And y’know what? That was when I got the best results. I have a choice now, between feeling guilty and weak and telling myself I just wasn’t committed to my goals, or some other nonsense, OR, I can look at it as what happened yesterday,  and look at today as a brand new day with new choices to make.

Today I woke up and my entire body hurt. My eyelids feel heavy, and I just want to climb back into bed. Again, some of this is hormonal, and partially unavoidable, but there are two factors where I can totally make choices to improve. I’ve already addressed the food mistakes, but what can I do today, right now, nutritionally, to re-set my body and start healing?

• Hydrate- today i am going to drink lots of herbal and fruit teas to flush out the junk. Plain water is hard for me to get down when I’m cold.
• make sure I take all my good supplements- bone broth especially is a must today, for the micronutrients and good fats.
• a little bit of a fast. I think i was done eating by 9pm, so I’ll have my breakfast in just a few minutes, to make sure I don’t go over 14 hours. I usually try to go 10-14 hours between my last meal at night and my first of the day. Intermittent fasting is great for some, but I keep it very moderate for my own body’s needs.
• LOTS of veggies and good proteins and fats today, and very little salty carby stuff. Breakfast is going to be yogurt and berries, lunch will be a huge salad, and dinner a fire roasted basil tomato soup with chicken.

The other factor I can take charge of is rest and recovery. I definitely didn’t do well with this, with three late nights in a row, and a very short nap yesterday. I will start replenishing today by lying down as soon as I can this afternoon, and setting an alarm so I don’t sleep so long that I can’t go to bed on time tonight.

I have promised myself to move my body in some way every day, and especially on planned workout days. I do not have the time or resources today to get on my bike, but I am going to do my strength training and yoga after my nap and before my therapy session. This time should be best because I will have gotten my nap- if I exercise too close to naptime i won’t be able to nap- but will also be early enough in the evening that it shouldn’t mess with my bedtime.

So, that’s the plan. I’m going to be kind to myself, and love myself with good food and rest. Mistakes were made, but today is a new day, and life is just not about living all or nothing.