sThe holidays are upon us and with them come parties, family dinners, Christmas cookies, pies, cold weather, insane schedules, flues and multiple other distractions. After a week-long carbohydrate induced stupor, I have come to the conclusion that I need to do better navigating December than I did November or more precisely, Thanksgiving Day. I actually started out well, even hitting the gym before I began my cooking marathon, but I made my first mistake when I decided to partake in our traditional Cream Chipped Beef on Toast breakfast. I even held back and only indulged in one piece of toast, but apparently that was one piece too many and before we even got to Thanksgiving dinner, I had an esophageal spasm....one of the less pleasant leftovers from my last surgery.
I was determined to persevere, however, because I had not been able to enjoy the previous Thanksgiving. I had been three months post surgery, still had a PEG tube in and could only manage soft foods in small amounts. This year I was PEG tube free and feeling much better. My husband and I declared a "Carboholiday" for the weekend and granted ourselves permission to indulge in all of our favorites. So as I calmed my digestive system from breakfast, I proceeded to prepare Turkey, Ham, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, and home-made cranberry sauce. My friends brought our other favorites, green bean casserole, pineapple fluff ( if you've never had it, you need to try it!) and pies, pies, pies! I ate, ate, and ate. The end result was five hours of cooking for thirty minutes of bliss followed by five days of stomach distress, work-out apathy and an unrelenting urge to hibernate.
If I am truthful, I can't blame my apathy on the carbohydrates alone. I let family, weather, parties and Christmas shopping distract me as well. Everything else seemed more important than sticking to a routine. I finally caught hold of myself mid-week and pondered the problem for several days. Things certainly weren't going to slow down. Our calendar was already filling with get-togethers. We had family coming in and I knew that food temptations would be high. Finally it occurred to me that my best chance for navigating the weeks ahead was to set my path by establishing a few concrete goals and putting them to the blogosphere....after all, it has worked for me in the past. So this month I am reverting back to old school and setting goals for the month.
Goal 1: Clock 28 miles per week on my pedometer (I've replaced the one my puppy thought was a toy)
Goal 2: No bread. I'm still planning on allowing myself flexibility with my Carb choices this month ...after all it is the holidays, but since bread is the biggest culprit in setting my stomach off, it's out for December.
