Episode 101: In Which Jessica Has Some Goals

So it was brought to my attention this last week that if I let this blog sit much longer, it will have officially gone untouched for a whole month. *gasp* Not a whole month!

Actually, I was acutely aware of this fact and there are quite a few reasons I have not posted up to this point; not the least of these reasons being that...I have nothing to say.

I could tell you about school but watch how I sum that up in a succinct sentence. It's school.

I could tell you about new recipes I've tried...but that count is currently at zero (or it was when Kaylynne brought my lack of posting up)

I could also tell you about my new years resolutions but...ok I will.

I'm not doing terribly fantastically on my new years resolutions. I had rather a large number of them but the severe lack of weather in Utah has rendered me completely useless as I have contracted a massive case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). The truth is, I've been in such a slump that not even going to the temple last week brought me out of it. Seasonal depression tends to drain much of your energy and then you haven't much left for things like resolutions...then you of course feel like a loser because you already dropped your resolutions and it is just a vicious cycle from there.

Well, in order to break the cycle, you just have to gather all your energy and charge forward. Once that barrier is broken, then you can take things one small step at a time. I broke the cycle by going grocery shopping so we wouldn't have the "there's nothing to eat so let's eat out" excuse anymore. It was a small victory, even though I've done little with that food thus far. =P

If you've ever seen "What About Bob?", just imagine me chanting "baby steps" every time I do something.

I did finally make a somewhat nutritious meal yesterday that consisted of grilled chicken, coconut rice (via this great recipe from my new cookbook), and a spinach salad (prepackaged...but who's counting?)

Side note: That coconut rice recipe makes a mean fried rice the next day. I just added about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and a dash of sesame seed oil; threw in some frozen peas and carrots, spam, minced garlic (I used 1-2 cloves to about 3 cups of rice (add this just before the rice so you don't burn it)); sauteed them until they were all nicely browned; added the rice and fried that for a little bit before adding about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce; stir it all around; let it sit for a little while so it develops some nice crunchy fried bits; salt and pepper to taste and viola! It was amazing.

So anyhow, I'm taking the second half of D&C this semester, with the same teacher I had last semester because I really liked him. Conveniently, my reading today included the Word of Wisdom. If you want to review it with me, you can find it here or in D&C 89.

Several of my resolutions this year revolve around the health category, not the least of these is "eat better" and "exercise". Lucky for me, the exercise part is being covered by my volleyball and flexibility classes at school.

For someone like me, "eat better" is about the worst goal you could have. I'm not overweight or in any danger of being so, nor am I concerned about allergies, high sodium intake, cholesterol, or anything else. That means, if I'm going to "diet" if you will...I don't really know where to start.

Enter D&C 89.

I'll skip over all the "don't drink alcohol or smoke tabacco" stuff because that's not my problem either. So let's go to verses 11-17.

To spare you all the workings of my mind, I'll just give you MY takeaway from this chapter.

1. Lots of fruits and veggies
2. Some meat, but don't overdo it
3. Wheat is good (and even though oats are supposedly for horses, I don't think God intends to deprive me of my oatmeal) but don't overdo it on those either.

Pretty simple. I'm not perfect, and vegetables are still a much smaller portion of my plate than they should be, but I'm determined to include some kind of vegetable or fruit with every meal. I'm also working on snacking on carbs that are going to give me some kind of lasting energy...instead of snicker's bars. (Sad day, goodbye snickers, we shall now only meet on rare occasions. oh wait, you cost like a dollar for not very much food, we only met on rare occasions anyhow)

My favorite snack right now is a couple of clementines, and a handful of chopped pecans. Pecans are amazing. And as long as you chew them long enough and really savor them, they emit a pleasantly sweet flavor that you can't acheive with sugar (not that I'm in any way against sugar). Someday, I'll make my own trail mix since I can buy lots of stuff in bulk at Winco.

Anyhow, I haven't been doing this long but already, I can tell my body is recognizing what it really wants. I crave nuts and fruits now more than I crave snickers bars and ice cream. It's sort of helping my mood too, but I can't tell if that's my food intake, or if I'm just being spurred on by smaller successes.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a bag of Tim's Salt and Vinegar chips to eat before Andrew eats them all. :)