Monday, September 17, 2012

MONDAY MEDITATIONS FOR HEALING: Staying Present & A Commitment to Self for Caregivers

Its a bit late, but Happy Monday!
Here is today's meditation to inspire your spirit to self-healing this week! Have a WONDERFUL week!


Today's Quote 

"With meditation we train in settling down with whatever we're feeling, including the addictive urge to avoid discomfort at any cost. 

 We train in just staying present, open and awake, no matter what's going on."

~Pema Chodron

A Commitment to Self for Caregivers 
(whether you are a healthcare provider or a family member caring for a loved one): 

This week I will take a few moments each day to train myself to be still--physically, emotionally, spiritually.

I will remember that dysfunctional eating or any other addictive behavior does not really help me avoid feeling pain or discomfort.  

When I feel pain or discomfort, I will choose instead to use my daily moments of training to take a minute to still myself & stay present in the feeling.

Feeling fully is part of being alive and this week I will choose to embrace life! 

When I center myself and stay present in the moment, I am a better caregiver and a better human being.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Fall = Applesauce Season!!! :-))) RECIPE: Homemade Sugar-Free Applesauce!

Well, the Happy Nurse and I just got back from the Farmer's Market.  He loves it, I love it and its just a lot of fun to go together.  Its the best inexpensive date :-)--in our city the big Farmer's Market is more than just awesome fresh produce!  There is also music, dancing, food stalls...you name it!  A festival :-)  So we can get our grocery shopping done and listen to music and people watch galore.  I had THE BEST Falafel wrap ever.....but I digress....

Anyways, its Fall and its Apple season.......YAYYYYYY!!!  I loaded up my poor husband with pounds and pounds of apples so I can make our fav--homemade sugar-free applesauce!  :-)))  

The baby belly is getting pretty big but I think I can still manage to chop apples and put them on to boil :-)  I LOVE applesauce with the apple skins on, with oat milk poured over top and toasted walnuts....heaven!!! 

As noted before--I'm not a chef! I prefer to showcase my favorite recipes from other blogs...but here is my very own simple homemade applesauce recipe--no sugar added.  My long-time readers have seen it before but why not re-post the recipe since it is sooooooo yummy!? 

My trick to making sugar-free applesauce is using pears to sweeten it and choosing sweet apple varieties.   I like using asian pears because I like the flavor and I can get some from the same orchard at the market.  As far as apple types are concerned, I rely on the farmers' advice for the sweetest varieties at the market but I've frequently used Gala, Golden Delicious, Braebern, etc.  This time I've picked two new "sweet" varieties and of course I can't remember their names now!  Next weekend I'll look at the market and figure out which once I chose!!!  Enjoy!:-)


Applesauce (Sugar-free)
Makes 8-12 servings

8-10 apples (or more--I usually put in as much as I can fit in the pot!) 
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 Asian pears (if you want it even sweeter use a ripe Bartlett pear)

1. Roughly chop all the apples and the pears (removing the cores)--I usually quickly cut each apple into quarters and then halve the quarters.  Leave the skins on
2.  Put the apples and pears in a large pot
3.  Add water to the pot, filling it until approximately 3/4 of the apples & pears are covered with water.
4.  Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let it simmer slowly while covered. 
5.  Add 1 Tbsp Cinnamon.  Add a little water as needed to prevent burning if that becomes an issue.

Apples (left) compared to Asian Pears (right)
6.  Let the applesauce simmer for 1-2 hours until all the apples have completely cooked down and the apple skins are soft.  Add more cinnamon per your own taste.  
7.  Make sure you stir every so often to prevent the apples on the bottom of the pot from burning.  Add a little water as needed to prevent burning if that becomes an issue.  You also may need to scoop a little of the water off depending on how "liquidy" you like your applesauce!  I like mine pretty chunky without a lot of liquid.
8.  Let sauce cool.  
9.  I serve the sauce without pureeing it--I like the texture of the apple skin because it reminds me of apple pie!  But if you prefer you can also puree it and it will taste more like store-bought applesauce.

***NOTE:  you can make this in a slow cooker VERY easily--I just think the apple skins come out better when I boil them on the stove but if you want to be able to cook and ignore it, than slow cooker is the way to go & it will still taste great!!:-)) *****
The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Reflections on "Dear 268 Pound Me"

I'm hoping for some more time to work on the blog this weekend but in the meantime, I'd like to repost my most popular post:  "Dear 268 Pound Me."  This week I'm celebrating five years of abstinence from compulsive overeating and reading this post just brings back so many raw but important memories.  Raw because it is very honest, almost painfully so.  Important because I need to remember the past with a loving heart to keep doing the daily work I need to do to maintain my abstinence.   I'm so incredibly grateful for the gift of recovery in my life and for all the people who came before me who shared their wisdom with me.  Enjoy!  

If you would like to share some of YOUR own health story in the comments section I know we would all love to hear the inspiration!!

Posted December 31, 2011:
Happy New Year my readers!  When reflecting on what to write for my 2012 New Year's resolution post I started to wonder what advice I would have given myself four years ago when I weighed over 268lbs (last known weigh-in, likely more).  So I wrote myself a letter.  This was very helpful to me so I wanted to share it with all of you!  As usual, with any advice I give (even to myself! :-))--take what you like and leave the rest.

Dear Me in 2007

2007 Me
I know your body is hurting right now and you can't make it up a flight of stairs without becoming short of breath. I know you eat chips & dip while hiding in your closet and sweets when you think no one is looking.  I know that the take-out wait staff in all the local restaurants know your name and what meal you want to order. And I know you go home alone to eat enough food for five people while sitting in front of the TV.   I know you try to hide your secrets from your friends and family because you don't think anyone will like you if you are honest about who you are and what "bad" things you do.  I know that you dream about going to sleep in this body and then waking up thin like an overnight miracle from God.  

But more than anything, I know that you hate yourself for weighing 268+ lbs.  I know you are sitting in your house today, New Years Eve, plotting your strategy to lose weight in the New Year.  As a side note, I also know that you went to your favorite restaurant today and got all your best binge foods to have a "last supper" of sorts before the clock strikes midnight and your new diet begins!

I want to tell you that someday you will be able to laugh with friends who share your disease about the crazy things you did for and with food.  Someday you will even have a body that doesn't hurt every time you stand up and a large size set of women's surgical scrubs instead of a XXX size from the men's section of the locker room.  Someday you will be able to be comfortable enough with your slender body to fall in love and marry a wonderful man.  Someday you will be proud to be a doctor who is living the advice you give your patients. Someday you will actually like who you are--inside & out.  

But that someday is not today.  Today I'm going to challenge you to forget your usual resolutions with weight loss deadlines & detailed plans of how to get there.  All I'm going to ask you to do is to do five things.  

1)  Throw away your scale and the negative self-talk that goes with it.  

Every year you start to lose weight and then one day you get on the scale and discover that you've gained a pound instead of lost one.  You shake this off but berate yourself for being "bad" that week and vow to be "good" from here on.  And then things get stressful at work, you don't have time to cook and you skip the daily intensive workouts.  Then next month you get on the scale and discover that half of the weight you lost in January is back, or worse, you are actually heavier than you were when the year started!  So you give up and go get a "treat" to feel better.  You look in the mirror and are disgusted with your laziness and your inability to have enough will power to change.  

Lets do something different this year.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  So why don't you be a bit gentler with yourself and eliminate the opportunity for self-critique based on numbers on a scale.  

Guess what, you don't need a scale to tell you if you are gaining or losing weight.   You can feel what your body is doing--are your clothes getting tighter or looser?  Are you eating nutrient dense foods or junk?  Do you feel more energetic or extremely tired?  Let these questions be your scale. Weigh yourself every 3-6 months if you have to and tell your friends about your progress in clothing sizes.  Someday you will be able to say you went from a 26 to a 14.   

2) Write down your food plan each night & cook ahead on the weekends.  

You know this works.  So do it.  It doesn't have to be elaborate.  Keep it simple.  Buy a slow cooker.

3) Start eating more and more vegetables & grains until 100% of your diet is plants

You know that dying young is not your greatest fear.  Your greatest fear is becoming disabled and having your family have to care for you.  You know that most people who eat poorly or are obese don't die suddenly--they waste away, losing their independence slowly and painfully from strokes, congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema, GI bleeds, some cancers, depression and severe osteoarthritis.  Don't take chances and put food-based pleasure above preserving your independent lifestyle.  I know you don't like to change but you'll find that you actually really like vegan food when its done right.  And you will learn to do it right.  In fact, you won't even miss meat except at special occasions when its right in front of you.  But when that happens, you will look at your family over the dinner table, picture them having to take care of you as you age and that meat won't seem so important any more.  You will know that you made the right choice.

4) Give up sodas of all kinds, including diet soda

I know you love your diet sodas--especially your Fresca and your Diet Coke.  You gave up regular sodas and other non-water beverages years ago to lose weight and haven't picked it up since then but you think that diet soda is ok!  You may not have read this scientific literature but actually your soda is actively leeching calcium from your bones & changing the biochemical balance in your body to make you gain weight instead of losing it! So give them ALL up.

5)  Most importantly, find a free support group like a 12 step compulsive eating recovery program or form one of your own if the program is not for you 

I know you think you have this all figured out.  And I know you think that weight loss is just about the food & exercise.  Its not.  Its about a lot more than that.  You will discover that it has to do with your emotions and your spiritual center as well.  And to feel comfortable being honest about your overeating behavior, you need some supportive friends who share your struggles.  You need to hear encouragement from living, breathing success stories sitting in front of you.  You need to hear how someone hasn't eaten sugar in 20 years or that that cute guy over there lost 175lbs and you can't even recognize him from before even though you knew him.  You need to know the hard stuff too, that someone else hid in their closet to eat, snuck food from the refrigerator at night or ate until they felt sick but couldn't seem to stop.  

You also need to know that some people's disease is mild compared to yours--they just were tired of failing diets or couldn't manage to eat the food portions they wanted.  You need to know that some people's disease is worse than yours--they eat out of the trash, have been hospitalized multiple times or can't make themselves eat enough to stay a healthy weight.   You need to know that no matter what problems people have with their food, they are all accepted and acceptable.  You need to see others having the courage to be honest and to ask you to be too.

You are not alone.  There is hope for you yet Cat if you are willing to recover.  

You can believe me.  I'm you, nearly 100lbs lighter, in four years.

Love, 
Me


    The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

    Monday, September 10, 2012

    MONDAY MEDITATIONS FOR HEALING: Controlling Others & A Commitment to Self for Caregivers


    Good Morning!  
    Here is today's meditation to inspire your spirit to self-healing this week!  Its a rerun but a good one I think :-)
    Have a FANTASTIC week!



    Today's Quote 

    "There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self"

    ~Aldous Huxley 

    A Commitment to Self for Caregivers 
    (whether you are a healthcare provider or a family member caring for a loved one): 


    This week I will stop trying to control other people.  

    Not only does it not work, it also creates a lot of stress and allows me to focus on other's problems rather than my own.  

    Each day this week I will commit to only focus on gently improving myself and I will let go of cataloguing other's flaws.  

    In releasing those around us from our critique & judgement we can learn to live a kinder, gentler life with compassion to others and to ourselves.  
    A healthier life.  
    A life with sanity and serenity.  
     A life that we are proud of and grateful for every day.

    Monday, September 3, 2012

    MONDAY MEDITATIONS FOR HEALING: Stepping Away for Self Care & A Commitment to Self for Caregivers


    Good Morning!  Here is today's meditation to inspire your spirit to self-healing this week! 

    Have a WONDERFUL week!


    Today's Quote


    In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel "burnout" setting in, 

    if you feel demoralized and exhausted, 

    it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. 

    The point is to have a long-term perspective.” 
                                                            ~~  Dalai Lama

    A Commitment to Self for Caregivers 
    (whether you are a healthcare provider or a family member caring for a loved one):

    Taking care of others is hard.  Taking care of ourselves is often harder. 

    It is easy to tell ourselves that taking time for ourselves is selfish.  That the people we care for need us 100% of the time.  That when we leave their side to pursue our own self care we harm them by our absence.


    But these thoughts are not the truth.


    The truth is, giving can turn to resentment quickly in an overtired body.  If we aren't serving others with a willing and rested heart than we are causing them more harm than good.  


    This week I will commit to take time for myself EVERY DAY even when I don't want to or I feel like a selfish person for doing so.   


    I will remind myself that care-taking is a marathon and not a sprint.


    I will remind myself that when I am restored, I have the patience and compassion to truly care for someone in need.


    Just for today, with a restored spirit, I will give the gift of service with an open, rested heart.  


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