Day 3

               I count today as day 3 because it was 3 days ago that I peed on a stick and the magical plus sign appeared in the little window. The online gestational calculator says that I am about 6 weeks along and that I am due around October 23, 2014. That will make little Vierte (that’s German for “fourth” until he/she is born when I find out boy or girl) a Scorpio. Vierte’s birthstone is an Opal or Tourmaline. Lovely. 2014 is year of the horse. My mother is also a horse. Smiley face. A website says that my Vierte, a Scorpio Horse will have the ability to focus on tasks and goals and have determination to see things through. But will not be afraid to engage in silliness occasionally. I like him/her already.

               So many random things that I know about my little unborn buddy. But what I do not know is his/her sex. And the usual markers have not yet manifested themselves. And, I do not mean usual markers like things you might have heard of like belly hanging low or hair falling out. Mind you, I have 3 children already. Two boys and a girl. My two boys are the oldest, and their pregnancies were identical and very different from my daughter’s pregnancy.

               With my sons, eggs made me violently, projectile vommity sick. But no problem with chocolate. With my sons, I threw up every day. With my daughter I ate eggs every day (and a lot of sour cream), chocolate made me lose my appetite and I threw up only once, my second to the last week when a pizza gave me heartburn.

               But so far I have not had any issues with chocolate or eggs. I even have binged on my favorite chocolate, cream filled Easter eggs. No issues. (Haha! Yeah, I know that these are not actual eggs. But this scientific research, to discover my baby’s sex prenatally, justifies the means.)

               There is another food related topic that I would like to touch on that I did not have an issue with the first three pregnancies: Sushi. I am going to be 38 next week, and I never ate sushi before about 3 years ago. I did not actually start eating it even remotely regularly until the past year when I stopped fearing the sushi restaurants at the mall and grocery store. The stuff is delicious. Now, mind you, I don’t eat shellfish. So the only kind I will eat is tuna, salmon, imitation crab (which, yes, I am aware still has about 2% crab meat in it) and vegetarian. Or any other kind that does not have actual shell fish in it. I also prefer it to be the kind with small pieces of fish wrapped in lots of rice, avocado, and seaweed. I have little interest in large slices of raw fish on top of a slab of rice. I can’t do it.

               So 3 days into knowing that I am pregnant I go to the food court in the department store where I work and walk briskly with purpose to the sushi bar there. I have eaten there several times before. The food is always fresh and delicious. I pick up a prepackaged Imperial roll. It has seasoned, sesame seeded rice, seaweed, salmon, tuna avocado and the most delicious cream cheese. At my request the barista squirts a generous portion of spicy mayo across the top. I pay for it and walk toward the break room. On my way there, I remember that I am pregnant, and that I probably should not be eating it.

               When I get to the break room, I take out my iPod and log into the internet. I also open up my package of sushi and chopsticks and take my first delicious bite. While I eat, I google the question “Is it ok for me to eat sushi while I am pregnant?” I get a lot of answers. But there is one thing that will get me through this. “Japanese women don’t stop eating sushi when they are pregnant.” I will probably cut back, maybe to none at all, until Vierte is born.

               As I ate my sushi and read the responses to my question, psychosomatosis kicks in. (YES, I know this is not a word! But I don’t feel like finding out what is the correct word. I am a writer! Let me make up words without your stares of judgement!!!!) My body starts not feeling right. My head starts to hurt a bit and my body gets really achy. I decide to send my boyfriend a message.

               But like I said, the feelings of sickness, I believe were all psychosomatic. I may still have some once in a while, because, OMG it is so good. But I may try to stay away from tuna. Large fish, increased chance of mercury poison. Sad face.

               Oh! Here is a link to a blog post that I read soon after writing this about a Japanese who is officially the oldest living person in the world. She is 116 years old. She is significant to me how? Two reasons: First of all, her birthday is the same as mine. March 5. She will be turning 116 as I turn 38. The second thing is, as you will read in the article, one of her secrets to longevity is that she eats sushi at least once a month. So if a centenarian woman, whose immune system probably is not the best, can eat sushi once a month, I should be able to eat it just as often in my condition.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/eat-well--sleep-eight-hours-and-relax--world-s-oldest-person-offers-tips-a-long-life-181916538.html

Day 1

               I must admit that I have been slacking. I have not been keeping up with my blog. But I have also not been keeping up with my challenge. I had planned to blog about Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Feeling uninspired, (I cannot write when I am uninspired, and I refuse to pay someone to write my content), I fell behind. Well, I have very recently become re inspired because of a very specific recent event! As of February 28^th I am going to be a mommy again! Yay! I think. (Hooboy)

               Well, I’m sure that I am pregnant, it’s the “Yay” part that I am not so sure about. As I sit here, with three children in their teens, one already an adult, my excitement is a slow build up. Mixed feelings. Mixed emotions. I have not broken down in tears yet. I started early, looking forward to being a 43 year old with all of my children grown. But it is ok, I think. I am probably about six weeks along. According to the online gestational calculator, basing it on the first day of my last period. Which is fine. But there was something off about it. I swear it was almost two weeks long! There is a good chance that I am further along than the chart indicated. What I do know is that when I peed on that little stick the little plus sign popped up long before the two minute mark! It was like “dude! You’re not even showing yet?”

               Please do not get me wrong. I love my little unborn buddy. I cannot wait to meet him/her. All of my children are awesome. I don’t think I’m the best mom (probably closer to the other end of the spectrum, to be honest) but my kids (and cats, now that I think about it) all have turned out to be pretty wonderful. humble, loving, empathetic and strong. All of them born under different circumstances. All becoming people that I am proud to call my offspring. I have no doubt that number four will be any different.

               So now, my new focus of my blog will be my attempt at an ayurvedically inspired pregnancy. And perhaps even breast feeding. Depends on how long my attention span holds out.

This is actually me at 10 weeks. It took me a while to finally start taking pictures. No one here can ever accuse me of being prompt with my content! It looks like I am showing. Perhaps more than I should at this time. It is just that I am a little pudgy around the middle even without the baby!

What I learned About Myself Lately

               There are three things that I learned about myself this week. The first thing is that I like bags. BAGS! Purses, pocket books, whatever you want to call them. I have always been a “keep my wallet stuff in my pocket often without a wallet type of lady. And when I do carry a purse it is because I need a convenient place to put whatever book I happen to be reading, or my tablet, or sometimes even my camera. But I could never justify wanting for myself a $400, $500 bag. I would not mind spending that kind of money on a new computer some other fun electronics item. But a bag doesn’t DO anything but hold stuff. They I went purse shopping with a friend and officially fell in love with Michael Kors. I specifically this blue one. I felt like a bag snob just looking at it. I think that the snob comes out of us simply for being able to appreciate the art, regardless of whether we are able to create it or afford it, for that matter. “But Brittany,” you may ask, “how did you learn to be a snob of any kind while living in poverty and squalor?” Well, I haven’t always been a vagabond selling my thoughts to pay my rent. I used to have a liveable income that allowed me to by $400 Bulgari sunglasses from the outlet mall for $10 because I was going to Jamaica for the first time because sunglasses don’t DO $400 worth of stuff I otherwise could not justify the purchase.

              

             The second thing that I learned about myself is that I really do give a hoot about what celebrities are doing. And I don’t necessarily mean who’s cheating on who, if Brangelina is going to adopt a Chilean baby or if the Kardashians’ butts are actually getting bigger. I mean, I actually care about their endorsements. To some extent, I guess. Even if it’s just to dream. Like “Ooh! Lil Kim (yes, I am a fan) goes to Mykonos, Greece just to shop! Now I want to go to Mykonos. Paris is just sooooo….. some other time that I couldn’t afford to go their either! My latest celebrity fueled obsession, of course is this Ayurvedic dietary lifestyle. I saw Dr. Oz on the front of Woman’s World and while I was not necessarily a fan of the Doc, I knew that he was heavily endorsed by Oprah. And I’ve been a fan of hers since Miss Sophia came home. So between Oprah’s endorsement and Dr. Oz’s celebrity, I’m likely to believe everything he says. It doesn’t hurt that the ayurvedic lifestyle that he promotes seems very low risk, high in benefits and time proven. Oh, and before I forget, the third thing that I learned about myself is that I will probably follow the Doc blindly until I forget about it which is likely because I have the attention span of a four year old.

             

            So going back to my celebrity endorsement obsession fused ayurvedic kick. Rachael Ray claims that she lost all of this weight taking a Garcinia Cambogia supplement. Dr. Oz endorses it, so I bought some today. Despite the fact that Ms. Ray is a chef and probably eats better than I, and probably has a personal trainer, I still expect to get the exact same results. So today, at 5’5”, 150lbs, I have officially added Garcinia Cambogia to my ayurvedic weight management plan. And if I don’t get the same results as Rachael Ray, I am going to hunt her down and serve her garlic crusted with a red wine reduction, or whatever she’s always talking about! Haha, kidding, Miss Ray. You are not in danger of running afoul of my dubious anger over things that I have already dubbed as having a good chance of failing because of my own short comings. But they won’t, and I will fit nicely into my faux leather H & M pants!

So Far

               It has been about a week since I started drinking the Dr. Oz recommended Ayurvedic weight management tea concoction. And I am not sure if I have lost any weight. Mostly because I have not bothered to purchase a scale. (I did not say so before, but I am 5’5”, 155lbs and I would like very much to lose about 20lbs.) I have only my cool faux leather pants that I bought from H & M that I am determined to fit into properly to gage my progress by. Unfortunately, I have also just realized that I have little luck with remembering to do things like make my tea in the morning so I can sip on it all day. So oftentimes I am drinking my tea right around bedtime and I don’t think that I’m supposed to do it that way.

              

            I have some good news. For me, anyway. You may not care, or you may be going fan girl on me. I don’t know. But if you’re reading my blog, you may care at least a little bit. First off… I finally got a 12 hour thermos. It keeps hot drinks hot, like my tea, for 12 hours. And cold drink cold for 24 hours. I tried it out. I put hot tea in at 0900 (that’s 9 am or 9 in the morning for you civilians.) What was left at 2100 (9pm…) was still warm. Not burn your lip warm like MOST of the day, but pleasantly warm. The kind of warm you want your warm tea to be. The kind of warm that won’t burn the back of your throat if you want to chug it, which I like to do right before bedtime to drink it!

              

            Another tidbit of happiness that actually might apply to your immediate needs or interests. The tea tastes really, really, good with honey. I want to try it with lemon, but I didn’t have any today. But, oh my God, what a difference the honey makes! Without the honey, the taste of the warm tea is similar to the taste of cardboard. Bland enough to tough through. But the honey makes it taste more like actual tea. I think that this may actually make me more likely to make and drink my tea every day.

               

          Please follow my twitter account @ayurvedabrit. Then you can really keep up with my awesomeness!

Chocolate

Today I realized that cold chocolate cake is going to be my downfall. Along with a warm, comfy bed. For several weeks now, I’ve found myself craving cold, chocolate cake, straight out of the refrigerator. Then today, without actually asking for it, I found myself looking one straight in the eye(?). Brought to me by my beloved fiancé, who the night before, had declared that we both need to watch what we eat and exercise more! My derisive hurumph was stifled only slightly by a mouthful of cold, chocolaty yumminess! And that warm, comfy bed? No matter how badly I wanted to get up and make a tea before going to sleep, my body just sinks deeper into my bed’s loving arms. Cuddling and cradling me in its cussiony, pillowy goodness. My mind justifying my body’s surrender declaring that it lacks the wakeful focus required to await the long steep time I prefer for a nice strong tea. Plus my love of a lightly sweetened tea warm enough to hug me from the inside wile cool enough to chug before my short term memory discards its existence and lulls me into delicious delightful sleep.

               So my lovie and I have decided on multiple occasions that we would refrain from eating passed 8pm. This is a resolution what we have broken time and time again. But I MUST put my foot down! And to begin, I resolve to drink a nice warm tummy hugging cup of tea to help quell my perceived hunger pangs and prevent me from ding (eating) something I might regret!

Day 1

               I finally got all of the ingredients that I need for the tea, but I have been unable to purchase the Trifala supplement. So this morning I made my tea for the first time. I would first like to describe the ingredients. I first purchased the whole fennel seeds and whole cumin seeds from the supermarket. For the whole coriander seeds I had to go to the health food store. And I got a cool discount card. Cost me $5 for the card and $1.63 for the seeds. Neat. Anyway I tasted my seeds individually to get an idea of what I was in for. The first ones I tasted were the coriander seeds. Delicious! They have a lemony, zesty taste. Not like lemon zest, just zest plus a lemon taste. I ate a few of them. Later, I came back and tasted the fennel and the cumin. These flavors gave me pause. The fennel, the more appealing of the two, has a black licorice taste. I HATE black licorice! But the seed is relatively palatable. Lastly, the cumin. It tastes like something to rub into your steak, not to drink.

             
           Now, the three flavors together does something wacky. When it is hot the taste is mild, but the smell is strong and is like meat rub. When it is cold, the taste is strong and unpalatable, but the smell is almost nonexistent. Drinking the tea warm is recommended for its properties. I recommend it also because it is easier to drink.

               I honestly cannot wait until I get the trifala. My reason why may not be what you want to hear. Or it might. I don’t know what kind of wacky things you like to think about in your spare time. The reason why I can’t wait to get my trifala supplement is because I have an obsession…well perhaps I shouldn’t admit to an obsession in this case, but perhaps a keen interest in the digestive system and bowels! I have only been drinking the tea for a day and I have not felt or noticed any gastronomically significant changes. I was once asked by an acquaintance why my interest in bowels, and why the deep understanding of the health indicators of your bowel movement…well, he asked in words inappropriate for this forum! My answer is simply this: I don’t know. But if I should ever have aspirations of being a doctor, it would be a gastroenterologist. And if you read my blog, I will give you fair warning: there will be poop!

I have been thinking about this blog for about a week now. I have had so many ideas on how I would start talking about this new road to weight loss that I have decided to travel and I have had many ideas. But now that I actually sit down at my computer, ready to type, I cannot remember anything! What I do hope is that it will be interesting enough to keep your attention, exciting enough to make you want to come back for more, funny enough to keep you entertained and inspiring enough that when you look back on this time that you spend with me here, you will not feel that it was time wasted!

I have a confession to make. This is not really my first day on living an ayurvedic lifestyle. (I choose not to call it a diet, because it really doesn’t sound like a diet at all!) The fact is, I have not even purchased the ingredients to make the special tea yet! But I really wanted to get started with my blog to get myself motivated. I have also set a relatively clear goal. I only say relatively because the goal weight has a range and my reasoning for wanting to reach that goal weight is mostly cosmetic!

Let me tell you a little bit about myself first. The short story. The long story could fill an entire blog by itself and that is not why I am trying to lure you into my web. J I am a 37 year old mother of 3. Two boys ages 18 and 15 and a daughter who is 12. I spent 13 years in the military and I am currently working on my bachelor’s degree in animation. As you can probably guess, this is not a collegiate program filled with damned ear middle aged women with children almost old enough to make her a grandmother. I promise you that I am not competing with my fellow classmates in any kind of beauty pageants, but I am starting to look and feel older than the little girl inside of me that still prefers cartoons to live action television and can hold a conversation with anyone about the newest Naruto episode or Inuyasha and Kagome’s volatile relationship! I often hear that I look about 10 years younger than I am, but I remember what I looked like 10 years ago. And I will tell you, sister (brother?), this ain’t it! Ten years ago, I was a gym rat who even then was not satisfied with her weight! I wish now that I weighed the same thing then as I do now! But that is reason one (or two?) that I have chosen the path of the ayurvedi (Is that even a word?)

Next reason: Necocon. This is going to be my first “con.” If you are unfamiliar with what this is, it is a convention where fans of various genres get to dress up like their favorite superheroes, anime or cartoon characters, steampunk heroes, musicians, actors, etc and meet with their favorite actors, writers animators, etc.  And just generally geek out. This will be my first. And I can’t wait. I have already decided on at least two costumes. One being a semi super hero who I want to emulate using my most awesome self. And I would like to still look like my most awesome self years from now. But right now, I love my body, but I think that I could be a little bit more AWESOME! With the help of Dr. Oz’s Ayurvedic fat cure as described in Women’s World.

Ok. So if there was ever any question to whether I am as old as I say I am…from your point of view at this point, I am sure that you have no reason to believe otherwise, but trust me on this, I get this a lot. But if there was ever any doubt read the above statement where I said that I was reading Women’s World. I don’t mean to make assumptions about the magazine or the women who usually read it, but it really reminds me of the catalogues my grandmother used to get with the orthopedic shoes, hearing aids, and porcelain angels. I guess that pretty soon I will be shopping for sensible pant suits and old lady bras. I’m sorry. I digress. I don’t mean to be mean. I am just looking down the barrel of old age, and I can smell the gun powder, and I don’t like it. I need to get back in shape and feel healthy again.

Cool H&M leather pants I am trying to fit better!

So what is Dr. Oz’s Ayurvedic Fat Cure? Well, according to Woman’s Day September 2, 2013 issue article by that same name you can lose as much as 80lbs using three easy slimming tricks. If I lose 80lbs, I will disappear! I just want to lose 20. That will take me back down to my post third pregnancy weight! I never even thought that it was possible. But Dr. Oz has me convinced. And let me tell you why. Number one, barring a horrible taste to the tea, it is a sustainable plan. It is not like Atkins, where, even if you could keep it up for a long time, you put your kidney and liver at risk. I lost an entire 5lbs doing that. Number two, the meal plan is pretty simple and similar to what I do anyway. Small breakfast, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and small dinner. Not a really big change in what I eat, either. The only real concern that I have is about the Triphala supplement. It is just a blend of three berry extracts. But my experience with weight loss supplements has been extreme nausea and a general lack of comfortableness. Causing me to stop taking the supplement after the 7^th or so dosage. Resulting in no results. The last reason that I feel good about this plan is Deepak Chopra MD. I understand that this is not his plan, but according to the Woman’s Day article, it is paired down version of the kind of lifestyle that he has long recommended for weight control. And frankly, I trust eastern medicine because it is ancient and proven. And Western medicine has too many agendas that have little to do with your health. For instance, doctors who have student loans to pay off, malpractice insurance to worry about out, special interests and investments in pharmaceuticals, have too much influence on western medicine.

I also do not plan to depend just on the diet to get the results that I want. I have every intention to get running again. And Kung Fu! I have to get back to that! I am writing this blog to track and share my path to a healthier me and hopefully inspire others to do the same. So please come with me on this life altering journey and maybe we can do something great together!