Merry Christmas! And Look What December Has Brought...

My last post was on December 11th...  So busy...  yesterday was the first day to slow down a bit, and it felt great!   Naps, catching up on reading... feels so good.  Today I slept in.  I woke up at 6:00 AM, but didn't get out of bed until 7:30.  I read, and then watched an episode of Chopped. 

I'm rereading Natalia Rose's Detox for Women, because I've had a relapse of candida.  You know my last post on the 11th?  After that point I was pretty lax on the sweets I ate- I was more lenient with chocolate, and homemade sweets (like carmel) that came our way.  I did buy some dark chocolate to eat instead, but it didn't work.  I ate that AND the sweets.  And now, over two weeks later, I'm already having some female yeast issues.  I've also felt more bloated and gassy.  Not cool.

One good thing that has come from all of this is that now I know what I was doing WAS working (besides the weight loss), and that it is important to stay with it.  I love rereading things that I read at the beginning of my journey, because now different things stand out to me.  It's very motivating, and I'm ready to give it a go again (starting January 1st!!! :)  For one month I'm going to be really strict, like I was in August.  No fruit, honey, or maple syrup (as well as sugar of course).  And I'm going back to JUICING!  That will replace my breakfast, like before.   My next doctor's appointment is the first part of February, and we'll be doing blood work again.  Hopefully I'll be able to see a difference in my results, compared to August.

On Christmas Eve I decided to go to a Santa Hat fun run.  I didn't know anyone who was going, but it sounded like fun.  When I got there it turned out I knew a couple of gals, and it was fun to run with them.  The best thing of all:  They run together every Mon-Wed-Fri at 5 AM!  And they invited me to join them!!  And they're about my speed (a bit slower, but that's okay)!!!  And they're going about as far as I want to go! (5 miles)  I've been wanting to find someone to run with for YEARS, so I hope this works out.  They're training for the Utah Valley Marathon in June, and I'm a bit torn.  I REALLY want to do it, but I think I'll wait & see how my training goes in January and see if I have enough energy while I'm doing this stricter diet.  Maybe I'll go with the half marathon.