Drinking More Water

Recently, I posted about some health resolutions I made this year and said I would write an update of how they're going. My first resolution was to drink more water.

Until two weeks ago, I was right on track. I had finally gotten to the point where I was drinking two liters of water every day. Then I got sick, and my water intake went down drastically. I did manage to drink ginger ale and Gatorade, but for these purposes, they don't count. I'm only talking about actual water.

Anyway, until then, it was going great. It was definitely a challenge, but at least I could see and feel some results. One piece of advice I've seen repeatedly is to replace one sugary drink a day with water. That doesn't work for people like me, who already drink water instead of pretty much anything else.

There are a lot of different versions of exactly how much is necessary. Some say that everyone should drink 64 ounces (eight glasses) every day, which is almost two liters; others say it varies according to the person's weight. Personally, I think lifestyle and location should be taken into account.

After reaching my goal of two liters a day, I just couldn't increase it any more. I had to stay up late several times just to finish by midnight, because I knew that if I messed up, I'd give up. Then I got sick, so now I'm trying to get back to where I was.

I need to space it out better throughout the day, but I still get too caught up in other things and forget. I'm working on it.

Do you drink as much water as you think you should?

Sunday Six, July 15, 2012

Well, last week was even more of a challenge than the one before that. Things kept coming up that needed my attention, so I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to meet my goals.

Last week

1. Created several genre shelves so that I could add at least one to each book listed as "to read" on Goodreads. That way, if I'm in the mood to read something from a particular genre (horror, classic, etc.), I can just pull up the list for that shelf and make my choice. I resisted doing that at first but finally conceded that it's a useful thing to do.

2. Finished reading two books. I finally finished one that I'd started a while back. Before that, I read something else from start to finish; it was pretty short, though.

3. Posted a review of Wheat Belly. This is the one I had intended to post a week earlier but hadn't quite finished the final draft.

This week

1. Post on at least two blogs. I haven't been online much lately, so I'd like to start catching up.

2. Start reading a new book. I don't have any books in progress right now, which means it's time to choose another one and start reading.

3. Finish writing my latest book review.

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Do you read in a wide variety of genres, or do you tend to stick to a genre or two?

Sunday Six, July 8, 2012

Last week was a challenge. Despite some major time constraints, I did manage to accomplish a few things.

Last week

1. Finished reading The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I'd been meaning to read for years.

2. Wrote and posted a book review of The Scarlet Pimpernel. I actually intended to post a review of a different book, but I wanted to tweak it a bit, so I postponed that one.

3. Revived Diary of a Non-Person with a post about SnackWell's cookie cakes.

That means I did what I set out to do last week.

This week

1. Organize my "to read" shelf at Goodreads. It has almost 200 books right now, so I'd like to add a few genre shelves for classification purposes.

2. Finish reading a book. I'm hoping to finish the other book that I've been reading so that I can finally start another one (or two).

3. Post a book review. This will probably be the one I intended to post last week but replaced at the last minute.

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Do you have a long list of books you'd like to read?

Sunday Six

I've decided to list three things I accomplished last week, followed by three things I'd like to accomplish this coming week. It's not everything on my lists, but it adds up to six!

Posting goals for the following week should help hold me accountable and make me actually do something. At this point, I don't know whether or not I'll make this a regular Sunday topic.

Last week

1. Put up new posts at four of my blogs, including this one. The topics included writing contests, animal welfare, and personal goals.

2. Finished reading Wheat Belly. It had taken a while because once I got to the recipes, I pretty much lost interest. I finally decided to read them and actually saw a couple I might have to try.

3. Reorganized the freezer. Older items were getting shoved to the back when new ones arrived, causing me to forget what we had, so it was past time to deal with the situation.

This week

1. Finish reading another book. Even though I finished one last week, I'm in the middle of two others.

2. Write at least one book review to post at Goodreads. I don't expect to write a long review, but I'd like at least a few sentences.

3. Revive another one of my blogs. I have six but let them all go for too long. Now that I'm posting at four of them again, I'd like to revive another one.

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Does posting your goals help you, or do you tend to let them go?

Better Health

Image by Ingvar-fed. Public domain.

In December, I wrote an article detailing five things I would do this year to improve my health. It was an assignment I decided to claim as a little experiment and personal challenge.

Now that 2012 is about halfway over, I'm preparing a post about how well I did with my resolutions. The article is background for the update, which I'll be posting soon.

[The following was originally published as a Display Only (D.O.) article on Yahoo! Voices, December 15, 2011.]

Five Ways to Better Health in the New Year

Every December, I write down some generic New Year's resolutions, such as "get more exercise" or "eat better." This is a good starting point, but it doesn't hold me as accountable as I'd like. As someone with more than one health problem, I know that there are several things I can do to help myself. That's why I've begun to take a more active role in my health. In addition to getting more exercise and changing my diet in general, I've come up with some specific ways to improve my situation. I have five health resolutions for 2012, along with details on how to follow through.

1. Drink more water. Although I drink water almost exclusively, I still don't drink enough. In 2012, I would like to drink eight glasses every day. This is something I'm working up to slowly. Over the last month, I've increased my daily water intake to six glasses. The many benefits include its ability to curb my hunger and keep me from grabbing a high-calorie snack. If eight glasses proves too much for me, I'll back off until I find out what works best for my body.

2. Consume more calcium. I don't get enough calcium in my diet. Unfortunately, increasing my calcium intake is no longer merely an option; it became a necessity after a bone density scan revealed that I have osteopenia, a possible precursor to osteoporosis. On the advice of my doctor, I plan to take a calcium citrate supplement in addition to eating foods rich in calcium.

3. Eat less wheat. Wheat is my downfall, whether it's in the form of bread, cake, pasta, or something else. Although I do have self-control--I can stop after a bite or two--I like it far too much. With that in mind, I've resolved to do without wheat at least three days a week in 2012. I've already experimented by having an occasional wheat-free day, and I can do it as long as I have a variety of the right foods available.

4. Get more vitamin D. After learning that I have a serious vitamin D deficiency, my doctor advised me to start taking a supplement. I did that for a while but slacked off, and now it's time to renew my commitment to taking this essential hormone.

5. Track my lab reports. My doctor typically doesn't say much about my test results, other than to indicate that everything is fine or that a particular result is slightly outside the normal range. From now on, I'm going to ask for copies of my lab reports. Once I start getting my own copies, I can track my progress all year and be prepared with any questions I may have.

I'm determined to follow through with these health resolutions in 2012. After all, the benefits will far outweigh the inconvenience.

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Did you make any health resolutions for this year?

List After List After List

As part of my ongoing effort to restructure my time, I've made quite a few lists. Most people would probably think I'm spending too much time on this, but it's just how I manage to get things done. I thoroughly enjoy this task, and I know that it works for me in the long run.

For this particular project, my lists are helping me organize my thoughts and figure some things out, and they go far beyond shopping and daily "to do" lists. Here are a few of the ones I've been working on:

- titles of books to read
- ideas for each room (organizing, etc.)
- subjects I want to learn more about
- tasks that should be on a regular schedule

Obviously, some of them will always never be complete; my running list of books keeps growing faster than I can add the titles to my shelves at Goodreads. That's okay, though. At least I'm getting somewhere by narrowing down what I want. Not everything I've written down will be accomplished, but writing it all out is an important step toward my goal because it helps me prioritize.

Since I've been at this for a while, I'm almost ready to start working on a schedule. I'm awfully curious to see how it turns out.

Do you make many lists?

If Only I Had Listened

If I could live my life over, I would--wait a minute. Just hold it right there.

I'm not going to get all philosophical or "if I could go back and change things" wistful or weepy; I'm just going to state a simple fact.

I wish I'd listened to my husband sooner.

There. I said it.

I have to give him credit for finally persuading me to try almond milk.

As far back as I can remember, I've thought milk tasted sour. Chocolate milk is only slightly more palatable. Cooking with milk is fine, and I like many other dairy products. I just don't like milk.

A while back, I bought some coconut milk, thinking it might be the answer. Unfortunately, it seemed very watery to me, so I wasn't crazy about it. My husband, on the other hand, really liked it, so we bought that for a while.

Then I decided to buy a carton of almond milk. Again, he liked it, but I still wasn't sure. Instead, I continued my custom of adding small amounts of regular milk to my granola. One day, I fixed a bowl of granola before remembering we didn't have any regular milk, so I tried the almond milk. After all, my husband had been trying to get me to try it, so I figured I had to at that point.

It was good.

I still haven't cooked with almond milk, but I've had instant breakfasts made with it. (Yes, I know the dry mix contains dairy milk, but I don't notice that.)

So, the point to all this?

I wish I'd listened to my husband and tried almond milk sooner.

Is there a product you wish you'd tried sooner?

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This post is a response to this week's GBE 2 writing prompt, "If I Had My Life to Live Over..."

Making Time for Some Good Reads

Making time to read is one of the changes I've made recently. As I mentioned briefly as one of a few random facts, I finally signed up at Goodreads. It's something I'd thought about before but never really had a chance to investigate. Once I looked around the site a bit, I knew I had to register.

Reading is something that I'd been neglecting over the last year or two, and that was unacceptable to me. I realized that I needed to do better. Even though I can't devote anywhere near as much time to reading as I did in the past, I can certainly do more than I have been.

I also realized that my reading habits have changed. In the past, I read one book at a time, picking up the next book as soon as I finished one, unless they were required reading for courses I was taking. Now, I generally have at least three books going at any given time. Only one of them is fiction, though; I'm just too forgetful to be able to keep track of what happened where. Right now, I'm in the middle of two health-related books and one classic.

I've come across a few reading challenges but haven't signed up for any of them. I think I'll hold off for a while longer.

Do you read as much as you used to--or even more--or have you slacked off the way I did?

Changing Course

When a friend told me recently that she'd finally gone back to a hobby she's loved since childhood, it made me think. Actually, it did more than that. It made me act.

Well, first, I did have some thinking to do. I thought about how I typically spend my time. I tend to focus on one thing so much that I end up neglecting everything else. For example, when I'm at the computer, I always tell myself I'll be getting up frequently to walk around and get a drink of water. Do I actually follow through? Sometimes, but not nearly as much as I'd like. That bothers me.

As a result of all this introspection, I started making lists of things I want or need to do. They're still incomplete--and probably always will be, since I'm always coming up with new ideas to include--but they're great resources. I've already incorporated some of them, such as more reading and exercise time, into my schedule.

The next step is to prioritize everything and decide how much time to allot each item, as well as how often. This will take a while to figure out, and some items will inevitably be removed or at least placed so far down the list that I'll never get to them. That's okay. The important thing is to figure out exactly what the priorities are and then follow through on what I can. I just need to pay more attention and change how I go about things, so I'll keep plugging away.

Have you ever sat down and completely restructured your time? How did it go?

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This post is a response to this week's GBE 2 writing prompt, "Self."

Writing

The popularity of writing has increased tremendously over the last few years, thanks to the internet. If you're a writer, you're sure to find support, advice, ideas, inspiration, and much more in the online writing community.

One place to find a large community of writers is Pinterest. Many of its members are writers who are interested in various types and aspects of writing. Because writing is such an important part of their lives, they often maintain writing-related pinboards that focus on one of the following:

- writing inspiration
- the writing life
- writing for specific genres
- writing tips
- grammar
- how to teach writing/composition

Here are just a few of the pinboards dedicated to writing:

Tiffany Brown - Inspiration for writing

Breebers T - Writing Necessities

Kathryn Barker - Write, write, write.....

Virginia Allain - Memoir Writing

Julie Schroeder - Writing

Annie Roland - The Art of Letter Writing

Stephanie Abney - Writing Tips

Sandy Thomason - Fantastic Writing Ideas

Dilly Ward - Write Right

Elisa Koranda - Grammar/Writing

Unread

Imagine how you'd feel if you finally managed to read everything on your reading list. Wouldn't that be amazing?

The reality is that no matter how good it would feel, it wouldn't last long. Those of us who keep lists of books we want to read tend to be voracious readers. We might read one from the list and then find a dozen more to add.

Ideas for reading lists come from bookstores, libraries, reviews, and websites such as Pinterest, where members have pinboards dedicated to books. The boards include recommendations, unread books they own, and wish lists.

My Recommended Reading pinboard is a small assortment of books I enjoyed. I tried to include an interesting variety so that there would be something for everyone. Obviously, the board is nowhere near complete. I should probably also make a board for books I want to read, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

Recommended Reading is just one of many pinboards devoted to books and reading. Here are a few more:

Darcy Whiteford - Books, Read, Unread

Courtney Spriggs - Books Read & Unread

nicole s. - reading list

persephone sunset moonstone - books to be read

Sarah Rychart - To Be Read

Tips

Do you wish you could clean the house in less time? Prep several meals at once? Stretch shoes that are too small?

We could all use some tips and helpful hints from time to time to make our lives just a little bit--or maybe even a lot--easier. Whether you're interested in information about cleaning, exercising, decorating, or something completely different, you're sure to find some great tips on Pinterest.

When people discover great tips that help them save time and use less effort while providing a better result, they love to share them with others. Pinterest users especially enjoy paying it forward; many of them have pinboards dedicated to tips, helpful hints, and other useful information. Some of these tips have been known for a long time but can be forgotten until they start making the rounds on Pinterest; others are new ways to improve our lives.

While not every tip is right for everyone, you're sure to find some fantastic ways to make your life easier. To get you started, here are a pinboards dedicated to tips and helpful hints:

Tara Rowley - Helpful tips & good ideas

Jana B - Helpful Tips

Sharon - Tips... Tips... Tips

Marcy Boatman - Tips tips tips

Krystle Fletcher - Helpful, Helpful, Helpful

Savannah Criddle - Helpful Hints

Ten on Tuesday 11/8/11

I'm back for my second week of Ten on Tuesday, hosted by Chelsea at Roots and Rings. This is a lot of fun, so please check out her blog, read other people's answers to these questions, and consider joining in!

1. What’s your favorite television show for each day of the week?
Sunday – The Walking Dead
Monday – nothing until Pretty Little Liars returns in January
Tuesday – Ringer
Wednesday – American Horror Story
Thursday – The Vampire Diaries
Friday – Supernatural
Saturday – nothing

2. How many times do you wear your jeans before you watch them?
I can't remember the last time I wore jeans.

3. What is your favorite pasta shape?
I'm partial to the small shells.

4. Do you read newspapers?
Not anymore. The ink gives me a massive headache, so I get the news online and on television.

5. Do you sleep in socks?
Yes, most of the time, although it's a clean pair.

6. Favorite genre of movies?
Horror or thriller.

7. How do you feel about wrestling?
I'm not a fan.

8. Should men pluck their eyebrows?
Most men shouldn't bother unless they actually want to.

9. Do you have dimples?
No.

10. Do you like to camp?
No way. I've never been an outdoorsy person.

Ten on Tuesday 11/1/11

I just found out about Ten on Tuesday, so I'm going to give it a try. It's sponsored by Chelsea at Roots and Rings.

1. What is your favorite month?
Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's October; the air feels great, it gets dark earlier, and the leaves are gorgeous. Halloween, complete with spooky music, scary movies, and candy, is a bonus.

2. What is the best candy to get while trick or treating?
The important thing is for the candy to be small instead of full-size bars. That way, I can have two or three small pieces of different kinds.

3. What kind of pen do you use?
I like Pilot pens.

4. You go to a new Italian restaurant, what is your go-to order?
That depends on what I'm in the mood for. It would be either fettucine alfredo or some type of pasta with diced tomato, basil, and garlic.

5. If you could choose to have any celebrity’s hair, who’s would you choose?
I don't pay much attention to celebrity hair unless I think it looks awful.

6. What’s your favorite board game?
It's been a long time since I've played a board game. I'm not sure I actually have a favorite at this point.

7. Do you know how to play poker?
Nope.

8. What do you think about Old Navy commercials?
I'm not crazy about them.

9. What hurts worse- a stubbed toe or a paper cut?
Normally, I'd say a paper cut is more painful. However, I stubbed my toe a few weeks ago, and when it still hurt two weeks later, I finally had to concede that I'd managed to break it.

10. What’s your favorite kind of pie?
Are you kidding me? I can't pick just one. Some of my favorites are chocolate cream, fresh peach, fresh blueberry, and deep-dish peach.

Waah!

Yesterday morning, I managed to bang the heck out of my toe. Actually, I think two toes are involved, but since I'm afraid to touch them, I can't be certain. In any case, the front of my foot hit the piece of exercise equipment I had recently begun using faithfully every day. Do you think I've been able to use it since then?

No.

I can barely get around on my lame toe(s). I'm not going to try to put on my shoes, and I really don't want to exercise in my sock feet--not that I think my toe(s) would appreciate it even if I did want to. I don't know how long it will be until I can get back to my exercise plan. And here I was building up my stamina, gradually increasing the length of each exercise session.

Waaah!

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Turkey

I like turkey and eat it pretty much all year. I like roast turkey with mashed potatoes, gravy, and cornbread dressing, but I also like to get turkey from the deli counter.

Even though I like deli turkey, I'm picky about it. It can't look all chopped and formed, and it should be smoked or flavored with honey or maple. I've cut back on it somewhat because of the nitrites and sodium but haven't given it up completely.

Deli turkey is the basis for some great sandwiches. There are many different combinations, but grilled smoked turkey and cheddar is one of my favorites.

If I roast a turkey, I might make a sandwich or two out of it, but mostly, I prefer to have it on my plate with all the trimmings.

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Restraint

Restraint is a good thing. It's not always easy, and it can be downright hard at times. For example, I have a hard time using restraint when it comes to certain foods.

Sure, I can eat two potato chips or two mini candies. No problem. After all, the idea is to have something that will put a nice taste in my mouth, and more than two would be unnecessary. Why waste them when they could come in handy later?

The problem is using restraint when adding black pepper to food. It's funny, because I didn't even like pepper until I was well into adulthood. I could eat it if it was already in something, but I probably didn't add it to anything on my plate before I hit my thirties. My tastes changed, and I started using it.

I don't use pepper on everything, but I do like it. So does my husband, which is why I was surprised when his eyes widened one day as he watched me shake pepper onto my food.

I finally found out what his deal was. I had switched from buying regular fine black pepper to coarse ground pepper, and it's much stronger. I understand that it's possible to get too much, but I wasn't even close during the aforementioned incident. Now I have to be careful and use restraint when cooking, since I don't want to ruin his meal by overdoing the pepper.

Things sure have changed over the years. He used to marvel about how much salt I added to my food. Well, I cut back drastically on salt long ago. I guess it's pepper's turn now.

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This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday.

Quotation Marks

While trying to decide on a topic for my first Alphabe-Thursday, I came up with a few possibilities. Then something interesting happened.

I came across The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks recently while trying to figure out why some people put quotation marks around the names of pets. The last paragraph of Marinka's comment is the reason it showed up in the search engine, and it's a good one.

All I can figure is that people who do this think it isn't the pet's real name. For example, Sir Barks-a-Lot of the Waggy Tail might be affectionately called "Waggy" or "Barkie," complete with quotation marks. I can understand this; I don't agree with it, but at least I understand it.

However, this theory breaks down when a pet already has a simple name, such as Jasper. Even if that's his whole name (other than the owner's last name), the same people who would use quotes for Sir Barks-a-Lot would also use them with Jasper.

Why use quotes with animals but not with people? If Ellie, Kenny, Angie, and Mike are pets, they'll often end up with quotation marks around their names. If they're people, that's unlikely to happen.

Wheat: It's What's for Dinner

Years ago, the beef industry ran an ad campaign that said, "Beef: it's what's for dinner." I was recently going over my diet (and by "diet," I'm referring to the things I eat) and realized how much wheat I consume on a regular basis.

A lot of people believe that humans weren't meant to eat any grains whatsoever. I'm not going to get into that here, although I've begun reading The Primal Blueprint to see what it's about. In any case, I've suspected for a while that I'm sensitive to wheat, which makes my normal consumption appalling.

I like bread. I like pasta. I like cake, pie, brownies, and other baked goods. When I have eggs or meat, I like to make a sandwich. Even some cereals that aren't primarily wheat-based still contain wheat flour. It isn't easy to avoid, but I'm determined to cut back and see whether it makes a difference.

I just have no idea when that will be.