I love studying other religions and looking for similarities and new perspectives. I often don't even make enough time to study my own, much less others (other than History Channel specials) but there's one chapter in LDS scripture that has always resonated with me, and recently I've begun to think of it in both spiritual terms and temporal terms, as I've been looking at my own issues with cheating on the diet and not always taking care of body as I should. The body houses the spirit, and is equally important to care for...if the body is not healthy and the mind is not clear, then the spirit is held back from progressing and serving others.

Here are the lines that stick with me:

Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul. Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions. 2 Nephi 4:28-29

I love the positive tones in this, and find it very motivating. I wonder how I can adapt it to a postie on my refrigerator: "Awake, my soul! No longer droop in toxins. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for foods that sap my energy. Do not stress out if I fail. Do not slacken my strength just because it's been a hard day"

Huh, I may just keep the original on my fridge, it's much more poetic.

By the way, I loved Dr. D's Blog today, Each Day Anew...could have written it for me.

Back to blog business:

So does six pounds lost count if I just gained them last week? Sure, it's better than gaining them last week and not ever losing them. I never wanna see those pounds ever again! My morning blood sugar is now right where it should be, 20 points down from where it never should have been. That bs, like the 6 pounds, was also a very new development, and the two together scared me straight. I don't have prediabetes, and I want to keep it that way. Always better to worry today than tomorrow!

Yesterday at Taekwondo I found out that the new self-defense curriculum requires me to do breakfalls for testing, and since I'm a blue-green belt, that means doing them from standing. I also need to do a dive-roll, and was it a running dive-roll? I've never been a gymnast at all, never even could do a cartwheel, so this will be interesting. No big thick mat or anything. Yet another impetus to lose all the extra weight I can! It won't be long before I have to start really jumping for some kicks, so I need to get light and strong.

I tried Yoga for the first time in a long time today, and it was my first real yoga class, the others were Power Yoga at the gym. I found this a much more awesome experience which made drops of sweat roll off me and will make me very sore I'm sure. The challenge there will be backbends and hand stands...and I'll work on that. Yet another impetus to get lighter and stronger.

Explorers should exercise 4-5 times a week, and I've been consistently only doing two, that is taekwondo. On belt jump camp week I did three hours a day for 5 days, not as intense as a regular class since it was all curriculum, still, enough to teach me that I can do a lot more than I've been doing. I'd like to exercise to some degree every day, maybe less intense on a couple of those days. I've found that really makes a difference for my morning blood sugar reading.

I have a plan, and a SWAMI, and I'm ready to go all the way this time...no more yo-yo-ing before I even get near my goal, no more yo-yo ever.

My genotype SWAMI held no surprises. I'll have to give up the mozzarella and the whey protein powder (It knew that without me even having to tell it so). In exchange, chicken eggs are now neutral, so I'll enjoy them occasionally. Also neutral are so many of my old O-nonsecretor standbyes: tomatoes, peppers, sesame seeds and sesame oil, umeboshi plum vinegar, nutritional yeast, flax seeds. I've gotten a good introduction to superfoods by giving up all those neutrals, but I will enjoy a little flexibility. I have just three diamond superfood fruits: acai, prickly pear and pomegranate. I happen to love all three and can usually find some form or another of all of them (well, just juice when it comes to acai). Basically it's pointing me back to the O-non diet, which is no surprise since I did fantastic on it, but adding a plethora of explorer superfoods...so many fruits and vegetables, so little time! I get to keep some sweet juices, like apple and grape juice, but I use them sparingly (except on explorer cleanse day with apple juice).

My new health habit is to eat nothing after dinner, and don't eat dinner after a certain hour. I've been doing really well on eating those fruit and veggie superfoods, as those are top priority. If I get the munchies after dinner, all I'm allowed is unsweetened or glycerine sweetened herbal tea or diluted and unsweetened juice (but not apple or grape, too sweet for that hour). Those late hours have been my downfall, they're when stress gets to me and I get cravings for crazy avoids I'd never be tempted by otherwise.

My newest thing (aside from platefuls of veggies), has been prickly pear lemonade. The whole thing is edible once you peel it, but the seeds are too hard to ever chew on. I've eaten it before, but found the fiber effect too strong, so for now I juice it. I could put it in the juicer, but I've been just running it through the blendtec and straining out the pulp and what's left of the seeds. Add some lemon juice and vegetable glycerine, sparkling or plain water, and you have a lovely bright pink lemonade. There's a somewhat compliant bottled version, but if you make your own then you can determine how sweet, sour, or bubbly you want.

I've also been exercising at least every other day, sometimes more than once in the day. Our taekwondo instructor has been subjecting us to this intense self-defense floor routine that really works all your core in just 20 minutes or so. I was so sore that I could have died after the first round, so I've been doing it as homework, partly so I don't get that sore next time, and also because I've never done a more efficient workout as far as heart rate and muscle building go. I didn't realize how weak some of my lower back and quad muscles were, there's a certain way of getting up from off the ground that I literally could not do right (I had to use an extra hand and push myself up). I'm happy to say that I can now do it and am getting faster. Nothing makes you feel as old as when you can't get up off the ground! I want to jump up like a young thing, so it's time to turn back the clock with that one.

I've been keeping track of my food with a digital voice recorder, as well as weight and fasting glucose level. I've brought down the weight by 3-4 pounds in just a few days, and the glucose level by nine points. Of course, the numbers they were 5 days ago were enough to scare me straight, so we're talking starting from square one here.