Lifestyle changes

I have talked a little bit on my social media about how I am having to change.  About 2 months ago I was diagnosed as Insulin Resistant.  For me, this came with a huge change to my eating habits.  I have always been a sweet eater, a walking sweet tooth.  Food was always a huge comfort thing with me, and it was a struggle for me to let go.

I had one last "normal" weekend date with Jason.  He has been utterly amazing.  We went out and had Steak and Shake with happy milkshakes to soothe my fear of what was to come.  He also stopped on the way to get cookies from Sifted (our favorite cookie shop).  I whined a lot that weekend.  I was scared of failing, I was scared of being sick, and I was scared of not knowing.

So the following Monday I started my new diet and medication.  I went on a "no" sugar, no gluten, no starch diet.  I say "no" sugar because of my intolerance to artificial sweeteners.  Many of the artificial sweeteners were migraine triggers for me, so I asked if I could have a tablespoon of sugar for my morning coffee/tea and my Dr said that should be fine.  I also found that to be just enough to keep the sugar withdrawal headache at bay.  I do plan to pull away from that sugar in the future as I find an alternative sweetener that does not hurt me.  My diet is 40-50 carbs a day (I usually stay between 20-35 to be safe).

So when I started in June, I was 210-ish and my hips measurement was over 50'.  At my July check-up, I weighed in at 188 and almost cried at the Dr. Office.  My hip measurement decrease to somewhere around 45".  Thus far I have dropped almost a full 2 pant sizes, my size 16 pants were tight and this weekend I bought size 12!  Yes, I know women sizes are just random but still to go from a nearly 18 to size 12 is big to me.

Jason has been my rock, my lifeline, and the best thing ever.  He has tried to do these big changes as well, although he allows himself around 80 carbs a day.  He too has lost weight and I think a pant size or 2.  But the big thing is he was there besides on the hard nights when I would cry through my cravings.  Feeling like I was starving and just wanted buttery toast to soothe my stomach.

Let me clarify, due to the excess insulin in my system my "your full" signals were not received.  So I would eat a huge meal and still be hungry. I knew I should not be hungry.  I knew I was full.  But my body just kept wanting more food.  I had a bad couple of weeks while my insulin "flushed" out of my system.  I cried a lot. 

Today I am surprised how easy it has been to give up sweets.  What I am still struggling with is not having buttery toast, really was my favorite comfort food. 

Deck modification

I have tentatively started modifying my tarot decks.  Jason does not agree with this practice, so decks he has expressed interest in are off-limits.

I am a coward when it comes to actually physically cutting my cards.  It feels too aggressive and just cannot see myself doing that at all.  But I have seen some wonderful results on the internet for this practice.

Mostly what I have been doing is "edging" my decks.  This is the practice of adding color the edges of each card.  I find this to be a very meditative act.  It is surprisingly powerful to pick up each card and feel it's energy as I alter them slightly with my energy (color).  Thus far I have completed 2 decks, my Runic Tarot (not reading) and my Legends: King Arthur deck.  I do have plans for my Spirit Song but I am not sure when it will happen (we are still bonding).

The Runic Tarot was my test deck to see if I would enjoy the process and the result.  I love the result.  It just makes the cards look so posh.  The whole process was fairly quick and easy.  I used my journaling markers since I had the color I wanted.  I strongly suggest testing the process on a non-reading deck before doing anything to your actual reading and/or favorite deck.

My next adventure was to actually color my favorite deck.  Which also happens to be my reading and goto deck.  I wanted to use 2 colors for this deck since I wanted to match the edges to the top.  I knew that I wanted a purple and metallic gold or bronze.  I was very hesitant about this project.  So I had to take weeks before I felt ready.  Now it is done and I LOVE the whole effect.  Two-thirds of the cards are edged in a lovely purple but a random one-third is edged with bronze.  It is fabulous.  For this session, I used sharpies because I use this deck constantly and the hope is that the permanency of sharpies will survive the constant shuffling better.


My other Tarot project recently has been sewing pouches.  I have been inspired by the wrap pouches of MoonLit_Faye on IG.  I have not figured out how she makes her reversible pouches but I enjoy my version of the wrap packages.  I have plans to make a pouch and mat combo in the near future for my Arthur deck.