Sugar Detox - Day 0

Day 0 "Fat Monday"

Tomorrow Cameron & I are starting a "Sugar Detox."  I had been thinking about cutting down sugar for a while, but now that I'm finished breastfeeding, I feel like I can.  A friend posted this article on Facebook a few days ago http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/09/health/sugar-detox-food-drayer/index.html and I decided it was time.  I've been running for 6 weeks now using a C25K program, but I haven't lost any weight at all, which is really disappointing.  But I have felt better and I have more energy, so I still feel it has been worth it.

Basically for the sugar detox, you have NOTHING sweet for 3 days.  No bread.  No dairy.  No fruit.  Not even sweet vegetables, like carrots.  No artificial sweeteners.  So then the question that follows is: what can you eat?  We made a list of acceptable foods and created a menu.  We ended up deciding to keep it simple by eating the same thing all three days.  Here is our menu:

Breakfast: Eggs with spinach and tomato, black coffee
Snack (optional): cashews/peanuts, black coffee
Lunch: Salad with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, black beans, chicken, olive oil, and parsley for flavor
Snack (optional): cashews/peanuts, black coffee
Dinner: Chicken Lentil soup, black tea

And of course we will drink plenty of water to stay well-hydrated.

So, since Monday is our sabbath day anyway, we decided to make it our last sugar hoorah.  We usually have pancakes and eggs on Mondays, and I wanted to keep the tradition.  :)

For lunch, we had leftover Subway sandwiches and leftover chocolate cupcakes I had made for church on Sunday.

I had my favorite my last cup of coffee (with milk and sugar) and cereal for an afternoon snack.

And for dinner was the ultimate grand finale: Pizza Hut!  I've only had pizza once since Sara was born, and it gave her horrible gas pain.  I wanted to have Pizza Hut as a celebration of being finished with breastfeeding/pumping, but then it worked out well to do it also right before the sugar detox.

"Clothing Purgatory" really works!

It was August 2015 when I went through my clothes and made my "clothing purgatory" suitcase of clothes I didn't think I would wear but I just couldn't bring myself to give away.  I also turned my hangers backwards, put a piece of paper around each of my sweaters, and put a bunch of skirts in a bag. 

The idea was to see what I was actually wearing.  My rule for the suitcase was that I could get anything out anytime I wanted - but I could only get out a specific item that I thought of sight unseen. Since then, I've gotten a few things out and put a few more things in the suitcase, but the majority remained in there. 

Since I've started my "self-care" hour every evening from 8-9PM (which I highly recommend!), I've started going through my clothes again.  Recently, I decided to go through the "clothing purgatory" suitcase again.  Most of the minimalist websites tell you to just donate whatever you put away without looking at it, but the packrat in me just can't do it.  But the separation really helped me to see that I don't need these items and gave me the peace of mind to give them away to someone who will actually use them.  I found myself willing to give away almost everything that had been in the suitcase.  I filled up two large bags of clothes to give away. 

 
I put one sweater and one pair of athletic shorts back with my regular clothes, and two pairs of pants that are just a little bit too small in my "too small" section.  I'm hoping that running the C25K again will help me get back into them soon.  I noticed another trend which goes along with my previous post: my former need to have things in every color.  I had a matching winter scarf/hat/gloves set in multiple colors, which I used to rotate and wear them all.  But in more recent years, I've just worn one set, which is the warmest one.  I'm still keeping another two sets for now.

I was just amazed at how easy I found it to get rid of some items that I had struggled with previously.  The separation made a huge difference for me.  I highly recommend it if you're struggling with giving away certain items. 

Giving Away 62% of my Jewelry

This is a really hard one for me.  You can look at my jewelry collection and see different colors, styles, patterns, etc., but I see memories.  I see special vacation memories, gifts from friends and family, even good times I had wearing certain items.  Some of them were my favorites for years!  But I'm changing.  I'd like to think that I'm growing.  Styles have changed, my tastes have changed - I no longer feel the need to have one of every color.  I used to pride myself on having a necklace and earring set (and of course Old Navy flip flops) in every color to match everything.  But I'm getting more comfortable with metallics and neutrals and just choosing a few colors to be my signature.  I'm almost afraid to post pictures with this post for fear that I will hurt people's feelings who gave me gifts.  Please don't be offended if I'm giving away something you gave me.  I have loved and worn all of the jewelry that I'm choosing to give away.  It doesn't do justice to keep it in a box or even hanging on my wall if I never wear them anymore.  My interest in minimalism is to reduce stress and decision fatigue.  The only way to do that is to have fewer options.

I'm experimenting with having a very very small amount of visible options currently in use.  I also  have jewelry I'm keeping that I think I may want to wear.  Then I'm giving away the rest in the hope that someone else will wear them and enjoy them.  Jewelry is made to be worn and enjoyed.

Here is the breakdown of the numbers:

In use:
1 set necklace with 2 earrings
2 sets necklace with earrings
1 watch
Total: 8 items (9.5 %)

Keeping:
4 sets necklace with earrings
1 watch
2 rings
3 necklaces
10 pairs of earrings
Total: 24 items (28.5%)
    (in use + keeping: 38%)

Giving away:
10 sets necklace with earrings
7 necklaces
21 pairs of earrings
4 bracelets
Total: 52 items (62%)

Total items: 84

Reducing my jewelry has been an ongoing process for me.  The first time I had to do it was before we moved overseas in 2012.  I got rid of a lot.  I also made a hanging jewelry organizer out of an old pair of jeans.  Gradually, as my tastes were changing, it got really crowded.  I don't remember when, but at some point, I sorted again.  I left only my favorites on the organizer and put away the rest on some scrap fabric.

I had chosen a few jewelry items as part of my current capsule wardrobe.  Just a few days ago, I decided it would help if I could only see the "available" jewelry.  I've always wanted a jewelry tree, but I've always had too much.  I chose my small amount, put them in a bowl, and ordered a jewelry tree online.  Btw I didn't count my wedding ring as part of the numbers, but I did count a necklace and earring set I ordered online (not pictured because it hasn't arrived yet).  I've been wanting a gold leaf set for a long time, and I finally found one I like. 

Current jewelry

Jewelry I'm keeping

Spring 2017 Postpartum Nursing Capsule Wardrobe - April/May

Pretty much after the trip to Geneva in January, I just kept those clothes/outfits as my "capsule" for February/March.  I made a few minor adjustments, but it worked well enough that it didn't merit the time and energy to make a new capsule.

Since then, one thing I did was put only 2 pairs of shoes in our entryway for me to choose from: low-heel ankle boots and navy slip-on sneakers.  If I needed to look nicer and didn't need to do much walking (ex. church), I wore the boots.  If I needed to do a lot of walking and could be more casual, I wore the sneakers.  I've worn only those two pairs of shoes for at least the past month.  It was so easy with limited choices.

For my Spring 2017 capsule, I added a 3rd pair of shoes, mostly for when it rains:

I made my April/May capsule a different way than I have in the past: I sat down with pencil and paper, writing my capsule without looking at my closet at all.  I did it completely from memory.  I ended up with 30 pieces.  After looking at my closet, I added a few extra options, but overall I was pretty happy with it.

I've stuck with my usual "uniform" of jeans, t-shirt, blazer, and scarf.  With my husband's help, I did an experiment that I will vulnerably share with you:

I was trying to determine whether my shirt looked better tucked in or left out and which way to tie my scarf.  I ended up deciding the bottom right picture was the most flattering right now.  One issue is that, because I wear curvy jeans, they are cut higher in the back than the front, which can accentuate a tummy.  But a blazer covers the back, so it's not as noticeable.

I made a small capsule for a trip we made last week, using navy and brown as my neutrals and teal and burnt orange as my main colors.  

I'm still not sold on wearing burnt orange in the spring, because it seems like such a fall color, but it is a good color on me and I like getting more wear out of my clothes, so it is staying so far.  I just can't bring myself to put it away until next fall.  I'm realizing that I'm wearing more navy than brown lately.  For example, I'm super excited about two new blanket scarves that I bought: one is brown/orange and the other is navy/teal.

I really really like them both, and I don't want to limit myself to only one per season.  But the brown/orange one screams "fall" and the blue one could work anytime.  So far I'm keeping burnt orange as an option year-round.

I've been wanting a blanket scarf for a long time, but I could never find one in my colors.  I'm so happy with these I found on AmazonUK.  They are also great at helping hide a tummy:

A side note regarding this picture is that I realized I am missing what could be a very helpful base item in my wardrobe: a long-sleeved navy t-shirt.  I have a brown one, but the closest thing I had that I could wear under the blue blanket scarf was this striped shirt.  I also have a poncho that would be awesome, but I never had anything I could wear under it except a teal dress.  A navy long-sleeve would be perfect for the poncho as well.

Of course, now that I'm getting around to writing this, it's starting to get too warm outside for such things, but hindsight is 20/20, as they say.  If I consider that I'm building a lifelong wardrobe, rather than just for the current season, it still merits buying a navy long-sleeve. 

Another postpartum problem I've had, and particularly regarding wearing navy, is that really only one pair of my jeans fit me right now.  They are supposed to be dark denim, but look a bit more like navy pants.  Because of that, I feel like I can't wear my navy tops as much.  I have a nice navy sweater and a new navy blazer, but I haven't worn them much lately.  I ordered a pair of medium-wash jeans in the same size and fit as the ones I have, but they were sadly too tight.  :(  I have since ordered a pair in a size larger, and I hope to be able to get them soon from the post office here.  One difficult thing for me living overseas is that I have to wait a month or more to get the clothes I want sometimes.  I either wait for a package from my mom or for someone to bring it to me with their luggage.  I had a pair of boots shipped once, and it was worth it, but it is expensive.  I can get some tops here, but not pants, because they just are too skinny for me.  I've considered having clothes radically tailored or even made from scratch, but I haven't tried it.  I have these ideas in my mind of clothes I would like to have, but finding them is the hard part.  The struggle is in being happy with what I have, though it's not ideal, but maybe adding a little if I can find what I want. 

Something I noticed last week (it's always interesting the things I learn when I have to live out of a suitcase) is that I wore my denim chambray shirt A LOT.  I didn't really like it at first, but it's really growing on me.  The snaps are super easy for nursing, it's semi-structured but not too form-fitting, and the color works with my dark denim jeans.  I really wish I could find a dress just like it, but with a defined waist, that I could wear as it gets warmer.

One problem that is only getting worse as it gets warmer is that the shirts that are easy for nursing are not the most flattering.  For example, the batwing t-shirts.  They are so easy to nurse in, because I can pull them down (instead of up, exposing my whole belly), but they really accentuate my belly. You can see it even in this picture with a blazer:

But that is the struggle of postpartum - looking pregnant when you're not anymore.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, I'm planning to do the couch to 5k again.  I really hate it, but I need to do something, and I'm too out of shape for Zumba right now.  I need a middle-of-the-road exercise where I can go at my own pace.

Maybe this will be my "before" picture, and in a few months I can show you an awesome "after" picture.

Meal Planning Capsule

Since organizing my freezer/pantry, I realized I have some things I don't use and I have trouble knowing what groceries I need to order.  (We have been ordering our groceries online since Sara was born - such a blessing to have groceries delivered to our door!)  I also know that, even though I have a personal cookbook that I compiled of our favorite recipes/new recipes I wanted to try, we tend to default into eating the same things over and over.  I felt like it was time to try capsule meal planning.  The idea is the same as with clothes - to have fewer choices, but to eat your favorite things all the time.  I've discovered with my last two clothing capsules that it's easier for me if I just sit down with pencil and paper and do it all off the top of my head, rather than looking at all the options and trying to narrow them down.  So I made a list of some of our favorite things that we eat all the time:

1. Spaghetti/Lasagna

2. Chicken Wraps (Caesar for me/Buffalo for Cameron) (Spring/Summer)

3. Tacos

4. BBQ pork w/ potato mash (sweet potato/white potato/carrots) OR slaw

5. Chicken Fried Rice/Lo Mein

Winter:
1. Chicken Soup
2. Shepherd's Pie

I showed Cameron the list and asked if he would be willing to experiment with only eating these things for a month, to see if it would satisfy us or if we would feel like it was not enough choices.  It's been around a month now, and we really haven't missed having more choices.  We added the caveat that we could eat out from the following restaurants: Burger Van or McDonald's (usually just if we are in a hurry).

For lunch, we either eat ham & cheese tortilla wraps w/ tomato & avocado or we order Subway.

On paper it seems so limited, but so far we have been completely satisfied with our choices.  I think it was a good decision.  It has also helped me with ordering groceries.  I just make sure I always have the ingredients to make these meals.  At the beginning, I downloaded a meal planning app, but I've found that with the limited choices, I don't really need it.  Limiting my choices took out the stress enough that I don't need to app.  I did have one little "hiccup" in that when I tried tacos for the first time since Sara's belly problems have gotten better, they seemed to upset her stomach.  :(  However, my mom suggested that I try using only half the taco seasoning, so we will try that next time to keep it on the menu.

I should add that we do also have a semiprepared section of the freezer for those days when we just don't have the energy to cook - chicken nuggets, pizza, and a few other things.  However, since starting this plan, we have used them less frequently than before, which is great.

Also, for breakfast we have been eating basically the same thing for years already.  We always have scrambled eggs and bread with cream cheese/peanut butter.  Recently, we have started putting bacon pieces in the eggs, which is great. On Mondays (our Sabbath day), we have pancakes with our eggs.  I also bought "carnati de bere" (sausages that taste like kielbasa) as a special treat.  And of course a cup of coffee.  :)

Organizing the Freezer & Pantry

Since baby Sara was born, we've starting using a large stand-alone freezer in addition to our regular refrigerator/freezer.  Last week after ordering a large amount of groceries, I finally got frustrated enough to organize it.  Then this evening, inspired by my freezer organization, I finally organized our balcony pantry. 

I didn't take any before pictures of our freezer, but it was certainly a mess.  Before turning on the stand-alone freezer, my husband would marvel at my "Tetris" skills as I put away the frozen food in the small freezer section of our refrigerator.  Here are the after pictures:

After we got our last groceries, I was feeling overwhelmed and just left a lot of them on the counter and balcony table:

There was room in the balcony pantry, but it was just such a mess that I didn't know where to put things. 

Before picture of the balcony pantry

I was feeling really overwhelmed at the sheer volume of it all, and I didn't know where to start.  I decided to start with what annoyed me most: for years I'd been wanting to put the aluminum foil closest to the door opening, since I use it more often that the ziplocs.  So, I took everything off that shelf and put it on top of the cabinet.  (I cleaned the top first - man was it dusty!) Then I put it back with the aluminum foil and plastic wrap closest to the door opening.  I threw away the non-zip bags that have been in there for years that we've never used.  I have such a hard time throwing things away, but if we've lived here for 4 years and never used them, they needed to go.  Also, I realized that I had bought aluminum foil when there was actually another roll in the cabinet.  My disorganization led to buying something I already had.

All the aluminum foil/plastic wrap/ziplocs on top of the cabinet.

 

After picture of the foil/plastic wrap/ziploc shelf.

 The next thing that has been annoying me is the disorganization of my Asian sauces.  We cook a lot of Asian food from scratch, because most of the Asian restaurants here are expensive and not that great.  They used to be on the middle shelf, but since they are one of the things I use most frequently, I decided to move them to the top shelf closest to the door opening.  To me, what logically followed was the corn/peas/carrots, spaghetti sauce, beans, and cream of chicken soup. 

Top shelf

 Since I started nursing, I've been eating cereal as a snack pretty frequently.  I never ate cereal much before, so I didn't have a good place to keep it. I've been keeping it on the kitchen counter for months.  I decided this evening to find a place for it in the pantry.  Since the cabinet is so deep, I combined the section for cereal and formula.  After that, I was at a bit of a loss for how to organize the rest.  I ended up just making a fruit section and labeled the rest as "various sauces/seasoning."  I used the bottom section for overflow.  I couldn't believe how much more I was able to fit into the space once it was organized. 

Middle shelf

After picture of the cabinet

After picture of the balcony table (the missing cushion is in the other room)

After picture of the kitchen counter

I left a few things on the kitchen counter, but overall I thought it was pretty good work for one night! 

Packing for Geneva: Clothes for Mom & baby

Packing for a 2-week trip with a 3-month old baby was quite an undertaking.  For this post, I will focus only on clothes for Sara and me.

Before I could begin to figure out what to pack for baby Sara, I had to first transition her wardrobe from newborn to 3-month old. 

1. First, I went through her drawer and took out everything.  
2. Next, I put back in what still fit her.  I chose a few items to keep (the outfit she came home from the hospital in, etc).  I bagged and labeled the other clothes, which I will pass on to a friend having a girl in March.  I also only put in 10 pairs of regular socks, plus 3 pairs of fancy socks.  I took out the lightweight spring hats.
3. Third, I went through all the size 3-6 month clothes to decide what I liked and was seasonally-appropriate.  (Some clothes we received from friends who had babies born in different seasons - some worked, some not.)  
4. Fourth, I put everything in her drawer that I envisioned her wearing for the next 2 months or so.  I used the drawer as my physical limit of how many clothes she would have.  It worked out very well with the clothes I picked out.

 

5. Finally, I picked out 10 outfits for her to wear in Geneva (with a plan to do laundry over the weekend).

 I packed a short-sleeved white onesie for each long-sleeved shirt, so that her shirt wouldn't ride up and show her belly/make her cold.  I packed a 10 pairs of socks and 10 sleepers.  At the last minute, I packed two zip-up jackets that she ended up wearing a lot, because it was chilly in the cafeteria.

And of course, her winter coat and hat:

Since I'm writing this after our trip, I can also comment on how my packing worked out.  First, I ended up not doing laundry, because it was just too much trouble.  Sara pretty much never spits up, so her dirty clothes only had drool and maybe a few drops of milk on them.  I felt a little bit bad having her wear dirty clothes, but it was just too hard to do laundry.  In the future, I would rather pack at least enough shirts to have a clean one for each day.


Clothes for Mom:

I didn't have time to fully transition my wardrobe from maternity to current/nursing-friendly clothes.  Instead, I just picked out outfits that would work for Geneva, with a focus on layers and nursing-friendly shirts.  I chose navy and cream/white as my neutrals and teal and burnt orange as my colors, to keep it simple and help with mixing and matching. 

These are the outfits I planned:

This is what I ended up wearing:

I planned a mostly casual wardrobe for hanging out on campus while my husband was in class, with a few nicer outfits for touring the city on the weekends.  I also wore my white/gray nursing infinity scarf, even though it didn't really fit into my theme.  I found that the nursing infinity scarf and the traditional nursing cover I made worked equally well.  Since coming home, I have ordered a navy nursing infinity scarf, which will work better with my wardrobe.

I tried to be somewhat minimalistic (for me) with shoes and accessories.  Although I brought a few different scarves, I brought only one pair of earrings and two pairs of shoes.  Sara has started grabbing and pulling, so I can't wear dangly earrings or necklaces unless I am out without her, so I just didn't bring any.  This was a huge change for me, since I love dangly earrings and necklaces and normally bring several with me while traveling.  I also brought only snowboots (which I wore on the airplane) and slip-on walking shoes (which I used both as indoor slippers and around campus).  It was such a blessing that the cafeteria was in the same building as our room, so I could just wear the walking shoes Mon-Fri.  It was so nice taking Sara in the stroller to meals without having to put on our winter coats.

I discovered quickly that my teal and brown batwing shirts were by far the best for nursing in public, because they have a v-neck that can be pulled down, instead of having to pull my shirt up and worry about my stomach showing/getting cold.  I rearranged from my original plans to wear those two shirts every Saturday and Sunday, when we were traveling.

Overall, I feel like I really did well at packing for both of us for this trip.

I didn't really take and "outfit" pictures, but here are a few where you can see our outfits: