Am I sweet enough?!?

Apparently not, since I can't seem to ween myself off of the sweeteners - artificial and Stevia!

Hello poppits! Happy Thursday!

OK, so here's the dilemma on the sweeteners. Intellectually I understand the evils of the artificial sweeteners. Yes, even Splenda, a sugar derivative, is bad for you. However, I just can't seem to get off of them. I put them in my coffee & tea, in my protein shake, up my nose...kidding, but don't think I haven't thought about it! It's a classic "Catch-22"...you eat them because you crave them and you crave them because you eat them. How does one break the cycle of this madness?!?

Well, here's what I'm committing to do....

I will, by the end of February, work my way off of the sweeteners. We're talking, nothing in the coffee or tea...nothing in the protein shakes...no yogurt...no gum or breath mints...oie! Mental note...don't get too close to me after I've had coffee. I imagine the halitosis will be brutal and I won't be using any mints or gum! Then, I figure it will take at least 2-3 weeks for me to stop craving them, so by end of March I should be fine - definitely something to look forward to!

I'm guessing I'll need an attitude adjustment as well. For example, I'll need to appreciate the taste of the coffee and not the sweetness of the coffee. Shouldn't be a problem for coffee and tea, but the shakes. Remember The Evil One said they tasted "like ass"?!? Well, Stevia helps to reduce the level of ass-ness. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and fight the battle. It will be worth it.

So, last night I did another yoga class. Nadia, the instructor, is great. She really knows her stuff and is quite supportive, ensuring we don't force ourselves into positions that will hurt us. Last night, however, I saw another side of Nadia. I think I'll call her "Little Evil One" or "Sister of The Evil One". She pushed us like you wouldn't believe. Oh sure, we didn't strain our bodies, but that doesn't mean we didn't force them into positions that were untested... well at least for me! And there was Nadia, standing over us, not letting us off the hook, despite our moaning, heavy breathing and cursing under the breath! Although she never called us "wimps", I could feel that coming from her....

At one point, I was having a hard time moving my hips close to the wall, moving into our final stretch of the night. We were on our backs and had to elevate our legs against the wall for the ultimate stretch. I was having problems because we had this pillow under our backs and, for some reason, I couldn't maneuvre myself into the right position. I just couldn't get my butt close enough to the wall! Anyway, it was really awkward for me and Nadia decided to "help" me. Picture this....

- I'm on my back, legs elevated, holding ropes that are coming out from a wall.
- I'm sweating (of course) and starting to get nervous giggles. Oh, and feeling kinda gaseous, so feeling the pressure of not letting go of the gas...know what I mean?!?
- the two other participants are already in position, bums against the wall with legs extended and I'm the only one unable to master the move into the position.


Can you feel my anxiety level?


- Nadia goes behind me and starts to "help" me by pushing my shoulders to the wall...with her feet!!
- Her feet get caught in my hair, so as I move closer to the wall, my hair is being pulled and I feel the pain of embarrassment AND the pain of my hair pulling!
- I begin my nervous giggling and feel the mounting pressure of the gas...

Then, my bum hits the wall... pressure ends...no more nervous giggles... and I can feel the burn of the stretch...

And yoga's supposed to relax you?!?

Well, poppits! I'm off to catch the GO Train for a day of coaching, networking and working out. I'm gonna try and get to 900 steps today...wish me luck!

Cheers!
(a)yt xox