Finding My Bubble

Managing your health can be hard. Diets are not easy to stick to when there are so many delicious things out there. That is why it is important to know: it's not all or nothing.

I have shared in past posts that I have quite a few health issues. If you are new here and want to read a little more about this please pause and check out my article "We Should Talk About It". I pointed out that one of the newest problems I had been having was with my heart and my stomach. Now, either of these on its own creates the need for a diet change but both together? Yeesh. To further my "yeesh", I really love food. I am a complete foodie and enjoy it immensely, which means diets aren't really my thing. But you know what is my thing? Living. I kind of need to do that, so that requires some sacrifices to make it happen, and these are my thoughts on it.

I have struggle very much this past year with trying to stick to and maintain a healthy diet and exercise regimen. I will give myself a pat on the back for that fact that I do still keep trying. When I fall off the fried chicken wagon I try to get right back up again. Might take me a hot minute but I get there. I have done very well at keeping up with my supplements and I have worked out more and ate healthier than any other period of my life, even with my gaps of failure. And amongst all of this trial and error I have come up with some advise that I think might help some of you: find your bubbles. Okay, here she goes. What are you talking about now Allison? I'm not crazy, I'm building suspense, be patient.

There were a lot of different things that I desperately needed to cut out of my diet. Don't get me wrong, I still fail at most of these. But the ones I have succeeded in have one thing in common: I found a replacement. For example, I needed to cut certain oils and butter out of my diet. Guess what? Technology has come so far they can make oil out of anything. Gimme your shoe, they will figure it out and make an oil out of it. Gross, but the point is I switched to olive oil, avocado oil, and sunflower seed oil. Let me tell you, I cannot taste the difference. That's an easy one though because you can't really taste it. I came here to talk about the hard stuff. Something big I had to sacrifice that I definitely didn't think I would over come. Easily one of the biggest ones were drinks. I was a HUGE juice drinker. I loved juice and I loved me some soda pop! But it was something that was nonnegotiable, it had to go. That was all I drank, other than tea, I am also a big tea drinker but that's for another day. So, what was I going to do.

I have pretty successfully cut out juice and pop from my life. I might have a ginger ale when I'm not feeling good or a root beer if we are out at a restaurant that makes their own, I'll give myself a little treat here and there, but other than that? It's gone. And it's probably been the easiest part of my diet actually. But only because I used a replacement instead of quitting cold turkey. Early on in the diet, I was really having a hard time just drinking water. I wanted a pop so bad. I would go up to James and ask to have just one fizzy bubbly beverage please! He saw that I was struggling but that I was trying and he wanted to help. So he went out and got me the only fizzy bubbly beverage that I could have: Sparkling Water.

Let it be known, that I HATED sparkling water and I constantly made fun of my friends who drank it because I loved the La Croix meme's like this one! But he was trying to make this easier on me. And I figured "eh, something is better than nothing!" Don't get ahead of me, I did NOT fall in love. I hated most of what I tried. I kept trying to explain to James and my friends who were trying to help but sounded like a lunatic, "these bubbles are too tiny and aggressive!!!" Eventually, we figured out that the carbonation in soda and in sparkling water tastes different because soda has heavy syrups that in my scientific opinion make the bubbles "slow, fat, and lazy" where as sparkling water bubbles are unhindered and are "super little and fast and zoom around". But all sparkling water is a little different. I kept trying some until I figured out things I liked and eventually I got used to it. From there I found myself greatly enjoying it and stocking my fridge with it. And one day we were out and James said I had done well and deserved a nice cold soda pop. Do you know what the first thing I said was? "Ugh, this is way too sweet!" and the second thing was "What is wrong with my bubbles!?"

This HUGE obstacle that I did not think I could overcome and all I had to do was change my bubbles. So what else can I change? Don't get me wrong change is hard but stopping something and leaving that spot empty is a lot harder. You need to fill the gap or you will find that it will refill itself. This post today is about dieting but this advice goes beyond that. For those of you that are looking to shake some bad dieting habits or maybe just some bad habits in general, find your bubbles. Find bubbles that are clean and able to zoom around because if not the fat, lazy bubbles are going to keep you down. Preferably, bubbles without aspartame because those are just super secret spy bubbles that look like nice zoom bubbles but they are not. They want to poison you without you suspecting them. Don't be fooled!

But seriously guys, don't toss out all the bad and be left with empty hands because you'll just pick all that garbage back up. Pick up something new. Remember, dieting may not be your thing, but living sure is. And to live requires a healthy body and mind so do your best! If you fall off the fried chicken wagon get right back up and try again. We don't need a new year to make a new me, you are capable of change and greatness at any time so seize it endlessly. I believe in you.

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Thank you so, so much for tuning in this Sunday for a bubbly version of The Mess here on My Mess. I wish you happy bubble hunting as you go into a new week. I hope your Monday starts strong and I hope to see you all back on Wednesday for some Nerdom fun. I genuinely enjoy the interactions I have been having with all of you who have been reaching out for nerdy discussions, keep em coming! As well as hearing from those of you who may not identify as a nerd but like to read the life post. Thank each and every one of you for your continual support, we have some cool things in the works that I hope to be sharing with you soon. In the mean time, stay bubbly and most importantly, stay messy my friends.