Vegan Smoothie Your Kids Will Love

3/4 cup OJ

1 cup frozen berries (I also put in pineapple)

1 banana

2 ounces Silken Tofu

Ella giving a thumbs up to this delish smoothie :)
About 250 cals, 4 grams fat, lots of carbs but they're good carbs (about 45)

Sometimes Moving Forward Is Actually Staying Still

Today marks one month since I woke in the most excruciating pain I have ever known (yes, more than giving birth with no pain meds).  I called to my daughters to dress themselves between my tears, sent off with their father, and drove myself to the ER.

That initial pain which caused me to literally beg the doctor at the ER to give me a shot of something to take the pain away has dulled, but it is still there all the time.  I look forward to the morning I wake up and it's gone.  I took my health for granted.

I make it a point in my life to find the lesson in every experience... I ask myself, "What is this teaching me."  

Before the slipped disc, I was at Heart to Heart working out at least three times a week for about two hours a session.  If I could get there five times a week, I would go five times a week.  I was sticking to my vegan diet with a tunnel vision, very regimented, with little consideration for fine tuning or changing the diet as needed.  My last two college courses had begun and there was an unhealthy amount of commitment to which I had extended myself.

I am one of those people who thinks I can do anything and as much of anything as I want and I don't need anyone to help me. I put pressure on myself in unfair ways sometimes to expect results.  I have a vision of the way I want my life to be, and the pace at which I live is unnatural. I think much of this has to do with the time I spent with my ex-husband, which I often reflect upon as "wasted years" because I was in a stasis, waiting on him.  From 19-31 years old, and then even after, I had to unlearn some very damaging habits I had developed with him.  I often feel like I have to "make up" that time because I did and was "nothing" when I was with him.  This is not true and if you are a woman who functioned in that type of relationship (or dysfunctioned)  then you understand what it feels like to put your life on hold to please someone else. I look in the mirror and I see that I am no longer that girl, that at nearing 37, I am a woman progressing toward my middle years.

What have I accomplished?  I ask myself.

This is dangerous.  I have to veer away from this thinking.  Because I'm constantly looking for an answer that would be something on my resume, not realizing that I've accomplished so much more than that, and it's not the courage to climb a mountain that's necessary, it's the courage to take the first step, and every step after that.  I don't give myself credit for all those little steps.

With all the push, I had begun meditating and doing yoga in the morning regularly to help bring some balance to that, but it wasn't enough.  My body did what my mind could not, and it did it in a way that literally brought me to my knees.  It forced me to stop, reflect, be more thoughtful, depend on others, say no to others so that I could focus on reconnecting with myself, and it also gave me a healthy lesson in humility.

The pain from the disc is not the pain that brought me to beg the doctor for a shot to put me out of my misery, it's the pain from the pinched nerve.  When the disc slipped, it pinched a nerve that runs along my left arm, and the pain deferred through the entire arm.  The pain changes every day, depending how badly the nerve is pinched. Often it is a radiating current that is like an electrical jolt that runs up and down, but for a while it was that and a pressure cuff on the entire arm.  Now, the pain has dulled to an aching, often a burning ache, in my back, elbow, one spot in my forearm, tricep., and shoulder.   My pointer finger and thumb are still numb in the tip and along the length they tingle, like when you wake with a "sleepy" arm.  There is really nothing that can be done to make the pain go away (except the "magic" shot at the ER which I needed a ride home after--thank you Melissa R. for that ride).

In the past month I have lived with the pain which at two points was so terrible I could do nothing but sit up and cry like a baby (talk about humility).  There have been moments when I could not even hold a coffee cup in my left hand because of the weakness in my hand. The doctor did give me prescriptions to help dull it and help the muscle relax.  This in itself was a lesson because I do NOT like taking meds unless it's absolutely essential: Flexerol, Tramadol, Oxy, Hydrocodon, Steroids...  It was essential at the time, but at the last visit I refused any pain med, just deciding I would endure the pain and continue to see the chiropractor and massage therapist. The penultimate point in that decision came when I was on the Flexerol and Tramadol and that combo was causing me to feel extremely depressed.  One night, between the drugs and the pain, I called my mom and just begged her to come over... I didn't know if I was going to be able to endure another night.  She did and just having her sit with me was a balm.  I drifted in and out of a drug induced haze that night.

While my back is getting better, I have not spent time doing much but sitting on my couch (really pleased with the color I painted my living room...).  From where I've laid with an ice pack on my upper back and a heating pad on my arm, I've observed for quite some time the branches across the street that are so tall they extend well above the rooftops.  I've seen them sway, dancing, stand still... lost them to the fury of a few snow storms...  I've thought about the many blessings in disguises that have come into my life and reconsidered what they mean to me, reflected on the people who have contacted me over the last few months to tell me how I've inspired them, and thought about the people who have lifted me up in my darkest times (thank you Jill M., Wendy L., Amanda L., Bridget L., and my Mom).

I've mulled over the events in my childhood, reconsidered my own reactions to them, and shaped some new perspectives.

Last, the pain has resulted in an evolution of my thought.  Yes, I do have goals.  I have an idea about what I want from life and where I would like to be, but I don't need to push so hard or so fast, and what happens, will happen, and I have to be ok with that.  This is it.  This one life, so fleeting, is really only this one moment, now gone, now another, and it's gone.

This is the only time that really matters: Stopping my work to smile at my daughter, Ella, while I peel her orange, and tuck her hair behind her ears.  To look at her, and really see her. The freckles on her nose. The dimple in her cheek.  To listen to her laugh.  Or leaning back to appreciate how the wind can make a branch wave...the stabbing shape of the icicles along the roof lines, the perch of a bird on the wires....calling my Mom to remind her that no matter our differences, I love her.

I am enough.  This moment is enough.  The people in my life are enough. I have and am everything I need.

The gym...and everything else...can wait a moment longer.  

“There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.” 

― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid

I Want to Die: What Coping is Like When Your Relationship Fails.

It may be time to discuss the immediate coping in the aftermath of failing in a relationship with someone you desperately love.

I have avoided a deeper discussion of what it was like when my marriage began its unraveling because the truth is it was a very dark and ugly time for me.

"Jack" and I met when I was 19 years old at SUNY Plattsburgh.  I was smoking a cigar, illegally entering the bar, Filion's, using a fake Jersey license. I was encouraged by friends to talk to him.  So I walked up to him and pretended that we had met previously.  He had no clue who I was (of course. We had never met.) It was an entertaining conversation.  In those days,  I was brazen and wild. I wanted to test my boundaries, sometimes in unproductive ways.  Luckily, I was still getting 4.0s in most of my coursework, and surprisingly I was working three jobs successfully to pay my bills.  I was independent and I wanted to take a bite out of the world, just to have a taste of what it had to offer.  But I was also so very naive and impressionable.

I had just gotten out of a short term relationship (about 4 months) and I was not looking for another one.  At the time, meeting him was probably one of the best things that happened to me because I was getting out of control.  I needed someone to tame me a little.   .

"Jack" did more than that "taming".  Over the course of ten years together, I gave everything I had to him, sacrificing myself in the process.  At the end, I was barely recognizable to myself, and the downward spiral began before we started having children.  Little by little, I abandoned hobbies, friends,  and interests, hoping to adapt and accommodate him.  It never seemed to be good enough.  I never felt good enough.

In June, when he told me "I love you but I'm not in love with you," I knew I had to make it through the month at school, teaching, before I could emotionally deal with his words.  He wrote me a very long letter, I believe it was about 12 pages, which listed every reason why he didn't want to be with me anymore.  It listed every wrong I had ever committed that he had remembered.  I was shocked.  He told me I made him miserable.  That he was not living the life he wanted and it was my fault. I hated myself.  I wanted to erase myself from existence after reading that letter. I believed him that this was my fault.... (This was the same man who had written a very different letter only months earlier in January, which described how much he loved me and how very in tune with me he was....)

At that point, my first course of action was to talk to someone.  I committed myself to therapy, even though I felt like it made me "weak" that I needed to go to therapy and have someone help me deal with my problems.  I think I went to therapy twice a week that first month.  I asked Jack to also go to therapy, but he refused.

Jack was being very emotionally cold to me, and he would stay up after I went to bed, often sleeping on the couch, or coming to bed later than I so that we weren't intimate in any way.  I decided to start sleeping in the spare bedroom.

The daily coldness and distance was a 24 hours-a-day punch in the stomach.  I walked around with a constant ache in my heart.  I did everything that I could think of to sway his opinion back toward me.  I cooked, cleaned, spoke kindly, offered him anything he needed.  I invited his friends over for dinner, went anywhere he wanted, allowed him to start smoking cigarettes again (he had stopped smoking in college after we met).  I wanted him to be happy so much that I would have done anything to give him that. I even recall an evening on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor because he said it never looked clean.

It was around this time that I finally went to see my grandfather and tell him about what was going on.  I could barely utter a word as I sat next to him on his couch, cradling a cup of coffee in my hands.  How could I tell this man, whom I admired, adored, and respected, that my marriage was failing.  I felt like a failure in telling him.  My grandfather indeed was surprised.  He asked me to tell him more.  Once I told him that Jack has said "I love you, but I'm not in love with you" and described some other actions, my grandfather said, "He's having an affair. I would know."

That was crushing to me.  My therapist had also questioned me multiple times regarding a possible affair, but I refused to believe it was possible.  Now there was another emotional wrench thrown into the mix.  If my grandfather said it, it was true.

When Jack said he needed time and space, I willingly left the house to temporarily live with my mom.  He seemed unfazed.  I stalked the house the entire time I was living with my mom.... driving by to see if he was there, and if so, was anyone else's car parked in the driveway. There is more to this story that I'm not willing to lay out for the public, but at a certain point the validity of the affair was proven.

 Jack told me soon after that he had gone to a lawyer to see about a divorce. (Ironically, the lawyer told him he had no grounds for a divorce).  I finally sought some legal counsel myself and moved back into the house at the advice of a lawyer.  This was like living in my own personal hell.  Jack came and went as he pleased and I was "the reason" for the breakdown of my family and my failed marriage.  He denied an affair, instead saying she was a friend to him.  "A true friend"  I didn't want to believe he was having an affair.  I wanted it to be as simple as I needed to be more considerate of him and his feelings.  I needed to be a better wife.  So I focused on that.  I could fix that.

I felt guilty.  It was all my fault.  He said it, and I believed it.  I ruined my marriage.  I destroyed my family.  It was a wrenching burden to carry.  I asked Jack if he still loved me.  I asked him if there was anything about me to love.  He told me, "Well, you're smart."  I don't know why, but I felt a need to ask him every once in a while some kind of question regarding his feelings toward me and every time he treated me like I was a stranger.  Why I continued in that behavior makes sense because I loved him and was seeking his approval, but it was a quicksand.  It took me a while to get out of it and every movement in it just further deepened my wound.

The emotional upheaval was exhausting.  I slept, breathed, and ate with a superficial smile pasted to my face.  I walked around in a daze, not knowing who I was anymore or what was going to happen.  My daughters' needs kept me going.  But even they couldn't keep brief thoughts of dying and how I might just end it all at bay.  I lost weight, going from a size 12 to a size 8.  I ate because I was sitting at the table with my little girls and I had to because that's what a mom does.  So I walked through the days like an automaton.  I went through the motions.  I pretended in public.

And in private, I cried.  I cried all the time, behind closed doors.  My mom knew.  My sister knew.  No one else saw the tears.  I cried, went to therapy, and I wrote.  I wrote a lot.  A few friends knew what was happening, but most people did not.  The truth was I really didn't have many friends anymore.  My friends were his friends.  And in the course of the events, I felt like they were not people I could go to.

In September, I moved out.  I did not want to.  Jack was gone to Florida, visiting family, for ten days, and in that time I realized I needed space from him.  He was suffocating me with his cruelty.  He may as well held a pillow over my face.

Leaving Jack and my home was the most difficult action I've ever taken.  I didn't want to move out, but he would not leave our home, even though I asked him repeatedly to.  He told me, "I've invested a lot of time and money in this house.  I'm not going to walk away from it."  To which I replied, "We've invested a lot of time and energy in this relationship, but you have no problem walking away from it."

At the time I was still in therapy.  I had started doing some running again and a coworker asked me to play volleyball in a league on Thursday nights and I agreed. (I had abandoned all athletic events when Jack and I got together because they didn't align with his needs. Anyone who knows me understands exactly how much of a sacrifice that was.  Much of my personality had been defined by my athleticism..)

School started back again and it was my escape.  I knew what to expect there and emotionally it was a time out.

But the nights were the hardest.  Especially the nights without the kids.  I shared custody with him because I believe if a man wants to have his children in his life he should be allowed that.  I know not everyone shares my sentiments, but I had a tumultuous childhood and much of it was due my dysfunctional relationship with my father and step-dad.  While Jack became a husband that was unrecognizable to me, he was still a great dad and I wouldn't take that way from him.

I fell asleep every night crying.  I woke in the morning, opened my eyes, and once the recognition of my life hit me, I wanted to die again.  Every movement from brushing my teeth to starting the car, felt like work. I felt like I was underwater.  How can I live this way?

Then, in the course of my sadness, another emotion crept in, anger.  It came in waves.  I loved, hated, wanted to murder, wanted to be held by my husband.  I bought a voice recorder (the kind used by reporters) and began to talk into it whenever I got angry, which was often, because I could not write fast enough to get my emotions out.  There were days I screamed into that recorder.  There were days that I drove away from his house, leaving my daughters there, and I uttered every curse word I had ever heard.  Then I yelled them.    I was sure he could hear me through the car and through his house.  My heart was black.

(Another area that I haven't much mentioned is the financial strait I was in.  I received no support for him, had gone from two incomes to one, and had to pay my own bills.  It was another stressor that caused a great deal of anxiety.)

Finally, on the way to therapy, on a brilliant, sunny afternoon, it happened.  I stopped thinking  I want to die, and I had my first vision of how I could kill myself.  I was driving along on this absolutely gorgeous fall day and I explained logically in my mind how if I increased my speed and ran into a thick enough tree or a telephone pole, then there would be a likely chance I would die.  And if not, then maybe he would be struck by his love for me seeing me in the hospital, and come back to me.  I imagined other ways I could die, but they all seemed so messy.  I was (am) not a violent person.

The peace I felt imagining I would no longer exist made perfect sense at the time.  As I write this I have difficulty believing that was ever me, but it was.  Then, as my mind was mulling the consequences of my death, at the same time I was waiting to hit a straight-away where I could pick up my speed and hopefully see a sizable tree, I thought about my Ella, face pressed to the glass when I left her at her father's.  I imagined how her tiny fingers closed around my thumb.  I thought of Madeline's bouncy blonde curls, the way she made a fake smile for the camera whenever we did photos.  Would I leave these children with the man I loved and his girlfriend.  I burst into tears.  Why?  Why me? Please, God, take away this pain. I thought.  By the time I got to therapy, I'm sure my eyes were swollen from the tears. I felt nothing but pity for myself.  I was in a "Why me?" stage.

But that moment was heart stopping.  My world changed.  At therapy that day I told my therapist about what had happened.  That was when she recommended I try using some kind of anti-depressant.  I was very against this, but I couldn't allow these thoughts anymore.  I had to dig out of this darkness.  I succumbed to modern medicine.

My thoughts changed that day too.  Yes, soon after I started taking Zoloft and I'm sure either that, or the idea of how that would change me (mind over matter) began to take hold.  I KNEW my thoughts had to change if I was going to pull through this.  I knew my actions also had to change.  I also knew I couldn't do this alone.  I was going to have to reach out, make friends, make changes, start doing somethings I love (what did I love?  I wasn't even sure...).  I decided that my marriage was over (not that this was the last time I thought that.  I went on to beg him a couple more times to try again, before I finally gave up).

And what happened after that is a story for another day.

But to end today, here are some wishes I have for you.

May you have peace of mind.

May you realize that hope is only a thought that YOU can make happen and it comes when YOU make the decision to seek happiness.

And one more thing.
That person who has caused you pain, they were important in your life.  I like to say, "Some people open doors in our lives that they are not meant to walk through with us."

This is your door.  This is your time.  Walk through.

My grandfather and myself on my wedding day.... 

It was a happy day. Nothing can or ever will change that.

So You Don't Like Your Body... and You Want To Make Some Changes. Are you Ready?

It's 2014 and you've made a resolution.  You plan on losing some weight, getting healthy, and looking good in that bikini or those short shorts (ok, maybe not you guys, but you ladies....).  You know you're not getting any younger and it seems harder every year to keep the weight off.  You're looking for a little inspiration and motivation.  You've read all about eating and exercise, you think you are ready for this change.  But, are you?  Do you want to be a different person looking back at yourself next year at this time?  I know that two years ago I did.  I wanted to change.  Changing your body will also be the beginning of changing your mind.  What your body does and how clean it operates affects your mental well being as well.

So, if you think you want it, and are wondering if you can do it, take a look at the list of questions below.  If you say yes to all of these, then you are ready.

1.  Are you seriously willing to make the commitment?
Getting healthy is, of course, about changing the body, but it starts with the MIND.  If you think you can, you will.  It is not ever your body that fails, it is your mind that tells your body.  You must get into the mindset of a champion.  You have to be willing to resist temptations and it will NOT be easy.  I know this.  Anyone who has made this change knows this.  But the good news is, you can do it and the people who really care about you will support your efforts and understand that when everyone is eating a buffet at the summer BBQ that you can not have a plate loaded with potato salad, hamburgers, hot dogs (both on rolls), pasta salad, etc. (Big thanks to all my friends who have supported me in this area.  You've made it easier for me).  Making this commitment does NOT mean you shouldn't indulge every once in a while.  Give yourself a break.  It does mean that you are going to have to accept that the weight is not going to fall off.  This isn't like your cat shedding its winter fur.  It shouldn't come off so fast anyways.  You want a lifestyle change, not an easy come, easy go temporary fix.

2.   Do you understand that it takes baby steps?
Losing weight and being healthy means taking baby steps.  All goals are accomplished this way, including financial.  How many people actually become millionaires overnight playing the Lotto and how many people are wishing and buying lottery tickets, but doing nothing every day of the week to make their dreams happen?  The people who have made it to the top didn't get that way in the matter of weeks.  It took hard work, determination and dedication.  It happens a little bit at a time.  Many people aren't satisfied with little results.  That, unfortunately, is our culture.  We want immediate gratification.  You must be willing to accept that it will take time.
(For my female friends, you should also realize, especially if you are a woman that has had children, that you are probably NOT going to look like a Victoria Secret angel.  Be proud of the scars that came from being a woman who went through pregnancy.)

3. Do you have a mentor, friend, or trainer?
You need someone to know about your goals.  Telling someone else makes you accountable for it.  Telling someone who is a friend who also has the same goals is even better.  This was how I started.  My very dear friend, Katie Lashomb, was living with me at the time, and she and I decided we wanted to make some changes.  We got a membership at Heart to Heart and we also decided to try the low carb method.  Having Katie there with me held me accountable, but she also gave me the kudos and was a cheerleader for me.  I don't know how successful I would have been without her.  Now I don't need that anymore, but it's still nice to meet a friend at the gym.  (Good girlfriend time).  What I have needed is a trainer to introduce some new moves when my routine gets boring.  Aj Sutter works at Heart to Heart and is a great trainer who listens to your needs and will create a basic plan for you.    Having a mentor, someone who has "been there and done that" or is a personal trainer or nutritionist who can help you develop a plan... even better.  The best, but most costly, is to have a trainer who will develop an exercise and fitness plan for you and hold you accountable for it (I believe that Laura Tarbell from Heart to Heart does this.)

4.  Do you avoid excuses and accept when you've taken a step back and refuel toward success?
If you want to make the changes to your health, but find yourself saying, "I just don't have the time this week." And you have a list of reasons about why you are serving Stouffer's lasagna to your family and not getting any exercise, then you're not ready.  Of course, I understand that there will be a week that it truly will be nearly impossible to make healthy choices.  But if it becomes a theme, and you are making constant excuses, then you should go back to #1.  What I say to myself when I start feeling like I want to give up or I am making excuses is a line from my favorite movie, "The Shawshank Redemption" when Red says, "Get busy living or get busy dying."

5.  Are you willing to get educated about health?
You can't make the changes you need to and be completely ignorant about the topic of health and exercise.  If you find yourself often left wondering what to eat, what to cook, what workouts to do, then you need to find a friend, buy a book (I highly recommend the book Skinny Bitch), consult a nutritionist, anything.... but do something!  I have made mistakes in my own diet and exercise regiment.  BUT I was doing something.  You WILL make mistakes. We are human.  We are fallible. This isn't about being perfect, it's about finding what works for you and doing it consistently.

6.  Are you willing to see a doctor to get a routine check up and find out your deficiencies?
Your body needs the proper vitamins and minerals to function.  Your doctor can tell you your deficiencies.  You should also be sure you don't have any other issues, such as a thyroid problem, which women, 8 times more than men, have.  If you have another reason for weight gain, then you need to identify and deal with that issue.  Changing your diet will be one of the first actions your doctor will advised you to do.  Your doctor can also check your BMI (body mass index) and you can use that number as a way to check your progress later.  Heart to Heart trainers can also check your BMI.

When I started, I had a BMI that was pushing"obese".  I was a size 14/16 and weighed about 180 pounds.  I had difficulties sleeping and suffered from a lot of anxiety.  I was unhappy with my body and disappointed with the path my life was taking.... and if I can do it, so you can you.  It's about your attitude.  I'm now about 130 pounds, size 4/6, and have a handle on the direction of my life.  I am much more satisfied with my personal relationships.  But I'm not perfect and I continue to set goals for myself.  Life is about constantly changing and evolving.

I'm not a dietitian, nor am I a nutritionist.  I'm a single, working mom and an English teacher (with aspirations :) who decided two years ago after my grandfather's heart attack that my life had to change.  I am blessed that I have the support of amazing family (including my two daughters 9 and 7 years old) and great friends.  You can see my blog which has some basic changes you can make today toward better health.  http://resistthestatic.blogspot.com/2013/08/everyday-eating-for-healthby-mutiple.html
And, as always, you can find me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/april.charleson

Think like a champion, my friend, and you will become one.

Christmas 2013