We're going to the beach!

So Nick and I are starting the South Beach diet. -Correction- We actually started it yesterday and I wanted to start writing about it to sort of chronicle our experience and outcome.

First things first, if you are thinking anything along the lines of "but Katie, you are skinny, you don't need to diet!", Please shut up. I know I don't need to lose weight, but I do need to become healthier, especially heart healthy. My dad had a massive hearth attack at 36 and was dead for around 5 seconds. Since then he has had numerous procedures including stents, angioplasties, lord knows what else. His parents have just as serious a history, as does my mom's mom. I turn 26 in May and that ten year marker is just staring me down. The terrible thing about all these family heart problems is most of them are preventable with good diet and exercise. This is where I fail miserably. I may be smaller, but I eat terribly and most of my exercise comes from walking customers around the store. I probably get my heart rate up once a month and not for the full twenty minutes most doctors recommend.

Enter the South Beach diet. This diet was developed by a cardiologist named Dr. Agatston who was trying find a way to help his patients lose weight, improve blood chemistry, and prevent heart problems. The current diet recommended by the American Heart Association is based on a low fat, high carbohydrate lifestyle which fit the known science in the '50's when it was developed. Since then scientists have learned so much more about nutrition, cholesterol and the connections between them. This is what prompted Dr. Agatston to create a eating style based on good carbs and good fats. There are 3 phases; On the first you completely cut out all carbs, fruit, and juice. Basically anything that will become quick sugar when digested. After the first two weeks, you slowly add carbs back into your diet. When you finally reach a healthy weight, you enter phase 3, eating well for the rest of your life. This is the main reason Nick and I really enjoy this diet. It is not a quick fix weight loss, it is a whole new way of life.

I picked up the book from work when our Doctor Suggested this to us two weeks ago. I was really excited at all the benefits of this diet and the workability it had with our everyday life. Some things, like no fruit for the first two weeks seemed shocking to us, but as we learned about the nutrition behind it all, the first phase made more and more sense. We went grocery shopping this past Saturday and what an experience that was. Until this diet, I had no idea how many carbs Nick and I ate on a regular basis! We started in the produce and filled half our cart with vegetables. Normally we only use the top part and fill the rest with pantry and frozen items. We walked right through aisles we would normally buy all kinds of things in, and instead learned about lean cuts of meat we would have never looked at before.

Sunday had us clearing the cupboards of all the banned foods. We had just received our foodstamps the month before and really stockpiled. It was pretty disheartening knowing we would have to get rid of it all, but it was going to people who needed it and we would benefit from not having it around to tempt us.

Shocking, huh? That box is probably 2x4 and it is FULL.

So yesterday we started our new lifestyle and I think it went pretty well. We are encouraged to snack in between meals and eat until we are full so you're never left feeling hungry. This is the salad I made for today's lunch and its enormous!
Its chopped tuna, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, avocado, celery and a garlic lime dressing.

So far, I'm really excited for this diet. We have a fridge full of veggies and a mapped out meal plan. I'll let you know how it goes!

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Hello lurkers! I'm sorry I haven't visited blog land in the last few months. Even though I'm on the computer constantly, blogging feels like "work" some days, instead of mindless clicking :)

Right when I came back to work after the wedding, the cafe manager came up to me and told me this statistic he heard. When a couple gets married, a man's work load drops an hour while a woman's gains 7 hours. I swear to god this is true too. Granted, Nick usually works 10+ more hours a week than I do, and he earns a little bit more, but is that really reason for me to do a majority of our chores? While we've never discussed it, I feel like we've fallen into those traditional Husband and Wife roles. Part of this has to do with me and my ridiculous control issues. Sometimes I'll get Nick to do the dishes, but the entire time I'm next to him telling him how I like it done and what works best. Why can't I be happy that he's doing it? Where did this 'my way or the highway' attitude come from? Its silly, and I'm trying to be more aware of it. I'm also trying to get Nick to be more aware of all the work I do around the house so I can get him to chip in more, right or wrong way :)

commit this to memory

Today, I finally figured out something thats been bugging me since I moved into this apartment. Turns out, if I put my "stereo" in the bathroom, I can hear it in every single room :) This really has been driving me nuts since day one. I hope its loud enough to bug my upstairs neighbors as much as their kids constant running around bugs me.

Okay, so I finally have the internets again, the least I could do is give you an update of the last month or two :)

HEALTH
Back in early July I noticed I was losing a TON of hair. Huge handfuls every time I showered, did my hair, loose pieces throughout the day. I was ready to chalk this up to needing a haircut and wedding stress, but the sheer amount of it made me worried. I finally made a doctors appointment and they agreed, it sounded like stress but they ran some blood work just to be sure. When the results came back my thyroid numbers were through the roof. Turns out I have something called hashimoto's disease, which is an autoimmune disease that causes hypothyroidism, usually brought on by stress. Lovely. I got put on meds to treat the hypothyroidism and was sent on my way. I went back for a follow up mid-August. My hair was still falling out and I was exhausted every day. The doctor ran more bloodwork and ordered me in for a thyroid ultrasound since he couldn't see anything wrong on the surface. The ultrasound showed I have a nodule, which are usually benign, but the doctor wanted me to have a scan done just to be sure. Down side is, I can't have the scan until I've been off the meds for a month which were finally making me feel better! I made the appointment Monday and the earliest I can have it done is October 20. I haven't been feeling too bad, just tired much more than normal. I've been letting myself sleep in and nap if I need to, but I can't wait to get everything regulated and back to normal!

HOME
Nick and I moved into a two bedroom apartment at 19 & Hayes the week before the wedding. That week sucked :P We love it here. We are completely out of boxes, but we haven't put a lot of finishing touches up yet. Our back room needs a futon for teevee watching and the living room is nearly barren, but its home :) If you go to Lakeside, come say hello

WEDDING
After wasting the entire summer planning, its over!! Yahoo! The weather was gorgeous, the ceremony was beautiful and we had so much fun! The hall looked great, we looked great, the food was delicious, we danced all night long. A few guests were cranky, but I sort of expected it from them anyway. I have pictures all over facebook so you can look over there if you like. Nick's Aunt got us a suite at Caesers Windsor and it was the most beautiful room I have ever seen. We were on the 11th floor overlooking the Detroit river. King size bed, 2 flat screen teevees, jacuzee tub, gorgeous! We didn't actually leave the hotel until around 6 on Monday, we just slept in and laid around in our hotel robes relaxing. It was awesome. On Tuesday we drove to Niagra Falls and stayed in a really crumby room, but we were only in there to sleep so its okay. The Falls were amazing. We did the Maid of the Mist boat tour which was the coolest thing I've done in a long time. Then we walked along the strip and indulged in the sights. Beer, pizza, icecream, ferris wheel, window shopping, we had so much fun. 3 days was exactly the right amount of time too, we were so ready to come home and just do nothing but be home and relax.

Currently, we are loving married life but having a hard time adjusting to our very opposite work schedules. I see a lot more sleeping husband than I spend time with husband, but its nice just to know hes there. I have to close the bedroom door most days after hes worked the night shift because all I want to do is go in a bother him awake :) What a bratty wife.

So what have you been up to, Internet? I've missed you.

Wee, the internets are back!

We got this new computer with a big ass monitor and I hate it because all the websites are all janky now. Gay.

Real post when I have more time, just wanted to say hello :)

So a lot of very cool and important things happened today. 1.) The new IKEA catalog came in the mail and 2.) Nick and I applied for an apartment! (What? You know I can't resist them swedes)

So we applied at Lakeside Village today, and if everything goes well, we move in as early as Tuesday! I'm totally excited. I will be 1 mile from my work!

My boss worked my regular days off into my vacation time to make it even longer, so now the 17th is my last day until at least September 1st! I'm so excited, I haven't had 2 weeks off since the summer vacation of 11th grade. After we move in, Nick and I are doing a lot of nothing ^_^