March Spending Diet!

Well, it is Leap Day, which means that my Operation Consumption Liberation (OCL) month of Snack Control is coming to an end.  If you read my last OCL post, you'll know that I was struggling a bit with the "No Eating after 8:30 p.m." part of my February challenge. Despite my resolve to get back on the wagon and stay on the wagon, I've been falling off this particular wagon left and right. 

Why can I go a month without meat or sugar without caving into my cravings, but can't make it through a shorter 29-day month without a 10 p.m. Snack Attack every few days?  I think it boils down to this: I can handle staying clear of certain kinds of foods, but I have very little willpower when it comes to not eating when I want to eat. This is probably linked to how much I dislike the feeling of denying myself that comes hand in hand with dieting. Not eating when I want to eat feels ten times more like dieting than not eating what I want to eat.  I snack pretty healthy, after all; I eat rice crackers, fruit, and low-fat string cheese, not French fries, chocolate bars, and milkshakes. 

On this note, it is clearly time for me to take a break from food-related challenges, but not from diets in the broader sense.  That's because my March monthly challenge is Curb Your Frivolous Spending Redux--a.k.a. the Spending Diet. Last year, May was my month of being a tight wad, during which I gave myself a budget of $132 to spend on unnecessary things like dining out, lattes, mascara, iTunes, haircuts, movie fares, and so on. And that was a good challenge.  This year, I'm trimming that amount by $30, for a monthly budget of $102 dollars. (That extra $2 makes all the difference.)

My homemade pizza beats Pizza Hut's any day.

I Fear Zombies!

Here's my Operation Fear Liberation (OFL) snapshot for the third week of February. Once again, I've forced myself to do something new.  

Week #7: Play a first-person shooter video game on an XBOX 360.

Why it’s on my list: First off, as far as I know, I have never played anything on an XBOX or an XBOX 360. So it is an official new thing. 

 Scary XBOX! (Photo by Wikicommons user Javier Donoso [CC-BY-SA-3.0])

You say Bag-ull, I say Bay-gull

Here's my Operation Fear Liberation (OFL) snapshot for the second week of February. Once again, I've forced myself to do something new. 

Week #6: Make homemade bagels!

Why it’s on my list: About six months or so back, a friend of mine posted a link to a bagel recipe on Facebook. Now this friend is one half of a culinary-inclined duo, who often post about their edible masterpieces in the kitchen. I don’t even think about making most of the stuff they make, because I know that I am no Nigella Lawson. That said, I am often inspired by my culinary amigos, and I actually do cook and bake from time to time. And I also really like bagels; I went through a bit of an obsession with Eltana’s wood-fired bagels last spring. So I thought, “I should totally learn to make bagels!”

An Eltana bagel that I once loved. And ate.

Snacky Crazy!

Overdue, overdue!

This is my long-delayed Operation Consumption Liberation (OCL) update about how my month without sugar (January) went and what February's OCL challenge is all about. But it is February 16th.  I can hardly remember January, I think it might have snowed a bunch.   But the rest of it...big fat blur.

Snowy in Seattle: Ravenna Park

But I did survive No Added Sugar January redux.  Like before, it was challenging at times.  Let's reflect on what I wrote at the end of No Added Sugar January last year:

I Survived Zumba: OFL Week 5

Here's my Operation Fear Liberation (OFL) snapshot for the first week of February. Once again, I've forced myself to do something new. 

 

Week 5: Go to a Zumba class 

Why it’s on my list: So Zumba is a Latin dance-inspired fitness program with a choreography that incorporates hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, martial arts, and some Bollywood and belly dance moves. I’ve been hearing from everyone and their dog about how fun Zumba is for at least a year, maybe two now. When I’ve peeked through the window of my gym’s group fitness room and seen a Zumba class in progress, the participants really do look like they are having fun. And I hear it really is a great workout for your hips and core. I’ve been meaning to try it. 

Hang Ups: I’m terrified of looking stupid, of course; why else would a person hem and haw about going to a dance class when she wants to dance? This fear is exacerbated by the fact that I am severely dance challenged.  Maybe not to the degree of the Seinfeld character, Elaine Benes, but let’s consider the evidence through the years.

The 2012 All-Consuming Agenda

I've been meaning to post my 2012 Operation Consumption Liberation schedule for a few days, in addition to a post about how I'm doing during my second-annual January without added sugar. And now here we are, January 31.  How does this happen?  

Time, why do I lose track of you so?

Anyway, I promise a post about my sugar-free month later, as well as my weekly post for my other Operation this year (Fear Liberation--OFL, yo!).  But for now, without further ado, here are the habits, things, and tendencies that I'll be trying to consume less or none of--or trying to let consume less of me--for the remaining eleven months of 2012:

• FEBRUARY: Snacking
• MARCH: Frivolous Spending
• APRIL: Gluten 
• MAY: Gasoline
• JUNE: Mindless Time Suck Activities (Facebook, web browsing, TV, etc.)
• JULY: Caffeine
• AUGUST: Needless Beauty Products
• SEPTEMBER: Dairy and Meat
• OCTOBER: Smartphone and texting
• NOVEMBER: Alcohol
• DECEMBER: Anxiety

As you can see, there are a few challenges from 2011 that I'm revisiting (Alcohol, Gasoline, and Caffeine--plus this month's Sugar challenge), and there are also a few old challenges that I've merged with another to make it a little more interesting and challenging: Superfluous Web-Browsing and TV/Netflix/Hulu are lumped together in "Mindless Time Suck Activities" in June; I'll be going without meat AND dairy for a Vegan September; and I've combined my two months dedicated to curbing my Frivolous Spending into one.  

And I'm taking up a few new challenges this year (Snacking, Gluten, Needless Beauty Products, Smartphone & texting, and Anxiety). The last is a little different, in that I will be working with my own behavior to try to prevent anxiety from becoming all-consuming in a very anxiety-provoking time (the holidays).  Also, I am not sure if my October challenge is possible.  This is 2012, not 2007.  A lot has changed...  But I'm willing to aim high, for now anyway.

 So there you have it.  And now I need to go cook some substantial meals, so that, come February 1 tomorrow, I might be less inclined to snack late at night due to eating a popcorn dinner (or a chocolate cake, given the cessation of my sugar fast...)


Cakey! The Cake from Outer Space: "Birthday" from Dyna Moe on Vimeo.

Confronting My Inner Ageist: OFL Week 4

Here's my Operation Fear Liberation (OFL) snapshot for the fourth week of January. Once again, I've forced myself to do something new. 

Week 4: Visit a life-care retirement community to attend a talk/conversation on ageism.

Why it’s on my list: My 70-year-old friend CD, who I met through a friendship-match program for isolated elders and people with disabilities called Elder Friends, asked me if I would like to go with her to this conversation café. Led by author Wendy Lustbader, the planned conversation topic for the evening was "Changing the Culture of Aging in the 21st Century."  C was clearly eager to attend this event, and since C has had several TBIs and is unable to drive, I knew she wouldn’t be able to do so without my help. Friends help each other out.

Since I’m in my mid-30s, I haven’t had many invites or reasons to attend a talk directed at a senior community. However, both of my parents qualified for full Social Security benefits last year and are by America’s standards officially senior citizens. When I consider of how very capable, active, and healthy my parents still are (in my view, anyway), this topic holds more intrigue for me than before. 

And I also have witnessed ageism in action on several occasions when I've been out on the town with C, or my 94-year-old grandmother, or my 80-something landlady, GK.  All three ladies are still more than sharp in the brains department, yet the moment salespeople see C's cane, Grandma's walker, or GK's white hair, there is a notable shift in their demeanor; they assume an ignorance on the part of my elder companion, a comprehension level on par with a kindergartener.  Often, while their speech becomes louder and slower (which, honestly, is helpful for both Grandma and GK), the salespeople's faces and gestures subtly convey increasing impatience and irritation.  C has made no secret of how much this condescension bothers her, and I can tell it frustrates my grandmother and GK too.  I don't like seeing any of my friends or family members have their feelings hurt, so I totally support changing the way this culture perceives our elders.

Plus, I am sure that I have unwittingly committed acts of ageism many, many times.  I don't want to be an ageist, so I thought this talk might enlighten me as to ways that I can avoid such ageist behavior in the future.