5.31.2014

Today's Small Victory

Time to go through the closet again. Like brushing teeth, it's a chore that has the best preventative effects when done more often.

Sometimes the best line of attack is to remove EVERYTHING from the drawer or rod and start from scratch. When everything is cleared out, it only takes a moment to give the emptied space a quick vacuum or wipe, then a nice, clean place to put back only the BEST stuff.

Be HONEST about what should go back so that the wardrobe is full of good feelings.

Is this in the right place?
Does it fit?
Is it flattering?
Is it out of date?
Has it seen better days? (Is it worth repairing?)
When is the last time I wore it?
Do I like it?

Another thing to keep in mind its whether your lifestyle has had any significant changes. For example: when I changed from the full-time professional office environment to a freelance-from-home work life, it took me YEARS to admit that I only needed enough slacks and blazers for the very occasional meeting instead of every day. As a result I was able to purge all but the VERY BEST of this category of professional clothes and give the rest away. Now when I do have a meeting it's very easy to put together a nice outfit and I freed up a significant amount of closet space.  Moving to a different climate would be a similar opportunity to purge.

Today's small victory:

And from my youngest son's shirt drawer:
some are rags, most are off to another family

5.04.2014

Body Clutter Update.

It was month of no wheat (though I once accidentally tested the the kid's pasta for done-ness out of habit) and my refined sugar intake was ALMOST completely removed too. Though I binged on chocolate one day - about 75g of milk chocolate, and felt icky for many hours afterwards.

Unfortunately I have not seen much in the way of success. The initial carb-flu whoas were followed by a bright clarity that was nice, and I thought I might be losing some weight and water retention. But it was different from day to day and I haven't nailed down why. Some days were slim, light and perky, others were puffy, heavy and achy!

The bulk of the experiment is over, 4 weeks was enough for me to get into a habit of whole foods. I will continue to choose real foods and avoiding processed. But I'm not going to be super-stringent about gluten anymore, though I will choose other options if they are available.  Sugar is still a struggle for me, and I will continue to fight that addiction.

Thinking ahead, I will stick with my original plan... real, whole, healthy foods. It can't hurt, right?

Maybe I have it all wrong and it's not food, but some other environmental trigger?

Meanwhile my meals will continue to be beautifully colourful and interesting!