Category: Weird Dreams

The Food Struggle

“One more helpin’ of what I’ve been havin’ – I’m takin’ my turn on the sin wagon.” Sin WagonDixie Chicks

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So for those of you who are unaware, I have Type 2 Diabetes. I was diagnosed in September 2014. Diabetes is such a rapidly growing problem that you would think it wouldn’t make me feel any different from anyone else and that since it’s a growing disease I wouldn’t even feel differently about having it…but I do.

One would assume that since there’s a growing number of people who have this, there would be more accommodations made. I mean, I’ve seen more, “Gluten Free!” products now than I ever have before. In fact I could actually stock my whole kitchen with gluten-free products and be completely satisfied. Did you know that only 1% of Americans have Coeliac Disease (taken from celiaccentral.org). From the American Diabetes Associate website, in 2012, 9.3% of Americans had Diabetes. Try finding sugar-free products (and not just cookies that still use white flour) as compared to gluten-free in stores. There are far less of those products. Also, just because it says “sugar-free” on the package doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t ingredients in it that turn to sugar quickly in the body. Really, sugar-free products are not really sugar-free. So there’s a bit of frustration with that on my end but when you get down to it: if you exercise, eat healthy natural foods (i.e. fruits, vegetables, whole wheat breads) you’ll be fine if you’re a person with Type 2 Diabetes, or someone who doesn’t have Coeliac Disease. It’s limiting but it’s what you have to do in order to fight, “the struggle” lol.

Anyway, I do feel different having it but luckily that difference isn’t prevalent all the time. Usually I am only aware of it when it’s time to eat or when I’m with other people eating. For example: if I’m at a restaurant with my friends eating, there’s very few items on the menu I can actually consume. So while everyone else’s struggle is to choose between the many items they like, my struggle is trying to find SOMETHING that I can actually consume whether I like it or not. Now I know what you’re thinking, “#FirstWorldProblems”, but this is a part of my life and it’s a struggle in this society filled with sugar products EVERYWHERE! Fortunately, as time has passed, I have become accustomed to eating the way I do and going without the things I like. Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t cheat once in a while. The other night at the college’s Employee Appreciation Dinner, there sat a delicious, juicy brownie sitting neatly on a white plate. The visual of this was so overwhelming that I sat for an hour and watched that brownie. During dinner I had made up my mind I would eat that brownie and enjoy it. Well, I did. And as you might have expected it was quite delicious! I paid for it too. I became quite sleepy and the next day I felt a craving for sugar. THAT’S HOW ADDICTIVE SUGAR IS!

So, because of my food limitations, it worries me about what my diet will be when I leave for the trip. When we are traveling we will be eating out a bit. We have a plan to have a cooler with food for the journey home but what about while we’re in California and Washington? Being in those places makes me worry more because I LOVE experiencing new foods and eating at good restaurants. Even though I have major will power when it comes to food now, I am scared that I will end up ruining myself in some way. *laughs* It’s kind of like the reoccurring dream I have about every 2 months: I end up smoking ONE cigarette and then it turns into a full carton! *For those that are unfamiliar, I smoked for 14 years but have since quit and have now been smoke free for 5 years*

I’m pretty sure I can stay focused but what are some things I can tell myself, or things I can do to prevent getting on the food wagon of sin while on vacation?

Bad Dream Takeover

“But when we wake, it’s all been erased. And so it seems, only in dreams” Only In DreamsWeezer

WOW! Talk about “Freaky Friday”! This is the third night in a row where I’ve had some wacky dream about something completely foreign to me. The first dream, I was in prison. Yes, that’s right I said it, PRISON! It was strangely realistic (which is the scary part because normally dreams are supposed to be NON-realistic). I found myself having to do terrible things to save myself from a beating, and selling weapons to other inmates in order to buy myself protection! My parents wouldn’t visit me, (obviously whatever I did warranted this absence of their presence) and I had been put in, “The Hole” for a week. WHOA! All of this has brought me to the most clear realization that I must completely avoid any violent television or movies. It’s obvious that I’m having these dreams based off of shows and movies I’ve watched. How can I be excited in the daytime if at night I’m worried where my mind will take me next?

I’m not sure what I dreamt the second night, but on the third night I dreamt I was Marilyn Manson’s PR rep. *o* For those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s dubbed the, “King of Shock Rock” or was. Very androgynous and completely creepy/freaky, he acted very normal and sane in my dream but I was still mortified. I attribute my dream to having heard something about him throughout the day or someone must have mentioned him at some point in the passing week. I can tell you that I do not think about him at all, and to have a dream about him…well… Ugh! I was totally creeped out. I woke up feeling like maybe I needed to look at lots of pictures of puppies and butterflies. Very strange to say the least, but we all have those weird dreams we can’t quite put our finger on.

To get that feeling of creepiness away from me, I quickly helped my parents with the other side of their house. We organized some things, but mostly threw some things away. While we cleaned I was secretly hoping we would find something we could use for our trip out west; like maybe a duffel bag, or something we could camp with. Unfortunately we didn’t really find anything that was of use to us on our trip but we did run across some really old retro stuff!

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Some “Balsam of Myrrh”.

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What about “sani-white” shoe polish? So interesting how we don’t use illustrations to capture human figures anymore. We use real images in advertisements because it’s more personal and people identify with real versus illustrated images.

And, nothing would be complete without, “Watkins Petro-Carbo Salve”.

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Mom insisted it was still good, which I believe. I’m still just a little taken back by it. I mean, I grew up with this same tin of salve my whole life! This tin has been in this family for at LEAST 33 years! LOL But hey, if it’s still good, why not right?

I’m hoping that maybe our second venture to organize will be more successful in finding something useful. Haha It’s like shopping but free! I’m kind of in need of a duffel bag. I have a feeling one suitcase won’t do it for this trip. Then again we don’t have to pack more than necessary.

Maybe we should bring the salve?