How To Lift Your Mood In 6 Steps

Well, I can't claim to be an always "happy" person. Am not moody though as far as I know. But there are times too, several occasions actually when the usual optimistic ME feels a bit BLUE. It's easy to say JUST SMILE, in REALITY it is difficult to just snap from being sad to glad. We are no robots. Yet here is a LIST of my SPIRIT lifting TRICKS I hope could help you make that SMILE reach your eyes :)

my good friend Dr. Raiza Marie

My friend captioned her shared photo above- ...."can't afford to let anything or anyone steal my happiness"....

10,000 Steps Goal Met!

Yay! So yesterday I re-embarked on my journey to good health. Eeee seems like it's a love-hate relationship goin' on here 😀

Well, the thing is, yes for years I was able to stick to my low carb diet but my physical activity level depended largely on my mood. But yesterday I officially launched my "healthy living project" 2.0!

I will now add jogging to my daily routine!  Yep, Sharing with you yesterday's achievement above. 

Wanted: Healthy Eating Buddies

So I have been into high fiber, colorful healthy eating for the past years. Sharing with you my favorite dishes and hoping you will hop into (pun intended) my "crazy for greens" diet. 

BREAKFAST

Above is a recipe I found while browsing Google articles - "Oats Bread" which my cousin Lejin has been baking for me. The bread has eggs, milk and bananas for flavoring. No sugar or any other ingredient is added. I love munching on it matched with my warm milk. 

"Orange" You Glad

 

photo by Mhark Parchamento

"Orange" You glad there are Oranges?

For one, oranges provide us Vitamin C. There's also that naturally sweet juice that's amazing to sip with its citrus smell that lasts long after the last bite. 

I'd squeeze the orange's peels each time and each time I would be amazed at the popping out of lovable scent that brings back childhood happy memories. 

In the photo, taken on a Friday favorite day   you can see me playing around and juggling my oranges just for fun so yeah, you can derive childish joy too from those vividly colored nature's gift!

So there, have I triggered "Orange" cravings? Go grab 'em "Orange" goodness now! 😙

Our COVID Story

 

So yes, here goes our family COVID scare. After two years of battling the pandemic working both in public service, the hubby and I tested positive for COVID. He had symptoms first, video-calling me on a Wednesday afternoon saying that he was feeling unwell and that he planned to have himself tested soon. He had fever and colds and slight cough. The next day he had an Antigen test which yielded a positive result so he underwent RT-PCR. He then came to isolate, preferring to be under my care to be babied at home. So the family immediately undertook a COVID alert protocol. I prepared our room where he will be isolating. I took my belongings to our son's room and the son was evacuated to the other house. Everyone wore masks. The hubby's food was served in disposable containers. I was feeling well for the first twenty four hours. After 48 hours we learned of his result as well as that of a workmate of mine. They both tested positive so technically I had exposure to two Covid patients. Whew, I had a feeling I would also test positive. On Friday night, I began experiencing sore throat more on the right side which lingered until the time I was swabbed. 

I alerted the rest of the family that I will also be in isolation. True to my instinct, I also tested positive. I took medications to do away with the discomfort of nasal stuffiness; sore throat and muscle pain. Thank God for vaccination and my booster shot weeks ago. I did not experience moderate nor severe signs and symptoms. I just had trouble sleeping not used to sleeping alone/ without the hubby. 

On the third day of isolation the hubby coaxed me to watch the sunrise with him by the farm. No one else would be there for sure so we had the chance to breathe in fresh air. Thank God for the hubby's emotional strength which I totally lack haha, so yeah he is the leader in this marriage 😁. We were treated to well wishes from friends and the family most especially my MOM who called up every now and then. A sister-in-law kept us nourished with food. Here goes some...

So we are okay now. The hubby was back to work today. I will be back on Wednesday too. It was a scare but with proper care COVID can be survived! And we can eradicate it soon! Vaccinate, wash hands often and keep a safe distance from others plus keep your immune system strong! :) Thank you to everyone for the prayers and thoughts. You all know who you are. 

My Weight Loss Journey Part II

So this is Part II of my weight loss journey...

You can read part I here. 

I promised to share with you how I became medium from extra large so here goes:

1. My diet

Goodbye Rice, goodbye

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#breakfast #healthylifestyle #weightlossjourney

A post shared by thelettersinnovember (@zenskulasa) on May 2, 2017 at 3:48pm PDT

Seriously I bought a plate with partitions so I could start limiting my rice intake. I used to devour rice like a monster! Like life could not go on without rice 😂. My blood sugar level started to rise because of this and my blood pressure likewise skyrocketed since aside from sweets I was also a salt lover! Too much of the extreme tastes plus I have genes for both hypertension and diabetes. What motivated me to finally cut on the rice? I had scary dizzy spells! Whew, like I was too afraid already to move! So off went white breads and all the dessert I used to binge on. 

My Weight Loss Photo-Journey Part 1

 So, from my most recent post aptly entitled LAZY where I said "I am going to sleep and see you in my dreams" I am now here ready to tell all about my WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY! Wow! the inspiration to write truly comes in mysterious ways huh! Well after clicking publish awhile back I opened my Instagram and found tons of evidence of my LOVE-HATE relationship with sugar as well as with exercise and dieting, aahh the complicated love triangle that is ME, My Ideal Body Weight and FOOD. 

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What I ♥ about summer.

A post shared by thelettersinnovember (@zenskulasa) on Apr 29, 2013 at 2:57am PDT

April 29, 2013

The great thing about social media is we get to store our memories as vividly as possible 🤣 so should you want to reach your goal and be motivated by yours truly bear with the corny illustrations presented in a chronological manner.

No Rice! My Low Carb Diet Journey

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The Cactus 🌵 #OOTD

A post shared by thelettersinnovember (@zenskulasa) on Aug 21, 2019 at 1:02am PDT

So, I've been on and off healthy eating. Something a follower would know. Is there anyone out there left reading this blog? haha, well somehow I'd love for this page to be read by only me. That is not the purpose of blogging at all.

Anyway, I have been busy. Hmmm to say I have been busy is in fact an understatement.

I have been engrossed in daily life grinds! Like work, family, studies. Name it! I still find time to sleep though, a talent I guess I will have until the end wehehehe.

Well, one thing that changed since I hit forty was my weight! I became really more conscious of my health. I finally bid goodbye to sweets!
No more dessert for me! - the complicated, intricately designed sweets have been ditched from my vocabulary- AT LAST.

So, what changed? My blood sugar level did! I had signs and symptoms of diabetes, something that is in the family genes, so lo and behold, I was afraid like really afraid for the first time in many years of existence.

So, I am now on a low carbohydrate diet. I broke up with beloved rice, and pastries and ice cream and everything that is fancy and sweet yeah even milk chocolates. Hmmm yep I do indulge in darck chocolates once in awhile. It keeps me sane, believe me!

So today, I also chose not to be stressed with law school haha. I have enrolled in five subjects. Now I am planning to quit this semester. Gee, bad decision eh? but I am just too tired. It does not make me happy these days! I need a rest! I need my sanity back! I want to be happy! I am aging hahahaha.........

They say you can never really have everything. So, I am accepting that. I am not quitting. I am simply taking a break!

So ask me how to lose weight? Simple, have a motivation, a strong one, like good health and being able to live a long life with thy loved ones. What better reason is there?

That is all for now, sleep beckons wehehehe :)

Back On Track

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#TGIF #OOTD #selfietherapy

A post shared by thelettersinnovember (@zenskulasa) on May 17, 2019 at 3:04am PDT

So, I just recovered my site. Using my Google Profile on blogger has rendered my account inaccessible until I figured out through blogger forum what to do. All thanks to one user who had the same issue I managed to log in after several frustrated attempts.

Okay, so how have I been? I've been busy with work, school and of course I have been prioritizing my family all these years. So, writing quite took a backseat. The farthest seat to say the least 😙.

The Surprising Bad Habits Affecting Your Looks

If you want to look your best, it is likely you will need to look further afield than you think. The truth is that many aspects of your life affect the way you look, and it is often going to be essential to pay attention to as many of them as you can in order to bring about the results you really want to see. There are likely to be a number of bad habits which are affecting your beauty in surprising ways, and that is what we are going to look at here. Take a look at the following and see if there is anything you should be doing to help keep yourself looking your best.

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Getting To Bed Late

If you are often struggling to get to sleep, this will almost certainly be affecting the way you look in the long run too. When you routinely don’t get enough sleep, it makes the skin look dull and can even affect the whiteness of the eyes. However, with enough sleep under your belt, you are much more likely to look full of life - and feel it, too. If you have been struggling to get to sleep recently, you might need to approach the issue from a variety of angles. Try replacing your mattress with a Hypnos mattress for better sleep, or maybe you could work on reducing the noise in your home. Cutting out screen use at nighttime will also help hugely, and is well worth the effort. Whatever you need to do to get more sleep, make sure you get on top of it.