I Heart Sugar.

On many occasions I think to myself that I consume too much sugar. There is a diabetic in the family and this gives me reason to believe that I should stop right there and curb this sweet tooth before I end up having to tote around a glucose monitor til the day I die.

Sometime two weeks ago, my big mouth challenged a caffeine-loving friend to not consume coffee for 30 days. To encourage this, I blurted out that I would not have refined sugar. And another fellow friend said she would not eat baked goods. The conditions were that I was allowed to have natural sugars such as juice and honey, and I was also allowed artificial sweeteners. The point is, I can't eat most desserts that I love like ice cream or cake :( or candy.

I am only 10 days in and I want nothing more than to sink my teeth into a sugary, buttery cupcake like there is no tomorrow. I admit, I cut corners - I buy organic cereal that is sweetened with honey or sugar cane juice and I eat boxed cookies with artificial sweeteners. And I confess, I have also mistakenly put things in my mouth that had sugar, not even thinking about it BUT I was honest about these slip ups.

It's incredible how much willpower it takes to turn sugar away. The office I work at has jars of Starburst and sugary granola bars 10 steps away from my desk. In the morning, I have to eat my toast with butter and not jam. I. Love. Jam. The mental struggle to turn away cupcakes on the weekend was just shy of being epic.

Has this lead to weight loss? No. I seem to have replaced my sugar fix with a carb fix. I've been eating more bread now than I have in the past 5 years. I have no doubt that once these 30 days are over that I will be stuffing my face with cake. Disaster. 40 days makes or breaks a habit they say? If I extend this by another 10 days I will find out.

Snowboarding Season - Fini!

This winter was my first full season of snowboarding, averaging one trip every other weekend since the end of December, totaling 7 days of cold, powdery goodness. Let's total up how much I spent shall we?

My awesome board and matching gear - I have to look good out there after all ;) :

Board, boots and bindings were ordered from www.evo.com's outlet, I ordered them early September when selection was still good and the 2010 inventory was marked waaay down: $390 including ridiculous shipping and duties. TIP: If you have friends who live in wonderful Vancouver, they might be able to do you a favor and drive to Seattle to pick up your gear right from the Evo warehouse and then ship it to you within Canada.

Helmet, goggles, gloves, socks, two jackets, two boarding pants, and Superfeet: $720. YIKES! I'll note though that the helmet, goggles, and one pair of pants were purchased last year. The only thing here that was not on sale was Superfeet. It's an athletic insole I bought to avoid having to buy new boots because there was too much space inside. Expensive, but not as expensive as new boots, this was the best alternative. Plus everything is real matchy-matchy. Bonus: the arch support helps my feet avoid cramping. Why did I get a second jacket and pants? It was life or death really. I was on the top of a mountain once and the fog was so thick, I could barely see past 10 feet in front of me. Blanket of white and guess what else was white? My jacket. I deemed it hazardous right then and there. I also hate trying to pick out people in the crowd when 8/10 people are wearing gray or black. My new teal & yellow ensemble will make me impossible to lose! (And it adds to the matchy-matchy.)

• Sunshine/Marmot Card: $99 (I think). First visit free.

• Louise Plus Card: $99. First 2 visits free, includes Kicking Horse Resort. Used once in both places, well worth the purchase!

• Nakiska iSki Card: $40. First visit free, discounts at Fernie, Nakiska, and Kimberly. Used free at Nakiska and received discounts on the second visit to Nakiska and in Fernie.

Total cost of all cards plus other lift tickets: $400.

Grand Total: $1510 not including hotels, fuel, and food.

Withing 7 days of boarding (not all were full days), I went from loathing the moment I would have to get off the chairlift to carving through trees. I am in love with it!!! The downside to it is that it's been interfering with my yoga practise big time! The muscles built in the legs from being strapped onto a board has reversed the work I've done in yoga. It feels like I'm back to step one. :(  At least the sport has lightened my hatred for winter a little bit and I have something to look forward to when summer is at it's end.

Insomnia

Insomnia comes in many different forms but in a nutshell, if you have trouble sleeping, it's insomnia.

I'm no stranger to insomnia, in fact it's been visiting me at least three times a month, sometimes twice a week, for the past three years. At first it was worrisome and I went weeks without having a restful sleep. When a person goes without deep restorative sleep, health issues arise and mentally, your alertness deteriorates. It's not a small problem.

What causes the inability to fall asleep comes from many areas. Stress, habits, physical health, emotional and mental well-being, even medication. When insomnia is persistent, it may be time to see a doctor. The problem with seeing a doctor is that 90% of the time they will push a prescription on you. Prescribed medicine can lead to misuse and dependency on the drug to help you fall asleep. Being a person who puts off medication until I physically and mentally can't handle the symptom anymore I was extremely hesitant to fill my prescription.

On my first visit to the doctor I asked for a drug-free remedy. He suggested Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Basically, take the time every day to tell your brain to shut up, and relax before hitting the sheets. Do nothing that can make your brain active and avoid late night exercising. This includes avoiding any activities in the bedroom. No tv, no computer, no doing crunches on the floor, if you're not sleeping or making whoopie, take it elsewhere. The idea behind CBT is that you will create the habit every night that tells your brain that it's time to go to sleep. If this didn't work, I had the option to fill the prescription.

A common wall that insomniacs face is that when we worry too much about falling asleep, it fuels the brain to stay awake. I concluded that the major factor in my case was that I couldn't stop my brain at night. I went through three prescriptions, all of them I was hesitant to take, I had to go back to the doctor three times before I found something I was comfortable taking and had the least risk of dependency. One worked and I only took half a pill for 3 nights and I was able to sleep on my own again thereafter.

Since then I've looked for non-pharmaceutical intervention. I tried valerian, which REEKS and I didn't find it to work. My sister's cat also gave me crazy eyes when he'd smell it. Apparently it's like catnip to felines. I tried a chinese herbalist which I should have gone to see first. Aside from the awful taste and the long process of producing a tincture, this is very effective. The tincture cleanses the organs and boosts the immune system.

A few simple solutions from my experience with insomnia is that if you can't fall asleep:

• Just get up and do something. So your brain doesn't want to sleep - reverse psychology yourself. Organize something, clean a little, I usually get sleepy after an hour of not trying to sleep.
• Drink some water. The body needs to experience a slight drop in temperature in order to fall asleep. If you are dehydrated the body can't cool itself.
• If you wake up in the middle of the night and feel hungry, eat some fruit. Your hunger signals will stop and your brain can relax.
• And finally, my personal favorite, and this works for me EVERY time, not even joking. Yoga! I don't mean bust out a full sun salutation (save it for the morning!), do an inversion. What I like to do, to minimize the increase in activity level (or out of sheer laziness) is I shuffle myself around so that my head is pointed towards the foot of the bed and my feet can prop up on the wall. The goal is to elevate your feet higher than your head. I inch up close to the wall so that my body is in a complete L shape. A couple minutes in this position or when I start to feel cold I come back to a normal sleeping position and I fall asleep in minutes. You may look weird with your feet up on the wall in the dark but I swear by it! This is not recommended if you are pregnant, have high blood pressure or have glaucoma. Aside from bringing fresh blood and oxygen to the brain and moving cold blood towards the heart, this is amazingly calming.