Nutrition, Vitamins, Chocolate

I bought Caltrate (calcium and vitamin D) as my physician ordered. I still need to buy an additional vitamin-D supplement too, but I lost the paper on which I wrote how much vitamin-D.

I am still testing on the border of iron level is low-normal and anemic. I'm eating crap that I shouldn't. Actually I am eating a lot of chocolate cake. I can buy a nice piece of chocolate cake at Dominick's or Portillo's. Yum, yum. I have to eat healthier for my own sake. My OWN sake. My OWN health because it's good for me. It's a way to tell myself that I LOVE myself. The problem is that I do not like to cook. Not only I don't like to cook, but when I do, it comes out gross.

Today I looked at the NAMI newsletter that appeared in my inbox a few days ago. It's an entire article about eating well. Here's the article I cut and pasted:

Let’s dish about diet Junky foods and depression go hand-in-hand, so eating better just might lead to feeling better by Lynn Santa Lucia [excerpt from Let’s dish about diet]

Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, said, ―Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.‖ That's not to say we can eat our way to mental health, but the opposite may be true: Recent findings suggest a connection between poor diet and depression. A five-year study of more than 3,000 middle-aged office workers in the United Kingdom and another looking at 1,046 Australian women came to similar conclusions: A diet rich in lean meat or fish, whole grains, fruits and vegetables was associated with a lower risk of depression or anxiety, while a junk-food diet—loaded with processed foods, sugary treats and saturated fats—correlated to higher rates of reported depression. Researchers are quick to caution that depression may lead to poor food choices rather than the other way around. Nor is diet alone a reliable way to treat depression. ―It’s difficult to make food recommendations in the case of depression and affective disorders because there are so many different underlying patterns that can be involved with these diagnoses,‖ says Simon N. Young, PhD, a psychiatry professor at Montreal’s McGill University whose research focuses on how diet affects brain function. ―Control of mood is not mediated just by one substance.‖ While there is no prescription for ―magic foods,‖ it can’t hurt to make healthier food choices day in and day out. ―I notice that if I eat too much unhealthy food in a given day, I don't feel good emotionally,‖ says Randi H., 58, of Daly City, California, who was diagnosed with depression in 1994. ―It takes very little change in diet or exercise, in a positive or in a negative way, to have an impact on my mood. ―Knowing that is a good thing,‖ she adds. ―It means it will take very little effort to make me feel good, and that I'm in control of that and it’s a choice I make every day.‖

Fixation on Missing Hat

I felt a little off center yesterday. It started when I used the lavender scented body scrub in the shower. The smell was a little too chemical-y for me. When I first rec'd this gift, I liked the smell.

Then I did not do my laundry or dishes, so my home was a little too messy. Also, I hadn't gone grocery shopping, so on the way to my part-time job I went through the drive-through and bought a milkshake. Stopping for this purchase made me just a bit late/or just-in- time depending on your point of view. I'm suppose to arrive at work 15 minutes early just in case and to sign-in. I arrived just-in-time to work with the children. The supervisor was frantic on the phone with the director because I had not shown up. Then she saw me, told the director I had arrived, and hung up the phone.

The supervisor told me to call the director later. I didn't call him because I don't feel like hearing him tell me to arrive 15 minutes early. He's such a scatterbrain anyway, I'm hoping he'll forget. Also, I'm annoyed he did send me all the materials I do need. Eventually, I'll need to contact him.

The kids misbehaved and were very snotty and rude. I just don't have the patience for this particular age group.

Afterwards, I was late getting out of there because I had to clean up the materials. So there!

When I stopped for gas, I realized I lost my hat or left my hat behind. Damn! That annoyed me most of all. It's a new hat, and I really, really like it for its warmth and design.

I also drove to a few stores looking for a new hat, but there weren't any I like. Damn again. It was snowing, and the streets were slick.

Once home, I realized I had not had any protein or a real meal all day. Nor did I have anything of substance in the house.

I watched a true life murder story and was glad when I went to bed.

Even though I took my trazadone (sp?), I kept waking up thinking about the damn hat.

This morning, I bought a few groceries and a crappy, cheap new hat.

I feel somewhat better and am trying not to think of missing hat, but am not succeeding. The hat made me happy. It really did. It was warm, comfy, and cute and did not slide off my head. I'm just irritated at self. I hope when I go to the school next week, it'll be in the lost and found box.

I found the phone number of the store and will call to see if they have another they can ship me. Hopefully, I can describe the hat well and they have another in stock.

I can't believe I'm fixated on my $12.50 hat. But, damn, it's cold outside! The wind chill is below zero.

Ever lose something that you just can't get over?? People have lost a lot more, so I shouldn't be upset. But I am upset. It's stupid to be fixated on my hat, but I can't help it.

P.S. I'm not sure why there's a blank space in the photo.