The Colloid Base

If you’ve made the efforts to complete an entire week of romance
with your spouse, you may or may not have been able to come up
with your own ideas. If you find that you haven’t been bit with
the romance inspiration bug on your own, you can plan several
weeks of romance for you and your spouse with a few more
suggestions. Once you’ve implemented the ideas that work for you
and you’ve been doing them for a while, you are sure to be
inspired with your own thoughts and ideas.

Start your week off on Sunday and keep in mind that it is a
wonderful day to remain low-key and enjoy time alone with your
spouse. Take a long walk without cell phones, iPods or any other
distracting devices. Just you and your spouse should take a walk
and enjoy each other’s company. Hold hands while you walk. You
can also spend the day in your bedroom, keep the curtains drawn
and light some candles. You are in charge of whatever else
happens there. On the other hand, you can spend the entire day
in bed with the curtains open and read the paper to each other
or watch movies all day. Eat your meals in bed. (Making love is
definitely an option as well!)

On Monday, wake up with the birds. Enjoy a morning together
without the normal rush you typically go through. Go to a music
store and buy a romantic CD to present to your spouse. Enjoy it
together before going to bed. Mondays are also great for calling
in sick to repeat an exceptional Sunday again.

Tuesdays are great days to wake up early and begin making love
with your spouse. On another Tuesday, try reading something you
both find to be inspirational aloud. As an alternative activity
for particularly busy Tuesdays, send your spouse loving thoughts
by using mental telepathy. You don’t think it works? Try it and
you’ll see.

Wednesdays are always difficult days of the week because they
are only the halfway mark to the anticipated weekend. Do
something different like taking a class together, give each
other massages (or just give him or her a massage) or have
dinner together. In fact, pack a picnic lunch, meet him or her
at work and either eat there or leave to eat at a park or even
in the car.

You must remember that Thursday is always gift day. When you are
at a store and you spot something your spouse might enjoy or you
know he or she will love, you should start picking those items
up and storing them for Thursdays. You should never run out of
gifts this way and you must never miss gift day!

Friday is always a day to look forward to! When your spouse
comes home from work, have ‘your’ song playing on the radio. If
you took dance classes together on Wednesday, they will come in
handy! Draw him or her a bath and share it together.

Saturday is your day to be creative. Think about his or her
favorite artist (music, painting, sculpture, etc.) and buy them
some of their work. Make love, but make up some fun rules like
you can’t open your eyes or you can’t use your hands. Make a
decadent dessert and feed it to each other. Start all over again
when you wake up Sunday morning!

Going out to eat can really put the brakes on your weight loss
program unless you have exceptional control over what you eat.
Although many restaurants now offer choices for many types of
diets, it’s whats on the rest of the menu that might tempt you
to stray. Often high in salt, sugar and oil most restaurant food
tends to be higher in calories that what you might prepare for
yourself.

And Americans are eating out more and more. According to Dr.
Caroline Cederquist, a physician who specializes in weight
management, less than 20 percent of the calories Americans
consumed were eaten outside the home in 1978 but in 2003, that
number had climbed to 50 percent. Combine that with the fact
that obesity in Americans is growing each year with as many as
two thirds of Americans being overweight and you might come to
the conclusion that eating out can be hazardous to your
waistline.

One problem is that restaurants often serve huge portions. That
combined with the fact that we have been conditioned to clean
our plates can result in a huge weight problem. You may feel
morally obligated to eat everything on your plate –even if your
health and your weight might suffer as a result. If you eat out
a lot, you may become accustomed to these large portions and
start to eat like that at home as well.

Another problem with restaurant eating is that they often serve
bread or rolls - and usually not the healthy whole wheat kind
either. Now, when you know you are going out to eat, you
probably eat less throughout the day or delay or skip eating and
by the time you get to the restaurant you are starving. So what
do you do when they bring the rolls? Of course, you dig in
eating way to many rolls.

You might be dining with a group that likes to savor the
experience and order appetizers before the meal but did you know
that restaurant appetizers tend to be extremely high in
calories? For example, a basket of fried onions can have a
whopping 2,000 calories. Eat a few appetizers to be polite and
you’ll have to run the treadmill for hours to work it off!

Many restaurants now offer free soda refills. Plus the soda
glasses tend to be large to begin with so you are receiving
greater servings of this sugary beverage. The tendency may be to
order seconds because it’s free and you want to take advantage
of that but remember, just the soda alone can put you far over
your daily recommended allowance of calories for weight loss.

Perhaps the greatest restaurant challenge to any dieter is the
buffet. With so many choices you may be tempted to get one of
everything! Since you can go back as many times as you want you
might overindulge. You want to make sure you get your moneys
worth, right?

So what can you do if you must eat out several times a week?
First of all, make sure you stick to your diet plan. Don’t give
in to eating wrong foods “just this once.” Choose entrees that
have lots of vegetables and avoid dessert entirely. When your
meal comes, set half aside immediately and even ask for a doggy
bag right away so you won’t be tempted to eat the second half
when the first is done. Don’t starve yourself before going out
to eat and you will be better able to avoid eating those rolls
as well as overeating when the meal comes. If you are not
starving when you order, it will be easier to order a healthy
meal an stay away from fatty, high calorie entrees.

Generally, if you stick to sensible and healthy eating patterns
both at home and when eating out you will be developing good
eating habits that will help you lose weight and keep it off for
life.

“You have a herniated disc. You are going to have to live with this pain. I don’t recommend surgery.”

That’s what my doctor said to me after looking at the results of an MRI that I agreed to have due to excruciating back pain. He offered me nothing, not even hope. As soon as I heard this man coldly inform me that I would live a life filled with chronic pain, I silently refused to accept his words as my truth.

I Must Heal!

I set a strong intention to become pain free and my journey toward healing began. Weekly chiropractic adjustments and therapeutic massages became the norm for me. While working, I often found a flat surface to lie on during my lunch hour. This was the only way I could manage to sit behind a desk all day. (so much for packing errands and eating into that short time frame!) During the evenings, I often soaked in a hot bath and used heating pads to relieve my pain. Even though my chiropractor suggested ice, I loved the way heat soothed the muscles spasms I frequently endured. Meditation, yoga and deep breathing also helped me manage the pain and the stress it added into my already stressful life.

Pain encouraged me to slow down so I did. Along with changing my lifestyle, I also entered into an intimate relationship with my back, neck and shoulders. These parts of my body that had been taken for granted now guided me in almost every move and choice I made.

A Blessing?

My herniated disc is one of the best things that ever happened to me. It set me on a path toward learning about the mind, body, spirit connection before I reached my thirties. I began to realize that my choices greatly impacted my health. Now I have learned to listen to my body through my experience with back pain. If my back pain flares up, I know it is time to examine my choices, get a massage, sit in hot water, stretch or simply rest.

Tuning into the Body

It is easy to take the body for granted and forget that it is truly a miraculous container for the mind and spirit. Try getting mindful about your body. Tune into it and listen to what it is saying to you. It’s likely that your body can serve you in more ways than you may realize.

Tips for Tuning In:

Check in to see how your body feels when you are making a decision. A tight feeling in your stomach might tell you which options are not in your best interest. Pay attention! Your body is trying to point you toward the best choice for you.

Honor pain. Often, we curse pain. What good does this do? Try viewing pain as your ally and look for ways it might guide you toward healing.

Notice when you feel good in your body. What are you doing? What feels right about the moment? How can you bring more moments like this into your life?

Practice love and gratitude for your body. Instead of focusing on the body’s imperfections, focus on all that it does for you. Send your body love and connect with it more fully in a positive way.

Suggested Reading to learn more about the mind, body, spirit connection:

Heal Your Body by Louise Hay

Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing by Christiane Northrup, MD.

Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power by Caroline Myss, Ph.D.

(“Listening to the Body” is about the mind, body, spirit connection. This article is based on my personal experience and opinions. It is not intended to be medical advice. ~Beverly Keaton Smith)

(c)2006 Beverly Keaton Smith

Beverly Keaton Smith, CPCC owns and operates Embrace Your Gifts and Soar! She is a certified life coach who offers individual life coaching, group coaching, workshops and retreats to women who are ready to discover and embrace their unique gifts so they can live more athentically and joyfully. She is also co-author of The Book of Druthers. To learn more about Beverly, visit http://www.embraceyourgifts.com.