Recent Posts
Well, the winter chill is almost over and how many, or rather, how few of us survived unscathed? Who among us has been lucky enough to have missed colds, coughs and that deadly 'flu? I was doing ok up until the middle of August when suddenly I had glands up in my neck. Painful and annoying, but nothing seemed to come of it. Perhaps my immune system had finally awoken from hibernation for a last ditch effort to show that it was still kicking - well, the effort was pathetic! A piddly little dry cough has turned into a body wracking, muscle pulling and bone cracking wet cough. So now I keep most of our family of seven awake at night. Oh what a joy winter is! I even went to the warmth(?!) of Queensland for a few weeks, only to be hit full force with rain and chilled wind that came in at over 120km/hr. Antibiotics and an inhaler that made me cough non-stop for almost an hour - YAY! - I think I am finally feeling better at last!
One day, perhaps, the world will make a little more sense to me - or is it that I need to make more sense to the world? That is undeniable reality.
So, you think you've heard it all before about how to lose weight. Are you sure? Well, I thought that I had heard it all and then some and I was actually surprised to learn something new just a few days ago.
I have a membership to a lotto website which gives me access to tons and tons of competitions that are currently running in not just Australia, but around the world. Besides the competitions, there is also an area where members are able to access freebies and samples. So, in my infinite desire to get something for nothing - don't scoff, we are all the same, I sent away for freebies left, right and centre. One of the freebies was a sample of a granulated sweetener which is available in a few different countries besides Australia, one of those being the UK.
Now, I am sure that you know the weight-loss benefits associated with cutting out things like sugar and fats from your diet, and so I thought that rather than have my morning coffee without sugar, I would try a few sweeteners to see if I could actually stomach the taste of any of them. Obviously, samples are a great way to find this out, rather than spending my hard earned money and time on such a trivial pursuit.
I received my granulated sweetener sample in the mail, and was quite surprised to find that it didn't actually taste that bad and I even used less than I normally would, considering that the pack told me that I could substitute it spoon for spoon for sugar. I read a bit further, more out of boredom than anything - tell me, who really reads all the information on the packs we get our food in anyway? Well, to my surprise, the pack told me that if I was using this product in the UK in conjunction with a calorie-controlled diet, that this sweetener could actually aid in weight loss! But, I am not in the UK, and then I thought of something - ok, yes, light bulb going on over my tiny mind and all that!!! A few years ago, I came across a sugar-free sweet that I really loved, but the pack - yes, I read a bit of that one too - told me that excessive consumption could have a laxative affect. I didn't test the theory, but a light went on when I read the pack of the sweetener sample.
So, here is my theory.
If I cut out sugar and substitute it for this sweetener that it seems may have a laxative affect and I also find myself chewing on sugar-free gum and eating sugar-free lollies that may also have a laxative affect, then my cutting out of sugar may have a rather large and fast influence on my weight loss goal!
So, sugar-free sweets suddenly don't sound all that bad now, do they? It's just a thought, and it is early days for my weight-loss goal at this stage, but I guess all I can say is that I will keep you posted!!
Stay real folks!!
I went to a funeral a few days ago. It was for the elderly gentleman who lived next door to us. As is often the case, I didn't know this fellow very well and discovered what a wonderful character he really was.
A while back I received an e-mail called The Dash. I first thought that it was something about a race, or what a Mum does everyday of her life when she has children - you know, the school run, groceries, banking, dry cleaners, housework, etc, etc, etc. However, it was about the little dash that sits between your dates of birth and death. It had pictures and profound sayings that of course, I don't recall, however, the message was clear and has remained with me. Make your dash - the tiny, insignificant line that represents your life and who you are, count.
I walked out of the funeral the other day and said to my partner that this fellow had made his dash count. It was quite a profound moment for me after hearing all that this fellow had accomplished in his life. He was a family man in the true sense, he had been in the navy and up until not long before he died, he was still delivering meals on wheels with his wife. I used to watch him walk past the house every morning to go to check on the house on the other side of us where the occupant had recently gone into a nursing home. This fellow would walk around the house, checking all the doors and windows every day, concerned at what an empty house may attract. I will miss that, but I think he held on until the house had been sold too, just quietly.
So, a bit more undeniable reality for us all - make your dash count. Don't sit around staring at the idiot box for hours on end, don't waste your life by being angry and bitter. Do something pro-active, make yourself happier and more content by making others happy too. Every little bit counts in the big scheme of things.
Take care and live well.
Sooo, what exactly is Undeniable Reality? Well, as it turns out, it was actually a name that popped itself into my head, kind of like a light bulb being turned on by someone other than yourself. How? Why? What? Yes, all those questions went through my head too and then I sat down and began to think, well, what would I write about? Maybe even why would I write something on a blog in the first place and who might even bother to read it? Then I got to thinking that there must be something in this world that I was put here to do, and though I hardly think that it was to write a blog, I am still contemplating.
I saw Oprah yesterday and heard tales of all these folk, ordinary folk like you and I, who had an idea and took it a very long way. Examples? Why yes. One lady who has no kids of her own, was visiting kids in shelters who were to be put up for adoption or in foster care and she noticed that they had no pyjamas. So she bought some and gave them to the kids. One even asked her what they were!! Oprah got her audience to raise funds for more pyjamas or to buy more and the show alone brought in tens of thousands of pairs of pyjamas for needy kids in America. Another guy took books to a poor country, eventually quitting his million-dollar job with Microsoft to build schools and reading rooms full of books for these kids.
Stuff like this, you know, starts with a small idea and can help a lot of people. It can also give many of us a purpose in life and a bit more meaning to our dull and uneventful lives. Mine personally is not all that dull or uneventful, with five kids and multiple health issues myself, and yet, as we all do at times, I still find myself wishing and hoping for something more. I have a desire to unselfishly help others and yet the idea that will do this still eludes me. And so, as writers like myself are meant to, I have decided to write something regularly in the hope that I may come up with an absolutely brilliant, yet simple idea, or perhaps inspire others like yourself to
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Comments (1)
Add Comments
Read More
Comment by Kimberley Gardner
on Weight Loss
Undeniable Reality
Undeniable Reality - Funerals
Undeniable Reality - Losing Weight
I actually use Hermesetes granulated sweetener which tastes better than the Splenda tablets that I tried. I guess it all comes down to taste and will-power!!
Power on girls!!