A few months ago, J and I got into a popcorn habit. It became this sort of evening snack ritual that we would share while watching something on tv. Most of you know I don’t watch a lot of tv— I’m very picky about committing to content: it can’t be too violent, it can’t be a series (too much emotional investment), and it can’t be slapstick. I told you already, I’m picky. Needless to say, the genre that came up the latter half of last year was dinosaur and monster verse type of movies. They seemed to provide the right level of action, some mild relationship plot, and then enough films to give us some continuity and theme without the emotional attachment. I mean all of this boils down to my problem of overthinking. If I start to consider the characters in a film to be too human, I will take on their problems and try to fix them. Seriously. I will lie awake in bed trying to figure things out for them. I’m telling you, my brain works in strange ways.
After I got COVID around Thanksgiving, somehow a fire got lit under my ass. My sleep has been shit my whole life, my skin was breaking out crazy again (despite being on very strong antibiotics and Retin-A), and I was just feeling very run down and tired. In December, I asked my doctor for a full blood work up. The results showed that I was pre diabetic. At first, I was just going to ignore it: after all, I wasn’t diabetic, just PRE. But then several of my friends were also found to be prediabetic recently, and they apparently freaked out and started taking drastic action. Figuring that they had actually spent some time studying the numbers and understanding the real implications, I decided now was as good a time as any to re-examine my health.
So since late December, I’ve cut back on carbs (mostly rice and breads) and on portions. Plus I’ve started focusing on improving my sleep and increasing my activity. It’s been almost a month now, and I am pleased to report progress!!
I’m not gonna lie: I was definitely feeling VERY hungry the first several weeks. Like a new baseline of chronic hunger. Distracting hunger. I realized I used to eat a shit ton of rice and breads to quickly get my meals over with. Like that was the bulk of my consumption. After reducing those foods, I found myself grasping for other things to eat: tomatoes here and there, cauliflower, avocados, kefir… Desperate to dull the hunger pangs, I even started taking Metamucil before meals. But the gelatinous texture started to get gross after a few days so I discontinued that. Eventually, after maybe two weeks, my body adjusted to the new normal of NOT feeling full. And my clothes actually started to fit better, so the results were encouraging!
Meanwhile, for my sleep, my friend recommended an OTC supplement (NatureMade Back to Sleep), so I started up with that and tacked on three other routines before bed:
1. Roll out knots in my back using an acupressure wheel,
2. Lower my mattress heater temp,
3. Lock away my phone,
4. White noise machine.
And whaddya know? I have been sleeping soundly for the first time in my life… The weird thing is, I had previously tried all of these tactics independently but never all together. Who knew? So now I am catching up on my sleep deficit and damn, it feels good.
J has also shed some pounds going on the prediabetic diet/lifestyle change, and his snoring has diminished significantly. So we are excited for more good things in 2024. This year is our zodiac year, and we’re both dragons. We’re using that as motivation to make some changes for the better.
As for the popcorn ritual, we are taking a bit of a break. But it might come back occasionally, once we find some new content to watch. I’m thinking we’re going to get back into Chinese films featuring actors from our China days (2003-2006).