Crushing the Cranky

'choosing your mood is one of lifes super powers'

Apparently for breakfast this morning I ate a bowl of 'Cranky Cow' oats followed by a large cup of 'Don't push me!' coffee. 

Wow, I am in a BAD mood. EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is annoying me. 

My child does not know how close I was to sending him to his room for drinking milk....... and breathing loudly at the same time! Obviously this kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated!

Hmmmm.... perhaps I need have a little look at my own good self and figure out how to untie the cranky knot I can feel in my gut before I ruin everyone's day.

So what to do? Here is a list of things I am trying, in real time. I will let you know how I go. My approach is going to be from no effort (hope this one works) upwards until I have sorted my cranky mind out.

1. Breathe slowly and count backwards from 10: Lets see..... can still feel cranky knot. Am not likely to lash out in the next ten seconds, but all bets are off after that. Probably good for emergency cranky intervention, but not longer term mood alteration.
2. Make a masking tape line of the floor and step over it: Could not immediately find masking tape which was frustrating, ended up just putting a ruler on the floor and stepping over it. Imagined that I was crossing the line between a good mood and a bad one. Strangely enough, I do feel a bit happier. My brain is weird.
3. Cutting out the caffeine: It strikes me that perhaps my mood and the knotty feeling inside might be related to too much caffeine this morning. Can't give you immediate results on this one, but am cutting it out for the day. Might make me serene:)
4. Put on some music: Just opened Pandora on my iphone (best app in the world) and switched to the 'Pop' channel. Can do this because no one is home I have to pretend I have good music taste for. Wait....wait.... think I might have just smiled. :)
5. For the first time ever.... I am trying laughing yoga: Or my version of it. Hope my kids don't hear me. (after) Well that was strange. I was really expecting fake laughter to merge into real laughter after time. Did. not. happen. Maybe this is better when you are watching other people fake laugh as well. In the end, it became apparent that making the 'ha ha ha ha' sound was helping with my breathing though so I kept it up regardless. Do feel better after some rounds of salute to the sun. 

After completing the above, I would describe my mood as optimistically neutral. I can work with that. Might even be able to watch my kids eat lunch without having a melt down.

I would love to hear your approaches to mood improvement, after all, choosing your mood is one of lifes super powers.

Step 1: What can I eat?

Well, I have had another whole day with my nose buried in all things Primal, excluding perhaps a cave man's armpit.
 It is sooo interesting, who would have thought looking backwards through time would seem to hold so many of the answers to moving forward?
As they say, a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and with just a day's worth of information I am fired up to change EVERYTHING!
As they also say, 'Whoa there Tiger, one thing at a time!'
Luckily I decided yesterday to make food my starting point for making the change, so here is a quick overview of what I have discovered about the diet.

1) Lots of things I love to eat... are off the menu! Sigh. A basic list of things to avoid/ exclude is shown below:

• Grains (including wheat, oats, corn, barley etc)
• Legumes
• Dairy
• Refined sugar (uh oh, I am addicted to this one)
• Processed foods
• Salt
• Refined vegetable oils

2) Some things I love to eat..... are still on the menu:

• Grass fed meat
• Fish
• Fruits and vegetables
• Eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Some oils including coconut, macadamia, olive and avocado.

Hmmm, as you have read this is quite the overhaul from the usual western diet. Certainly from my usual diet. But I am determined to break through my long held belief ('I won't be able to stick to that!) and give it a red hot go.

I will let you know my first shopping list and menu on Thursday, until then I have a lot of naughty foods in my cupboard to eat my way through (waste not want not!):)

PS: Here are some links I used to get some of the dietary information over and above 'It starts with food'

The Paleo Diet: What to eat

How to eat according to the Primal Blueprint

Hunting the Cave Man

I am starting the working week by looking into the Paleo diet and lifestyle, in line with my desire to start at the 'bottom of the pyramid', or the basics if you like, in my search for a migraine free life.
I have decided to try 'Paleo' after reading some really compelling success stories from migraineurs who have experienced significant relief from taking on the approach.
If you are interested in reading some of these success stories, I suggest looking at Mark's Daily Apple. Authored by Mark Sisson, one of the 'founding fathers' of the Paleo or 'Primal' lifestyle. Mark's Daily Apple is the 'go to' Blog for people interested in all things Paleo and one of the main resources I am using to investigate going 'Primal'.
In my last post 'The Giza Approach', I noted that I am not a trained expert when it comes to reviewing or analysing medical or lifestyle choices. I do however consider myself the biggest stakeholder in my own life and as such I choose to be active in finding a better way of dealing with my health. (So there!)

Primal Beings loved nature and sunshine

So what is 'Primal Living', and where to start? There are a lot of holistic aspects to living Primal, but the beginning point for me is going to be what I eat. I am hoping this will be the most direct route to migraine and health improvements.
As a certified book worm, I find that knowledge and information delivered to my mind regularly is the fasted way to keep me motivated. With this is mind, I have gone back to school and am studying up on the Paleo diet, referring to Melissa Hartwig's Book 'It Starts with Food' and Mark Sisson's latest, 'The Primal Connection' to help inspire me further.
Tomorrow I will list for you what dietary changes I will need to make to go Paleo. I will also create a new page to track my changes and diarise how I am feeling during the process.
I hope that I will be documenting something positive in my life, but as the wise say, 'nothing changes if you change nothing'. Reckon, results aside, taking action is always worth doing.