Cold, colds, and cold turkey

Well, it was a little warmer today -- this morning it was actually above zero! -- but the weather man said this morning there's a chance we may never see 32 degrees for the whole month of February. Nooooooo!!!

I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat, so I'm now worried I'm coming down with a cold. I'm tempted to try my sister's pre-cold knockout treatment, which worked for her last week, but I don't know if I have the nerve. First she gargled with peroxide -- ewww -- and then ate/swallowed six raw cloves of garlic. Yikes.

I hate being sick, but then who doesn't? Since 1999 being ill really hasn't been allowed with a child in my house. Little kids could care less about your temperature or body aches or chills. They need cups of juice and constant entertainment and reminders not to stick metallic objects in electrical devices. The funny thing is, this hasn't improved since I got married; instead of my work being cut in half, I now have a second, bigger kid in the house who asks a dozen times a day where something is, overflows the sink with dirty dishes and leaves his socks on the floor. I understand this is a common phenomenon, but it makes being sick even more difficult because if you do lay flat on your back and do nothing around the house, the amount of housework multiplies exponentially.

So maybe I'll have to bite the bullet -- and the garlic cloves.

Being sick doesn't help with losing weight. I've never been one of those people who can lose five pounds when I'm ill -- I'm much more likely to gain five. Number one, I'm not moving at all and my metabolism completely stops; in fact, I wonder if mine actually goes in reverse and adds calories to my body. Second, when I don't feel well the comfort food alert goes off in my head. I want warm, soft, yummy foods. Not all of them are inherently unhealthy -- when I have a sore throat I crave Chinese hot and sour soup, which isn't terrible -- but there are lots of other ones that aren't so great. And Hubby really gets into cooking a sick loved one comfort food -- he takes special requests and everything (hence my daughter's batch of cookies last weekend).

And let's not even go into the whole aversion to doctors and medical tests. A sure sign that I'm really sick is when I'm eager to call for an appointment.

It'd be nice to nip this thing in the bud and get rid of it quickly. I'm trying to drink lots of antioxidant green tea with cranberry and pomegranate, and I keep thinking about that peroxide/garlic treatment.

I must mention here that I haven't weighed myself since Sunday. After the weekend blow-out I was afraid to -- afraid to see the water retention damage and not wanting to bash myself for it. I know it's bad to be in a state of denial about your weight and when you don't keep track of it, it's likely to creep up on you. But the experts also say it isn't all that great to weigh yourself too often, either. I've gotten into the habit of weighing myself every day, and it has its pros and cons. It keeps me mindful, but sometimes I think I tend to fixate on the number too much.

What I've noticed the last three days since I haven't weighed myself is this anxiety that I don't know what I weigh right now. I have this feeling of uneasiness and insecurity, which is kind of sad, I think, to have my identity and emotional balance so dependent on a number. It's also kind of disturbing that I feel like I'm a junkie in withdrawal, going cold turkey from the scale.

Even though this causes some discomfort, I'm going to try not to weigh myself until Saturday, which is my weekly weigh in. I would really like to get myself weaned off the daily weighings, but at the same time I want to make sure I am keeping mindful of my body. So hopefully this will be a good balance. That's the big goal, isn't it? I'm always seeking balance in my life.