I've been having a little trouble...

...with sugar cravings lately.

Most of the time I'm eating healthy snacks - fruit, veggies, crackers, organic ice cream - but lately (as in since Thanksgiving or maybe Halloween) I've been craving the hard stuff. Sour Straws, Oreos, Chocolates, PBMnM's, Cookies & Cream chocolate bars, ice cream, cool-aide type drinks, just SUGAR. Which is weird because at Thanksgiving I gave myself the go ahead to eat whatever the heck I wanted - I had pop (I never have pop), candy, desserts, etc. And because of it I felt immensely sick and I'm surprised I didn't get a sugar headache. As I think about it I realize that it really started around Halloween. We had lots of sugar/candy around because of trick or treaters and I started bringing a small amount to school each day. Now I absolutely crave sugar around 2 o'clock pm. And if it doesn't get filled I just have to give in bigger later.

When in reality I just need some natural sugar (grapes, banana, strawberries, orange, apple) to get me through the slough time when I really want to lay down in the hallway and take a nap. Not to mention eating some good, healthy, and whole grain/veggie meals every two hours to keep my mood and energy up.

This article gives some good ideas to curb that sugar craving.

• Chew gum. Sugar free gum.
• Walk away. Literally go for a walk.
• Meditate.
• Try to eliminate other sugars from your life.

We Are A Technology Generation

But is that hindering us from being something greater?

In this article in TIME magazine, Doctors are warning against data smog, which is making us more depressed as a people. This data fog is a overabundance of useless information. Its everywhere and its bringing us down. While we have more information, most of it is useless to us and we spend so much time with it. Its associated with poor sleep, stress, and depression.

I have a personal connection to this because well, I gave up all technology over Thanksgiving break. I turned off my phone, I gave my computer to a friend to strip it because it was acting up, and I just didn't use any wireless/technology and didn't even have my phone to text, etc. It was surprising how FREEING it was. No one could contact me. When I turned my phone back on when arriving home, no one had had anything important to say anyway. I just basked the weekend away reading and just lazily dreaming and resting. Not doing anything but just enjoying the sounds and smells of Thanksgiving. It was glorious. I found myself a lot happier, a lot more in-tune to what people were feeling and saying around me, and more in-tune to myself and what my body and mind needed.

The Doctor in the article states his limiting of technology in this way "freed me to pursue more restorative activities, especially spending time in natural settings. My mind is clearer, my attention span longer, and my real (as opposed to virtual) friendships closer."


Suggestions:

• Take time off from technology and use your brain to curb your boredom. Read a book, play a board game, write in your journal, clean your house, make some delicious food, the list goes on.
• Take a long enough break from technology that you can feel the full effects and not get drawn back into it. Its like an addiction. Get to the point where you can be without it or with it and it doesn't REALLY matter to you.
• Limit the amount of technology you get on a regular basis. 
• Limit the TYPE of technology/info you get. Make it so that you only get exactly what you want and that it is mostly useful information. Otherwise, its just bringing you down.

Top 6 Blogs

I thought I'd give a plug out for my top favorite blogs from my class.......and because I have to. :)

These are in no particular order and feel free to go wandering through their archives and see what they have to say.

• http://briannastruthaboutbeauty.wordpress.com/
• http://heatheresplin.wordpress.com/
• http://symbolicslyness.wordpress.com/
• http://marketinginthemedia.wordpress.com/
• http://thefyre.wordpress.com/
• http://photographyfraud.wordpress.com/

There are two I am not really interested in so I don't really read .... but I think they're great blogs.

• http://vaultutahcampaign.wordpress.com/
• http://thebookpublishinginsider.com/

P.S. I'm sorry sports bloggers, I tried, really I did, but your blogs are just so damn boring to me. I just can't bring myself to read another one. I have no interest in sports whatsoever. I love playing sports and I sometimes can enjoy watching sports, but a WHOLE BLOG about sports? I just can't handle.