Doctors have hearts sometimes, actually.

I went to the doctor again on Monday. I wasn't sure what I was going back for, but I went anyway. I forgot that she put me on a temporary steroid over a weekend to see how I would respond to it (which explains the 48-hour urine sample. . . that had to be refrigerated. . . and the top kept getting loose somehow. . . Yeah, not a fun weekend for me or my refrigerator. Let's just say it is REALLY clean now.). The good news was that I responded well to the medication, so should I run into any issues when baby-making-time comes up, I can use something to help me. Then, she said I need to lose weight because if I don't, I will be diabetic in TEN years. (Cue: slight internal freak out.)

We finished our brief conversation ($40 co-pay for 15 minutes, gotta love the medical field) and I left. It kind of hit me as I was talking to my mom that my doctor who is normally pretty blunt and only-to-the-point actually shared some emotional concern for me. That said a lot to me. So, I bought all of the fruit I could find (literally), and had a fruit and queso day to get it all out of my system. I restarted the South Beach Diet yesterday, and with the exception of a few bites of things, I have done pretty well for the past 2 days. That's all I can ask for - one day at a time.

I'm challenging myself in a strange way to see if all of these super healthy Austin-y things will actually do what they are supposed to do. I'm dubbing it "Keep Austin Weird Challenge." (Super creative. . . I know.) My loose plan is going to be this: Incorporate 2 tablespoons of extra virgin coconut oil into each day, use local honey for one cup of hot tea, stay away from Splenda if I can help it and instead use agave nectar or other natural forms of low GI sweetners that aren't sugar/HFCS/etc., drink kombucha more (at least 8 oz. daily/every other day), do yoga a few times a week, and maybe even throw in some acupuncture once a month. Why not? If all of these things are supposed to help, then I can only benefit from them. If they don't help as much, then maybe I can find some other things to do. I just know that I need to change some things - ok, a lot of things - so I'm not sitting here in 10 years with some sob story about how I should have listened to my seemingly emotionless doctor when she actually tried to care about me. So, I'm going to try these things out for 2 months from Monday (officially - unofficially, I'm starting now), and I'll update my way on here. Oh, and if you know of any Austin-like things that I should do in addition to these things, leave me a comment.

I just made an amazing recipe from the South Beach Diet: A Taste of Summer Cookbook. I made sea scallops with zucchini, sweet onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, edamame, and fresh basil. It was amazing. It was so amazing that the maintenance man at my apartment complex almost begged me for some. He is so funny! I'll update that progress as well.

I'm also looking for a physical challenge to work toward. I'm not a runner, so that's out of the question. I cannot afford a bike right now, but hope to soon. What's something I could do? Help me out. I need suggestions!