Whole30 -- Day 17

Hello friends!

After a 14-hour day (12 of which were spent at school and parent-teacher conferences and two of which were spent at bowling), I am going to make this fairly short and sweet.

However, I'm first going to mention this:

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Did you see this picture from Target's website? Apparently it was so important to this marketing team to give the model a "thigh gap" that they also cut out her cooch. (Side note: I'm pretty sure I know a total of zero people -- men or women -- who find a thigh gap attractive. Mama Laughlin wrote an entire blog post about this topic.)

But seriously? We need to cut apart women's bodies to make them beautiful? 

First, is it any wonder that girls, adolescents, teenagers, women of all ages have self-esteem issues? We are bombarded with images of "beautiful," "perfect" women every single day and in thousands of ways, and since all of these women have been photoshopped to the max, we are left with completely unrealistic and unattainable perceptions of beauty.

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It makes me so sad for all of us.

Second, my sister-in-law posted a beautiful blog entry today about putting on "gym make-up" and then staring at her "imperfect" face when she should be realizing its beauty. (Aly is, by the way, one of the most gorgeous women -- inside and out -- that I know.)

Third, we need more Operation Beautiful out there. We need to respect each other as women and celebrate all types of beauty. As women, we need to bring each other up rather than tear each other down.

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I feel like the aforementioned rant should have been its own blog post, as I could talk about this topic for days and could surely write more intelligently/coherently about it. But, I'm tired, so that's all you get for now. Stay tuned for more at a later date. :)

Breakfast:

Oh look! It's the same thing as always!

Lunch: Today I had leftover Moroccan Meatballs, Cauliflower Rice, and sauteed green beans with crushed red pepper. About an hour after lunch, I ate my apple.

Dinner: I ate dinner a bit late tonight, as I first had to suffer through work nearly four hours of parent-teacher conferences. As soon as I got to the bowling alley (just in time for game two of three), I snarfed down my second helping of leftovers: Moroccan Meatballs! Because I was out of the "rice" and green beans, I sauteed some asparagus while I was cooking breakfast this morning and threw that in the Tupperware as well.

Physical: I feel pretty good today. My tummy was kind of a mess this evening, and I was feeling pretty bloated all evening. I'm not sure exactly why that was.

(Too much asparagus? Cauliflower? Onions? All of the above? Probably.)

It has been taking me a while to wake up in the mornings, but as soon as I take a shower, get ready, and head to school, I am fairly energized and stay that way all day. That's nice.

Emotional: I feel good! Today would have been a super easy day to get cranky, as I worked a ton and didn't really have much down time, but I'm in a pretty darn good mood. (I think it helps that I know there's only "one more wake-up" until spring break.)

Cravings: None. I could've been tempted a thousand times today. First, I was talking to my sister-in-law on the phone and had to head into the teachers' lounge where there were Jelly Bellies, chocolates, and other goodies all over the table in preparation for conferences. Second, our staff ordered Subway for dinner. Third, a lovely mother gave me salt water taffy as a thank-you gift. Fourth, I went to bowling where I was poured a beer. But, I didn't cave at all -- and, even more importantly, I didn't want to cave. (Although, I'm not going to lie: the salt water taffy looked pretty delicious.)

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G'night!