14 Days of Love: Days 4 and 5

I'm doing a series on easy, fun, cheap ways to celebrate Valentine's Day. Click here to read about days 1 through 3. Today I'm covering days 4 and 5.

Day Four: Do something you hate
Now, take this with a grain of salt, I'm not recommending doing anything that makes you scared, uncomfortable or uneasy but an easy way to show someone that you care is to do something solely because it makes them happy. I enjoy a clean house, today is my day off and I've already put away laundry, done multiple loads of dishes, swept, vacuumed (you get my drift). My boyfriend is not a cleaner. Frankly, he's pretty sloppy. I will admit that there are times that it drives me crazy, there's nothing worse than feeling like your mate's personal maid. So, on the days that I come home and see that he's done the dishes, put away his clothes or done ANYTHING to clean up it makes my little black heart swell with love. My guy enjoys documentaries and art films while I enjoy action packed blockbusters so we make sure to go to both. Go on a hike, go to a museum just do something to celebrate your partners interests and likes.

Day Five: Make a mix tape (or a mix cd or play list for you hipsters)
I will never stop loving mix tapes. I know that technology is old and dated and frankly impractical but it is seriously the most romantic thing a fella can do (at least for me). Now I'm not saying that a mix cd has no love but it doesn't even take close to the amount of time and effort a good mix tape requires. Don't even get me started on an iPod playlist. That's just a few clicks you lazy bastards. Maybe I'm biased because the first guy I ever loved used to make me the most amazing mix tapes filled with artists I still love. I still have these tapes 10 years later (my love for them lasted a lot longer than my love for that guy).  A Valentine's mix tape has to have a love theme or share some romantic significance for you and your partner. Here are a few of my favorite love songs (please don't judge my love for pop-punk):

Click Links for the youtube videos!

The Avett Brothers: Live and Die

Alkaline Trio: Clavicle

The Ataris: I Wont's Spend Another Night Alone
***you thought I was kidding about really enjoying music that was only vaguely good 10 years ago, jokes on you****

Blink 182: I'm Lost Without You

The Beach Boys: God Only Knows

The Honorary Title: Cut Short

A New Found Glory: Connected

A New Found Glory: Too Good To Be

The Lumineers: Stubborn Love

The Cure: Love Song

Court Yard Hounds: See You in the Spring

Plain White Ts: 1 2 3 4

Sam Cooke: Wonderful World (I think this is one of my favorite love songs ever, so classic)

Keane: Somewhere Only We Know

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Maps


Also, I thought I had a ton of love songs for this list but after going through all my records, the internet, my ipod, etc I realize I just have a fairly long list of songs about how incredibly sad you can be after breakups. Seriously. I had to google love songs because apparently my music taste is 50% upbeat music to run to and 50% songs to listen to when you're on the edge of suicide after failed love. I should probably look into that because it doesn't seem healthy.

Day 5 and Day 6: Shit is getting hard

Image Source

After 4 relatively easy days I've finally started to hit some obstacles. Yesterday at work multiple people brought in donuts. They smelled heavenly, thick globs of fried dough saturated with ooey gooey sticky sugar glaze. Our kitchen isn't sectioned off at work, it stretches along the hallway leading our cubes and offices to support staff so I had to constantly walk past the tempting treats.

While I was very proud to have kept to my resolution I apparently wasn't done being tempted yet. Last night my dreams consisted off large buffet style dessert tables weighed down with every treat imaginable. I can't remember if I indulged in my dream but at some point the dream me did remember my resolution and I was so bummed out.

I really have to up my motivation and will power so here's a study posted on Mind Body Green about the negative effects of sugar: Sugar Can Make You Dumb.

"Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists who published a study Tuesday showing how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup sapped lab rats' memories.
Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) fed two groups of rats a solution containing high-fructose corn syrup -- a common ingredient in processed foods -- as drinking water for six weeks.
One group of rats was supplemented with brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while the other group was not.
Before the sugar drinks began, the rats were enrolled in a five-day training session in a complicated maze. After six weeks on the sweet solution, the rats were then placed back in the maze to see how they fared.
"The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
"Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats' ability to think clearly and recall the route they'd learned six weeks earlier."
....In other words, eating too much fructose could interfere with insulin's ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar, which is necessary for processing thoughts and emotions.
"Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," Gomez-Pinilla said.
"Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new. Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Gomez-Pinilla.
"Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage."

Also!!! 14 Mind Blowing Facts About Sugar

Infographic from Total Health as posted by Mind Body Green

I am probably going to troll Mind Body Green all day for wellness tips and motivation, it's a beautifully designed website with tons of great articles and information and I'm glad I found it to help keep me on track towards my health goals. Anyone else have any inspiring health websites???