I just finished reading my friend Carla's blog. She told about visiting her mother who is suffering from COPD, due mainly to lifestyle habits that she never overcame. Carla went on to express that she didn't have those particular habits as part of her lifestyle, but that she had others that could eventually result in debilitating illnesses later in life. I can relate!
I also have some habits that need changing. No, I don't smoke, never have. I did drink for a period of a year or two in my early college years, but those days are since long gone. No, my habits are those that we have a tendency to often smooth over or totally ignore. They're ones that many people have and many see no problems with. I'm speaking of the addiction to sweets and carbs and also my tendency to be sedentary.
Yes, I love sweets, always have. Grandma and Mom used to bake endlessly. I loved Gram's molasses cookies and Mom's date-filled sugar cookies. We regularly had cakes, especially a chocolate malt cake! And no bakes, yum yum good! Ice cream was regularly known to be an integral part of our diets too. And of course, our main meals focused on meat and potatoes, goulash and macaroni & cheese and other types of casseroles. We would have a cooked vegetable at dinner and supper and we rarely ever had fresh fruit, unless it was bananas. I hardly ever remember eating salads and those we did have were often laden with salad dressing, marshmallows and bananas. We really did eat way too many starch-rich foods. And one look at my middle today only affirms that.
The other habit that has slowly creeped up on me over the last 15 years is lack of exercise. When I worked at Gibson's as floor inspector, it was typical for me to walk 8-10 miles in the course of my day. Plus, I would come home and walk for another hour at night. But once I moved away from that job and into the training department, much of the opportunity went by the wayside. As I returned to college, I had little time for myself in the evenings, so the hourly walks soon ceased as well. Then, as I transitioned to my job at MCC, I took even less opportunities to be active, nor did I make opportunities. I can't just blame it on my job though. I would come home late, bring home some type of takeout from town, eat, and go to bed. Again, I've paid for it as I've watched the needle on the scale continue to relentlessly move to higher and higher numbers.
So, what's a girl to do. Well, I need to get serious about making some changes in my life. John has diabetes, so we really need to eat better. I am trying to do more cooking at home and less eating out. I'm also avoiding bringing home takeout meals. (Mr. T's, the local pizzeria in town, knows me by voice! I may be a regular there, ya think?) I'm trying to incorporate more vegetables into our meals and less starchy foods. That's hard because we like our macaroni and potatoes, we like chocolate and ice cream, we like cakes and cookies. And we don't particularly care for salads! But, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't learn to like them.
I am looking more closely now at portion control as a starting point. I know (intellectually) how much is a portion of each food group. I am able to judge closely the amounts that I put on my plate. I just have to learn to stick with those portions I'm alloted and not overindulge and not grab seconds. I am doing less baking and also learning to pass up ice cream at night. That's a biggie for me!
The next thing I am doing is working on drinking more water. I love Diet Coke, but even with that, I typically only drink 16-24 ounces a day. And I may only drink 10-12 ounces of water daily. That is not enough liquid! I've heard that you need to divide your weight by 2 and then use that number as the number of ounces of water you need to drink daily. For me, that's about three quarters of a gallon or 12-14 glasses daily. So, I need to begin by drinking more water. As I start to do that, I intend to cut back on the soda. My goal is to wean myself away from soft drinks entirely. I know I can do that.
The last obstacle is to get moving. That one is more difficult right now, as the ole hip just won't let me do that. But, I can start by doing some weight bearing exercises. I do have hand weights. I intend to start doing several repetitions of exercises with these daily. I know that gurus say you should do aerobic exercise one day and weight exercises the next and keep alternating. But, until I can do the aerobic, I've got to get in the habit of doing something. And one more thing, the MCC pool will be reopening soon. I intend to get there a minimum of once weekly and do 30-45 minutes of water walking, provided my hip can handle it.
Well now, I've written all of this down and posted it for the world to see. So, I encourage each one of you that is reading this to ask me how I'm doing once in awhile. I need someone to hold me accountable and that someone is you. Will you help me to make my "temple" more pleasing to God?
