Health Goals: Making a Change

I have two goals that I want to accomplish by the end of the year.

1. Cut refined sugar out of my diet a whole hell of a lot, if not all of it.

2. Begin juicing/making healthy smoothies in the morning.

Some of you may scoff, like, "hello, that's too hard. Or hello, juicing isn't really really healthy." Well, shut up and let someone try something new, all right?

I'm one of those Americans who has grown up on processed foods and I used to drink soda by the gallons. .... Maybe not gallons, but I drank it a whole lot. I still have fits of NEED SODA AT ALL TIMES, I truly think it's an addiction. It's no one's fault. It just is. Now it's something that I want to change, and I know changing is a complete challenge.

Note: This is not dieting. This isn't abstaining or depriving oneself for a set period of time. This is a lifestyle change. <--- a="" and="" br="" come="" forth.="" has="" long="" lots="" meetings.="" more="" nbsp="" of="" reading="" s="" statement="" taken="" that="" thinking="" time="" to="" watchers="" weight=""> As both goals are things that I have never truly attempted, I know this isn't gonna be over night, over a week, over a month.

First things first: I've been researching blenders vs. juicers. Gonna get me a book to read to look over recipes and ideas. Since I've got monetary restrictions, I want to see where I can get the most bang for my buck. Also, while I look up recipes, I'm a little nervous cuz trying something new and dealing with foods I'm not used to is always a little strange. Sorry, I have food issues, duh.

*I'm realizing that I'm sounding a little defensively angry. It's like I'm Chris Hardwick trying to counter every negative comment before I even see or hear it. It sucks to be openly putting yourself out there and knowing that there are people you know and love, and there are complete strangers who will always respond negatively to you. It is what it is, am I right?

Second Things Second: Really paying attention to what I'm getting when I go grocery shopping. I'm look through the ingredients and working towards purchasing less items with Sugar listed in the top 4. It's eye-opening for sure. Currently working on just one Sugary Item a day.

I'll keep you up to date as I get a book or two and when I get the juicer, (or blender), and when I begin the juicing. Eek!

PS: If you want to know more about juicing and what started me on that whole track, go watch Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. You can watch it on Netflix. It's very interesting. While they talk about the need for their 40 day "Reboot", I'm not planning on doing something like that. Just once a day. It's very well done and I think it's worth a watch.

Taking On Something For Lent

So, this may come as a shock to you, but I'm not Catholic. So it may be an even bigger surprise to admit that occasionally, I participate in Lent.

Brian and I usually take it up as a opportunity to break a habit, and it's been completely weird or to even mundane as giving up soda. I completely let Lent slip my mind this year. Brian called me the night of Ash Wednesday and asked me what I was giving up. I didn't even think of it. I had been contemplating the act of giving up sugar, or beginning of a juice fast, something to help my health. But my mind always goes to the extreme first. And so I could never truly commit to the idea.

Brian and I chewed up ideas. He and I have done enough reading and researching about habits and nutrition, and health. We knew we wanted to do something positive instead of something negative, we also knew that if we were going to build a habit, you start small. I told Brian I wanted to get more active. (especially as I just signed up for my 2nd zombie run). How do I build myself back up after having not done a damn thing for months? So we came up with me actually using my gym membership - 20 minutes at the gym everyday. I have it, might as well use it right?

Brian wants to work on his writing - so he's going to write for 15 minutes everyday.

What I'm most tickled with is how we check in with each other. We're not going to text each other, no, we're going to send pics to each other. Since Brian recently got himself a smartphone, we've been having nerdy fun sending pics to each other and playing with the voice dictation in our texts. So every morning I'm going to send him a pic of me at the gym. And every day he's going to send me a pic of him writing.

Unbeknownst to him, I'm going to share our first pictures and then check in throughout the 40 days. I'm really looking forward to how we do.

So yeah, cheers! Here we go on a new adventure!