24 Days and Counting.....

It's been 24 days since I took control and decided to live a healthier lifestyle. This has primarily focused on food and nutrition. I have had a pretty consistent level of improvement.  It’s been a bit embarrassing to realize just how few fruits and vegetables we ate as a family.  Thus it has been a marked change in our diets. We now have two or three vegetables at every dinner and at least two for lunch. Our snacks are healthier – carrots, dried fruit, oranges, etc… and we have given up sweets almost completely. Our protein levels are higher and I have noticed that I am less hungry when I eat higher protein foods.  I am hopeful these changes will be a long term effort- I am not just losing weight, but changing my entire relationship with food.  I admit I miss the sweets on occasion, but overall I feel so much better that I can push through the craving.

The improvements have been both subtle and marked.  In the marked category is overall lower blood sugar by nearly 50 points!  The subtle ones are the looser clothing and freer movements. I have totally stopped my afternoon nap and have noticed I am sleeping sounder at night. My daughter has noticed her blood pressure has improved and my husband also has increased energy. So even if the weight doesn’t melt off very fast- the improvements are enough to keep me sticking to the changes in our lifestyle.

This has been a totally reworking of my relationship with food.  As an overweight person, from a family of overweight people, I know food has been used to comfort me and show love.  When in stress about my relationships, my faith, my infertility, etc… I turned to food- I love sugar and have felt the perfect response to stress is a brownie- gooey with caramel and nuts.   Even now my mouth is watering as I think of a turtle brownie.  BUT and this is a huge BUT—I want to be healthy more than I want the comfort. Being healthy is its own comfort and reward.  My father died at 62—just 8 years older than I am now.  He had remained active but had Type II Diabetes (which I have) and heart disease- he had a heart attack which led to congestive heart failure and then he had a stroke.  He finally died after three long weeks. My mother lived to be 78, but was so sedentary that she could not climb a single step or walk very far at all; she was also diabetic and had high blood pressure.  She spent the last few years of her life in chair watching television.   I want to be healthy longer and able to harass everyone around me. I, too, have Type II diabetes and my doctor has wanted me to go on insulin for the past couple of years.  I have resisted but became aware that I needed to make changes if I didn’t want insulin.  It seems that the past two years have been pretty unhealthy for my family – I got seriously ill in Aug of 2014 and it took me a while to recover.  My husband had a nasty abscess in Feb. of 2015 that took 6 weeks to heal.  Then it seemed we caught every cold that was going around in the fall and winter.  I don’t think we really got to enjoy the holidays – I know I remember the taste of cough drops instead of Christmas goodies.  So in January of 2016, I asked a friend for advice and she has guided me along this process.  Both she and her husband have been very supportive, giving me advice on both eating habits and exercise. 

I have been rather amazed at how “easy” this has been.  It helped that we were completely out of munchies before I began so there was nothing around to “tempt” me!  I admit I have boxed mixes if I choose to make brownies or cupcakes or something—but thus far I have refrained from indulging. The next step is to add regular exercise.  I am still dealing with lower back pain (though not nearly as much as I had earlier) from the assault I suffered in November, so I cannot use my exercise bike as much as I want to.  I am planning on adding a daily walk to my routine – as soon as it warms up a bit. A side effect of eating less is that I am freezing much of the time it seems.  Especially my hands and feet.   So enough explaining – time to continue FORWARD!