What are your healthy lifestyle habits?

[Kelt]

Hey deb_U_taunt,

These sound like great habits and a good balance.

Question; how did you manage to scale back your work load?

[deb_U_taunt]

I started saying NO lol and pushing back for reasonable deadlines

Originally Posted by Kelt

Hey deb_U_taunt,

These sound like great habits and a good balance.

Question; how did you manage to scale back your work load?

[Kelt]

One habit I cultivate is to know what I am putting in my body.

I am one of those folks who tracks what I eat. While I know most folks don't, doing it for just a day or two can be very educational to say the least. Even without, occasionally looking up what is in a food item can be interesting.

Today I stumbled across a source that I never would have thought of but it is interesting. In checking the nutritional data on lentils this site popped up. It is from Self magazine of all things but really complete. It shows the standard nutrition label but also gives good snapshot looks at other factors like glycemic load, amino acid balance, protein quality, and nutrient balance, on easy to visualize charts. The nutritional density rating is a really interesting tool. Also breakdowns of vitamins and minerals.

Bon appétit!

[SirLucian]

Stay active
lots of fruit and veggies

[deb_U_taunt]

Great link! Thank you and straight to one of my favorite foods.

Originally Posted by Kelt

One habit I cultivate is to know what I am putting in my body.

I am one of those folks who tracks what I eat. While I know most folks don't, doing it for just a day or two can be very educational to say the least. Even without, occasionally looking up what is in a food item can be interesting.

Today I stumbled across a source that I never would have thought of but it is interesting. In checking the nutritional data on lentils this site popped up. It is from Self magazine of all things but really complete. It shows the standard nutrition label but also gives good snapshot looks at other factors like glycemic load, amino acid balance, protein quality, and nutrient balance, on easy to visualize charts. The nutritional density rating is a really interesting tool. Also breakdowns of vitamins and minerals.

Bon appétit!

[Gemme]

A few months ago....around the time of my birthday....I decided I really didn't like being the weight I was. I'm short and every pound feels and looks like much more on my frame. I didn't like the way I felt when I moved and I certainly didn't like growing out of my clothes. I also didn't like my inability to do things that I thought I should be able to do and/or not do them as well and gracefully as I thought I should.

So, I decided to do this whole 'healthier' thing again ("Healthy" feels like a black/white thing...like you either are or aren't. Healthier says "I'm trying" and sometimes that's all you can ask of yourself).

I won't ever be as dedicated as some of you are because I will not give up sugar. Notice, I said 'will not'. I can, of course. It's a small matter of willpower. But I won't do it. However, I did decrease my sugar consumption quite a bit and when I do eat and candy and sweets, I actually eat the true portion sizes, not what I think should be a portion (strangely enough, whole bags are not often '1 portion'....who knew?).

I've exchanged fatty/greasy/goal-eroding foods with lighter and mostly yummy options (there have been a few lessons learned in this department). I've learned that I can, indeed, eat chicken without the skin. Again, who knew?



I've increased my water intake and decreased my soda consumption. I readily admit to being a soda fiend. But 1-2 cans a day is certainly better for me than 4-6, no? I also mostly buy those lil baby cans that are about 100 calories per can and that still counts as 1 even though it's smaller than my usual cans. And sometimes my '1' is just a fraction of the can/bottle. But if I were to say 'no more' and deprive myself of the sweet stuff, I'd fail for sure.

I take more time when I eat and I try to gauge what it is that I am actually doing when I eat. Am I eating for fuel? Am I hungry or am I feeding something else? Am I upset, angry, sad, lonely, bored?

I move my body much more. I missed that. Being sedentary grows on you like a tumor and the weight of inactivity is far heavier than anything I will ever lift in the gym. I'm developing more of an appreciation for my body and noticing things that probably wouldn't have occurred to me if I weren't attached to an Arc trainer for an hour. Things like, my wrists are sexy when they are sweaty. That's not something that typically comes up in self-image discussions, but I know I sure feel better and stronger and more powerful when I glance down and see my effort gleaming like a diamond sheen on my skin.

I have a new wardrobe!!! I'm a bit of a packrat and this has come in handy lately as I've been falling out of my work pants. lol I absolutely LURVE that.

Music. I listen to music while I work out and, when I'm a dolt and I forget my MP3 player, it's not the same. Music motivates me and keeps me going when I feel my resolve and energy slipping. Music wakes me up when I'm sleepy and calms me down when I'm upset or trying to get to sleep.

Sleep. It's been mentioned several times and there's a reason for it. Everything gets wonky when we don't have enough sleep. Cortisol levels go up, crankiness ensues and that just makes for a bad day.

Sex. Whatever/whoever/whenever. Just make sure you have some, whether it's with yourself, an appliance or someone else.

Finding my happy. I've got a good handle on this but I'm open to learning about other things that make me happy. Sometimes it's crafty things, sometimes it's arranging the apartment, sometimes it's just me snuggling on the sofa with my silky pillows watching TV. Different things for different days.

And, with the Reunion coming up, I'm increasing my intake of Airborne.

[Bèsame*]

Its all about the choices you choose to put in your mouth

[PoeticSilence]

Having become recently disabled (lymphedema, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression) I've had to learn some new things. The main things I have to be careful of is knowing my limits, not being able to walk further than ten to fifteen feet (assisted, i.e. with a walker or cane) and unable to stand in place for more than five minutes.

I do a lot of exercises in bed since I'm in bed a lot of the time during the day.

I have a shower chair (backless) that I can sit on and do all of my stretching, which I do three times a day.

The wife cooks for me and I'm not a big eater. My snacks are the problem, I will eat a whole can of wasabi flavoured pistachios, or a whole can of mixed nuts, etc. She has to limit my snacks (not too hard, just put them where I can't get them) She also buys weight watchers ice cream bars for snacks.

I used to have a fluid issue regarding my intake of fluids, I haven't had that trouble in a few years, but for a long time I was drinking double what most people did and would still be thirsty. Nope..NOT diabetic.

I gave up smoking, not even an issue. I have oxygen added to my bipap machine that is supposed to help with healing in my legs, seems to help me with alertness.

I don't meditate per se, but I do practice thoughtfulness. I pick a few subjects and I give them a lot of thought. If it's pain, then that's what I think about, different ways to approach it, how it affects me, how it makes me feel, how I let it affect me outwardly, etc.

I don't plan to have this forever. I know it's spreading, and it is incurable, and it never "goes away" but I wasn't expecting it, and it doesn't fit into my future plans, so I'm not planning on having this illness forever.