Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I was at McDonald's today, not to order food but to get unsweetened iced tea, an excellent value and tastes good in my opinion. I have my own stevia packets in the car as opposed to sweetening it with Equal or Splenda. Anyway, whenever I'm there, it drives me crazy some of the choices people make when ordering there. I don't say anything to them, but it does give me good incentive to blog about how to make healthier choices. Here's an example.

A woman in front of me was ordering a cheddar something or other burger and asked if tomatoes are extra. The worker told her it would be 30 cents more so she didn't bother getting the tomato with it. She decided to save her money and go for... KETCHUP instead! Now how many of you would think that ketchup is the same as having a slice of tomato? I hope most of you will realize that ketchup is mostly high fructose corn syrup and like 30 other ingredients, very little tomato. It is not a healthy alternative.

Yes, it's true, Bridgeport was chosen the fifth healthiest city in the US, according to livability.com. I have nothing against Bridgeport, I work in CT's largest city, after all, but still, I'm surprised it made number 5.

According to the livability website, to be considered, "These cities provide residents with exercise opportunities, good food choices and strong support networks." When I think of healthiest city in CT, the first city that would come to mind would be New Haven. Why? Because New Haven is home to Yale University and has some of the top doctors in the state. I would also think of towns like Farmington and Simsbury.

I know a few people have said they thought I was on a low carb diet but I am not. I'm on a LOWER carb diet, as I cut down on the amount of carbs I was having. But, I think carbs are important and they get a bad rep.

The Atkins Diet, Paleo, etc, there are so many diets out there that want you to up the protein and fat and drastically reduce carbs. I don't get how it could be healthy to restrict so much that you can't incorporate fruits and certain veggies in the diet (like sweet potatoes). The nutrients are so important... think of all the antioxidants you're missing! I haven't had a cold in so long and I think it's because of all the antioxidants I get from the berries, pomegranates, etc.

My trainer figures that one more session, and I'll be at just about 10 percent body fat! This has been a long journey but an awesome experience. I feel fitter than I ever have in my life! My energy levels are high, I'm getting stronger every day and I see my skin beginning to tighten.

My trainer measured my abs with the calipers today, along with the thighs. He didn't do the chest but his best estimate is that I'm somewhere between 11 and 12 percent body fat. He also used the Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), a hand held devise that may not be accurate, but at least if the numbers are going in the right direction, you know it's working. My BIA came down another percentage point since the last time he checked it. I'm now at 18 percent on the devise versus 19 percent.

It was just announced today that Pepsi plans to offer their once-popular Diet Pepsi without aspartame. You'd think I would be happy with this news. I was when I first read the headline, but then I read the article.

Apparently, Pepsi thinks people will accept sucralose as an effective substitute for the aspartame. People are smarter than this, Pepsi. It's been known for years that sucralose is not a natural sugar substitute and screws up digestion. I'm too young to remember much about this, but i's probably similar to when Coca-Cola introduced aspartame as an alternative to saccharine, which they used in their Tab product, I believe.  The difference is, Coca-Cola made a new product with Diet Coke containing aspartame and probably kept Tab, containing saccharine, on the market for a while. Pepsi is taking a huge gamble changing the formula for their soda without offering a different product.