Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I remember when I first started to lose weight. I was very careful about what foods to eat. I'm not saying that I'm not careful now, but I do allow myself a day to cheat on my "diet" every now and then. If you don't cheat on your diet once in a while, I think you will be more likely to go back into your old habits. I say the word diet but I still am not comfortable calling the way I eat a diet... I eat healthier foods dailly but it's more of a lifestyle change than a diet.

I was recently on vacation. It's hard to find healthy foods away from home. I did bring a lot of walnuts, almonds, protein bars and fruit, but still, I did not eat totally healthy. I did allow myself dessert one day last week as I had a piece of chocolate cream pie. It was a lighter version with low fat whipped cream. Surprisingly, it was enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. This coming from someone that used to eat a half a gallon of ice cream a day!

Most people should already know of the many health benefits of eating fish. If not then click here. Fish is a staple food within ones diet to promote a healthy heart and brain with high amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids.  

One factor that may discourage people from adding more fish to their weekly meals is the expense of buying fish. A recent trip to Stop & Shop and Price Chopper yielded these prices: 

Soda is one of most wasted calories you can have. Americans get far too many calories as it is, but drinking soda only adds unnecessary calories that you don't need.

Think about it, why have a 300 calorie soda when you can have a flavored water and save yourself some calories. Of couse diet soda is better than regular, but still soda is not good for you. Research shows that diet soda drinkers waistline grew 70 percent more than non soda drinkers. If you're trying to lose weight, why risk it by drinking soda?

Everyone who is obese or overweight has "the moment of clarity" when they become aware of the need to kickstart their weight loss. I'm talking about the event or observation that happens in life that makes one start to contemplate their health, issues that arise from being overweight and why they want to lose the weight.

While visiting a movie theater, where my disorder, one that affects all overweight men, reared its ugly head and offered up my moment of clarity.

This is a special blog entry. One year ago, I started my first Wellness Challenge at the local YMCA. Part of the requirements for the challenge were to walk 70,000 steps each week. Thus began the journey of all the stepping... and walking away all those extra pounds!

The pedometer you see pictured here is actually the second one since the challenge. The first pedometer broke a few months ago. I purchased the same kind and I highly recommend this pedometer. It's by Sportline and sells for about $20. You just can't kill it, as it's been dropped, stomped on, etc. I'm amazed how it keeps going!