Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I'm not sure of the exact date, but late last December, after two wellness challenges, better eating habits and increased exercise, I reached my goal weight. It was a lot of hard work and the result was normal blood pressure, good cholesterol numbers and optimal glucose levels. Plus my waist size went from 44 down to 34 inches.

There were a few comments along the way that I still hear at times, even though it has been a year since I reached my lowest weight. The first comment comes from those that knew my sister had anorexia. They assume that automatically I would "catch" anorexia, even though my goal is to be healthy. Only another sibling of an anorexic can truly understand what this feels like. The only way I can describe it is if one sibling is an alcoholic, someone will feel the other sibling is an alcoholic because they had one drink. I know people say these things because they care, but it just shows how misunderstood anorexia really is.

I wrote about the dangers of aspartame a few months ago. I wanted to follow up on helpful ways to switch from aspartame to stevia, an all natural sweetener with zero calories that comes from the stevia plant.

First, give up the soda! It's not good for you at all. Diet soda contains aspartame and other chemicals that you should avoid in your diet. It is also considered a diarrhetic, which means it will dehydrate you. A good alternative for this is unsweetened iced tea. Add in your own stevia packets and avoid the Sweet N Low (saccharine), Equal (aspartame) and Splenda (sucralose). Unsweetened iced tea has a lot of antioxidants in it and soda has nothing good to offer.

I'm sure you remember the failed policy that New York Mayor Bloomberg attempted to pass earlier this year, the ban on sodas 16 oz. or larger. It's not surprising that such a policy didn't work out as people need to make better choices on their own. However, I do agree that something needs to be done about the sugary drinks as so many people are obese.

One solution might be to stop offering self service for sodas at fast food restaurants. I don't know how many times I've witnessed people refilling their large sodas at McDonald's. Not only have these people ingested what was probably a huge meal full of calories, they went and piled more sugar and calories on by having 2 or 3 servings of soda. I think the only self service machine should be for water, coffee or unsweetened iced tea.

Pomegranates are in season and they are once again in abundance at most grocery stores. I had a tough time finding them last spring, but it's nice to see them in so many stores again.

I've written about pomegranates before. I thought they were worth mentioning again as this fruit really is a super food.

A while back, I wrote an article about Papa Joe Avaiance. He lost over 250 pounds on a budget and reached his goal without surgery. He is truly an inspiration and I'm so happy he agreed to do an interview for the healthylivingct website. Papa Joe has kept his weight off by eating right and exercising every day. Papa Joe, thank you so much for the interview! I think Papa Joe will motivate those of you who are thinking of losing weight and for those who get discouraged, he offers some great advice. Check out the interview below. For more information about Papa Joe, go to his website by clicking here.