Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

It was in the news recently that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently underwent lap band surgery in order to lose weight. While I applaud him for attempting to fix his problem, I do not agree with his method to correct the obesity. I believe the only healthy way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat right and exercise.

I had a comparable build to Governor Christie just a year and a half ago. I needed to lose weight and my doctor advised me to as well. I was fat for way too long and I didn't want to get diabetes. I finally took a stand and changed my food intake. I also increased my exercise by doing a hour on the treadmill most days of the week. The weight came off gradually at an average of 3 pounds a week. Surgery may have given me results at a quicker rate, but I would rather learn the proper ways to live healthy and to adjust gradually to my new weight.

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!

I got tired of writing separate articles for each superfood individually. I thought I would recap and give you the rest of my list.

Here are the 10 foods you should add to your checklist to eat:

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!

I eat tomatoes every single day. I've always loved tomatoes, since I was a kid. Back then, I didn't eat them because they were healthy, I just ate them because they tasted good.

The red color in tomatoes is from lycopene. This bright red carotene and carotenoid pigment and phytochemical found in tomatoes can help protect against cancer. It also protects the body against damage from free radicals. Lycopene is also found to suppress the growth of human cancer cells.