Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I would like to congratulate New York on a new law I wasn't aware of until today. New York now has a Fruit and Vegetable Prescription plan. This means that New York now acknowledges that fruits and vegetables have the power to cure disease, something the FDA doesn't exactly agree with.

A doctor in New York can now prescribe "Healthy Bucks" to those who are obese, and they in turn can use them to get fresh fruit from the farmer's markets there. I think it's so cool that New York acknowledged the health benefits of vegetables. It's like a big advertising campaign to wake up the obese people to start eating better. The idea might be slightly over the top, but it's a step in the right direction. It's refreshing to hear of doctors not writing prescriptions for drugs for a change.

Three months ago, I wrote about how I got 10,000 steps a day since April of 2012. I'm still getting the steps in and three months later, I figure I have walked approximately 990,000 steps since April of this year. When combining the steps with last year, I have walked a total of 4,640,000 steps. That converts to approximately 2,197 miles, almost as many miles to get to Los Angeles from Connecticut. That's a lot of steps!

It's not that hard to get the steps in. I still use the treadmill 5 days a week, but less time on it. However, I did set a new record with the treadmill. I am now able to do a 5K on there in less than 25 minutes. When I first started the treadmill, I couldn't go faster than 4 MPH. Now I average about 7.5 MPH. The treadmill gets me about 4,000 steps. The other steps come from walking my dog, going to store, etc. The steps really do add up.

It has been so hot in Connecticut, I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you need to drink more to cool off. The heat causes us to sweat more and we lose a lot of water in this heat.

But how much of what you're drinking is actually water? Soda and beer do not count. It's best not to get your calories from your drinks. There is so much empty calories in soda, it can really pack on the pounds. Diet soda isn't much better… some research shows that diet soda drinkers might actually hurt their metabolism and increase risk of obesity and diabetes.

I was watching King of Queens a while back and was reminded about my own experience losing weight. Doug (played by funny man Kevin James) was talking to his wife Carrie (Leah Remini) about his waist size. He had no idea she was buying him clothing from the big & tall store. Doug was in denial about his weight and had no idea he was as big as he was. This pushes him to attempt to lose weight... as he says no one's gonna call him Fatty McButterpants anymore! He's too funny!

I must have heard it a thousand times... "You must feel a lot better!"

After losing 130 pounds, I didn't really think much about it, but yes, I do feel a lot better. I no longer have knee problems, I don't wake up with nocturnal leg pains and I don't suffer from headaches. I never realized when I was obese that being fat really does hurt physically (and of course emotionally too).