I learned a lot in days 7-12. First, I learned I walk 11-12,000 steps a day without even being conscious of it. That's a good thing. I'd hate to think I have to worry about upping my steps forever. Second, I learned my added sugar intake runs around 22g a day and there is no way to get around that because I need to take my New Lifestyle diet food to work. At work we only have a hot and cold water dispenser. There is no microwave or refrigeration available, so when I work 8, 9, or 10 plus hours, food has to be portable and able to be recreated with either hot or cold water. Yes, all of our clubs are located in plazas where many food options are within walking distance, and I am allowed to put up a sign and leave to get stuff…but this leads me to the third thing I learned. I panic if I did not pre-plan and bring my own food. The thought of hunger setting in to the point where it affects my work and having to run out and make a hurried choice about what to eat, scares me. I have become fearful of what is in my food when I eat out. When we do go out for dinner, I usually ask them to give me either grilled chicken or steak tips and a double order of vegetables. Then I still feel like I'm in control. In Harwich we have a great restaurant right next door and I will run over for a grilled chicken ceaser salad in an emergency.
I don't know why, but in these first few weeks of this challenge I spent more time just figuring out “what is” instead of trying to change anything. The one thing that did change though was that my husband jumped on the bandwagon with me and he cut the white foods out of our diet (he is responsible for all food shopping and cooking) and now he is very conscious of how much added sugar is in everything we buy. We buy all organic and spend very little time in the inside aisles of the grocery store. We love fresh salsa and guacamole and we found organic chips with only 2g of sugar to go with them. Other tailgating type snacks we make are eggplant pizza and chicken burger sliders. The eggplant pizza is eggplant slices, baked and topped with my husband's homemade sauce made with our garden tomatoes. One year ago we were buying frozen pizza bites and barbecue chicken wings for our game time treats. I'd say we've come a long way in making better food choices. Packaged and processed foods are 99% gone from our pantry.
My two week assessment of this challenge? It has done it's job. This challenge has made both my husband and I more aware of just what we eat and how much we move each day. It's lead us to make conscious choices instead of hurried ones – Saturday night at Not Your Average Joe's when they asked if we wanted bread, my husband said no. That has never happened before. Then he had seared tuna salad and I had steak tips and vegetables. He had a beer and I had a glass of wine. We both felt really good about the choices we made.
There are three more weeks left to the challenge. Its changed our lives in just two weeks. It's not too late to hop on. Today Michael Wood wrote Goal Setting For The 10,000 Step Wellness Challenge. Click on over and make a conscious choice to join us. (Ashley – he posted the next Harvard Stadium stair workout – 8am Nov 1!) Also, if by now you have picked up your iPhone 6, the health app that comes on it is great for measuring your steps and giving you the weekly average. (My phone is still on order, but my sister sends me pics of her steps on hers,)
And so, as another day goes by, you are never too old, never too tired, never too sick or never too busy to start making positive changes to your life, and…I have written.
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