Changing Our Unhealthy Habits

We continue with our efforts to change our lifestyle in an attempt to be healthier and lose weight. I continue to track all of my eating and exercise at the SparkPeople website. I make an effort to get out every day and go for a walk with Shasta. Though, with the weather this week, it was a challenge.

When I can't get outside, I have started doing exercise videos; my current favorite is the Leslie Sansone Walk off the Pounds series. My current goal is to do 45-minutes a day of cardio six days a week (I give myself Sundays to rest). I also do about 30-minutes of beginning strength training 5-days a week.

As far as food, we've slowly been using up our pantry and slowly restocking with healthier foods. Nowadays, we mostly buy only wholegrain pasta and flours and other whole grains. We've gradually added more and more beans and vegetables to our diet. I've found some really wonderful recipes using winter squash. We have gathered quite the collection of grains in recent months!

I'm on the lookout for a good bean cookbook, but while I continue to search, I am building up recipes I have collected from the internet. In fact, I have decided one of my goals for 2010 is to learn how to cook beans and to make them a larger part of our diet. I'm striving to add a bean dish to our menu at least once a week.

We're also eating more veges and fruit. I try to eat five servings a day, but at this point I often fail. I have added carrots and celery to snacks, as well as an apple or other seasonal fruit. This year, I'll definitely enjoy the variety of fruit available starting in late spring. I pretty much only buy fruit that's been grown in the United States; I don't want to buy fruit that's been flown in from out of the country. I would buy only local--buy I love apples and they're mostly grown in Washington!

We're spending quite a lot more on food these days as we shop almost entirely at Whole Foods, but we've decided our health is worth it. I'm sure we'll save money in the long run as we'll hopefully need less medical care as we grow older.