Checking In

The end of February, early March is usually the time that I've let my good intentioned New Year's Resolutions fall by the wayside. That's one of the main reasons that I don't really make resolutions any more. Now I adopt a single word for myself and work at keeping it in the forefront of my mind for a whole year. This year my word is

I set a few goals that were vitality related and as March begins I want to check in with myself and be publicly accountable by writing about the successes as well as the continuing struggles.

My first goal was to walk at least 30 minutes a day. That was my low-end goal. The high-end goal was to walk 10,000 or more steps each day. By setting two goals, both of them pushing my out of my comfort zone, I gave myself twice as many opportunities for success. To measure my progress, I got the world's coolest pedometer (it works in your pocket, resets itself at midnight automatically and keeps track of steps as well as distance!) and 10,000 steps is a bit more than 5 miles a day. (An aside – with a desk job, I can't make 10,000 steps a day if I don't walk for at least 45 minutes at a pretty quick clip in the morning before work.)

I'm happy to report that as of the beginning of March I've met or exceeded my goals at least 5 days each week since the beginning of the year! {Happy Dance!} I've walked more than a half a million steps in the last 61 days!

Intentionally, my vitality goals for the year have absolutely nothing to do with weight. They are all about my internal desires to be healthy, active and energetic. If weight loss comes, it comes. But I'm trying really hard not to allow it to be my focus.

That's a big step for me. I have a pretty distorted body image and it's a struggle not to focus on what I think I see in the mirror. When Ali and I are in public I often pick out someone who I see who has a weight problem, who I think is nearly my size. I nudge Al and ask,"Am I as big as she is?" What I think I see in myself is almost never what others see about me. People who have never struggled with their weight don't realize this but most of us who do struggle with this issue know more about dieting and calories and exercise regimes than anyone. So when someone says to us, "All you have to do is eat less and move more," it isn't all that helpful. Those of us who struggle with food don't need a better book, a how-to manual or yet another piece of exercise equipment. We know what to do. We just don't do it.

And speaking for myself, I can tell you that my weight problem is not going to be solved by another diet. My weight issue is between my ears. I have to work on me, the inside-me, for the outside-me to fall in line. Hence, vitality – not another diet.

Maybe I'm on a soapbox, but it needs to be said. Everybody has at least one issue they struggle with. One thing in their life that brings shame and feelings of humiliation. It might be compulsive shopping, terrible money management, dating people who make you feel bad about yourself or substance abuse. Whatever it is, that problem you have – that's what it's like for someone with a weight issue. It's an issue, just one that everyone can see.

So, I'm on kind of a roll and I'm proud of myself. I have absolutely no idea if I've lost weight. I don't ever weigh myself. Again, it's not the point. I know something inside me is changing though. This morning I overslept. I gave myself permission to take the day off from walking before I even got out of bed. I decided to spend the time before work vacuuming the house since we have Bible study tonight. But before I knew it, I found myself walking around the BFR track and telling myself that the Bible study folks wouldn't even notice a little bit of dog hair on the floor! I didn't want to exercise, I gave myself permission not to but something in me did it anyway. I've never experienced that before.

I still struggle with food. It's my next area of vitality concentration and attitude change. No doubt it won't come easily either. We're eating more vegetarian and I'm working on eating less. But there are miles to go. No doubt I will stumble, but at least for today – There is progress. It's good. And March is moving forward!

Book Review :: Food Rules

I picked up this interesting little book yesterday at the Stately Raven Bookstore. I had read some of Michael Pollan's other books – The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. They were excellent, but huge and somewhat complex. This tiny little title caught my eye, mostly because of my new pursuit of vitality.

I've been changing my eating strategies one little thing at a time for the last few weeks. Added a little fruit. Subtracted a little meat. Can't remember the last time I ate fast food. You know. . .stuff like that.

So far, it's making a difference.

Then I picked this book up. Now I've got new strategies to add. The book is just 64 simple rules for eating wisely. Some of them I had heard before. Most of them were new. Many were provocative and easy to remember.

A Sampling:

Rule 2: Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

Rule 13: Eat only food that will eventually rot.

Rule 21: It's not food if it's called the same thing in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos and Pringles.)

Rule 36: Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

Rule 51: Take as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.

Rule 57: Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.

My very favorite rule is #39 – Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself. I think the last time I cooked french fries, potato chips, corn chips, candy, ice cream or Oreos in my own kitchen was along about the time I was wearing those size 8 jeans. . .

This Vitality Thing Is Going To Kill Me

Every year I choose a word to guide my thinking and choices for the coming 365 days. For me, it's SO much better than a laundry list of resolutions that last all of three days. Last year my word was gentleness. This year it's vitality.

I afraid this vitality thing is going to kill me.

I'm moving along in years - to put it gently. With any luck, I've reached about the halfway point of my days so I started January 1st by thinking that any little steps towards better health would fit nicely in the vitality plan. Not wanting to rush things too much, I thought that perhaps the first steps towards more a more vigorous me might involve the ingestion of a multi-vitamin a day. I mean, heck, how hard can that be?

Monday morning I ate a little Activia prune-flavored yogurt – another nod to my impending geriatric colon – and popped my Centrum For Women, bullet-shaped, powerhouse of good health.

As I was drying my hair ten minutes later I felt a little odd. Within seconds my prune flavored yogurt was returning for a second visit – this time in the bathroom sink.

Now I remember why I don't take vitamins.

On Tuesday I thought it might be fun to try a new, healthful drink. When Dr. Oz made this special Green Drink on her show, Oprah took one taste of it and declared, "Oh! A glass of fresh!"

Dirtying every blending device in my kitchen, I whipped up a Green Drink of my own.


Here's the recipe just in case you want to make a glass of fresh for yourself after finishing this post!

2 cups spinach
1-2 medium cucumbers (approx 2 cups)
1 stalk celery
1/2 inch gingerroot (or 1 teaspoon)
1 bunch chopped parsley (approx 1/2 cup chopped)
2 apples, cored
1 lime, juice of
1/2 lemon, juice of
4 ounces mineral water (or a handful of ice cubes)

I took one sip of this concoction and it nearly followed the path of the prune-flavored Activia yogurt. What was left went down the last clean blending device in my kitchen – the garbage disposal.

Not being one to give up easily, this morning I decided to go to the recreation center in Bluffton and purchase a pass so that I could walk on the track in the mornings. My goal is 10,000 steps a day and the only way to make it is to do some intensive walking every day.

When I approached the counter there was a young girl working and I explained what I wanted. She looked me over carefully and then proceeded to ask if I qualified for the Senior Citizen discount. . .

Vitamins might make me puke and a glass of eviscerated spinach and apples might make me gag, but I am still feeling plenty vital enough to jump over that counter and take on a girl half my age!

Who you callin' old??