New Health, New Habits!
Breaking the Cycle Can Help You Feel Good
Frankly, I am shocked at my “progress†with this brand new health and lifestyle change my family and I have implemented this year. I emphasize the word progress because the scale doesn’t say anything different than last year’s weight yet. The clothes I yearn to try on without popping the front button off don’t fit me – yet. No, nothing has visibly changed as of now. On the outside, that is. Inside, however, there is change – and it’s good!
We began a low sugar, carb counting regimen early last week, and we are already noticing substantial improvement in energy and sleeping habits. Right before I began this plan, I was not sleeping much at all, averaging just four or five hours a night, due to a busy mind, and restlessness. I also was dragging all day, napping at least three days a week, and always off balance in the “regularity area!â€Â The funny thing was, I wasn’t concerned about any of these symptoms, or how to improve them, because I had gotten so used to them and was assuming they were the norm!
So when we cut our sugar intake down to 15 grams a day, and carbs down to six or less servings a day (a serving is 0-20 grams per helping), we thought we would have withdrawal or something. Nope, nothing. Not even a headache! The tiredness and drag disappeared almost immediately (maybe two days in?), I have no bloating, gassiness or any other digestive malady (I had forgotten what it is like to “go†normally!)  I’m sleeping like a baby every night, getting up with alertness (that’s before my coffee!) and going all day, no dragging or napping. It’s weird, feeling this good, I feel young again! I had heard that saying before, but never really knew how much it meant until now!
I have also been exercising – and if you really know me, you know that I DESPISE exercising! So, what I told myself was, if I just do something active for twenty minutes or more every day, then I could do it.  I couldn’t just come out of the resolution gate “working out†three times a week, I had to convince myself just to get up, get out, and move for a few minutes every day, and it would be better than nothing! So the first day, I rode bicycles with my kids around the block a couple times, the next day, I walked fast for 20 minutes with my husband, and by the third day, while walking with my friend, I was starting to get excited. I could do this exercise thing! We pounded the pavement for an hour, and I didn’t even realize it!
So, I am on the road to improvement, 20minutes at a time. 15 grams of sugar at a time. One day at a time. That’s the moral of the story, really – just start some kind of an improvement, any improvement, and take it one step at a time! That will put you on the road to success, and that’s a road we all can travel in 2011!
What about you? Are you tackling a healthy new lifestyle too? Tell us what you’re trying, and how you’re feeling! We want to share in your successes (and maybe bumps in the road!) with you!
