The Right Stuff

I was musing today that despite the ups, downs and false starts of my weight loss journey (epic journey, one might say), I have, over the years, adopted some new healthier lifestyle changes that have stuck:

1. Regular to decaf coffee - During my Atkin's diet phase, I noticed that if I stopped drinking regular coffee for any length of time, I got a major headache which was unstoppable, even with Aspirin. So now I only sporadically have regular

2. Breakfast - Gone are the days when I wouldn't bother with breakfast, but would leap out of bed and into the workday - or grab whatever happened to be handy in the fridge. Now, I almost always have cereal - currently an organic kind

3. Milk - Went from 2% to 1% and never looked back

4. Soup Luncheon - Most often I have soup for lunch, not always, but most often. Versus a variety of whatevers. There was some backsliding over the summer, found myself in front of takeout rather often

5. Mid-Day Snacks - I acknowledge I need these, and have run the gamut from healthy, to questionable, to debacle-ish. Currently, I do fruit and have tried to up my veggie quotient. I bought a new two-part containor while in St. Louis, which has proved to be motivational. There's just something about owning a nice new containor, made in New Zealand, that makes me want to put healthy snacks into it

6. Exercise - Although I have gone for swatches of time in gym-avoidance mode, even when I'm avoiding it, I'm always thinking about it, and so can say that I am definitely more exercise-focused than before

7. Artificial Sugar-  I used to think artificial sugar was a good way to avoid calories, but now I think it's just plain unhealthy. Related to this was a switch from pop to carbonated water. I'll still drink pop, but mostly when I need to feel the bubbly, I'll reach for a can or bottle of carbonated water

This year also marks the first time I have ever put any thought into what I eat. Reading Salt Sugar Fat - How the Food Giants Hooked Us - was a real eye-opener. It completely changed how I saw processed food, and has led me into organic foods. I am loving my weekly (non bi-weekly) box from River Bell Market. If you check my shelves, fridge or freezer, you'll notice a scarcity of processed food now.

Despite all these positive steps, even when surrounded by healthy squash, carrots, lettuce, radishes, spinach, etc, I will still find myself buying and reveling in whatever the least healthy thing in the house might be.

A loaf of bread or a hunk of cheese will pour out its siren's call and I am powerless to resist! For the purpose of the Lose to Win challenge, I am going to be extra careful to avoid the foods that I know drag me down, which is pretty much anything in the bread family, the cheese family and the chocolate family...

Got to focus on eating The Right Stuff!