The Year of Living Healthy

On January 1, 2007 I determined that I would go one full year without eating sugar. After about two months I added a few things to my resolution. I decided to add exercise and changed my eating from no sugar to nothing un-natural. It wasn't as hard as you would think.

On January 1, 2007 I weighed 269 lbs. On December 31, 2007 I weighed 206. My resting heart rate went from 78 to 61.

Eventually, I refined my eating and exercise to the following 4 things. (I will elaborate on each of these things later)

1. I ate nothing refined or un-natural.
2. I ate nothing after 7 PM
3. I ate only when I was hungry and only until I wasn't.
4. I exercised at least 45 minutes at least 4 times a week.

NOTHING REFINED OR UN-NATURAL
When you start to look at what is in the food you eat you will be amazed. It is shocking how many chemicals we put in our mouths everyday. Did you know that table sugar is refined more than heroin?
There are so many good healthy things to eat, I really didn't miss junk food. I replaced sugar with honey (check it out tho. Sometimes honey is not 100% pure honey. Read the label. Sometimes it's corn syrup with honey)
I ate only whole grains. Again, look at the label of the whole wheat bread you buy. It's amazing how many brands have high fructose corn syrup in them.
Eat at least 5 fruits or vegetables every day. Avoid the iceberg lettuce and go for the darker ones. Eat you greens first; they help process the other foods.

NOTHING AFTER 7 PM
This one was hard. For the first three or four weeks I was thinking of food from 7 PM until I went to bed. But soon, I realized that eating after 7PM was just habit and boredom.
I found that I slept much better because my body wasn't working all night trying to digest food. Also, I was ready to eat a good breakfast when I woke. I had never been a person who ate a good breakfast, but after not eating after 7 PM, I was able to eat a good breakfast which is extremely important to good health.

I have refined this to be this -- give your body 12 hours of rest from food. If you eat breakfast at 7 AM then eat nothing after 7 PM, breakfast at 6 AM, then nothing after 6 PM, etc. This makes your breakfast a real "Break Fast".

EAT ONLY WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY AND ONLY UNTIL YOU'RE NOT
This sounds like a "duh" thing to say, but think about the number of times you have stood in front of an open refrigerator wondering if you're hungry. How many times have you walked away because you couldn't find anything to eat and then returned 5 minutes later thinking something new might have materialized. The truth is, you were bored. The only exception I made to this rule was to eat a good breakfast even when I didn't think I was hungry. Eating a good breafast jump starts your metabolism and gets you body running.

EXERCISE AT LEAST 45 MINUTES AT LEAST 4 TIMES A WEEK
OK, you're not going to start with 45 minutes 4 times a day if you haven't been active for the past few years. I started with walking 20 minutes a day. After the first week, I increased it to 25 minutes. On the third week, 30 minutes, etc. Until I was walking 50 minutes a day. After about 8 weeks, I started running 2 minutes and walking 48, than the next week, running 3 minutes and walking 47, etc.
I have to say that I am not a fan of running. I find it very boring. So, I had to come up with good ways to break the boredom. I listened to podcasts. A good 60 minute radio program helps the time go by much faster. Some of my favorites are from NPR.org (National Public Radio) -- "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me", "Car Talk", "Fresh Air", "This American Life".. There are other very good ones on PRI (Public Radio International. "Radio West" is one of the best radio programs on the air. Another thing I like to do is take an old favorite movie and convert the audio to an MP3 file and listen to it while I exercise.
Other ways I broke the boredom was to run different places. There are dirt trails in the hills behind my house that make for a good hike. Racquetball is a good workout.
DON'T SELL YOURSELF SHORT
We do many things that are a good workout that we forget to list in our "workout" column. Mowing the Lawn is one of those things. Just pick up the pace when you mow and you will find that you're getting your heart rate up.