90 day personal health challenge! : Day 6
Howdy do! I’m really excited for spring so I’m getting a jump start on getting in shape for the spring/summer season when I can’t hide behind layers of clothing. I will call it my ’90 day personal health challenge!’, because I think it will take about 90 days for me to look and feel optimal. Almost a week ago already I stopped eating most ‘junk’ food (no more cookies, a weakness of mine!), stopped eating for emotional reasons or more than is necessary AND I started exercising EVERY DAY. So far this week I have walked/jogged a few miles, rode bike for over an hour, vacuumed and mopped the whole house, and started doing some pilates! I just found POP Pilates on youtube and I really like her down-to-earth yet always bubbly-happy kind of style. Today I’ve done my best so far to do this whole video and I think if you have any inkling to try it, you should too!
* Pop Pilates : Muffin Top Meltdown
If you’re interested in other types of workouts check out this big list of videos that I found that is sure to please. How about some zumba?
* Online Workout Videos
What do I actually eat, you might ask? Smoothies! They are my go-to food. I use soy milk, bananas, fruit, flax seeds and spinach most commonly. I can tweak the amounts and kinds of ingredients that I add to make it taste a little bit different every time.
I love smoothies. They are fast, fresh, tasty, and especially easy for my body to digest. Another go-to food for me that is like a major comfort food is apples, natural peanut butter, raisins and flax seeds. I like to consume a lot of flax seeds. They are so healthy and tasty too. When I want something hot and soothing I go for steamed vegetables or vegetable soup (sometimes with potatoes or rice). My favorite vegetable right now is broccoli with a little bit of soy sauce, black pepper and cayenne pepper to kick it up. Mmm! Right now I am completely avoiding any dairy/animal foods or complex carbohydrates like processed bread because I know that they really slow down my digestion and just don’t contain as much positive nutritional content per calorie consumed as other food choices I have. When I eat like this I feel very light and have great spurts of energy. Eating is a simple task when I’m near home or well prepared with a lunch box full of whole fruits, veggies and nuts. I’m not tempted to stray from my diet plan and with each passing day I feel better than the last because my “I can do this because I AM doing this” / self control confidence continues to rise.
Weee!
I do drink coffee. Almost every day, usually not long after I get out of bed. Usually I’ll just drink one 8oz cup, sometimes I’ll drink another one in the afternoon. My favorite part about is the flavor, second is the caffeine energy. I have read somewhere too that it helps boost your metabolism for the entire day so that’s good! However, I do know that coffee does have some negative attributes… so.. I also drink a couple cups of tea throughout the day. Green tea and pu-erh are my favorites. I do not regularly sweeten any of my drinks. Soda is right out!
Another awesome thing that I drink regularly (that nobody else that I know does! absolutely nobody else! @ this current time) is raw apple cidar vinegar – aka “ACV”, diluted in water. I just glug about a tablespoon into a cup and fill the rest up with cool water. My water bottle usually has this mixture in it. Ideally I drink just 1 glass of water/ACV per day when I’m just maintaining. However, during times that I’ve had a sinus infection I drink the ACV water 3-4 times throughout the day each day and I swear that it cures me. Last year I was suffering for about a month and a half from a sinus infection (antibiotics didn’t cure it, it came back!) but then I started really dosing myself with ACV and getting plenty of moisture in my sinuses and it went away naturally within about 5 days. This year when it was really dry I had one for only about a week and cured it with my natural remedies – ACV, moisture and sea salt rinses. Other than that I did not get the common cold or flu this year – Horray!
I am still in the beginning stages of my personal 90 day challenge so I still need to outline my goals, think up some rewards I can give myself for reaching them, and continue researching the most healthy/positive methods I should use to reach my goals so that I stay healthy the entire time.
Are you ready for some spring cleaning too? I challenge you!
