Share your plans for living healthier in 2008 for a chance to win a trip to BlogHer '08!

Forty years and 165 pounds ago I entered into an unplanned marriage at age sixteen to a man who systematically and deliberately crushed my self-esteem over the next 22 years. It has taken 18 years and a suicide attempt last spring to bring me to a point where I accept I have a right to be happy.

I have been blessed to have relatively good health for a 56 year old, grossly obese woman who smoked over a pack of cigarettes a day and seldom made an effort towards physical activity. A nutritious meal consisted of having only one starchy vegetable and one dessert serving. But . . . that was then and this is now.

In July of 2007, I began my quest to change my unhealthy lifestyle due to being involved in a community wellness coalition. In the process of writing a business plan for our group, my research gave me insight into the causes of, the effects of, and actions to overcome unhealthy lifestyles. I made the decision to quit smoking and took steps to achieve this goal. I have been smoke-free since August 27, 2007. I have recently decided I can lose this morbid shell of fat I have created to “protect” me. I have done my research. I know my plan of action. You are welcome to follow my success at http://cricket51.wordpress.com.

My ex-husband’s class motto was “We were Great in 68.”
That was then and this is now. I will be Great in ’08.

For the last few years I've been struggling with my identity. I spent a lot of time in school and practicing health care in a way I didn't like. It was way too focused on tertiary care -- cleaning up the trainwreck after it happened instead of preventing it in the first place. And yet it was hard for me to let go because I had so much invested, both time-wise and financially.

This year I am devoting myself not only to my own personal body overhaul -- I have a goal of five one-armed pushups by the end of the year, but I am also going to become a personal trainer to work with those who need to exercise as rehab -- either to overcome obesity or to get back on track after a heart attack, and to push prevention of obesity. A huge part of this is eating right -- and I plan to practice what I plan to preach.

Stylefool

I have spent twenty long years miserable in my own skin allowing my weight to control me day after day. Then last year I began an amazing life changing fitness journey. Sixty pounds lost and I'm soaring. I have so much to share and it's only the beginning of the healthier me. It is utterly liberating to control food rather than allowing food to control me. Food is fuel and when when you supply your body with good fuel, it functions better. Drinking plenty of plain water cleanses the body and dampens the appetite. Working out with friends at our free community gym Monday, Wednesday, and Friday has replaced mindless eating and helped sustain the changes. I have energy to share quality time with my daughters and husband. Eating at home provides my husband and me time to together in the kitchen preparing dishes made of fresh Vegetables, Fruit, Whole Grains, Fish, and Chicken. When people stop me demanding to know how I lost the weight, I tell them you have to "WEN" to loose, Water-Exercise-Nutrition. I also remind them that loosing is only half the battle. To be truly fit and healthy you have to make it a lifestyle change, fully integrated into your daily routine. You only have one body, make it great in 08. Ladies we can do it together!

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." -Ronald E Osborn-

My healthier me plans for 2008? Well, let's see...

1. Drink more water. Water is beneficial in so many ways, and I understand that drinking enough even raises your BMR (basal metabolism rate), which means it is harder to get fat. That can't hurt.

2. Walk daily and breath deeply of the fresh air to invigorate my body and refresh my spirit.

3. Make sure my intake is well-balanced by the end of the day.

4. Look at my plate when I fill it and make sure at least half of it is colorful vegetables.

5. Refrain from taking second helpings.

6. Blatantly contradict my upbringing by NOT eating everything on my plate, just leaving a bite or two to remind myself that I don't need more.

7. If I get the munchies between meals, I'll drink a glass of water instead.

That's it, in brief.

P.S. Thank you, Boca, for being in my freezer during the recent four-day power outage. Meat I would have had to throw away, but my Boca Burgers are just as tasty and safe as ever.

P.P.S. No, Boca did not pay me to say that.

As part of my plan for living healthier in 2008, I'm working on drinking more water. Here's a link to my entry here:
http://lepetitchic.typepad.com/le_petit_chic/2008/01/my-2008-to-dos.html

www.lepetitchic.typepad.com

As a little girl, I watched Gramma exercise in front of the tube with her Jack La Lane “glamour stretcher,” the 60s version of today's stretch band thingies. I begged to join. Gramma enjoyed life until her death at 95. I want to be just like Gramma plus10. Those on line aging tests estimate I'll live to be 104. (I didn't really lie-- much.) I gotta figure out how to add that year and subtract those 15 pounds of me I do not want.

So I began thinkin’. Now I’m the person who was reading labels before it was fashionable-- when there was very little to read. I am a great detective with fat, calories, portions, and carbs, but what else. Got it!

Like sands through the hourglass, flows the sodium into our lives. For 2008, I'm taking an hourglass approach to sodium to gain that year on my life. I’ll watch the sodium hourglass. Turn it sideways when the grains hit 1500-2000mg. But I still felt the need to forge ahead with more! I took a second health stand.

I made my Declaration of NORM Days on 01-01-08. I will eat NO Red Meat on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday--- every week!

This past 4 weeks wasn’t easy. I've messed up accidentally and twinged with the guilt of old Catholic Fridays. My husband has joined in my declaration (sort of).

But I am in tune with my new habits. Ban the shaker and break out the vegetarian, poultry, and seafood!

A MIDLIFE CRISIS THIS SURELY IS NOT;
BUT TURNING 40 HAS ME IN A NEW SPOT.
A CHANCE TO LOOK BACK AT ALL THAT I’VE DONE;
LIFE’S UPHILL CHALLENGES AND BATTLES I’VE WON.
ALSO TO LOOK AHEAD TO A FUTURE UNKNOWN;
CHILDREN GROWING UP AND LIVING LIVES OF THEIR OWN.
A NEW COMMITMENT TO ME IS WHAT LIES AHEAD;
NO LONGER MY REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR I WILL DREAD.
A NEW COMMITMENT TO EXERCISE WILL HELP ME RESHAPE;
A BRAND NEW 40 YEAR OLD BODY FOR THE YEAR 2008.
BUT MY NEW COMMITMENT TO ME GOES WELL BEYOND THE MAT;
A RENEWED SPIRIT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A TUMMY THAT IS FLAT.
IMPROVED ENGERY WILL ALLOW ME TO GIVE MORE;
A BETTER WIFE AND A BETTER MOM TO THOSE I ADORE.
BUT WHAT ARE THE SPECIFICS, WHAT EXACTLY WILL I DO;
A DAILY WALK ON THE TREADMILL WALKING UP A HILL OR TWO.
LESS TELEVISION AND MORE TIME OUTDOORS;
TEACHING MY CHILDREN THAT EVEN IN THE CITY THERE IS NATURE TO EXPLORE.
TIME ALONE EACH WEEK FOR A SOAK IN THE TUB.
AND EVERY NOW AND THEN A GOOD MASSAGE AND BACK RUB.
TIMES HAVE HIT HARD AND OUR FINANCES ARE TIGHT;
THE STRESS OF IT ALL HAS CAUSED MANY A FIGHT.
IN 2008 A RENEWED SPIRIT WILL LESSEN FEARS;
AND GIVE MY HUSBAND SUPPORT INSTEAD OF MY TEARS.
SO IN CLOSING I OFFER THIS PRAYER OF GRATITUDE;
THANK YOU GOD FOR THIS NEW YEAR AND MY NEW ATTITUDE!

The final nail in my veganism’s coffin was a bad veggie burger in an Austin café. When ordering, I’d forgotten to ask what kind of burger I was in for: a patty, or the kind that’s a pile of mush on the bun that oozes out the sides. Unfortunately, I got the latter.

“This is bullshit.” I said. I was tired of eating fake stuff; and how healthy had that “burger” been, anyway?

The opportunity for change arose January 1st in New York, when a friend served us Jewish holiday foods. With encouragement from friends, I tentatively sampled the sable: my first fish in over a decade. It was real food that nourished my brain. I was newly engaged, it was a new year, and it was the beginning of a new era.

Back home, our neighbors invited us to dinner—pan-fried trout. It was spicy and wonderful. Although it was fried, the fact that they’d caught the fish themselves seemed like the most natural thing possible, the way people have always eaten, before Americans became so removed from their food and started eating processed junk.

My healthy diet plan is to eat sustainably (mostly plants), and to paraphrase Michael Pollan, it should be mostly foods my grandparents would recognize as edible.

Life’s too short to rule out ingredients like sweet cream butter, or trying delicious new cheeses, or sampling foreign cuisines. Happiness is integral to health, and the visceral pleasure of eating good, real food makes me happy.

Seconding Elisa here.

Vegan food is not "fake stuff." And even if it were, I'd prefer "fake stuff" to "dead stuff." I had many more unpleasant eating experiences in my years as an omnivore than I've had as a vegan. The vegan food I eat is more "real" than just about anything from an animal I used to eat. And it's certainly healthier.

You can have terrible eating habits as a vegan just as you can have terrible eating habits as an omnivore. If someone is an unhealthy vegan or a vegan who never gets to eat interesting, varied, tasty food, it's because that person has chosen that; it's not a result of being vegan.

The variety in my diet has grown tenfold since I went vegan from vegetarian. My eyes, mind, and tastebuds were suddenly open to whole new worlds. And when I'm eating healthy vegan foods, I--like every other vegan I know--feel worlds better physically and emotionally both.

The solution to bad experiences isn't swearing off veganism--it's buying a few cool cookbooks, learning to make yourself some great dishes, and frequenting only the restaurants that do have healthy, tasty options.

Life's too short indeed. It's too short to fill my body with the remnants of once-living, breathing, thinking, feeling, terrified, tortured, and slaughtered individual beings--beings who longed to live and live happily and without pain--just because I like the way they taste. It's too short to walk around weighed down (both literally and ethically) by what I eat. My life's too short. But not as short as were the animals'.

Stephanie

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http://vidadepalabras.blogspot.com
A Vegan Editor's Life of Words (and animals and nature and politics and family and food)

Here's my entry:

http://vegancowgirl.blogspot.com/2008/01/as-usual-my-head-has-been-turne...

Lyndsay
www.vegancowgirl.com

2007 was probably the worst year of my life.

From watching my mother in law dying and helping my husband through that, to the mental health issues I was experiencing, and to the physical pain of a tough pregnancy and finally to the loss at 6 months of our little unborn boy.

Fitness...physical and mental - really wasn't on my mind.

2008 HAS to be a better year and HAS to be a better year for myself.

My goals for this year are to focus on making a better me. Or really just trying to find the old not sick and miserable me.

I had started last year with much the same goals. I was excited about my blog and excited about attending the BlogHer conference. The blog was neglected and I cancelled my trip due to my mother in laws surgery.

Can goals be hopes and prayers too?

I am working at being a better me. A less stressed me. A kinder and more patient me. I want to have fun with my family. I want to take the time to do goofy things with my kids as well as goofy stuff just for me.

I want to see my friends more.
I want to work on my writing again.
I want to lose weight and get fit....I have signed up for a fitness routine at the local community centre.

I can do the fitness now because I am no longer looking after the daycare children - one stressor removed.

I now have time to focus on me. To remember who I am.

To remember and revel in what makes me 'me.'

Look for me at http://crunchycarpets.com or check out the ladies at www.wetcoastwomen.com

Two years ago I realized that drinking coffee and pop was really doing damage to my body. It's not that I've stopped or even cut down it's that one day a week, I chose Sunday, I allowed myself one cup of coffee but drank water the whole day. I've kept Sunday as water day or as I like to call it, "the cleansing day."

For a year months now I've kept my fried foods to a minimum but for the last 6 months I've cut down to the point of allowing myself one very unhealthy fried meal per calendar month. I figure allowance is better than cutting it out totally. I've stuck with the water only for one day a week and fried foods for one day a month. It works for me. The water day I chose was based on a day I would most likely not be out and about. So if you choose a day for water choose one that doesn't interfere with socializing, work or play.

When cooking the way I deal with portion control is that I use smaller pans to cook.

Good luck all,
Austin of Sundrip Journals

The People Behind My Eyest

my art prints, art by me.

Hey folks! One of the best ways to become healthier is to relieve yourself of excess stress. That's my plan for this year. A lot die of too much stress. One way to relieve stress is to engage more in relaxing activities. I will do this by doing what I like to do best which is fictional writing and poetry. For me, engaging in conversations about interesting subjects such as science and politics, is relaxing. My life will be so much better by relaxing. Try it!

I also plan to excercise more by doing dance aerobics. How fun! I also plan to eat healthier with fewer carbohydrates and fat in my diet. This means I'll make the healthy choice of eating the great and the fabolous Boca burgers. Yeah!

Last year, I had a lot of stuff happen in my life that I had no control over. This year I wanted to be proactive and control the things that are in my power. My weight and he amount of exercise I get is one of them.

I usually lose so much weight, get so far on an exercise plan and just quit. This year I gave myself a 1,000 mile challenge. That's 1,000 miles, walking, biking, running or swimming. When I reach 500, I'm giving myself a nifty ring that says "the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.

So far its working, I'm down inches and pounds and I'm staying active. I will finish the 1,000 miles this year for me.

Sheila
www.coffeeandshoes.com