Healthy Me

For the past two weeks, I've been attending health seminars at our local YMCA with my 4th grader on eating right and fitness. The kids play in the gym with a fitness trainer while the parents sit in on lectures by pediatricians and dietitians on how to feed our children (and ourselves) right and the importance of exercise. After our lecture, we go into the gym and exercise with our kids. Last week, we ran around playing dodge ball in the gym with our 4th graders.

I'm drinking the Acai juice (not sure if it really works for weight loss but it does have antioxidants) and just bought an antioxidant supplement. I've upped my fiber intake too.

The pedometer I just received doesn't work (*sigh*) but I want to get another. Spring is coming so I want start walking.

After a few days of feeling discouraged, I exercised tonight and I feel wonderful! I did TURBO JAM DVD by Beachbody tonight. It includes several workouts. I grabbed a bottle of water, squeezed some fresh lemon juice into it, and put the 20 Minute Workout in. I like the boxing and the music. It's actually fun to do (and I usually hate exercising). You can choose whether you want to do high impact or low impact. It really gets your heart pumping. I love the way I feel after I exercise! It's just the "getting motivated" part that has me stumbling but once I do it, I really enjoy how I feel afterward. Now that I'm sitting still, I can feel it through the abs! Yeah! This is supposed to work the abs without having to get on the floor with the usual sit-ups.

Here is what's on the Turbo Jam Beach Body DVD (taken from Amazon):

Turbo Jam's Chalene Johnson packs each workout with calorie-blasting kickboxing, body sculpting, and the hottest dance musicall guaranteed to give you jaw-dropping results, no matter what your fitness level. INCLUDES 3 WORKOUTS ON 1 DVD:

• WORKOUT 1: LEARN & BURN (25 minutes) - Start blasting pounds and inches right from the start as Chalene leads you through her signature "Elite 11" moves. Also includes an amazing 15-minute ab routine.
• WORKOUT 2: 20 MINUTE WORKOUT - Pump up the volume with this calorie-burning workout featuring some of the hottest music around. You'll see fast results that will keep you motivated and coming back for more.
• WORKOUT 3: TURBO SCULPT (40 minute) - Tighten and tone your muscles using Chalene's signature moves. Get sculpted abs and glutes, strong arms, and lean legs with this fun and innovative workout.
  

I've added a weight change ticker to my blog so I can track where I am in relation to my goal weight loss. I've also decided that instead of just keeping a daily blurb on my sidebar to the right about what I did that day, I'd also leave up several previous days' worth. Maybe it will encourage me to build on what I put up the day before. (Here's hoping anyway.)

What I should do is take some measurements so I have a starting point. Will have to think about that one - if I want to go there!

My once a day health booster for myself was a big salad for lunch. Seriously, it was HUGE. There definitely had to be at least a few veggie servings in that salad.

I also bought some more Acai juice today and will have some later.

A not so healthy thing today - I broke a glass thermometer this morning and am waiting for the health dept. to get back to me on anything else I need to do to make sure it is all cleaned up. I can imagine when these glass thermometers were all families had to take temperatures, they were broken a lot. Now with all the environmental concerns and worries over mercury toxicity, I figured I'd better call them to make sure what I did was enough or what else I need to do so it's cleaned up right.

Big Salad and Acai juice today - YEAH!
Mercury toxicity - Not Yeah.

I have a moderately severe case of asthma. Without my daily preventative (Advair), I'd be having asthma attacks regularly. Actually, I believe I'd be dead by now. No doubt about it. My last ER trip due to asthma, before this medication, almost killed me. When I asked my doctor how close it came, he held his index finger and thumb together with barely a space in between. Too close. I can't escape the respiratory distress in the winter months so Advair is a must.

I despise having to take daily meds but if it means the difference between living and the morgue, well, I choose living. Duh!

In the course of a diet I started (and didn't finish...sigh) last year, I found out that if I cut dairy out of my diet, the need for my daily preventative wasn't urgent. My asthma symptoms improved SO much. I didn't have any milk or cheese for a week and in terms of my asthma, I hadn't felt so good in years.

So you'd think I would've cut dairy out of my regular diet? I didn't. I like cheese too much. Sad huh? What is even more sad is that I am lactose intolerant. Even more incentive to stop ingesting dairy but I didn't. I just don't drink it in the morning when it hurts my stomach (cramps). What does that say? I have more incentive for gratification than for my health. Somebody give me the dunce cap!

My "once a day health booster" for today is to not have any dairy and to take a multi-vitamin to make up for any vitamins I'd be missing. I'm going to go do that right now!

As a work-at-home mother and wife, it's easy to get so busy or distracted that I forget to take care of myself. I have been reminded many times that I don't take care of myself enough. I don't take the time to exercise or eat right, usually picking from whatever I am making for the kids at the time or just scrounging up something quick to eat instead when the kids aren't here. It doesn't help that my husband is on a funky shift at work because it leaves us with different body time clocks so we eat at different times. That leaves the idea of sharing a good meal with my husband just an idea...very rarely does it happen.

When I get stressed, it can get the best of me. I don't eat when I am stressed but it affects me in different ways. I have TMJ in my jaw from clenching my jaw constantly when stressed. I've done a good amount of damage to my jaw (if that tells you how much stress this stepmother has had in the past 14 years). I'm sure it hasn't been good for my health. I've heard that stress can cause illness, autoimmune disorders. I'm not sure if that's true but I wouldn't be surprised it if it were proven. Between my asthma and thyroid disease, I have about all I want of life-long diseases to deal with. I don't need anymore.

So, I have decided to start putting me first once a day. That means once a day, I have to do something healthy for myself. Whether it is eating a fruit or vegetable (which isn't a daily occurrence right now sadly), dealing with stress in a healthy way, exercising - - whatever. It has to be for me and healthy.

Let's see how it goes.

All moms should try to do this for themselves! Who wants to join me in putting oneself first once a day for our health?