Fall

People often exclaim, "it's a beautiful day outside" during the summer months. Seventy-five degrees, breezy and slightly overcast is my idea of a beautiful day. Is it any wonder that Fall is my favorite time of year? Maybe it's because I was born at the end of summer (my 32nd birthday is today) and my first month in this world was during this time of year, but I have always loved it. In stark contrast to summer, when my energy is drained by the heat, fall seems to give me energy. Fall is magic. It awakens my soul with reminders of favorite sweaters, hot apple cider, bonfires and family dinners. I love the crisp, slightly chilled air, the smell of fireplaces starting up again after a summer of misuse, and changing leaves. When apples ripen, people make holiday plans and you can leave your windows open as you sleep at night. THIS is what I have been waiting all summer for.

Gluten-Free Girl recently described fall as a beginning and I agree completely. Even though I am no longer in, around or involved in school of any kind, fall still feels like the beginning of my year. What better time to start something new and make a commitment to myself.

So here I am. This is definitely not the start of my journey, but rather a renewed commitment to being healthy. A way to keep track and be accountable to myself.

Let me start by defining healthy or what changes I have made and need to make to move towards this goal. Two years ago I weighed 260, was borderline diabetic and had severe hormone imbalances. I am now 240, control my blood sugar naturally and am working on correcting my hormones. I try to avoid sugar and hormone affecting foods (sugar, soy, most plastics and caffeine). My diet is mainly vegetables, lean meats, good fats, nuts, fruit and small amounts of grain. I eat sugar-free, gluten-free, low glycemic, low soy, low dairy and try to eat mostly organic food.

This year I found a new chiropractor and they give classes which they require all new patients to attend. They are called Eat Well, Move Well and Think Well. My following goals are based on these changes. I have been to two of the three classes and have learned a lot. It's so fantastic to find a group of people so like-minded regarding health issues.

My major goal is exercise... oh how I hate that word. Let's change that to "move more". So much less dread-inducing. In addition to helping with weight loss, exercise does so much good for insulin sensitivity as well as hormone issues, so this needs to be a huge part of the change. Since it is fall and the temperature has started to drop, I have started walking around the parking lot during my afternoon break at work. The next step will be walking on the weekends and during the evening at home. Then adding muscle building exercises that I can do at home without special (read: expensive) equipment.

Second to this goal is "be happy." Much harder than it sounds coming from a life-long harsh critic of myself. The first part of this goal is to start treating myself as I would treat other people. I would never tell someone they are fat, but that's what I was doing in my head every time I looked in the mirror. That's the first step, the second is to replace the negative with the positive and that's what I'm working on now. Another part is to make sure I do something each day that makes me happy. However little or big the thing may be and in whatever places I find that joy, I want to document it here.

Third is "eat well." This doesn't mean diet food. This means good food that happens to be good for me. Thanks to all the great recipes that are online now, this has been a lot easier than I first thought. I have also come up with some things myself along the way that have turned out really well. So I will be posting recipes that I have come up with as well as the ones I try from other bloggers. I want to live by a quote from Hippocrates, "let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food". Thankfully this will be the easiest for me as I have changed my diet a great deal from a few years ago and I happen to love cooking.

Tempted as I am to make "lose weight" a goal as well, I refuse. With the things I am changing, it will come. I know myself well enough to know that focusing on the number will only frustrate me. My pants are fitting more loose and I have made a lot of really good changes in the last few months, even though the scale is still the same. So I will keep going and not worry about the number except to check every couple months.

Today's happiness:

Fresh guacamole I made myself
A Happy Birthday text message that made me smile