Embarkation point.

[rivka]

This winter and spring, it seems as though I've had a continual series of colds. I've also been fighting tiredness and low energy. It seems likely to me that the general unhealthiness of my living habits has something to do with all of this. In combination with my desire to get gradually stronger and increase my endurance, I've become motivated to make some changes in my life.

I'm going to try following a weekly plan they've been outlining in the Washington Post. They call it the Lean Plate Club, and the idea is that you gradually develop positive health habits by adding a new goal every week. It's not a diet, although they acknowledge that you may lose weight. It's more about adding things to your life that are going to make you healthier, rather than restricting or eliminating unhealthy things from your life. I really like that focus. I have a hard time with Puritanical, pleasure-phobic health arguments. I'm never giving up ice cream and butter and chocolate.

The first week's goals are: (1) 10 minutes of physical activity per day, and (2) five servings of fruits or vegetables per day. The first one's going to be a lot easier for me than the second one - I can easily fit two five-minute walks into even the busiest of my days. But five fruits and vegetables... that takes planning. That takes hassle. That takes working around my vegetable-averse husband and my allergy to raw fruit. That takes shopping more frequently, so there will be fresh fruits and vegetables in the house.

On the other hand, maybe all those vitamins will keep me from getting another lousy two-week cold like this one. Which would definitely be worth it.

Comments

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

One of the nice things about the 5 servings of veggies is that a serving is pretty small. 6 baby carrots is one serving, for example. 1/2 c of broccoli - my standard dinner serving is closer to one cup, so that gives me two!

One of the tricks that has worked well for me in the past is to cut up a bunch of veggies - carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumber are my favorites - and every day, with dinner or while preparing dinner, just pull it out of the fridge, restocking when necessary. A little bit of low calorie dressing for dip, and all of a sudden you're eating way more vegetables than you thought possible, cause they're just there.

Sounds like a great plan - you should list the weekly goals in your LJ, so we can all play along

[gundo.livejournal.com]

Agreed...I'll often have seven "servings" of veggies in one sitting. Official serving sizes are smaller than most americans think.

They don't have to be 5 different fruits and veggies on the same day. As long as there is overall variety you're ok.

I also agree with WCG about the exercise...as someone who was diagnosed with diabetes 4 years ago, I faced the challenge of exercising 30 minutes each day, 5 days a week. Yeah, right...but the trick to it is integration and opportunity.

Integration: putting a recumbent bike in front of the TV set. Or even better (especially if you're cramped for space) Brookstone's or Sharper Image's walker/stair-stepper (around $100, cheaper than a health-club membership).

Opportunity: parking the car at the far end of the parking lot, or taking an extra spin around the building. Walking to the store to run that little errand.

Those two principles have saved my sanity. I hate exercising, and I hate gyms.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Wow! I really like this userpic.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Pick a photo that you'd like treated that way, and let me know which one it is, if you've already sent it to me. (Obviously if I don't already have it, you'll need to send it to me).