Good habit alert!

According to scientists anti-oxidant filled green tea offers us the following health benefits:

1) Helps lower blood pressure
2) Helps lower blood sugar (very important if you have a problem controlling your sugare — aka pre-diabetics)
3) Helps fight cancer
4) Helps our immune system fight off diseases and infections due to being chock-full of flavenoids and polyphenols. (say that three times fast! )

High-grade green teas can even help lower cholesterol!

So swap out your morning cup of coffee for a steaming cup of green tea once in awhile and reap the benefits!

Thank you for reading my good-health share of the day!

Mine was filled with lots of interesting stuff.

Date night went off without a hitch.  I managed to stay away from alcohol (i’m a mixed-drink girl) and order the right thing on the menu.  I tried to keep in my mind that I was there to spend a few hours of quiet time with my hubby and that I was not there for a few hours of quiet time with food.  Making the defining line between the two really helped me put things into perspective.

On Saturday morning while I was taking a shower, my 18-month old baby sprained his ankle.  According to Dave, B did an awkward Michael Jackson spin move while trying to get from a sitting position into a standing one and twisted his ankle.  I took him to the emergency med center just to make sure that it his injury didn’t involve a fractured bone or break.  To my relief he simply sprained his ankle.  The doctor assured me that he would be back in action in a couple of days.  B figured out that he would have to go back to crawling if he wanted to move around and play.  So crawl he did until yesterday afternoon.  His ankle was all better, the swelling was gone and he was back in the game.  Babies heal so fast!

I stayed on track with my eating but I did not get any gym time in this weekend.  I was worried about B and so I kept rooted to the spot.  The reality of the situation is that he would have been totally fine in his dad’s care while I went to the gym but I just couldn’t leave him.  We all snuggled on the couch and watched Monsters vs. Aliens on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking of no gym time.  I was on pins and needles on Saturday and Sunday.  It’s like I had all of this extra energy and I didn’t know where to put it.  I cleaned a little, did some homework, and took my daughter to see Princess and the Frog.  We also went grocery shopping afterward.  I still felt anxious at bed time.  Weird.

This morning went well unlike last Monday.  The gym was also relatively quiet.  It made me wonder if a mass of people dropped their New Years resolutions already.

I was rocking out to my new workout mix on my iPod.  I finished up the routine with Madonna’s song:  4 minutes.  Instead of ending slow (as in traditional cool down mode), I went as fast as I could for the last 30 seconds.

Want to know a secret?  Sometimes I get so pumped by the music that I feel like any moment i’m going to breakout some dance moves on the treadmill.

How was your weekend and how has your Monday been so far?

I am taking the time to prepare for date night.  That includes trying out the new acne products I purchased a few days ago. I really want to be fresh-faced for my date.

So, i’m taking some care to have a strategy in place for myself in regards to both food and drink tonight.  I want to make sure that I will make the right choices.  If I tried this on the fly, I don’t know that I would be as successful with it.  So I am trying to plan as much as possible.

How do you handle “date night” with your significant other?  Do you set boundaries for yourself ahead of time?  Do you wing it?  Do you choose date nights as the only night you splurge?

I walked slowly to the fitness center. I took it all in. I hadn’t been to a gym in at least 2 years. And back then, I was much smaller than I am now. What if there were whispers or looks? What if I *couldn’t do it*? Walking everyday is a far cry from this… because I don’t walk super fast. My plan was to do 45 minutes of cardio. And I mean real cardio. The kind where my target heart rate reaches at least 124 for 45 minutes and I sweat like a pig. Not attractive, but effective. I walked into the fitness room and gingerly chose a treadmill. And you know what happened?

Not a darn thing. No one looked at me weird or whispered or even gave knowledge that I was in the room. Because everyone there was in a zone. Their own private zone where they shut the world out and let the music move their feet.

To my surprise and triumph I lasted for more than 45 minutes! I did 35 minutes on the treadmill and 15 on the elliptical (15 minutes sounds small… but have you tried an elliptical machine? It’s crazy! It’s like running but without the pressure on your joints).

While I was on the treadmill, I started to think about switching up my workout. Maybe I would do some water aerobics. Maybe I would try a dance class. The possibilities seemed endless at that point and I was in my zone y’all.

And I came to this conclusion: from that point forward, the sky is the limit. No matter what anyone else thinks. I would no longer deny myself. This sort of denial goes way above food. And I realize that even though I had not denied myself food, I had denied myself other things… better things. For the last 5 years I have denied myself validity in my feelings because I *do* matter darn it. And through those years I have denied myself the simple enjoyment of living. It’s like I punished myself every day for being fat. I was always afraid of going to the beach or to the park because in my mind I felt like a square peg trying to fit through a round hole. In my mind, *I* as an obese individual did not belong at the park or at the beach. I don’t exercise, so why go? My husband and I didn’t go to movies often because I was worried that I might not fit properly in the seats. Everything we did as a family all hindered on whether or not I was going to be “comfortable” with it either emotionally or physically.

And now…. now…. I recognize that I deserve all of the good stuff life has to offer and more. I’m lifting myself out of the rut I was in. I have found a tremendous support system at home and online. I feel liberated. And more importantly, I feel worth it.

On a VERY cool side note: I lost three pounds this week! WOOT! Thanks to the extra motivation from  Seth Simonds’ 1st challenge!

Though I do know that I have to be extra aware of what I am putting in my mouth along with how many drinks I consume.  Sometimes, being on a diet or health journey can seemingly put wrenches in the road.  Because it seems that I become hyper aware of everything around me (in regards to food and drink).

To all the people who are on a weight loss journey:  What do you do at parties?