Health

It's been about 7 months since I decided to start eating healthier. 

My initial intention wasn't to lose weight (of course that was an added bonus). I really just wanted to take better care of myself. 

I have been in chronic pain for the last two and a half years of my life. It has continually gotten worse and spread to other areas of my body. I have seen specialists, had all sorts of tests run, gone through two cycles of physical therapy, and I get regular massages, all to try and manage it. While some things have helped, nothing has been able to cure my pain. So, I started doing research online. 

One of the things I found out is that certain foods aggravate inflammation in the body. One of the major causes of inflammation is salt. And if you know me at all, I am a sucker for salty stuff. I would rather have salty foods than sugary ones any day. 

After reading all of this, I decided it was time for a change and time to try some new things. Changing the way I eat definitely wasn't going to hurt things or make me worse (unless of course I went on an all bad for you foods diet), so I figured I would give it a try. 

I stopped eating fast food all the time (I probably ate it at least twice a week on average). I stopped drinking soda (I was addicted to Coca-Cola and felt like I had to have one every day to survive). I started eating more fruits and veggies on a daily basis and started incorporating things like Greek yogurt and hummus into my diet. I also started eating fish and ground turkey on a regular basis instead of fattier meat choices. I replaced Coke with unsweetened green tea to get that little kick of caffeine and I pretty much drink nothing but that and water now. We hardly ever buy a carton of ice cream and keep it in the house because I will be too tempted to eat some every day. Instead, my freezer houses frozen berries to put in smoothies. 

Do I have days when I eat bad? Absolutely. We have gone on quite a few trips these past few months and I choose a lot of times to splurge a bit when we are gone from home (partly for fun and partly because sometimes I just don't have as many heathly options in front of me). But even then, I try to choose meals that have a lot of veggies or leaner meats and I will either drink water or iced tea. I have only had a Coke maybe four times in the past month (and that's actually a lot for me these days). I have yet to eat at McDonald's (except for an occasional caramel sundae) or Jack in the Box since I started this journey. And for a girl who was addicted to McDonald's fries and Jack in the Box tacos, that's a huge deal. The only fast food we ever really eat on occasion is In n Out and I never order fries anymore (I just eat two or three of Josh's if I want some). I often choose food off the lower calorie menus in restaurants. I also like to get Chipotle every now and again and order a burrito bowl with chicken instead of my previous steak burritos.

 

Most importantly, I feel so much better. I am a lot less lethargic and I even survive on less sleep (and feel like I get much more restful sleep now that I'm not drinking Coke all the time). I have a lot more energy throughout the day and I have noticed an improvement in my pain (it could be a combination of a lot of different things but anything that is helping to lessen my pain is a win in my book). I have lost at least 15 lbs (I don't have a scale at home on purpose, so that's as of over a month ago when I got weighed at the doctor's office) and I am down at least one pant size (I feel like I'm kind of in-between sizes right now). Some of my clothes fit better than they ever did before, some are way too big now, and I have been able to fit into others that I've had in my closet for over three years that I could no longer fit into. It's exciting and frustrating because I need to buy things that fit better now and I have so many clothes that I can no longer wear (being in Disneyland two weeks ago was frustrating because none of the pants/shorts I brought to wear actually fit, so I had to try and put my belt on tighter and I was constantly pulling them up). It's a blessing and I'm definitely not trying to be a complainer, but it's just a different problem to have when you're used to going up a pant size every year or so instead of going down one or two. 

But overall, I know I'm taking better care of my body. When you truly view yourself as God's temple and understand that He wants you to take care of yourself, it becomes less about what sounds good and more about what actually is good for you. Candy and chips and Coke aren't necessarily horrible things, but they're not the best things either. And when it comes to the way I eat, having these things on occasion isn't horrible. And my cravings for those kinds of things has decreased dramatically. I never thought I would no longer crave this stuff but I don't. 

Disclaimer: I don't share this to make anyone feel bad or to question the way they eat or take care of themselves. This is just something I felt like I needed to do for my personal health, and it was a great choice for me.