So here I am, 44 years old, roughly 180 lbs (give or take depending on my eating and exercise), with no major bad habits like drinking or smoking, and my main health measurables actually pretty good. I run 3 miles at a time 4 days a week. That's all to the good, shows how much I have done for myself over the last couple of years. Contrast that with this post:
Well couldn't find the post so I'll just recap, a few years back I wrote up a long post detailing all of my medical issues, starting with my head down to my toes. If I could find that post I could really show how far I have progressed since that time. It's great, I feel good physically pretty much all of the time.
But, the question remains how do I keep this going? It's one thing to keep you calories restricted for a period of time, and really push that and the exercise. But you really can't keep that up forever, and sooner or later, especially with bad eating habits, things will revert. So I have been thinking about nutrition more and more.
Which brings me to what I have been doing this week, but first some background. A couple of years back I was meeting with some fellow CSS alum's and one of them mentioned how one of his classmates was apparently this big nutrition guru, and had in fact written a couple of books on the subject. I filed that away in my mind, but didn't really think on it. Well this same person has written a new book:
And after reading a little bit about this book I thought I would try and get his first book from the library. That took some work, but I got it last week, and finally cracked it open on Tuesday. And I have been reading it voraciously ever since, it is an excellent book. And I hope to have my own copy soon. There's a lot to cover in the first book: Whole Health: The Guide to Wellness of Mind and Body but the first part is what has really caught my attention.
It really focuses on nutrition and breaks down what is and is not really good to eat and why. Having grown up with a Vegan father, but being a typical American male I had never given much thought to the idea of not eating meat, that thought was just never a possibility. Well for the first time, after having general nutrition on my mind, and having read this book, I am pondering a radical change to my diet. I don't know if I want or can go full vegan, or even vegetarian. But I am planning on making changes that result in a massive reduction of meat and dairy in my diet. I have already started tapering off, but am planning on making a more serious effort of doing so in the coming weeks.
Again, this is less because the Dr. said I have to, in fact right now the Dr. is pretty happy with where I am physically. This is more because I have to think long term, and the reality is that the long term merits this change, both to keep the weight off, and a general improved health outlook. Because even 1 small hamburger and small fries is still bad for me. And it is way to easy to fall back into the habit of eating like that if I allow myself that small indulgence.
It's not going to be easy to make this change, and I plan to make it a gradual change. In fact once I get my own copy of the book I will try to get Kim to read it and get her to agree to make this a dietary change for the whole family. Partly to make us all healthier, and partly because it will be that much easier for us to make the change if all of our meals are the same. Who knows, maybe my picky eaters, Daniel & Emily, will eat better if we change up what we fix for them?
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