The Appetite Study

Found out about an interesting study through the simplifried blog:

"The Appetite study was conducted at the University of Birmingham in England. Twenty-nine women were fed identical lunches: a ham sandwich, chips, and water, about 500 calories in total. Some of the students ate their lunch with only their random thoughts as company. Others ate while reading a newspaper story about changes in the size of chocolate bars and fizzy drinks in England. The rest ate while listening to a three-minute audio clip encouraging them to focus on the look, smell, flavors, and textures of their food. An hour later, the professors brought the students back and put before them plates of cookies, among them chocolate chip and chocolate fingers (apparently a British thing; we will trust that they are appealing). The students who focused on their lunch ate roughly 50 percent fewer chocolate-chip cookies and 60 percent fewer chocolate fingers than their newspaper-reading and mindless-eating counterparts. Or as the researchers put it: 'Rated vividness of lunch memory was negatively correlated with snack intake.'"

The middle-of-the-afternoon is hardest for me when it comes to snacking. Even now I'm finding myself wondering what's in our cupboards that I could snack on. But when I turn my thoughts to what I had for lunch, that craving subsides a bit. Maybe I'll start focusing more on my food as I eat it... and maybe that will help me just enjoy it more too...

Motivation

Some of you may remember this post from last summer. (shoot, looks like the picture is no longer there - it was a picture of tennis shoes :) Operation: Get Healthy has been on my mind a lot lately. I've been really fed up with not having things to wear and not liking pictures of myself. Really. It's been a pretty emotionally draining winter.

But I think things are on the up-and-up! It all started when I gave up ice cream for Lent. That may not be an issue for some, but in this house, almost every night Rocky wants some ice cream while grading papers or lesson planning. And I usually join him. But for 7 weeks I resisted. It was hard, but it was good.

In the middle of that came the Step Challenge. I was on a team with teachers from our school and we all wore a pedometer for 6 weeks. It was a competition through the insurance company, and teams of teachers and school staff from all across the country competed for weekly prizes. The ultimate goal was to get 10,000 steps a day, or 70,000 a week. But the "lower" goal was 50,000 a week. Holy cow, I didn't realize how few steps I naturally take a day! I think only 2-3 of those weeks I managed to get above 50k, and never did I hit 70k.

But now that both Lent and the Step Challenge are over, Rocky and I talked about a new, personal challenge. I got to keep my pedometer, and so I am still challenging myself to get to 10k steps a day. And if I do, I can have a small bowl of ice cream with Rocky that night if I so choose.

This morning I stepped on the bathroom scale and saw a new number - one I haven't seen in well over a year. I'm not going to share that number with you (what woman would?!), but I will say I've broken a milestone I've been longing to see. I'm still a ways away from my pre-pregnancy weight, and even then I could have stood to lose a few more, but I've got a whole summer of walking ahead of me! And I'm excited to be on my way to my goal!

While it's not all about the numbers, it sure was the motivation I needed this morning. That "you're doing something right" feeling. And how did I celebrate? I laced up my tennis shoes and walked with Abby to the FCCS Barn Sale. And back.

I'm up to 9400 steps already. Looks like I might be having some ice cream tonight - but then again, maybe I won't. :)

Organics

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of organic things, is "why are they so expensive?!" The second thing that comes to mind is the variety of organic things available: food, cosmetic items, etc. And the third thing that comes to mind is "if I want my family (and my baby) to be healthy, I should buy organic..."

With it finally feeling like spring, I'm finding myself dreaming of produce stands and farmers markets. (<-- this picture makes my mouth water!!) It is so stinkin' hard to get quality produce the majority of the year here in Michigan, especially when all that's available is the stuff shipped in to Meijer from across the globe. I've forgone many "fresh" fruits and veggies the last few months because I can't find anything truly "fresh." And frozen beans and corn can only go so far.

I look at my daughter's meals on any given day and often cringe. Pasta. Bread. Occasional chicken or ground beef. Cheese (she loves cheese). Bananas are the one fruit I always try to have on hand for her. I want her to grow up with a love of healthy food, but how do I expose her to it? Other than the 3-4 months of fresh produce we have here, what can I do?

Why is the organic food section of the store so much more expensive?? I've been trained to always look for the cheapest - generic cereal, generic vitamins, generic generic generic... So why should I pay $2 extra for food that *may* be healthier, when over time that extra cost really adds up?

Sigh. I haven't looked into it, but I really hope there is a farmers market in Belding that Abby and I can walk to every week this summer. I guess we'll enjoy the good stuff while we can...

On another, brighter note, I did plant my mini veggie garden yesterday! So we should have some fresh food all our own. :) That's a post for another day...

One month in...

Ok so one month into our new year's resolutions... how have we done??

1. Daily Devotions - C - This one started out well, but slowly I started doing other things at the beginning of my day instead of being in the Word (aka Facebook...). I'm on a roll this week though, both yesterday and today I started out with some of my "homework" for the Esther Bible study I'm doing with some gals at church.

2. Exercise every day - B - I actually haven't been doing too bad with this one. I found out about the 100 pushups challenge and started working on it a few weeks ago. And I've been trying to do some situps/ab exercises every day. I'd like to do more with this one, but most will have to wait until it warms up outside enough to take Abby out for walks. In the meantime, I'm just trying to stay consistent with doing something - especially since Abby really likes watching me and laughing at me doing pushups and situps. :)

3. Read to Abby every day - A - This is probably the one I've done the best at. There has rarely been a day all month that I did not read to Abby. Sometimes we'll read in the mornings, sometimes in the afternoon before a nap, sometimes it's a bedtime story. She likes to try and close the book on me before I'm done. But at least we're making an effort.

4. Meal plan - B+ - Not too bad. Some weeks have been better than others. Some weeks are much easier to plan than others. I'm working on meal planning over the weekend so I can grocery shop accordingly on Saturday mornings or Monday evenings.

5. Keep track of finances - I - (that's an I for Incomplete...) With trying to organize my schedule into a routine and work on all of my other resolutions, this one got put on the back-burner. And I'm ok with that. Two days ago I put in the time to create a new Excel file to track our income and out-go, so this resolution is really starting in February.


So there we go. Definite room for improvement, but it's only been one month. I realized I did NOT make a resolution to blog every day (and I thought I had!) so that's a relief... since in the past 31 days I've blogged 8 times. Sheesh. 

Happy New Year

Ahh, New Year's resolutions. Something to be made every year, and broken a few weeks later... Everyone always starts out with such good intentions and valiant goals. I've read anywhere from 75-92% of people actually keep their new year's resolutions. So why even try? The odds are against me. It's a whole lot harder to actually do something than to just say I will.

Well I'm actually going to try. I've been making a couple of lists of things to do weekly and things to do daily. Most of the weekly stuff involves cleaning, etc. around the house, and most of the daily stuff is for my own personal fulfillment. So I'm going to list a few things here, and hope that by blogging about them I can keep up with them!

1. Daily devotions. Even if it's just reading a short page from a devotional book, I want to be in the Word every day. A former pastor of mine just launched a new video devotional called 30God, which I think will be a great jump-start to helping me think about God every day.

2. Exercise every day. I'm sure this is the most-often-named new year's resolution. Ok, maybe "lose weight" is the MOST common, but I'm more interested in just being healthy. It will be so much easier once spring comes and Abby and I can get out and walk again, but in the meantime I want to make a conscious effort to do something every day - even if it's just some sit-ups.

3. Read to Abby every day. I love books, and I want to encourage Abby to love to read too.

4. Meal plan. Ideally this will be something I'll do once a week, and plan what we're going to have for dinner every night for the next week. Then I can plan my grocery shopping accordingly, and not get to 6:00 at night and wonder hmm, what am I going to do for dinner? I at least want to have that day's dinner planned by noon so I can get any prep work out of the way or meat out of the freezer etc.

5. Keep track of finances. I've done well with this off and on, keeping track of what we spend and such, but never for a whole year. We've always been ok with our spending, etc. and I've never truly created a budget to work from each month, but I know the simple task of recording where our money goes does help us not spend as much.

So there we go. Five things, all very doable. Some daily, some weekly (I won't bore you with all the weekly cleaning tasks I want to accomplish). Can I stick with it? Be part of the 8-25% who actually stick with their resolutions? We'll see...

Do you have any resolutions for the new year?

Walklog

Wow, a post that's not part of the picture challenge... Yeah I've kind of sucked at keeping up with that, let alone regular blogging...

Well in spirit of Rocky's joglog, I thought I would post my "walklog" for today:

2.5 miles, 50 min.
Ashfield is a really steep street! It took me 15 min to get to the library - that's the important one. :)

P.S. Google Maps are awesome.

Picture Challenge - Day 05

Day 05: A picture of your morning

A typical morning for me involves these things. A cup of coffee and devotions. A check of Facebook. A walk around the neighborhood. Playtime with Abby.

Operation: Get Healthy!

So Rocky already talked in his blog about using Microsoft Outlook's ability to create to-do lists to get things done. I'm using it too, starting with basic household chores that occur once a week or month or every couple of days. I love being able to cross things off of lists when they're done -- I've even gone so far as to create an item on the list that I've just accomplished, just so I can cross it off right away. :)

Well one of the things I've been meaning to add to the list is exercise... Yes, once again I have the desire to get fit and healthy. Body image is something I've struggled with for years. Finally last summer, I was able to be content with how I looked and was able to find clothes that fit me well and I looked cute in! Then I got pregnant. :) I'm thankful I was one of those women who truly "popped" -- and I popped early. So I still felt cute -- in a new way.

Now... I'm 7 weeks postpartum and struggling. I knew that after having a baby you still look 6 months pregnant, but I gave all my maternity clothes back to the cousin I borrowed them from (since she's now 7 months pregnant). And I have this flabby belly... Last week I purged my closet. I tried on EVERY shirt and pants I own, and only kept things in the closet that fit. The rest is going to be boxed up and stored away. It was an emotionally draining exercise, but now that I only have a half dozen shirts hanging up (I didn't go through my t-shirts), 3 skirts, and my maternity jeans, I know I have two choices: go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, or get my butt in gear so my butt can fit in my old stuff.

So I've added exercise to my daily to-do list. But I've separated it into two separate items: exercise and walking. I've looked up some postpartum exercises to help my belly and to strengthen other parts of me. Plus I want to try and walk for at least 20 minutes every day that it's not too hot or raining. I can proudly say I crossed both items off my list today! I tried out all of those exercises I found while Abby was sleeping this morning, then after she woke up and ate mid-morning I loaded my tiny ipod shuffle with praise & worship music, laced up my tennis shoes, and put Abby in the stroller.

We have this big paved square attached to our subdivision, it looks like a place they wanted to develop more and put more houses but it's completely empty except a couple condos on the far side (that attaches to another street). I think somebody told me it's a 1/2 mile around. And it's just a big open field in the middle, with a farm on one side and forest on the other. Occasionally I see other people walking or biking around it, but it's mostly empty. So Abby and I spent 25 minutes outside today. It was great.

I got home and crossed walking off my to-do list. But it just "regenerated a new task" of the same thing to be done tomorrow... Hopefully by making this to-do item public, I can stick with it! Wish me luck!