Month: March 2011

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Why Today Was Awesome

Today I created a list to live by based on what I consider to be a successful day. It’s slightly embarrassing to share this on the internets, but I really love lists and encouragement so here goes…

To take care of my body by:

Exercising: 60 minutes a day (taking Sunday’s off)

Eating Well: planning meals a day ahead, taking time to cook and count calories

Caring for my skin: Washing my face morning and night, using moisturizer

Caring for my teeth: brush morning and night (minimum), floss and use mouthwash

Caring for my feet and hands

To take care of my environment:

Keeping the dishes clean:  not going to bed with a dirty kitchen

Making the bed and putting clothes away

Quick tidy-up in the bathroom, living room and dining room

Caring for plants and animals: watering and tending

To Work Hard:

Complete “musts” on to-do lists

Complete small chunks of large projects daily

To meet deadlines and fulfill expectations, to do more than expected

To Be Creative:

To blog daily

To create new jewelry

Create new recipes

Take photographs

Paint and sew

To Connect:

Return emails as I read them

Stay in touch via phone, email, visits, twitter and facebook

Leave comments on blogs

Take time to do something fun with husband every day

Plan special events with husband, friends and family

All of the red tasks are items that I checked off my “successful day” checklist. I won’t do this every day, but it’s good for me to check in with my goals and to see if what I’m doing every day is taking me closer to them.

I’m making a true effort to get my eating in check this month. I feel like I keep saying it, but I really need to do it. It’s not that I feel that I’m eating horribly, but I can do better. My plan is planning. For tomorrow I have my breakfast and lunch already planned out and prepared with the calories counted. Everything is in a container and ready to go. I feel good about this, but I always feel good on day one. We’ll see.

We’ve entered week SEVEN of insanity and I just cannot believe it. I can hold a steady plank pose now. My stretches are much deeper and I am moving better in general. I’ve noticed that I don’t want to eat bad foods because I am having the thought “I won’t feel good enough to exercise if I’m bloated, or feel sick from food”. Having that thought is shocking for me. That is a thought that I think truly healthy people have; considering food choices because of how they makes you feel. I want to do so much that eating poorly would only take my energy away. I’m just now realizing this, food=energy, bad food takes energy, good food gives energy. Why did it take me so long to realize this?

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Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Bacteria on Shopping Carts

Bacteria on Shopping Carts

Bacteria on Shopping Carts

I just ran across an article on MSNBC  that wrote about a study that found that Bacteria on Shopping Carts is so bad that there is more bacteria on them than in the restrooms in supermarkets themselves. I am not really surprised since all the food going in and out of a supermarket is from farms and storage facilities, and other very dirty places.

Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria.

E.Coli Bacteria on Half of All Shopping Carts

The researchers took a closer look at the samples from 36 carts and discovered Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli, on 50 percent of them — along with a host of other types of bacteria.

“That’s more than you find in a supermarket’s restroom,” said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. “That’s because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms. Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts.”

The study’s results may explain earlier research that found that kids who rode in shopping carts were more likely than others to develop infections caused by bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter, Gerba said.

Bacteria on shopping carts handles aren’t the only thing you need to worry about when you go to the local supermarket, Gerba added. In other research, he’s found that reusable shopping bags that aren’t regularly washed turn into bacterial swamps. “It’s like wearing the same underwear every day,” Gerba said.

How To Avoid Bacteria on Shopping Carts

So what should we do about the problem of bacteria on shopping carts? Well I know that the bright colors and mostly clean floors in a supermarket as well as the really bright lights seem to give an image of cleanliness – false sense of safety. So here are things that you should do when you are in shopping.

1. Never touch your face – As you are probably aware, anytime that you touch your face you are giving a very easy access for bacteria to enter your body.

2. Know that you hands are dirty – Sure you can’t see the dirt but the bacteria can live a while on your hands so make sure that anything that you touch; keys, kids, shopping cart, car, steering wheel,food boxes, meat. Are all dirty.

3. Keep baby wipes or antibacterial wipes with you – I know that some people will say that these wipes will not kill all bacteria but they still do a great job. We keep these in my wifes purse as well as have them in the car (my wife is a bit of a bacteria paranoid.).

So you can see that even the most common areas of society, a place of shopping is really dirty with unseen bacteria. Keep the above tips handy to help make sure that you stay safer. And remember that bacteria on shopping carts is something that you have to be careful of for yourself.

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Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Deserving

I’m entering (or have entered) a new chapter in my life. A chapter that isn’t marked by a graduation, marriage, or child. Instead, it is marked by a change in perspective or enlightenment. To the outside world I probably appear to be the same person I was a few months ago, but to me I feel like I’ve just shed a skin. I’m still me, of course, but now I actually believe I deserve goodness in my life.

I can’t explain it, and honestly I see it all around me, but none of us truly seem to believe we are worth the extra effort. The investment in our lives to make it exactly the way we want it to be. It feels indulgent, and selfish once you’re here; there is the usual fear stuff that pops up. This chapter is scary for me, because it’s new.

What exactly do I mean? I’m taking inventory of my life right now and liking what I see. And not only do I like what I see, but I feel like I deserve what I’ve brought to myself. I don’t mean perfection, I just mean satisfaction. I deserve a healthy body that can move, so I exercise. I wanted to be around creative people, so I sought them out. I wanted a beautiful space, so I created one. I wanted a good marriage, so I chose the right person (it helps that he chose me too). I wanted to feel and share love, so I adopted two kitties and sponsored a child. I want to learn new things, so I read ( a lot). I want to connect, so I reach out. I want to explore, so I travel. I want to eat good food, so I cook. I want to express myself, so I blog.

All of these actions bring me to the space I want to be in. The space I never really believed I deserved. I look at all of these little things and think “how did I get so lucky?” and realize that it’s not just luck, it’s intention. And sometimes all of these intentional actions make me feel like an alien in a world of people who do not see themselves, or me, as deserving. But we are. And I am. Even though I’m sometimes scared to admit it.

There is a lot of guilt that comes from living your life to the fullest (whatever that means), especially when there is so much suffering in the world. Should we not dress well because many people cannot? Should we not make our space as beautiful as possible? Should we not exercise our bodies because some people are not able? Should we not eat the best food possible because others are starving?

I think about these things a lot. And I’ve come to realize (for now anyway) that to not be the best version of myself, to deny opportunities, to not exercise the body that can move- would be a disservice to myself. If I am presented a door and choose to not open it, no one benefits.

I believe that when I fully take advantage of my gifts (and believe I deserve to) not only do I improve my life, but those around me. I cannot help anyone if I don’t believe I’m deserving of goodness.

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