My Choice To Live Healthy

I did it. I made another 2 mile trek. In the beginning I didn’t think I could do it, or that it was going to rain on me before I got outside, but none of that happened, and I completed another 2 mile walk.

Walking daily has increased my energy level. Giving me a natural boost, as well as allowing me to sleep better. My rest is more peaceful, as I can actually feel my body winding down once I get into bed. This never happened before. They say exercise is responsible for allowing you to sleep better as well as it churns out the old blood and recycles it into fresh, energized blood. Anybody knows if that is true or not?

Another thing walking daily has done for me is that I eat better just because. It seems I’m more conscious of the things I’m putting in my body, and this is not driven by some orchestrated diet. It’s because I walk, and there is a certain amount of effort that goes into a successful weight loss program. I’m not trying to sabotage anything at this point. Just yesterday I made my first yogurt based smoothie.

It turned out pretty good. Investing in an inexpensive blender (don’t do it, you’ll regret not paying $10 more!) The thing makes so much noise; you would think I was cutting wood or something. Geez. I expect my neighbors to come knocking at any moment.

What I added was some Haagen Daaz Frozen Yogurt (vanilla preferably)—16 ounces actually, a 16 ounce bag of frozen fruit and let her rip, literally. I blended until everything was well, smooth. It looked good from outside the decanter, so I poured a 4 ounce glass of my concoction.

It was awesome! Yeah, wonderful. This nice little drink gave me ideas; I could put some wheat germ in there next time, or some other healthy supplement. Wow, yesterday I actually felt a sense of healthy eating accomplishment.

Oh, and that’s not all I prepared yesterday. Another part of losing weight is what you eat and how much of it you consume. Just like everyone else I have things in my freezer that may not qualify as a healthy staple. Like I have a pack of ground chuck as well as cube steaks. My taste for red meat is sporadic, sometimes I’ll have a craving for a nice big burger (but cooked on the George Foreman Grill) that must be satisfied. This usually occurs 4-5 times a year.

However, I chose the medium shrimp. In addition, I love zucchini and squash, so I grabbed a bag of this frozen mixture out as well. My taste buds then led me to a box of wild rice. Awesome! My mental kitchen was churning out a meal. I created a dish of stir fried shrimp, zucchini, squash and wild rice.

Here’s how I did it:

1 lb of medium sized shrimp

1 box of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice

1 large bag of frozen zucchini & squash mixture

Mrs. Dash Table Blend seasoning

Dash of Italian Dressing

First I prepared the wild rice by following the instructions on the box (I’m real good at that; eat your heart out Rachel Ray!) While the rice was cooking, I seasoned the shrimp and vegetables in separate bowls. I completely covered the shrimp with Mrs. Dash, and then tossed a splash or two of Italian Dressing on them. You’ll want to repeat this step on your vegetables.

Once I was sure that the no stick skillet was hot, I cooked the shrimp first, and then I tossed the veggies in afterward. I knew that the vegetables might get mushy if I let them cook too long. So I remained aware of the time. This turned out to be about 10-15 minutes.

By now, the rice was done, so I poured the rice over into the skillet and made a meal of it. I’m no professional chef, but it worked in a pinch, and it was low in calories. I ate on my shrimp, zucchini and rice meal all day long and had the smoothie as dessert. Absolute heaven!

Another part of my daily ritual is to drink at least 64 ounces of water. Many people find drinking plain water without lemon, etc. a difficult task. Not me. Water has always been my friend, as I know it offers many benefits. It’s good for your teeth (the chloride helps whiten them), fortifies your skin and hair, and it keeps your kidneys flushed. Bottom line, I just love water.

I’m not going to walk 2 miles today, probably just a mile. When I looked at my training schedule for the 13 mile marathon, it showed 2 days off, 4 days of walking 3 miles and 1 day of walking for 30 minutes. It’s probably a good idea that I adopt this schedule in pre-training, so that it is not a shock to my system when I begin my actual training in 2 weeks.

Well, I’m off to do some reading, and plurking—I’ve been missing in action on Plurk for a few days, I’m going to make an appearance today.

In the mean time, be healthy, happy and wealthy!