One of the saddest events of my adult life was the loss of my Dad when I was 20. He was 49. My dad had health issues all of his life, including one major issue that I have inherited. Thankfully, the specialist told me that I will live a long, healthy life with no complications from this disease. But, still, my thoughts often stray to my Dad. I don’t want my kids to live their adult lives without me. Yes, I know that God knows the number of our days…but, still, I want to do everything I can to be as healthy as possible.
For me, that includes regular exercise and a healthy diet. So, I started making changes to our diet, bit by bit, over the past several years. Our diet today is mostly organic, mostly unprocessed, mostly plant-based. I keep discovering more resources and research that shows that meat and processed foods are the source of many of our modern health problems. (The Engine 2 Diet is a great example of this: http://engine2diet.com/) We’re not perfect, and I am not a fanatic by any means (especially not with my love for sugar!). But, I’m getting better and better all the time.
However, with three kids, two home based businesses (mine and my husband’s), a full-time teaching position, home-schooling, etc, time is often in short supply. And it takes time to eat healthy meals and exercise. So, as you can see in my planner, I’ve chosen to create simple meal plans this year that make it easy to make great dinners. And I’m working on finding some creative ways to workout, too. I recently discovered the 4 minute workout (if you don’t mind gals exercising in swimsuits, bodyrock.tv has some fantastic short workouts!), and we’re working on creating family outings like playing tennis and going for bike rides that will enable us to have family time and exercise at the same time. Who knows…maybe that last 10 pounds will disappear for good this year! 🙂
Karen