In which I spend a week on the Health Project and mostly FAIL

But at least I've learned. Let me begin.

SUCCESS:

1. Taking Lactase before I drink milk or eat milk-based foods. No-brainer, right? It helps. I take it every morning, before I eat the remainder of the kids' breakfast -- a little oatmeal, a bite of Cheerios, a banana. My own breakfast is usually yogurt with a banana and some dry oatmeal, all mixed together.

2. Going to bed at 9PM. Not as bad as I thought and the bonus is I spend time with My Chemical Romance who generally goes to bed pretty early.

3. Jumping on the tramp once a week. I would be a sucktastic mom if I couldn't find one day per week to spend bouncing around with my kids.  

FAIL

1. No sugar-based foods. 

Are you surprised? Not only that, I totally coveted sugar and actually made brownies from scratch last night -- and I'm a cook, not a baker. However, I will note that I felt better when I didn't eat sugar. I felt less bloated and my stomach felt better than usual. Sigh. Life is a series of trade-offs, no? 

2. Walking 5x per week. I'm kind of bummed that I failed this, because it made me realize that I do enjoy moving, that I am woefully out of shape, and that I would like to firm up a bit. 

3. If we're going to be technical, I did not go to bed at exactly 9:00PM every night. Tuesday night I went to bed at 11:00PM and this picture describes me on Wednesday 

What I've learned from this:

1. With regards to eating, less is definitely more. Again, another no-brainer. Michael Pollan sums up his book Food Rules in six words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I'm not sure how he feels about brownies. Calorie restriction has its benefits in the general population -- mostly that it is linked to reversing the aging process in primates and mice -- but for me, not over-eating reverses any stomach problems. And that makes life much more enjoyable!  

2. I can make myself go to bed early, and the world will not stop spinning on its axis, and if I get that "important" email at 8am instead of 1am, that's okay too. And I'll get to sleep next to the non-snoring My Chemical Romance! (Not snoring is one of his best qualities.)

3. Walking is boring, but I do want to exercise. I want to join the Fort Mill YMCA, which has an awesome outdoor pool area for kids with tons of slides and water fun. It also has step aerobics on Tuesday evenings, a kids' fitness class on Wednesdays, homeschool PE on Thursdays -- basically, I think I can make it work with the kids where they wouldn't hate going. 

I'm going to work on my Health Project for next week. I may change it to Weekly Health Goals. 

In which I survive my first weekend on the Health Project

By the way, did I mention for how long I intend to keep it up? Three weeks, as that's how long it takes to make or break a habit -- although that "fact" is probably just some kind of mythic conjecture.

I'm on day four. I've learned a few things already.

1. Going to bed at 9:00PM is not as bad as I thought.

I imagined I'd lay there for hours, tossing and turning, feeling anxious. Nope. I go to sleep. Extremely surprising.

2. Walking is more work than I thought!

I thought walking for 20 minutes, five times a week, would be nothing. And yet, after four days, I have shin/ankle pain. Just like when I was in college, I'd have pain for the first few weeks every September as I walked all over campus. Then it would go away as my legs got accustomed to Ann Arbor.

However, I am thinking about getting a pair of MBT shoes.

I am selling my Dansko clogs -- which were my Christmas gift from Dustin after pining for months. I even tried them on at a Nordstrom. Apparently 12 minutes in a Nordstrom wasn't enough to tell that my feet are too fat for them. Yeah, my feet are thinner than they were 130lbs ago, but still wider than average. Sigh. So now I'm thinking about MBT shoes, but I want to make sure they don't also run narrow.

BTW, I walk barefoot when I use the treadmill because barefoot exercise has health benefits!

3. I can't compensate for the lack of sugar. I've tried to compensate by eating every non-sugar item in my house that isn't nailed to the ground -- and it only gives me stomach pain.

For a minute I thought honey was the answer to my sugar-free prayers, but it's just not that good. We have a vat of honey from Costco that I'm working on, slowly; I'm sure fresh local honey would be a different story.

4. There was a trampoline debacle, and I'm staying off until I fix it.

The ground near the entrance was getting muddy from so many kids (and adults) climbing in, as well as a lot of rain in early February. I thought about how to fix it -- maybe straw? or hay? -- but Dustin thought that sand was the answer. Sand + mud = thicker, grittier, more hearty mud that covers not only the surface of the tramp, but also the soles of shoes and therefore the floor of my house. UGH. I'm safe for today, because it's raining outside (although this means even MORE mud), but tomorrow I'm getting some wood chips or cedar chips or straw -- or a combination -- to put down near the tramp entrance. Hopefully, problem solved. I'm not a huge fan of mud all over my house, and I also like to be barefoot on the tramp without jumping on nasty pieces of dirt.

In which I describe the Health Project

I'm reading The Happiness Project, which was written by a woman who decided to take a year to improve her happiness. She wasn't depressed. Her life was good. But she wanted to be happier, so she thought about what would help her, and she read books and blogs and suggestions, and made a plan for herself. Then she wrote a book about it. She also keeps a blog.

I am not ready for a complete happiness project -- I haven't finished the book yet! -- but I'm ready for a Health Project. To that end, I thought last night about things relating to my health that would make me happier, healthier, and more pleasant to those I love. Here's what I've got

1. Take lactase enzyme before I drink milk. Seriously, I own it. It works. Why not take it before I drink milk? 

2. Go to bed at 9. Yes, this means PM. 

3. No sugar-based foods for 21 days. Supposedly it takes 21 days to break a habit. We'll see. I'm not cutting out carbs, or flour, but I need to stop eating things where 'sugar' or some variant of it is in the top three ingredients.

4. Walk for 20 minutes, five times per week. I actually dusted off the treadmill. Goodbye, towel hanger!

5. Jump on the trampoline once per week. Because I have as much fun as the kids when I do it!