Estela and I have started a new journey. A healthy journey. We joined a gym 2 months ago, and to my surprise, we are still working out and enjoying it. Our journey isn’t just about weight loss though (ok, maybe more for me it is); it is about getting healthy…our bodies, our home, our planet.
We think we are good to our planet. We recycle! We (try to) reuse. We (kind of) reduced? We hear about carbon footprints in the media and I learned a little about it at a seminar I sat in on a couple of months ago while speaking at the National Apartment Association. I tucked the information into the back pocket of my brain. Finally, last night I decided to find out what our carbon footprint is. Per EPA’s website, our carbon footprint as a household of 2 is approximately 65,841 lbs of CO2! That’s approximately 32,921 pounds per person…and we recycle! The journey begins to reduce our carbon footprint (and find a more accurate, detailed calculator). Now we have a starting point to measure against.
Moving on to getting our bodies (besides working out) and home healthy. I started reading an interesting book last week, Mastering your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. I am a fan of hers but not a “die hard” fan. This is the first of her many products that I have purchased. But since we are working out and losing weight, I want to do it the right way (and not gain it back plus some). Here is what I have taken away from the book but I admit I have not finished it yet. Our bodies are under attack from so many toxins in the environment, in our homes and in our foods that our hormones, metabolism being one of them, get out of whack. Ok, it is a plausible idea. So, her solution is to remove virtually all chemicals from our homes (from cleaning supplies and fertilizers to the unpronounceable ingredients in our foods), plastics, especially BPA’s (did you know that soda cans and fruit/veggie cans are lined with BPA liners?), and any foods that didn’t grow from the earth or have a mother. Wow! Is that really possible? I’ve heard the hype on organic foods but then I see the price difference and the frugal shopper in me goes for the bargain. However, when I find organic items that are comparable in price, I will buy them. This weekend was our first shopping excursion since I’ve been reading this book and sharing it with Estela. Boy do we have a lot of produce to eat! Friday we decided to go to the Bedford Farmers Market and got some great strawberries, squash, garlic, tomatoes (wondering if we can really use about 30 medium sized tomatoes) and corn. Sunday we ventured to the Dallas Farmers Market which was Estela’s first trip and bought fresh, locally grown eggplants, portabella mushrooms, patty pan squash (never had it but decided to try something new), an Israel melon, cherries and a mint plant. We came home and I made Ratatouille…yumm-o! It is a great vegetarian dish full of flavor and used up quite of few of those tomatoes. No we are not vegetarians…we haven’t gone that far! I was raised in the country, I like my meat! But for the sake of reducing our cholesterol and calories I try to make one at least vegetarian meal per week. Anyway, back to shopping. I finished off the shopping today and found what we want without hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, nitrates, nitrites, etc. Ok, Jillian, that is accomplished. I even bought a glass pitcher to store fresh green tea in. We have mindfully stored leftovers in glass bowls instead of plastic. It is a work in progress, but I will let you know how it goes!
If nothing else, it has certainly made me more aware. More aware of what we are eating, what we are exposed to, what our impact is and the steps we need to take to change. ..more aware of our journey!
“An excuse becomes an obstacle in your journey to success when it is made in place o f your best effort or when it is used as the object of the blame.” Bo Bennett
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