more changes

Well - walking is great. But by itself, it's not enough. I know that intuitively. I'm just working on the practicality of it.

My family eats fairly well, but we have too many 'holes' in our eating habits. We do eat out at least once a week - usually McDonalds or something like that on Friday while I'm running errands. We eat alot of organic and local foods (more than most families I think) but we also still eat alot of processed foods. I have a HUGE weakness for dairy products. If it's got cheese or sour cream in it then I'll probably eat it.I'll eat reduced fat cheese but NOT reduced fat sour cream (tastes more like cream cheese - too sweet!). I also ONLY use real butter (for flavor as well as avoiding transfats), but I use it in moderation where ever possible. We don't eat alot of cookies or pastries, or chips, or even ice cream. I have a weakness for sweets that varies by season, right now it's conversation hearts but a month ago it was York Peppermint patties. Worse yet I tend to crave them at night after dinner. The absolute worst time of the day for cravings!!

It seems everywhere you look there are different opinions of what you should and shouldn't eat. I've even seen a website dedicated to telling you that milk is a poison. I've read that drinking water is over-rated. A truly well balanced diet gets plenty of water in the foods it consumes.If you look far enough you'll find negatives to everything.

I think that it is far worse to try to live on diet foods or excessively restrictive diets. It's expensive and unsafe to completely eliminate entire categories of food. I don't buy diet books or exercise equipment. I don't have the money and if there were truly a miracle item we'd all know about it. I considered joining a gym but if I'm too lazy to get up and move at home why would I be MORE motivated to get up, dress up, drive somewhere, and exercise in front of strangers?

My general policy is common sense and moderation. Sure I'd love to kick the diet soda completely, swear off sugar, eat nothing but fruit. I think my ideal diet would consist of fresh fruit (especially berries), cheese, bread (real bread not the white airy stuff you get at the supermarket), and butter with a smattering of meat (sorry - I'm a steak lover!), but until the day I can be perfect I'll settle for common sense and moderation.