Cutting the Crap

Cover via AmazonI am rapidly approaching my 50th birthday; OK it's tomorrow.  Like a lot of people, I am a good bit heavier than I would like to be.  Now I have never been what you called slender.  I played football in high school and used to do a lot of weight training so I have always been a little more muscular.

Even though in my youth I was more active and athletic, I haven't always made the right food choices.  I have always liked junk food, and ever since I became old enough to drink alcohol I have had a love affair with beer and wine.  To be quite honest, a lot of the reason I did so much weight training when I was younger was so that I could indulge more frequently in those bad foods.

Unfortunately, as the years have passed, my activity level has decreased steadily.  There are a number of reasons/excuses for why this is so.  There is the added responsibility of being the father of a special needs child. Due to career changes, I have a much longer commute that eats into my spare time that could be used for exercise.  Then there are the financial issues that won't allow me to splurge on a gym membership.

Anyway, over the years the pounds just started to add up and led to a variety of issues.  One is the need for medication for high blood pressure.  The other has been just an overall decline in the quality of life in general.  It isn't really an appearance issue, but just a general feeling like crap all the time; no energy, assorted aches and pains, and frequent headaches.

So, two weeks ago, with the realization that my 50th birthday rapidly approaching, I finally made the decision to do start taking better care of myself.   In my job as a candy and snack buyer, I have a lot of junk food around my office.  Instead of taking a lunch, I would frequently sit at my desk and eat whatever I had around the office.  It was never anything of any nutritional value.  For the past two weeks, I have packed a lunch, usually a salad with some chicken or tuna, and taken the time out of my day for lunch.

It has been over two weeks since I have had any beer or wine.  When I do not have beer or wine in the house, I do not miss it.  Unfortunately, if I have it in the house, I drink it.  I never drink to the point where I would be drunk, but I would drink more than I should.  It was never so much that I would wake up with a hangover, but it was enough to make me feel sluggish the next day.

When I started this, my plan was to cut out the junk food and eat only nutritious food.  It has only been two weeks, and I already feel a huge difference.  My overall energy level is improving and more stable through the day.  I also started reading a new book on my Kindle, The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson.  It teaches us that we need to eat more like our hunter/gatherer ancestors by making the diet mostly meat, fruit, and vegetables, and to avoid grains, sugars, and highly processed foods.  I will be incorporating a lot of the books teachings in my plans.

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