by Beatrice on January 31, 2012
I have been a vegetarian of sorts for around a year. It has been a slow process to get to where I am at now. I don’t eat any meat except for seafood so I am actually a pescetarian. I usually just say vegetarian when asked, “What are you?” It is that or human.
Becoming a Vegetarian
The journey has been slow because it started with a personal dare and has evolved through education. I think it has been at least 3 years since I last ate beef. I decided that I would not eat beef for a month just to see if I could do it – a test of will. The man in my life laughs when I describe it this way because I often eat a cup full of ice cream after dinner for a week without blinking an eye. Will power is ignored for ice cream. I decided to start with beef because I didn’t eat it that much to begin with. After a month of easily not eating beef I felt confident that I could be in control of other food items. I was a bit over weight at the time and it seemed nice to know I could be in control. I recently read that will power is like a muscle and you have to use it to make it stronger. I love that idea because it eliminates any excuses.
Feeling better with less meat
Anyway…I started to feel great and it gave me something to practice. My friend gave up all meat except for seafood a few years ago and the more we started to cook meals for one another the more I noticed that after a meal free of chicken and beef the calmer and more relaxed I felt. I have no medical studies to back this up, just personal feeling. It could be the fact that I don’t have guilt or sad feelings for the animals, the fact that cleaning up dishes is so much easier when I’m not cooking with meat, or that I get more vitamins and things my body needs (such as Omega-3 fatty acids) from vegetables and seafood. I have slept better, had more energy, and felt more myself without meat.
Helping Others with Changes
My cousin wanted to talk about my change this Christmas. He had really struggled with the switch and had gone back to meat without finding much success. Changing to a diet with less meat or no meat is very personal. I found great success and would recommend that you try it if you are looking for a change. It has taught me control and allowed me to see food in a more positive way.
Readers: Do you feel like you have control over your diets? Have you thought about becoming a vegetarian or helping someone else change their diet? Do you consider a diet to be something temporary, or a permanent lifestyle change?
by Jeff on January 23, 2012
As I write this, it’s the 20th of January, and I’ve been to the gym (or working out) for 19 days straight (I knew I wasnt going to the gym on new years day). This is surely the longest tracked streak, and probably up there in terms of length in all my bouts of going to the gym. I’ve found that the best time for me to go the gym is in the morning before work. Admittedly, it’s not always easy to go to the gym at this hour but I make it happen on about 5-6 days during the week. I usually give myself one day off during the week in the morning, and I run that afternoon.
The one thing that I’ve been noticing is that it sucks getting up all the time. I’m not talking about waking up, I’m talking about taking the action of getting out of bed. We all know that getting out of bed is probably the worst thing ever - and even more so when the weather is cold. After my battles in december with myself on getting out of bed (which I mostly lost) I gave my workouts more thought around christmas time and I knew that I had to figure out some sort of gimmick to get myself out of bed, because once I’m out of bed and ambulatory, I do just fine and make it to the gym.
I settled on the easy workout. I do a series of 4 workouts, two muscle groups at a time except for one day where I just do one. The workout where I just do 1 muscle group rotates, but the workout is always the same: legs. This workout takes way less time and isn’t nearly as rigorous as the rest of my workouts. So whenever I wake up and I’m having a lot of trouble making it out of bed, I just tell myself that I’m doing the legs workout that day, and after a minute or two I drag myself out of bed. Even though I may not actually end up doing the easy work out, getting out of bed is all that matters (for me). Once I’m out of bed, I’ll grab one of the scraps of paper I’ve got my workouts written on and head off to the gym, and it usually isnt the easy workout, I usually save that for the end of the week. I dont want to “burn” it on a monday.
The thing is, once I can get out of bed, I know that I could get to the gym, so I’ve learned to leverage that. I know that once I’m out of bed, I can get to the gym, so I’ve been trying to trick myself every day that I dont want to get out of bed (this is about 1 of every 3 days). I tell myself that I’m doing the easy workout (wether I am not) and that helps me get out of bed and head to the gym.
Readers: Do you use special tricks to get yourself to workout, or do you just try and force yourself all the time? Do you think something like that would work for you? If so, what habit(s) could you leverage (like my not getting back in bed after I get up) to make this goal a success?
