Things I am doing well

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I was looking in the mirror today, and I thought "Man. What's with my stomach? It's all jutty-outty. Dammit. I look fat."

SAY WHA?!?!?!

Hell no. I do NOT look fat! I look awesome! Snap out of it!

So I decided to make a list chronicling my awesomeness. ;)

In all seriousness, I think it's really important that we don't forget or underestimate our achievements. A lot of us have come *so* far, and we should remember that! And remember how awesome we are! I already made a similar post a while ago here, but hell, let's make another.

Various ways I have become more healthy over the past year:

1.) I floss more. I had never had a cavity in my entire life, and then about a month ago, they found one. =O Having no cavities was like, my claim to fame.

Me: "Hi there, I'm Allison, how's it going?"
Person: "Oh, hey, I'm -"
Me: "I've never had a cavity. Ever."
Person: "I - wait, huh?"
Me: *pulls out pen* "If you don't have paper, I can autograph your hand or something, it's cool. I'm flexible."

And then, boom, cavity. Right in the molar. I actually had to go in and get a filling. A huge blow to my identity and ego, obviously.

And now I floss more. Every night! Sometimes in the morning, too! Flossing is awesome.

2.) I quit smoking. I smoked for about 3 years, give or take. It started socially, like how most people start. I remember the first time I stopped bumming them from people at parties and just bought my own pack. I was really nervous because I was afraid I wouldn't pronounce "Marlboro" correctly. It's an easy one to garble. I went to the store, pronounced it correctly, gave them money, they gave me a pack, and I "officially" became a smoker.

Then a couple cigs a week became a couple cigs a day, which became 8 cigs a day, which became 12 cigs a day. Which, at the beginning of 2009, became very close to a pack a day.

A few reasons that made me quit:

1. Cigarettes are like, 8 bucks a pack. EIGHT. It's absolutely insane. A pack a day = $56.00 a week. That is money I don't have.
2. I felt like shit. I couldn't breathe in the morning when I woke up.
3. I was always very nervous around my family. My family is very healthy (my parents and brother all are runners, eat well, etc), and while they knew that I smoked, they never really brought it up much (unless to say sort of off-hand, "You know, you should quit"), and I definitely never felt comfortable smoking around them. So it would always make me anxious when I visited them - would I be able to go that long without smoking? When would I be able to sneak a cigarette? It was a huge source of stress.
4. My boyfriend decided to quit - and I knew that this was my chance. If I didn't quit with him, then I knew that I would need to quit later on, by myself, and I honestly didn't think I could do it on my own. Besides, smoking around my boyfriend when he JUST quit is a pretty douche-baggy thing to do.

I bought a ton of nicorette gum, but really only needed to chew a few pieces total. Weirdly enough, quitting was quite easy, which was entirely unexpected. I have a pretty addictive personality (see: food).

So now I've been smoke-free for about 5 months. =D

3. I started running. I started out and could barely run for 3 minutes straight. Now, I run for 6 miles straight. My muscles are more defined - my legs look HOT. Screw that "oh my stomach looks big" crap, because, for one, it DOESN'T, and for two, check out my LEGS. I could kick some serious ass with these legs. It's awesome.

4.) I eat healthier foods. I still have slip ups from time to time (I AM human, after all), but for the most part, I eat real whole foods. Foods that aren't processed up the wazoo, foods that are natural and good for you. All different kinds of fruits and veggies, whole grains, natural protein, etc. Very little sugar-free fat-free crap. I mean, sure, I'm still known to *occasionally* eat some light laughing cow cheese, diet pepsi, WW mini bars, and, well, Cool Whip from time to time. But I'm trying my hardest to get away from all that.

Good food choices I've made:
A. Instead of sugar-free non-fat yogurt (sweetened with aspartame), I eat non-fat greek yogurt, usually Chobani, sometimes Oikas. Chobani's ingredients: Cultured pasteurized nonfat milk, strawberries, sugar, natural flavor, beet juice concentrate (for color). So simple!


B. I just discovered this Weetabix cereal/biscuit thing. Have you heard of this? I hadn't! Holy crap. I love this stuff. The ingredients? Organic whole wheat, organic dehydrated cane juice, organic barley malt extract, sea salt.

I put two of these biscuits in a bowl with a cup of chocolate soy milk - it is seriously good stuff. I really recommend it.

As opposed to what I used to eat, say, Cocoa Puffs, which have (among other things): Sugar, corn meal, cocoa, canola and/or rice bran oil, corn syrup, corn starch, modified corn starch, cocoa processed with alkali, salt, calcium carbonate, fructose, beet powder and caramel color, trisodium phosphate, artificial flavor. Bah.

C. Instead of a pop-tart for breakfast (that's got fruit in it, right? >.>), I eat an apple.

Guess what ingredients are in an apple?

Apple.

Bahahahah.

I always get a kick out of that. =P

5.) I drink less. I still enjoy a couple glasses of wine here and there, maybe once every couple weeks, and very occasionally will go out and actually get drunk - but those times are extremely few and far between. Last year, I'd go out and drink quite a bit every weekend, and I would have a few beers during the week as well. Alcoholism runs rampant on both sides of my family, so it's definitely something that concerns me. I feel much better now that I don't drink as much. I'm hungover less, I'm not consuming crap for calories, and I feel more in control overall. It's a good thing.

What about you guys? How have you gotten more healthy?