One pound less...

One more pound gone! Not much, but it's a pound I'm not carrying around anymore. Makes a total of twelve pounds lost. I still have a long way to go, but I know I'll get there. This community of "green" homesteaders is a big inspiration to me. Getting back to natural foods without chemicals and preservatives (as much as I can right now) helps me to stay on track.

I just read my Slimfast can and saw it has NutraSweet in it. Some things we eat or drink we don't even realize it, but there it is in small writing. The trouble is, I have to have it for the time being. The only way I've ever been able to lose weight was by drinking it. It makes me feel full for a few hours at a time. I've been drinking two a day. At least I can cut out the sodas with it. I've always drunk five or six a day!

Oh well...one step at a time. Sarah

Green Tea, NutraSweet, and other thingsÂ…

Today, in my quest for a healthier lifestyle, I tried green tea. It most definitely is one of those foods that I will have to acquire a taste for! It does taste green and raw. I put honey in it and that helped some. I managed to get half a cup down, and hoping to increase that daily until IÂ’m drinking a whole cup. DonÂ’t get me wrong, it didnÂ’t make me gag, itÂ’s just a taste IÂ’m not used to. IÂ’ve never been a tea drinker anyway, except for the instant iced tea, which I love; and thatÂ’s because itÂ’s full of sugar and lemon!

Hubby and I have decided to quit NutraSweet. Do some research online and youÂ’ll see all the side effects it can cause. Strange thing; once hubby quit a few days ago, his blood pressure is down to normal most of the time and heÂ’s taking less mg of his BP meds. He also stopped taking Prilosec and started taking a baby aspirin daily, so it could be any one of those things that helped but IÂ’m betting on the removal of NutraSweet. If this keeps up, maybe he can go off meds altogether.

IÂ’ve also added a small block of dark chocolate to our daily diet for the antioxidants (nobody will have to force me to eat that!). Between the dark chocolate, green tea, and red wine, I may live to be a hundred! Of course, IÂ’ll have to lose the rest of my weight I want to, exercise, and quit smoking! IÂ’m dieting now and have lost 11 pounds, going to start walking on my treadmill Saturday, and sadly, the smoking will come last. ItÂ’s what keeps me from eating so much and breaking my diet. Hopefully by the time IÂ’m at my goal weight IÂ’ll be used to eating a lot less and can tackle the smoking problem. And I may never be able to quit, but IÂ’d like to give it my best shot. Are any of you reformed smokers, and how did you do it?

Sarah