New Year, New Start, cont.....

I find it amazing, having done so much research that I haven't actually committed wholeheartedly to a new way of eating/living, even though I know it will benefit me in many different ways. 

I would have thought being locked down for most of 2020 it was the perfect time to get my act together, to cook healthy meals and exercise regularly, but I've actually found it much harder to be healthy at home, than in an office. 

My husband is a sandwich, crisps and chocolate bar or biscuit kind of lunch person, whereas my lunch of choice was usually hummus, sauerkraut and crudités packed for work, but now I'm home it's become a mixture of the two. I'm still having the hummus and sauerkraut, but on top of that I'm also now having the crisps and chocolate. It therefore comes as no surprise that I've put on quite a lot of weight. But its a New Year and no more excuses, time to pull my big girl pants up (and they are quite big) and get on with it.

So back to the research. As well as internet articles, documentary films and blog posts, I have also read, amongst others the following books;

• How not to die - Dr Michael Greger
• The China study - Dr Colin Campbell
• Eat to live - Dr Joel Fuhrman
• The starch solution - Dr John McDougall
• Forks over knives - Founded by Brian Wendel  

All of these books and many others conclude, through years of separate scientific research, that eating a Whole Food Plant Based diet (WFPB), SOS free (no salt, oil or refined sugar) is the healthiest lifestyle to adopt. Not only can it help with losing those excess pounds, but it can also stop or even reverse many deceases, from heart decease to Alzheimers. For me personally if I can avoid or reduce my chances of ever getting Alzheimers, having watched my mum deteriorate daily or heart problems like my dad, then I'm going to have to start now, no more dilly dallying around and I haven't got time to put it off any longer. 

Even though I am plant based 95% of the time, I haven't been truly committed and the odd bites of cheese and what has become the regular milk chocolate bars most certainly do not count as vegan or whole food.

So from tomorrow I will be starting my journey to a WFPB life, dragging my husband along for the ride. 

It is my hope that committing to making regular updates, through this platform, will keep me on the straight and narrow and help me reach my goal of becoming a happier, healthier individual by the end of 2021. 

But it's not all going to be about diet and getting healthy this year, I also want to get art projects up and running, whether in the form of printing, mixed media or painting. I want to do this to build up my confidence and portfolio, with the hope that I will be able to start making sales by the end of the year. 

New Year, New Start

Thank goodness 2020 is out of the way. 

2020, the year I got to leave work to finally do fun things with the grandchildren, spend time with my mum, go on a cruise, enjoy Black Deer festival and get fit and healthy.....well it didn't turn out as planned for any of us, but we've got through a year that will go down in history and be remembered as possibly the worst year in our lifetimes.   

But looking forward; apart from the obvious hopes of life returning to some sort of normality, for me a major start to my new year has got to be about gaining control of my health and fitness and I need to do this both for my physical and mental wellbeing. 

I want to try to avoid, halt or reverse any further chances of developing deceases that I may either inherit or develop with my current lifestyle. It does include losing weight, quite a lot of weight, but it means more than that. It means putting into practice all the knowledge I've gleaned over the last couple of years through much research, reading and learning along the way. It means having more energy and not feeling like I'm dragging myself around all the time, it means not needing afternoon naps because I'm exhausted from doing nothing all day, it means sleeping through the night rather than just a couple of hours at a time and it means just being happier in my own skin. 

Having lost 2.5 stone 4 years ago on a low carb, low calorie diet I find myself not quite back at where I started but definitely on my way, overweight, sluggish and miserable, but not quite miserable enough to go back to the low carb plan, rather this time around it will be a much healthier way of eating (WOE) and I will be adopting a Whole Food Plant Based diet (WFPB).

To be continued......

 

My Blog! How exciting!

About me - I live in Berkshire in England and currently work in a finance company, where I am hoping for redundancy to be able to spend more time doing the things I enjoy, hence the title of my blog, Real Life. I completed an HND in Community Art a few years ago, but to date have not really had the time to pursue my hobbies to the full.

Why blog? I have decided I need to blog as nobody really listens to me at home anymore, going on and on about wool, colours, chickens and such and i'm getting fed up talking to myself. So I thought it was about time I cast my net further afield. This is my retreat where I can get away from the drudgery of the 9 to 5 and talk about the things that really interest me, from arts and crafts, to our chickens and recipes from the allotment.

What's it about? My blog will be about anything I find interesting that takes me out of the mundane world of work and daily activities that we all have to endure. I want to share achievements, dreams and aspirations so that they live virtually ahead of realisation.