Today's a New Day

Thankful for new starts. Today is a new day. A day open for new choices. Wiser choices.

So far I have made wiser choices. Of course, it is only 9:50am, but I am counting my wise choices today.

I've eaten fruit already and instead of the bacon, biscuits and eggs my family had, I ate old fashioned oatmeal. I need to lower my cholesterol and it will help fuel my body against this sinus infection, too. I am also making some homemade chicken noodle soup right now. I think I will use brown rice instead of pasta because I only have regular pasta. Chicken and brown rice, lots of carrots and scallions. Sounds yummy to my throat right now.

A few months ago, my kids and I did a 6-week "no sweets" deal together. It was hard, but it was good for all of us. We managed to make it 5 weeks before Thanksgiving hit and we ended a week early. I was still excited that I made it 5 weeks because I love sweets! I crave them because that is often what I feed myself.

Last night we talked about doing it again. There is something so beneficial to denying yourself something you crave. It helps me in every area of my life to deny myself and learn to go to the Lord for strength when greatly tempted.

We agreed last night to keep our sweets to one-a-week. I have one daughter that wants to do no sweets. We will let her make that decision. Hubby is not a sweet eater, but is greatly tempted by chips, so he is making his challenge "no chips" for the same amount of time.

We talked a lot about how long to do this challenge, but we didn't set a time limit. In my mind, I would like this to be a life change that I make from here on out, but maybe I need to set a time to begin this challenge. I am not sure. Still thinking about it and need to talk to the girls again. We will agree to a time limit (for them), but then work toward a lifestyle change on this.

To help us in this, I will NOT be buying chips or sweets. Well, I take that back. I will buy the kids small packages of chips for their lunches on Tuesdays (SEEK), but I will NOT buy big bags of chips. We will have veggies cleaned and washed and chopped to snack size, easily accessible in the veggie drawer in the frig.

I am going to look up some more good snacks that are WW friendly and healthy today while sitting here with hubby. We all need some lifestyle changes and, although they are slow, we are making them one step at a time.

I started a new book last night that I am intrigued by entitled "Younger in a Year for Women." Apparently, these two guys wrote another book that was more general "Younger in a Year" and it got rave reviews. I am going to spend some time reading it today and making notes.

I also will be rereading "Made to Crave." That book had lots of Scripture in it and wise words to think about when tempted. It motivated me to change my thinking on food. I want to reread it and make notes this time in my health journal. I need all of the encouragement I can get.

Breakfast:
Coffee/creamer 0 points
1/2 c. Old-Fashioned Oatmeal w/ honey/cinnamon 4 points
Banana 0 points

Lunch:
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (1 cup) 3 points
Saltines (6) 2 points
Coffee/dry creamer 0 points

Water: I I I I I I I
Fruit/Veggies: I I I

Dinner:
Bager Thin 3 points
Cheddar Cheese Slice 3 points
Beer Brat (1.5) 9 points
Carrots 0 points

Coffee/cream 2 points
Kettle Corn 3 points

This uses all of my points for the day. I am done except to drink water. It is only 5:30, but I don't like eating late, so praying I will keep myself busy with handwork so that I won't eat. :)

I didn't get in nearly enough fruits/veggies, but I wanted to eat what Wade had cooked on the Green Egg. I will shoot for more tomorrow. I have apples, pears and bananas in the kitchen. I hope to eat 5 fruits/veggies tomorrow.