Gardening, Pescetarianism, and a Healthier Outlook on Life.

So I haven't blogged in quite awhile, 2 months to be exact. I've never really been one to write down all of my thoughts but I feel, to help myself be healthier, not only physically but mentally and emotionally, I should take the time to do so. Along with blogging I have added a few more healthy meditative items to my plate and am making the time to fit them all in.

January 14th, 2010, I joined a woman's gym. It is fantastic! I never thought that I would be so excited about working out and exercise. I'm the heaviest I had ever been. I've always been a large girl but I've never weighed more than 215 lbs. I shamefully admit that on that winter day, I had gone to the doctor's for a routine check up for some issues that I had been having and when I was weighed, I told myself that that was it. I weighed 248 lbs. I could cry just thinking about it now. How did I let myself get this way? I had to make some changes. So the first thing I did was join that gym. I knew that if I had done some type of trial membership that afterward I would have just said, 'Thanks for the free trial, but no thanks.' I needed to take that plunge to push myself to a healthier me. Not only am I exercising regularly but I have changed my eating habits completely. And Woki is right on board with me. We are doing everything we can to help stay with each other longer, happier and healthier. I have always been one for red meat. I love it and when I have it, it's as rare as rare can be. So I haven't bought red meat in a very long time because it's become so GD expensive. So I just gave up. Woki doesn't really eat red meat anyway unless its a burger and even then I think he prefers ground turkey. Neither one of us really enjoys pork products unless it's bacon. I think we just find it so dry and unflavorful. So that leaves us with chicken which is now getting pretty pricey itself. We eat a pretty good amount of fish and it's pretty easy to find fish cheaper than meat. So Woki and I have decided to try to become vegetarians that eat fish. This is called a pescetarian. I have to say that I am quite excited about it but Woki said he doesn't remember agreeing to the fish part. That's okay, more for me. The hard thing for him though is the fact that he is very picky about his vegetable tastes.

That brings me to a new hobby that I have already come to love: Gardening!!! It's not even Spring yet and I am so excited about turning my second floor deck into a garden. It's all planned out. And I've started some seeds already to make sure that I don't have a black thumb before putting the money, time and effort into something that may not grow. This garden will contain the majority of our food intake for the Spring, Summer and partially fall. I'm hoping enough will grow to freeze, can and preserve. I'll write another blog just about the garden and my plans.

This is a photo of one of my pickling cucumber plants that I started. The photo was taken on March 1st, 2010.

I'm starting to read more and find healthier ways to stimulate my mind. I never liked to read in school but I love it now. I've become really interested in documentaries and memoirs, and I think i'm going to try to get back into Buddhism. Renee had bought Buddhism for Beginners for me awhile back and I started to read it and probably got distracted by other things that are not good for me, like smoking, drinking, eating junk and watching t.v. Not one of my proudest moments. This year is going to be a huge change of lifestyle for me. I need to do everything I possibly can to be healthy. And that includes stress. I think I may need to seek outside help for my road rage and possibly take some anger management courses. I think I will look into it. A calm me is a healthy me.

The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.