Have you ever heard of the ripple effect? Have you ever thought about how much changing your eating habits could change your life?
I’m changing my ways of working, pushing through some mental health workplace challenges and Clean Eating Challenge has started to change small things for me + my family!
I had some blood work to start the challenge and found out my cholesterol was a bit on the high side. Also, I have a few pounds to lose in order to get back to a healthy BMI. But more than that my blood pressure is currently sky high sometimes putting me at risk of stroke. I was under treatment from an emergency medicine physician a couple times this month. It’s mainly due to anxiety from some hostile workplace challenges I’m dealing with at the moment. But another part of me realizes that I should be healthy enough that my body can cope with attacks not to put myself into a situation where I could have a stroke when someone repeatedly harassed or assaulted me.
Starting the challenge one of the first changes I made is swapping out the fake fruit and chemical filled confections. I’ve been swapping out fruit snacks for ice cold strawberries. AND I’ve swapped out bakery desserts for juicy cherry tomatoes! When I bought a bunch of fruits and veggies instead of gushers, fruit snacks and bakery treats I figured my toddlers would be super disappointed in me. Actually what happened was Ashanti, my oldest daughter asked me, “Mom what do these cherry tomatoes taste like?”. I guess it’s been a couple years that we’ve been eating a lot of junk and not much fresh produce.
🍅I told my daughter this cherry tomato is the best tasting little food. You put the whole thing in your mouth and bite down. This sweet and bitter juice will squirt onto your tongue with little seeds. It will be like a sweet and sour gusher then you gotta be brave to chew it up and swallow. It’s got vitamins to heal your body and will make you feel like you’re eating juice with sunshine. It’s 1,000x better than any gusher.
She ate one and told me how delightful it was. Then both my toddlers asked for a bowl of tomatoes without a complaint that we had fresh produce for dessert!
And for my fellow data nerds: I did set my SMART goal for fitness as my follow up from last month. I’m using a fitness app that reads my step history and sets up a tiered goal system. I have 3 active days of 5K+ steps, 2 power days of 7K+ steps and 2 rest days. I’ve noticed that as I eat more fruits and veggies that increasing my steps is becoming easier!
Follow Clean Eating Challenge by Viva Fresh for updates on my health and fitness goals!
