8 Weeks to Optimal Health -- Week 2

Today marks the end of my 2nd week for this 8-week program by Dr. Weil. I had a little less commitment to it than I did the first week. In fact, I don't even know all the things I was supposed to do, except for eat fish. This is mainly due to the fact that our library doesn't carry his book, so I'm relying on the Housewife to be my guide. So, as I read her posts, I'm tagging along, and basically it's hard for me to get online much when the kiddos are taking my attention. Darn kids. (That was not serious...I love my children like crazy, and I'm super blessed to be able to stay at home with them.)

So, for week three, I'll print out her post so I can follow along better, but for now, here's my progress...

1) Again, eat fish at least once this week and broccoli twice. I did the whole salmon thing again. Tried some Salmon Cakes, and they were pretty good in the taste category. Unfortunately, the recipe didn't have enough moisture, so even after I added an extra 2 Tbsp. of mayo (I'm sure that's super healthy), they were still dry. But once I doused them in ranch dressing, they weren't half bad.

Broccoli is easy. We love it around here.

2) Try to increase your consumption of whole grains. Choose whole grain breads or cereals. Does Frosted Mini-Wheats count?

3) Go to a natural-food store and look through the frozen and refrigerated sections to familiarize yourself with the many different products made from soybeans. Select one to try. No thanks. I did the soy stuff in college and never could get a taste for it. Plus any frozen food from a natural store is beyond obnoxious in the price category.

4) Buy some Japanese or Chinese green tea and try it. If you drink coffee or black tea, try to substitute green tea for some or all of your usual beverages. I've been told not to drink teas while breastfeeding. Just in case weirdo herbs give my baby retarded development. So, I stuck with my coffee, but I do use an all natural sweetener called Stevia.


5) Find out where your drinking water comes from and what impurities it might contain. Stop drinking chlorinated water. Get information about a home water-purifying system. In the meantime, drink bottled water. Our water is gross. It's contaminated with all kindsa crap and calcium. So, we have a water softener and we run tap water through old, overused pitcher filters that probably no longer work. I need to change those.

For the record, I do not agree with bottled water. Sure, I like the idea of the cleanliness of the H2O, but the excess plastic waste is not so appealing. I've gone beyond my allotment of plastic usage with baby food containers, so I cannot justify buying bottled water.

6) Start taking one capsule a day of mixed carotenes with breakfast. I ran out of vitamins this week, and have yet to get some more from my dealer.

7) Increase your daily walk to 15 minutes. Daily walks in 95 degree weather do not agree with me. Again, I spent an hour walking around the grocery store, and it also took forever to walk around the lake where Billy got baptized this weekend, so that was my exercise.

8) Visit a park or some other favorite place in nature. Spend as much time as you can there, doing nothing in particular, just feeling the energy of the place. I wish I had read this advice before the week started, cause I would've loved to make this part of my week.

9) Try a one-day "news fast." Do not read, watch, or listen to any new for a day. This is my lifestyle. I probably need to watch news more.

10) Continue with Breath Observation for five minutes a day. Then, for one minute a day, try to experience the breath cycle, beginning with exhalation and ending with inhalation. nope...I have been focusing on my breath as Billy and I prepare for leading youth in worship tonight.

So, yeah...the inner slacker has come to the forefront. I'm hoping to be a little better at this in the coming week. We shall see.