Conscious Eating

I took some of the Prevention Magazine quizzes and there was one where I got a particularly poor score. That was the Metabolism Myth Busters. I have been working on making sure I drink 8 glasses of water a day but I didn't realize that drinking water could help your metabolism. I knew that tea had a lot of antioxidants but I didn't know that it could also boost your metabolism. I didn't know that eating and drinking ice cold food could increase your metabolism. I'm sure at home I can combine drinking more water that is ice cold. I have brought in a supply of tea bags to work instead of just keeping one in my purse so instead of a cup of coffee I'll try to have a cup of tea. I know this will be hard because I really, really love my coffee.

Conscious Eating Goals

Knowing that I am more likely to focus on smaller details than grandious schemes, I have decided on the following goals:
1. Continue to limit and monitor my sodium intake. Sodium is everywhere! You have to constantly check labels and ingredients.
2. Limit and monitor my sugar intake. I have been so focused on eliminating sodium from my diet that I have not been paying attention to the sugar content. I noticed when I ate a Health Valley soup with no salt added that it tasted sweet which I thought was odd. One serving of the soup had 14 grams of sugar. This may not seem like a lot until you consider that it is recommended that you not consumer more than 40 grams per day.
3. Measure and track water consumed each day. I don't think I drink enough water.
4. To tie in with Going Green, I am going to consciously plan meals to make sure I use the fruits and vegetables before they spoil. I will purchase fewer items based on a planned menu rather than just what looks good in the store. This will make sure I eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
5. I will continue to restrict gluten from my diet.

Health and Wellness

Today begins the OCL Health and Wellness challenge. I will use this blog to report my progress to the committee.