the heart as it is | courage • grief • beauty

I feel a little embarrassed sharing about my lifestyle check since I feel like I have not been taking super good care of my health this past month. A big part of it has to do with travelling as I went on my honeymoon, so I purposely did not try to care too much. I also still have not been getting adequate sleep, even with this behavioral modification project that I’ve been working on in class. Anyways, I still want to keep myself accountable, so here is how things have stacked up since my last check-in early October:

7000-8000 steps a day: I definitely have not been reaching 7-8000 steps still. I likely hit this goal while I was travelling, but when I take a look at my smartwatch app, I am kind of averaging out to more 6,200 steps for the month of October. Maybe I can just make baby steps, and get to 6,500 steps instead of all the way to 7000 for November. It kind of sucks because I usually can get more steps in during my lunch break but that’s only if I sleep well, otherwise I will want to nap during my break. So my step count comes down to my sleep habits at the end of it all. Even with putting my phone away early, and also going through my bedtime routine early, I’m still tempted to sleep late. I really need help with brainstorming tips on this; maybe I can just only paint or only read poetry after a certain time in the evening.

Aerobic exercise three times a week for 30 minutes each time until you break a sweat: Some good news is that my arm injury has started to heal ! I have been going back to the rock climbing gym for at least once a week. I used to be able to go up to V2 and even do a few V3’s, but I am just sticking to V0’s and V1’s for now. The plan is to go up to V2 at the end of the year. For other days of the week, I have been bringing my barefoot running shoes to school, so during lunch I can run or do some leg or arm workouts. I feel like I have been doing better on the exercise side overall.

A diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil and less meat can help prevent heart disease and cancer: So I have definitely been buying more vegetables. The only fruit I have only been consuming more of (but just a little bit) are strawberries, in addition to he blueberries that I’ve been purchasing. I have not been buying fish yet, even though my husband and I have started to shop a little bit at Whole Foods, I still have not looked at the fish section so I need to do that ! For the time being, I have been eating only white meant – ground turkey and certified humane chicken thights/breassts. I’ve also been trying to be cycle syncing my diet, which I think is at least helping me more in the ruits and vegetables recommendation here.

Eat protein and fat foods for breakfast, which can keep us full of energy for the day; Cut back on these foods at dinner to avoid weight gain: For breakfast lately, I’ve only been eating miso soup. It’s difficult for me to wake up early, but ideally I would love to wake up at 6:00 am and not feel rushed to make some miso soup with bok choy, eggs, and sweet potato like I do during my work from home days. Sometimes I also just get so hungry later in the evening because I’ll be trying to fast. I was trying to fast from 4pm to 8 am the next day, but I’m trying to adjust it to just 6pm to 8 am the next day.

If you currently only eat 1 or 2 vegetables a day, please add 1 more to lunch and dinner: Something else I forgot to mention is that I got some kind of stomach bug upon returning from Hawai’i ! So I have not been able to eat super fibrous things and if I do, they’re either boiled or baked. I’ve been careful not to each too much kimchi out of fear that it will disrupt my stomach, but I’m almost thinking that maybe I should be eating more kimchi to help my stomach out… in any case, for this week’s meal prep, I have been having edamame and broccoli (I realize I forgot to bring edamame to work today though).

Each as much brown rice as possible to get more nutrients like fiber, minerals, and more: Unfortunately, I am on a purple rice break as I still don’t know what’s going on with my stomach. It is slowly improving, however. For the time being, I have been eating more congee-like rice with sweet potatoes.

Switch to skim milk or low-fat milk, and reduce carbonated soda or other sweet drinks: I continue to drink low fat, lactose-free milk, and I am trying to not purchase creamer anymore. If anything, maybe I will add honey to my milk teas. I still occasionally have sweeter drinks when eating out, but that’s honestly like once a week. I will say though, that while in Hawai’i, we drank a lot of something called POG juice which is super sugary ! We also still have some POG Juice left at home that we found at a local Safeway. Once that’s finished, I think I’ll take a break from it. I’m also thankful that during this stomach bug period of mine, in order to hydrate well, I’ve found a dye-less, sugar-free gatorade drink (it’s the glacier cherry one).

When buying food, pay attention to nutritional content labels and choose foods with the least amount of sodium or salt: Unfortunately, I still have not been paying attention to salt content once again. Another reminder to myself that 2,000 mg of salt is the daily maximum. Maybe when baking vegetables and meat, I could perhaps leave out the salt entirely for a try.