I’ve been making a lot of changes in my lifestyle lately, some gradual, some not so much. While this post is going to be a bit more personal than they usually are, I’m doing my best to keep it from seeming preachy, because that’s really not my intent. I told you the blog was going to be a bit more open, so if you don’t really care you can go play your DS or something.

Anyway, I’ve been making a lot of changes to the way I eat. I mean, you guys have seen pictures of me, I’m not like OMG FAT but I’m not in the best shape. It’s the result of years of a sedimentary lifestyle and not knowing much about maintaining a proper diet. I’ve learned a lot in the past few years from working at Whole Foods, especially since I spent seven months as my store’s In-Store Educator, where it was my job to train new hires and educate all of our Team Members on our products and philosophies.

The first choice I’ve made is that I’m not going to eat any meat unless I know it came from a humanely-run farm and not a factory farm. After my second viewing of the documentary Food, Inc, I can’t really stomach (no pun intended) the thought of eating meat from animals that I know have been abused and pumped full of hormones. I’m not a vegetarian or anything, but I just want to know that I’m eating healthy meat. Obviously there will be occasional exceptions, because sometimes I wake up on a Saturday morning and I really want my breakfast from McDonald’s. For the most part, though, when I go out to eat it’s going to be veggies or fish.

I’m also trying to be more conscious of what I eat in general, because when I look back on how I used to eat when I was younger, I’m disgusted with myself. Especially when I lived with my roommates. I mean, I didn’t know any better, and honestly I don’t know HOW I ever thought it was okay, but there were times when I’d drive to Taco Bell (which was only about five minutes away) at 1am maybe three times a week. One time I didn’t feel like going out to get something to eat, so I found some instant rice and a packet of country gravy mix. Dinner ensued.

For dinner last night, Christina and I made wild rice with grilled zucchini, summer squash and asparagus. It was really good! The best part of it was that I was full after one serving and I didn’t feel like I had eaten a brick afterwards. My diet has been a lot better the past couple of years, but this is the first time I’ve really said “it’s time to start eating healthy, and eating healthy all the time.”

I’ve been doing a lot more walking lately, which I feel is a good start into being more active. It’s a little over a mile between my house and work, and I tend to walk faster than most people, so it’s about a half-hour of walking every day. It’s not much, but it’s a start. I can’t really see myself at a gym (even though I know it would be a great benefit) but I hope to get back into Wii Fit soon on top of the walking.

Paying attention to when I’m eating is important too. Eating at night is the absolute WORST thing you can do for your metabolism, because once you go to sleep your body goes into “starvation mode” and will store everything you just ate instead of burning it off. It’s just as bad to only eat once a day.

The best analogy I’ve heard compared it to a campfire. If you throw a bunch of smaller pieces of wood on a fire one at a time, they burn up fast and the fire keeps going. What happens if you throw one big log on a fire? It just sits there and takes forever to burn away.

The fact of the matter I’m 26 years old, I’m not a teenager anymore. I can’t eat a frozen pizza for lunch every day. That’s gross. I’m getting married in a couple of months, my life isn’t just mine anymore. The bad decisions I make don’t just affect me anymore, they affect my soon-to-be wife and our future child, whenever they come along.

I’m not aiming to be super-fit with washboard abs or anything (although it’d be nice!), I just want to take better care of myself to ensure I’m going to be able to take care of my family. I do eat better than a lot of people I know, and I’ve also learned that just because someone’s skinny doesn’t mean they’re healthy. I just want to make sure that my body stays in good working condition for as long as it can.

It’s going to take a while to adjust, but it’s been easier than I expected it to be. Grilled veggies with pepper and a squeeze of lemon is actually much more satisfying than you’d think! It’s the right decision, though, and not just for me, but for my family in the long run.

(Also Christina is not pregnant don’t worry!)