Better Lifestyle Choices...

In recent months, I've been making an effort to live a healthier lifestyle. For starters, I'm a smoker, so it's my goal to completely cut the smoking (tobacco anyway, lol) over the next few months. The same goes for my insatiable appetite for fast food - but that's already a non-issue. Outside of absolute necessity, I hardly eat it anymore.

I've been doing a few other things to combat my negative lifestyle choices. Outside of liquor (& coffee from time to time), I only drink water, even with my meals. It's been more than 2 months since I've ingested any soda or other liquids containing things like artificial flavoring and/or preservatives. I also jog every other day & get this, I've been COOKING (& low-fat meals, at that!).

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from a calorie counter, but I do eat much more sensibly & I'm very proud of that. Taking on a healthier diet, hasn't been cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but hell, the money saved if I were still consuming cheaper, unhealthier foods would be spent anyway, so fuckit - it's an investment in my health.

As far as the types of meals I'be been cooking, they've been things like chicken quasedillas, blackened chicken, lemon peppered salmon, crab-stuffed potatoes, you know - shit like that. I think I'm going with angel hair pasta with garlic shrimp and broccoli for my next "kitchen assignment." Fuck, I'm getting hungry just typing about it, lol.

I've always given credit where credit is due, so I've gotta mention the fact that I received great motivation from a buddy in getting started on this healthy kick. The initial encouragement she provided was essential in getting me started (& I'm VERY appreciative of that), but keeping things going on my own shouldn't pose a problem.

Not long ago, I published a post where I outlined the various negative associations I'd eliminated since the beginning of the year. I think this too, is a really important area of healthy living. I'm a firm believer that stress (regardless of cause), reduces one's lifespan. So I made it a point to reduce the stressors in my life & what a wonderful decision that was!

With that in mind, I guess I'd better roll this current period of abstinence into my list of healthier choices too (granted, this really isn't a welcomed change in lifestyle, but a healthier change nonetheless, right?). Can't really recall just how long it's been, but long enough - I'll leave it at that, lol.

Lastly, I've developed a far better since of positive thinking as of late (I'm taking full credit for this 1 myself). In general, I've lived life as a pretty cynical & pessimistic individual, but now I focus far more on positive situations & the correction of negative situations (not the negative situations, themselves).

The whole power of positive thinking thing has been working pretty well for me. So wish me luck as forge ahead & continue to better myself, remember - if it ain't growing, it's already dead...