Naturally.

I had my best workout yet last night! 5.02 miles, 1 hour and 8 minutes, 635 calories burned!I shaved off about 7 minutes and burned about 20 more calories than my previous best, therefore, I did work. I love running in the evenings, but I'm looking forward to, starting tomorrow, running in mid-morning daily. I'm thinking around 10 will be my best bet. Yesterday, I had it in my mind that I was only going to do about 4 miles and call it a day, but something happens when I'm out there and I get going. The days that I decide to do less usually end up being the days I do my best. "Well, I've already done all of this, might as well go ahead and finish it out" is what happens. Adele is on call this evening, so there's a good chance that I won't get to go do my full run. I can't leave when she's on call in case she does get called back in, so if that happens, I'll walk around the neighborhood instead. Something's better than nothing! 

When I don't overthink, I do my best work. I've always had a tendency to worry, let anxiety take over, and just think too much. When I just do, I get it done. My motivation is just to continue on this path to become as healthy as possible. I'm currently working on cutting out more artificial sweeteners, namely Aspartame. Let's look at Aspartame for a second: 40% of it's contents is aspartic acid. ACID. It slowly eats away at you. It has also been known to cause detrimental effects to the nervous system, can cause seizures, fatigue (blocks glucose entry into the brain), headaches, abdominal pains, anxiety, depression, vision problems, sleeping problems, memory loss, etc...It literally slowly poisons you. I'm replacing anything that contains it with similar products that are sweetened either with sucralose or with stevia. Sucralose, is similarly made in a lab rather than naturally, but it's not quite as bad as aspartame. It doesn't cause the harmful side effects that the A word does. Stevia is natural and is basically the best choice, in my opinion, for sugar substitute. Wow, I miss real sugar...

If I have a choice between diet drinks containing aspartame or just drinking water, I'll go with water. I'm still not willing to waste calories on drinks. I'm just trying to lose weight and be healthy without causing further harm to my body. I'm so used to putting Equal in my coffee, tea, oatmeal, everything. But now, I'm using Stevia and ya know what? It's sweeter which means I don't have to use so much at a time. That's definitely a point in the pro column. The problem is, we have an entire unopened box of Equal in our pantry. I feel bad not using it, but I gotta stop! No more diet sodas. I'll miss you, Coke Zero :/ The good news is that more and more products out there are replacing the A word with the better stuff. For example, the yogurt that I eat every day for breakfast, put in smoothies, and use in various recipes has taken the A word out and put sucralose in! Thanks Dannon!

Ya see guys, it's not just about the calories, it's about eating the right things for your body, as well. Yes, I still focus on calories, but now I'm focusing now more than ever the quality of my calories. Almost all of the food that I eat every single day is organic. I feel better about consuming natural products knowing that there aren't so many preservatives and dangerious chemicals. Almost all food has some sort of chemical in it, whether you know or not, whether it's listed or not, so just focus on eating fresh and clean. The only way to know exactly what's in the food you're eating is by growing the darn stuff yourself! And as we all know, ain't nobody got time fa dat! Just eat the good stuff, y'all. I'm not saying go full on Paleo because, honestly, I find the idea of trying to eat an entirely Paleo, clean, chemical-free diet completely unrealistic. There's only so far you can go and only so much you can do....Just sayin'. 

Like I've always said to you, cook. Prepare your own food, cook your own meals, just do as much for yourself as you can. Of course eating at restaurants is a great thing 'cause, let's face it, it's so much more fun to have someone else cook for you. I'm just sayin' that it's easier to gauge what you're doing when you just do it yourself. Maybe that's just the "if you want something done right, do it yourself" mentality that I have, but I think I've had so much success thus far because I'm in control of what I'm doing. If you take control of your eating, you can be successful, healthy, and happy, too! Happy eating, y'all!