Interesting thinking and planning

Josiah was so excited about his birthday.  He is such an amazing little guy.  He is happy to be five years old, he is a big boy now! 

It has been an interesting couple of days aside from his birthday.  A was over (nothing new there, I really hope this job works out and A gets an apartment, and I can have my life back a little more).  A talked to the "first love" from high school.  That first love, who broke A's heart 30 years ago, talked with A about some of the issues that she dealt with back then.  And A finally gets why I say that when I drinks, i makes me fearful.  Finally someone else confirmed to A that A DOES throw things in my direction when angry (which I have told A many times and A has denied doing).  A finally is accepting that aggression, anger, and then depression are trademarks of what happens when A drinks.  A's first love is recently in recovery and was encouraging A to get into recovery.  A is down to 4 beers a day in an effort to quit drinking before the new job starts next week, which is a good idea.  The joys of detox are not fun, so I have a feeling A will be grumpy (and shaky) the next few days.  This is the third day of only 4 beers, and A was not shaking last night.  Now to drop down to 2-3 beers a day for a couple of days, and so on.  So hopefully A will be successful in moving forward.  A is excited about this prospect and so am I.  I know that A can do it, and can make choices that will lead to a good, healthy life.  A just needs to believe it, and to have the self worth to accept it.

Speaking of healthy lives, I have been doing what I do best--studying and researching (yes with some documentaries like "Fat Head" and books and research papers) a wide array of ideas and perspectives on health (implementing knowledge is my problem, I have a great deal of ability to amass knowledge, its the actual using of that knowledge that I seem to be slow on).  Anyway,  I have been compiling a list of things that I would like to implement for MY life to increase my overall health, most of which I have been working on transiting to, though keeping specific activities up for a long enough period to truly replace bad habits with good has been a challenge, as it is so easy to slip back into bad, long standing habits.  But I have been returning again and again to new habits, and each day, it is a little easier, and I know that each time I make a good choice rather than a bad choice, my life is moving in a good direction, a positive direction.

So these are my goals (rules) to live by for a healthier, better life (assumes 4 meals/day B, L, D, S=28m/w):
-Eat 2000 calories a day or less
-Eat 120 grams of carbohydrate or less per day (as per diabetes educator rec), at least 1/4 of which from fresh veggies
-Eat 35 grams of fiber or more a day
-Eat 150 grams of protein or more per day (at least 1/4 from vegetable protein)
-Eat 90 grams of fat or more per day (at least 10g of saturated veg fat (yes saturated, yes from plants))
-Eat at least 3 grams of Spirulina per day (max 20 grams)
-Eat at least 2 servings of Leafy Greens per day (can be in a smoothie)
-Eat Legumes at least 5 meals a week
-Eat Fish at least 3 meals a week
-Eat Oatmeal at least 5 meals a week
-Eat Eggs at least 3 meals a week
-Reduce sugar intake to less than 30 grams/day (incl. table sugar, candy, and sugars IN foods)
-Reduce ALL commercially processed foods to less than 3 meals a week (incl. RTE cereal, box food, sausage and other processed meats, etc...)
-Walk at least 1 mile per day at least 5 days per week
-Add in Strength or tension training for muscles 3 times a week
-Meditate and/or pray for 20 or more minutes a day (can be broken down into 5 min segments)
-6 "Free Pass" days a year where anything, any food, any calories, anything goes...