While we are a young family, we are far from healthy. Jesse takes medication for his thyroid and also has high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I am an obese 26 year old taking medication for anxiety disorder and infertility. It's too much! Neither of us feel like a healthy, energetic young adult.
Last week we sat down together and set attainable goals. With both of us going back to teaching in August, we know we want to spend as much family time as possible in the evenings. We decided we would walk or cycle at least 3x a week as a family and drink 2+ vegetable juices per day in addition to a pitcher of water each day. We made two large financial purchases to reach our goals of better health: a bicycle and a juicer. (Jesse got a Wal Mart credit card to help us get by this summer. Both purchases were $150, which we'll be able to pay off with our first pay check.)
Jesse has always enjoyed cycling, whereas I haven't ridden a bike in 15 years. I feel very foolish riding my new bicycle up and down the cul-de-sac, but I must practice my balance, turning around, and controlling my speed. I completely ran into a neighbors flowerbed while they were standing in their driveway. I panic every time a car passes and I come to a complete stop on the side of the road. Since there are no gears, going uphill is challenging. It's only been two days, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.
The second investment we've made is a juicer. After reading two books about juicing from the library and watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, we've decided to go on a 10-day juice fast with raw food. This isn't an impulsive decision. We aren't doing it to lose weight, though hopefully that will be a positive side effect. We're trying to reboot our body and rid ourselves from the processed foods we've consumed. We will document our experience on the blog, beginning this Friday.
I am nervous and excited about the experience, but I pray that this will be our first step to a lifestyle change.
Fascinating.
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