Back to Basics: Good Health Guidelines

The theme for last week's Back To Basics challenge was Good Health Guidelines (GHG's).

Also known as the week I snapped. Again.

You may be wondering what exactly are GHG's. In a nutshell, they're the tools that help you maintain a healthy person. You can stay in calories/Points Plus by eating chicken nuggets, cookies, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. However, you won't be healthy or have the tools to maintain a healthy weight.

There are eight GHG's:

1) Fruits and vegetables
2) Lean Protein
3) Non-Fat/Low-Fat dairy
4) Whole Grains
5) Liquids
6) Healthy Oils
7) Multivitamin
8) Limit sodium, sugar, and alcohol

There were two challenges:

1) To find the GHG that was the most difficult to get in and make a goal to hit it 3-4 times
2) Create a meal that knocks out 3-4 GHG's.

I realized the hardest GHG for me would be the vitamin. However, I totally forgot to get a multivitamin on my travels this week. Oops...

As for the meals, this was where I snapped and pretty much lived off of chicken and salad. I was in a week of fear, since I'm so close to goal, and a feeling of fear came over me that I would gain all my weight back. I know I won't, and I worked through that moment, but it just proved that if I stay stressed about it all the time, then I WILL lose control again. So, when I do hit goal, I will still control myself, but not to a point where I lose my mind!

I did manage to limit the sodium last week though, which is a beautiful thing. I don't drink alcohol very often anyway, and my sugar intake has decreased dramatically since I put "Treat-End" in place. I drink about 90-100 oz. of water a day, so that was easy. I only drink fat-free milk anymore, and use low-fat creamer in my morning coffee. As for the whole grain, I eat a lot of that anyway, so that was no problem as well.

Yes, on the outside, last week may have seemed like a fail, and I felt like it was at first. However, I learned that I can't go through maintenance and be a nazi about everything all the time. Otherwise, I will eventually lose control, go back to my old ways, and see 100+ pounds come back. Yes, I will still maintain a healthy diet and exercise, but I will still have a treat once in awhile.

Hope you all have a good rest of the week!