Sinderos

I got bored tonight so I cleaned out the refrigerator and the pantry. I've also made a grocery list for healthy foods that I will purchase at the market tomorrow. I've decided to set goals for the upcoming week. (Saturday through Friday).

1) I will not drink alcohol.
2) I will eat healthy foods.
3) I will drink a lot more water and cut back on tea.
4) I will exercise at least 5 days.
5) I will daily work on my addiction issues.
6) Keep a good attitude and look for productive things to do.

ABetterWay1

Seems like a good start!

What kind of healthy foods do you enjoy?

ABW1

Sinderos

I'm going to make a home made black bean burger. Also I love broccoli, snow peas, fresh green beans. The market will have fresh seafood too. So I will have salmon, shrimp and maybe grouper. I'm going to sautée the veggies with carrots and onion. I'm actually looking forward to it. I've been eating crap for 7 months. Time to get totally on track.

Ariesagain

All good goals. One thought...are you a perfectionist? If so, maybe be careful not to set your hurdles so high that when you inevitably "fail" by eating a cookie, you don't throw the whole thing out the window along with your recovery?

My brain likes to set me up that way and then when I only run 4 miles instead of 5, I get to hear the "loser" chorus in my head, with my alcoholic voice singing lead vocals...their all-time hit song is, "You Will Always Be a Failure So You Might As Well Drink." Fortunately, the volume on that is turned down pretty far these days...

In the beginning, I gave myself a pass on everything except staying sober. Nap? Yes please. Binge watching sitcoms? Why not. Ice cream with a side of ice cream? Don't mind if I do.

Be gentle with yourself, yes?

Steely

Go, the Mediterranean diet, I say. Good plan Sinderos. Is 5 days exercise too much, aren't 3 days recommended? Only me ...

Sinderos

Arise, I actually really enjoy this type of eating. I got lazy when drinking because if I ate fast food I could not drink on an empty stomach faster.

Chips are my down fall. They will remain in my diet in moderation. Lol

Last night I went and got an ice cream Sunday. I do agree I need to pamper myself a little during the early days.

Mklove

Motivating! Thanks Sindero.

Ariesagain

Two words: kale chips.

Mattq2

Yeah I could use some healthier foods in my diet as well. One battle at a time I suppose😊

August252015

YES!!! All of this.

I am 346 days sober. I still eat sweets, every day, in addition to a healthy diet of lots of fruits and veggies and lean protein, very little fried etc (I have a color thing- I eat at least one at each meal and vary them through the day).....I would like to lose a few pounds around my tummy but those are kind of in my imagination based on my clothing size and feedback from my bf and observations of pretty much anyone and everyone that I look great. I run and I have an active job. I don't kill myself- rest is my number one priority after staying sober and learning to pace myself, and say yes and no to pretty much everything (besides a permanent no to drinking) has been an evolution.

Self-care is crucial- and balance is a good part of it! You will learn to know when your body says yes, no, stop, go etc!

Dee74

A shift to a more healthy lifestyle certainly can be part of a great plan Sinderos.
A few more sub headings under no.1 might make your plan even better tho

* what can I do if I get the urge to drink
* what support can I call on?
*how can I deal with all the things I used to drink over, in a more healthy way?
*is there anything in my lifestyle that goes against my desire to remain sober?

thins like that- specifically about drinking and/or addiction can really help make a plan bulletproof.

D

Sinderos

Dee those items are definitely a part of item number 5. Some of the questions you posed, I didn't think of. Now I will incorporate them into my recovery.

gatorman

Great list...I like it a lot.

Centered3

I am so impressed by your recovery, August. :-) I am intrigued. You eat one color from the rainbow at each meal? And you vary them throughout the day? I'm so curious what that looks like. What's a typical day for you?

My husband pays attention to colors, too, but he always says he eats too much purple and too much green. He resolved his cardiac issues and obesity by sticking to a mostly plant-based, one to animal protein Mediterrean-ish diet plus exercise and treats in moderation. He doesn't drink, and doesn't eat yogurt or cheese much but otherwise it's like a Mediterrean diet. He eats a ton of vegetables, too.

I'm happy for you that you get this. I wonder if many of us in recovery are perfectionists and that's why we do stuff all or nothing. Before I stopped drinking and my life was one big run on a hamster wheel, I could never pace myself or rest and burned myself out.

How did you learn this? lol. I am so intrigued by your journey. I've been scared to take up exercising again because I know how my addictive personality has gotten obsessive/compulsive in the past with something "healthy" like exercising, or even "healthy eating".

Centered3

That is a fantastic first step because if you don't bring it into the house in the first place, it's not there to eat! :-)

Fantastic idea! I find that if I make a list, and stick to the list, I am much more able to not to browse along the aisles and buy something impulsive. Plus it gets me out of the store quicker. I also find that if I stick to the perimeter of the store, I get the healthier items because that's where the produce, lean meat, and fresh non processed foods are located.

These are great goals!! :-) May I make a few suggestions to be helpful? First, #1 is perfect obviously. Keep that there always and it goes without saying.

Second, maybe change #2 to something like "I will choose to eat healthier foods" so it's not so stringent. My concern is you'll beat yourself up over a "failure" of eating a not so healthy food. It shouldn't be about all-or-nothing (unless you are a food or sugar addict, that's different).

Great on the water drinking! Cutting out liquid calories is a great idea. I don't know how much tea you drink, but if you're cutting back on it because of the caffeine, you could always drink tea with less caffeine, say switching from black to green, or like you wrote just drink less cups of it. I still personally like to drink 1-2 cups of green or white tea a day because I didn't like giving it up entirely.

Exercise--what kind will you be doing? Start slowly and build up to it. If you can only do 1-2 times in the first week, that's okay. The next week, try to exercise 3 times, etc. Baby steps so you don't burn out. Built it up gradually. Don't kill yourself at the gym. :-)

I like that you wrote I will work "daily" on my addiction issues.

Attitude is everything. I like that you included that about attitude. I recently heard that an alcoholic's mind tends to go right to the negative and hold onto that, and when we do recovery work, we suddenly notice we're not doing that anymore.

Looking for productive things to do- good to include on your list! My sponsor always reminded me that when I'm doing things, I am out of "self" and not in my thinking.

Great job!!