On a board where I post, the question was asked, "How do YOU stay healthy?"  This was my response.

Well, nothing I have ever done before has really worked for long when I was trying to lose weight. Now I am not trying to lose weight, just be healthier. We've decided to make just a few small changes for now until we get used to them. Maybe next month we'll add something else to make us healthier. Losing weight would be a nice side effect, but we've decided to focus on just being healthier since that benefits everyone in the family.

Here is what we are doing. We just started this about a week ago, but it is going well and I have lost a few pounds this week without really trying.

1. Having daily devotionals & prayers for ourselves individually, as a couple and as a family. I can't believe I didn't make this number one when I started writing this long reply, but had to come back up & add it. We all know this should be a priority for our health & well-being.

2. Planning meals means less eating out & less fast food and more cooking healthier meals. It also means I often have leftovers to take to work for lunch instead of having to buy something. Since I can't leave our building for lunch, I was usually buying a plate of fried chicken, macaroni & cheese and potato wedges. So hopefully this is saving us money also.

3. Aiming to eat at least five fruits and/or vegetables every day. We try for 1 at breakfast, 2 at lunch and 2 with supper. If we only get one with lunch, we try to have one for a snack.

4. Getting up every morning & walking, even if I have to work that day. We only walk for about 20 minutes but it is much better than nothing. I started out just saying I would walk on my days off, but going ahead & scheduling it for every day (into our daily routine) is working much better. I have more energy during the day, and if I do miss a day for some reason, I don't feel bad about it but just make sure I don't miss more than 1 day in a row. We are trying morning walks now, as it is usually still hot in the evening, plus the bugs are more prevalent in the evening. And when we would try to work in a walk at night, it just wasn't getting done. We have too many evening thunderstorms here and other excuses that come up to keep us from walking.

5. Get everyone to bed by their specific bedtime. Our (parents) bedtime allows us to get at least 7 hours of sleep at night as long as we make ourselves go to bed on time. When I don't get home from work until 7:30 (on the days I work) it is hard to go to bed any earlier, so our bedtime is 11 p.m. I am also a night owl, so this is actually earlier than we had been going to bed. Now that it is starting to get dark earlier again, it is easier to enforce the kids' bedtimes than it was this summer, which helps us all get more rest, and I do believe sleep is extremely important to good health.

6. We all drink water most of the time. I try to drink at least 8 cups of water daily and I have a large insulated cup with a lid that holds about 4 cups worth, so I try to drink at least 2 of those daily. I keep water & ice in it all day long.

7. Having a daily schedule helps us be healthier too. We have a schedule for our school days and the morning & evening routines especially help us stick with the walking. And I just wanted to reiterate how much better that morning walk makes us all feel (or me at least). I think a successful evening routine helps me to get a much better start to my day the next morning. I also try to get on the computer less in the morning, though this morning we decided to allow everyone to sleep until 6:30 instead of 6:00 since I don't have to work. Since I woke up before everyone else anyway, I decided to get online now so I'm not taking time away from my family later on. And I think when we have a set routine we try to follow (including getting dressed all the way to putting shoes on, for me anyway) we are all more productive, and we are also more likely to make sure we allow time for our daily devotionals and prayers. Ack, I really should have made our daily devotionals & prayers number one on the staying healthy list. I'm going to go back up & add it now. Okay, I am back now. Anyway, we are also all more likely to sit down to most meals together.

Sorry this got so long. I think I am inspired to post this to my blog. Thanks for asking this & causing me to think!