Getting Healthier in 2011 – August Health Goal Wrap Up

These kids inspire me.

For a really lousy month, August sure did fly by fast.  I was in horrible pain for most of the month, and tired, and then we all got the stomach flu.

Miraculously, though, I managed to stick with my August Health Goals pretty well.

Health Goals for August 2011

• Continue taking supplements daily – once daily Quercetin, Chaste Tree Berries and Multi-Vitamin, 1-3 packs of Emergen-C Vitamin C supplement. I managed to take my supplements on a daily basis until getting the stomach flu at the very end of the month. Not much point swallowing any pill that’s just going to come right back up, so no supplements for a few days because of that.
• Continue physical therapy twice/week. – CHECK
  
• Continue drinking plenty of water. Stay Hydrated! – CHECK
  
• Keep sugar intake down. Try to reduce it some more (those damn Starbucks mocha frappuccinos are hard to resist!) – YES! I totally managed to do this.  I reduced my mocha frappuccinos to only 1-2 days per week, and I brewed it at home with low sugar the rest of the week.  I also stopped eating sugary treats almost completely.  ROCK ON!
• Take Flax Seed Oil 1-3 times daily for mood. – I managed to take it once/day until I got the stomach flu. Just like with the other supplements, I didn’t take it because I was too sick to keep anything down.  Other than that, I took it basically every night almost without fail.
  
• Remove processed flour from diet. Continue eating only whole grain / whole wheat / gluten free food items. For the most part, I did this with the occasional cheat.  I had fast food maybe once a week at most (some weeks, I didn’t have any), and we had some easy meals at home from time to time.  However, each time I ate anything that was processed, I got acid reflux, which I haven’t had a problem with for a very long time.  So I’m keeping track of this.  Overall, I successfully reduced (but didn’t eliminate) processed flours from my diet.
• Prepare our food allergic son for school – food allergy emergency plan, doctor’s appointment, emergency prescriptions, discussions with new teacher and school nurse, lunch room safety, discussions about food sharing with our child, vaccinations. – CHECK
• Exercise – Try to take walks, focus on physical therapy for my back (my back has gotten worse again), and strengthen my core with simple home exercises.  I can’t overdo it, or I might hurt my back and end up laid out again.  That would suck. – So, I was laid up again for awhile in pretty bad pain and, of course, went and twisted my ankle too, so I didn’t get a lot of exercise done at all this month.
• Get More Sleep!!! – Seriously! 7-9 hours per night, without fail.  Don’t screw this up. You know better!! *face palm* – I don’t even know how to respond to this except to slap myself for being stupid!  Can I blame “Sons of Anarchy” streaming on Netflix on the fact that I didn’t get to bed until 11 or 12 too many nights in August?  Dangit!

August Health Goal Results

Overall, I guess I did better than I realized.  I actually met or almost met most of my goals, which is really good considering I had a really rough month.  My back was killing me at the start of the month, and then I twisted my ankle coming down the stairs, and then, just as I was feeling better, we all caught the stomach flu right before school started back up.  All these things considered, I still managed to maintain my diet (until the stomach flu came, of course), and did what I set out to do to the best of my ability.  Wow!  I guess I should give myself a little more credit.

Maybe August wasn’t so bad after all.

Coming soon – September Health Goals!

Question:  How did you do with your health goals for August?

Related articles

• Food Diary – August 29, 2011 (zumbawithjennyk.wordpress.com)
• A Reader’s Get Fit 2011 Goals (fitsugar.com)
• Getting Healthier in 2011 – August Health Goals (alwayssick.com)