I went to buy some new jeans this last weekend and made a rather pleasant discovery.  Hell, I’m feeling positively giddy about it.  I dropped a whole pants size!  I’m down to a 34 inch waist!  It’s a place I haven’t been… holy crap… for at least 12 years!  Amazingly, I haven’t re-started regular workouts in the gym yet.  I’ve only made some minor changes in my diet; and, I think I’m getting a little more sleep each night than I used to.

So, what were these little changes to my diet?

I love fresh-made bread, especially crusty Italian breads, French baguettes, fresh bagels, croissants, etc.  But I knew I needed to get rid of stuff made with refined white flour and switch to whole grains.  Fortunately, the grocers I frequent make some very tasty whole grain breads that I now enjoy as morning toast.  I found a really good whole grain pita bread for sandwiches too.  For dinner, I decided to give up breads altogether.  I really think the bread change was the biggest thing that lead to my waistline reduction.  Wait, there might be another… fruit cups.  I used to eat a fruit cup – pears, peaches, or grapefruit – almost every day as an afternoon pickmeup.  But I stopped doing so to avoid the sugar spike.  Instead, I’ve been eating a handful of almonds or a Kind fruit-and-nut bar. Anything else?…hmmm… I’ve reduced my cheese intake…and I’m eating celery almost every day.  Oh, and I still take a little cinnamon in my morning coffee.  Pretty good progress for 2 months, I’d say.  I bet those evil triglycerides have dropped quite a bit.  Targeting a 32 inch waist as I kick off my exercise plan doesn’t seem like such a far fetched idea anymore.

With a new year nearly upon us, the subject of resolutions comes to mind.  For me, I have but one.  I aim to improve my health.

What brought this on?  Well, in early November, I had a biometric screening done as part of my employer’s new procedure for health benefits enrollment and I discovered that my triglycerides and blood sugar levels were quite high indicating that I may be on a path to type II diabetes.  Needless to say this alarmed the hell out of me.  While I had slacked on regular exercise since the long hot summer, I hadn’t gained any weight and I looked and felt fine.  I really thought the blood test results must’ve been bullshit.  But I did some reading on type II diabetes anyway and I began to realize that my occasional symptom of slightly blurred vision might be related.  So, long story short, I’ve made some changes to my diet, mostly cutting out sugary stuff as much as possible as well as cutting back on pasta and cheese, sadly two of my favorite foods.  To hell if I’m cutting them out completely though.

One easy thing I did was eliminate sugar from my morning coffee.  Took me a couple weeks to get used to drinking it black.  Then I read about how cinnamon actually helps reduce triglycerides and blood sugar, so I’m drinking my coffee with cinnamon now and sprinkling it on my salad sometimes too.  Here’s a nifty chart I came across that provides a quick visual of scientific evidence supporting the benefit of various dietary supplements, including cinnamon:  Supplements Visualization