Note: As part of my Day Program, I contribure to the program’s newsletter. In June 2021, that Newsletter transitoned to a monthly basis as much of the elements of the program are back to a in-person status.
Mental Health is Imperative to Wellness
Over the past few years, I have discovered the importance of mental health maintenance and following necessary regimens exactly as pre-scribed. Electing to go off course can result in less desirable behavior occurring that can cause havoc on your life. In concert with taking care of your mental health is the need to align it with your personal wellness goals and maintain all dimensions of wellness including your physical, spiritual, emotional, etc.
Having everything in perfect harmony will make you feel so good about yourself and while you may have the urge to not stay on course because everything seems fine, it must be remembered that mainte-nance is imperative to making sure your mental health stays in place.
Making New Habits
It has been another month since I have written on the wellness front and it has been the target of many conversations during my time here at the Clubhouse the last few weeks. The weight loss / exercise conver-sation took place during my last medication management (psychiatrist) appointment and hearing that I need to take care of myself was some-thing that struck very deeply within me.
The first thing I tackled was my soda addiction, which grew to 4 liters in consumption daily. I sought the help of my therapist who also has early experience in addictive techniques to be used in order to curb the need for caffeine and sugar. It surely is getting better. I am presently consuming around 1.5 to 2 liters a day while combining both regular and diet soda and sometimes caffeine and sometimes not caffeine.
With that in mind, I also had to be aware of the daily calories I am con-suming so I do not exceed my calorie limit so I can start to lose weight routinely, which in my state of health, is an ultimate necessity. The weight has started to decline in the past month as a result of my being calorie conscious of what I am eating and drinking.
When choosing foods to eat and drink, it was imperative to me that I expand my food palate to make it more inclusive of healthier foods and always have a plan of what I am doing, which also helps in tracking nutrients (and saving calories too!)
In recent weeks, for the first time since living on my own, I have begun purchasing natural products from the exterior of the grocery store, (the area surrounding the aisles.) This has provided me with a bounti-ful diet that has proven well at scale and in the end isn’t really as bad as I thought .
Personally, I don’t know what or where I want to end up on the weight loss journey. The overall goal is to improve overall health. It isn’t about the number on the scale, it’s about making those small changes and making small improvements as time moves on.
Dustin's Dynasty 