Small changes for better health

I do not believe in any kind of diet other than "everything in moderation".  Part of the reason is that I am a lazy person with no self control who loves all kind of food.  I do not want to count calories, or restrict myself from eating a chocolate cake if I want to.  So far this way of eating has worked out fine in my opinion. 
But as I get older things are not the same as they used to be and after last year's check up with my doctor I decided that I need to make some adjustments in my diet. 

My doctor suggested that I should eat less white rice.  Hello, I just love rice.  It is my idea of comfort food.  Think about all the yummy things that include rice. Anyway, after months of consideration I decided to make three changes in my diet.

First, I switched my white rice to brown rice and barley.  After I switched off, though, I found out that sushi with brown rice is not sticky enough, and it seems plainly wrong to use brown rice, so I went and bought a small bag of white rice just for that.  I found out that since I prefer white rice over brown rice I eat less rice altogether.

Second, I stopped drinking soft drinks.  I mean, I was never a person who carried around 34oz of soft drinks with me or anything, but I thought this was an easy way to cut sugar in my diet.  It has been a month and it is not really a big temptation for me.

Third, I decided to not eat after 7:00 pm.  I wanted to go for 5:00 pm, but since I am home alone at 5:00 and to save the family dinner time I settled for 7:00 pm.  After all, eating dinner together is more than just refueling our body.  Since my announcement, my family has been a great support to me.  There was a day that I wanted to eat a chocolate after 7:00, and both of my girls said, "No mom, you can't. It is after 7:00!"

I also decided I want to walk more.  My goal is 3 miles minimum, but preferable 5 miles per day.  I joined a walk 1000 miles group again and that definitely helps.  I also post a picture on FB from my walk everyday. I know it is silly, but it is my own reporting system. 

I didn't plan on this change but at the beginning of the year I joined an exercise group.  We meet three times a week for 45 minutes.  We do three different types of exercise: cardio, weights and stretching/yoga.  Oh my goodness, it has been three weeks and I love it.  I still get sore muscles from it, but I can do more than half push ups now. Half push ups is going down, but not coming back up. Our group leader is awesome. I am one of the older ones in this group, and she always has modified versions for us older people. I noticed after joining this group that I sleep better at night, not waking up in the middle of the night as much as I used to.  I never was a morning person, but since we meet at 6:00 am I am rediscovering the morning.  I cook breakfast for Mike on the day of my work out and I am pretty sure he is happy about that.

I think about old age more often now.  If I want to enjoy my life to the end I better take care of my body better and I hope some of these small changes that I am making will help.