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Kicking Bad Habits to the Curb: My Caffeine Addiction

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Everyone has some habit or another that is considered unhealthy. A habit that the person tries hard to break only to find themselves returning to it once again. For me, this habit is not coffee, but soda.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a big soda drinker. Growing up, I consumed soda without a thought to how it can affect my health. Yes, soda isn’t the only thing I drink, but it’s the beverage I consume the most above all others. Whenever I find my throat feeling dry or my head throbbing in pain, I go to Dr. Pepper for help. It’s the one constant thing in life that makes me feel better after a long and busy day.

It wasn’t until I talked to a friend of mine that I thought I might have a soda problem. I drink soda without a second thought whenever I find myself wanting it, not keeping track of how much I consume a day. I try cutting back on my soda intake, only to drink Dr. Pepper once again just because I have the taste for it.

But I want to stop drinking soda. Or at least, stop relying on it the way I do. I enjoy the taste of it, but I really need to cut back.

I don’t want to rely on it anymore. Not because I don’t enjoy it anymore but because I don’t want soda  affecting my physical and mental health in any way. As someone with high cholesterol, I don’t want to drink as much soda because I don’t want to put myself at risk for heart disease. I know soda isn’t the only contributing factor for heart disease, but by cutting back on my soda intake, I hope to better even my chances. Here are some ways I believe I can stop myself from drinking too much soda:

  1. Limiting/keeping track of my soda intake: Instead of quitting drinking soda cold turkey, I can start off by keeping track of the amount of soda I drink each day. I can do this by limiting my soda intake. By having a set number of soda to drink each day, it’ll be a little bit easier for me to stop drinking soda completely if I decide to go that route. For this reason, my goal is to try and drink one can, bottle, etc. a day. I think by allowing myself this amount, I’ll still be able to have some soda if I need it, but it will also prevent me from drinking soda just because I want it. This will allow me to better monitor how much soda I consume each day and do my best to control the amount I have.
  2. Replacing soda with other beverages: In order to better control my cravings, I’ll start drinking something else whenever I find myself wanting soda. In most cases, this’ll be either water or milk. Water is a good substitution for me because it can help me manage my weight and keep me hydrated throughout the day. While a high intake of milk can increase the chance of prostate cancer and ovarian cancer, milk is a good source of calcium and is better for me to drink than soda. I can replace soda with milk and water by drinking either beverage whenever I feel tempted to have soda to drink. By replacing soda with these beverages, I believe I’ll be better able to limit my soda intake and be on the right path to consuming less soda.
  3. Not buying soda: Whenever I go out to eat or to the store, I typically end up spending money on soda. I think not buying soda for myself at home or whenever I go out will help decrease my soda intake in the long run. I also think this will be a benefit for my wallet because the cost of soda is much higher than water. Not having soda at home will also make it easier for me to avoid the temptation of drinking it. And not having soda when I go out will save me money I could spend on something else.

I hope that by keeping track of my soda intake, replacing soda with milk and water and not buying soda, I’ll be on the right path to reducing the amount of soda I drink each day. I know this path won’t be easy and that I’ll find myself straying from it from time to time, but I know I can do it. I know it’ll be challenging but by doing this, I hope I’ll be able to reduce my calorie intake and decrease my chances of heart disease. I know the amount of soda I drink isn’t healthy and want to do the best I can to reduce the amount I consume. And I believe these steps will lead me on the path to success.

 

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There’s Just Something About Walking

Walking Feet

Image can be found on The Glow.

There’s just something about walking that makes me feel good about myself. Every time I go for a walk, I feel pumped, ready to explore the world around me. I tell myself “this is fun, you need to keep this habit.” But I never do.

But I need to. Whenever I was in school at Columbia College, I took a blogging class the one semester. In the class, my professor asked us to blog about a topic that we were passionate about. At the time, I had discovered months before that I had really high cholesterol. I believed that there was something I needed to do about it. And that was how my old blog Healthy Body, Peace of Mind was born.

In Healthy Body, Peace of Mind, I talked about eating healthier so I could live a healthy lifestyle. And while I was blogging about heart health, I managed to do just that. I kept up with the food I was eating and spent time going to the gym at school. And I enjoyed it too.

But it didn’t last long. As soon as I was done with the blogging class, I tried to keep up with being healthier. I really did. But then, I fell into old habits again. I would go one day without going to the gym, which then turned into another until I just stopped going. And once going to the gym fell out, I started terrible old eating habits again. Things such as snacking whenever I didn’t feel like I’d eaten enough at the dining hall or drinking two or three cans of my favorite soda consecutively.

But as I went for a walk this morning, enjoying the cool breeze, a wonderful thought crossed my mind.

I need to kick these bad habits, get healthier again. Get back into the habit of eating healthier again. Because as long as I continue down the road I’ve been on, my high cholesterol isn’t going to go away.

The only way it’ll change is if I make it. So starting today, I plan on doing just that.

First by getting rid of all of my bad food habits. Need to stop snacking on unhealthy food whenever I feel hungry. I can do this by eating something healthier, such as apple sauce or drinking water. Drinking water can keep the feeling of hunger at bay because it keeps hydration levels optimal and can ward off deceiving hunger pains that are really signs of thirst, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Healthy Eating page.

Then, I need to keep track of what I’m eating. I can do this through keeping a food diary or using food apps on my phone where I can record what I’m eating throughout each day. I already have a Fitbit so I can use the Fitbit app on my phone to keep track of what all I’m eating throughout the day while keeping track of the amount of steps I walk each day. Keeping track of what I eat will ensure I stay on track and make sure I don’t indulge in any of my bad eating habits.

And lastly, I need to indulge in good eating and exercise habits and stick with them. I need to make sure I can keep up with doing a little bit of exercise each day, such as walking. Walking can lower your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as much as running, according to the American Heart Association. But also eat healthy food, such as fish so I don’t increase my chances of getting heart disease.

I say all of this now, knowing there’s a possibility of this happening all over again. But that doesn’t mean I can’t at least try the best I can to kick my bad habits to the curb and try again each time it does. As long as I don’t give up, that’s what really matters.

 

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First Impressions: That Dragon, Cancer

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That Dragon, Cancer is a storytelling, narrative video game that retells the story of Joel Green’s 4 year fight against cancer. Released on Joel’s birthday January 12, 2016, That Dragon, Cancer is two hours of poetic narrative that explores faith, hope and love.

That Dragon, Cancer was developed by Joel’s father and mother Ryan and Amy Green along with Josh Larson and Numinous Games.

Inspired after watching Jacksepticeye play the game, I decided to give it a go. And what a powerful gaming experience.

From the beginning, I was emotionally invested in That Dragon, Cancer. Playing the game through headphones, I felt as if I was going on a magical journey through life.

I was interested in the game because of the characters who brought to life the reality of what facing cancer as a parent is like. They made the game real to those of us who haven’t had to deal with cancer in their lives. I felt as if I were living their lives, feeling all of their emotions as they dealt with cancer hurting their son. Amy was strong, holding on to her faith in God that Joel would be alright while Ryan was scared, not wanting to lose his son and feeling as if he was drowning. These feelings are showcased through Amy’s letters in the water and seeing Ryan drowning when Amy is trying to pull him on their boat.

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In That Dragon, Cancer, this imagery is paramount throughout the game. The player not only experiences Amy and Ryan’s thoughts and feelings throughout the game as their son battles cancer, but also experiences a lot of dream-like imagery and metaphors. The title of the game itself showcases this as you get dived into an arcade game where you play as Joel, a warrior who battles monsters and eventually faces his greatest foe, a dragon who is called cancer.

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In this part of the game, you play as Joel and Amy is telling you a bedtime story about a warrior who has a hard battle with a dragon to face. As you play this arcade game, Joel’s brother asks questions about the warrior the further you progress until you battle the dragon. The game itself is an interesting experience that also helps you understand the title of the game and puts meaning behind it to symbolize that Joel is in a battle against a dragon for his life.

Besides the imagery and characters, I also enjoyed playing That Dragon, Cancer because of the storytelling. I love how Amy and Ryan tell Joel’s story of battling cancer in an imaginative way. It allows the player the experience of seeing cancer in a new light, bringing understanding to a subject people avoid discussing.

I also enjoyed the story in That Dragon, Cancer because it is real. Joel Green is a real child who went through cancer and lost his battle. And experiencing that battle in a video game really brings to light how cancer can impact a family.

The only drawback I experienced playing That Dragon, Cancer is lagging. Whenever I was playing the game, there were a lot of moments where the game would shutter and repeat words a character said. This made moments whenever dialogue was really heavy and emotions were high difficult to immerse myself into the game because I had to keep pausing the game to stop the lagging. This made enjoying the emotional impact That Dragon, Cancer had difficult because I felt I couldn’t connect to the game as much because of the issues I was having.

However, That Dragon, Cancer is still an amazingly powerful emotional rollercoaster I enjoyed getting to experience. It not only made me emotional but also brought awareness to cancer in a fashion I hope we can use for other health illnesses.

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