Still me, only better

I've decided that I want to be as healthy as I can before my surgery to help with the healing process. I hear that strong, healthy people heal faster and with less difficulties.

I want to pump me up
Exercising prior to surgery speeds post-op recovery, so says World Health.

With my new plan to be as healthy as possible, my goal is to work out five times a week. I never skip working out to just sit around and watch TV. If I miss, it's because I have something important to do that can't be moved around work out times.

I feel the most important exercise I do is yoga. I feel so strong and in-touch with myself after yoga class. It even gets my heart pumping and breathing heavy because we move so quickly through the poses and breath in and out through our noses only to keep heat inside the body. It can also really be customized to fit what you want to get out of it.

Get in my belly
Food. I love it. But unfortunately, I kind of eat junk. Or at least I used to and am getting better all the time. I cannot eat junk food more than once a week and even that gives me major guilt trips. I'm not buying crap anymore from the grocery store and am getting as much organic as I can. I make sure to have a vegetable with every meal and drink one small glass of juice (but not the super sugary bad kind) once a day. I'm staying away from my former theory of dessert with every meal, bu I am by no mean depriving myself. When I go out to eat, I eat whatever I damn well please. I'm just a little smarter about it.

I'm also imbibing vitamins. I'm taking a women's multivitamin and also BioSil (which I mix with that one glass of juice) for strong bones and joints (it helps my hair and nails grow, too!). All good things, easy to do.

Saying "good-bye" to an era
Probably the best thing I can do for my life is give up smoking. Yes, I was still smoking for you family members who maybe shocked at this. I wasn't a regular smoker, but I was a chain smoker once I started drinking. I seem to drink once a week or sometimes every other week, so I was smoking more than I should.

We all know why smoking bad. But it is especially bad if you're about to have surgery. It deprives your body of oxygen and causes inadequate blood supply to your heart, which is already stressed out because of the surgery. One Web site states:

This is not just theory. There have been multiple studies confirming that smoking increases the incidence of pulmonary complications after an anesthetic as much as six times. Smoking has been shown to be an independent risk factor for complications ranging from complications of lung function to wound healing to cardiovascular events such as heart attack.

So I decided to stop after my birthday party. Since then, I've had one cig. It tasted gross. That was four weeks ago. Of course, I still want to smoke, but I don't. My lollipop intake has signifantly gone up, though. (I have a sucker everytime I decide I need a cigarette. I'll probably end up with my first cavity, but hey-- you need lungs more than teeth in surgery, right?)

In summary, I haven't gone gung-ho about any of it, but I think I've taken a step in the right direction. Hopefully, because of these changes, my surgery will be easy as pie and the recovery will be that much better. That's a good thing.