Eating Healthier

I have had a problem with high blood pressure off and on, but on December 16th it all came to a head so to speak.  I woke up that morning with a headache that just wouldn't go away, and just kept feeling worse and worse.  I was out running errands that morning so I checked my blood pressure while I was in wal-mart.  It was 178/90, so I went to the Doctor and according to theirs it was 182/90.  She told me we have to get your blood pressure down.  She checked my blood sugar and cholesterol and they were both fine.  But being putting on medicine for high blood pressure has been an eye opener for me.  I have got to lose weight.  I have to go back to the Doctor in March and at the beginning my goal was to have lost 20 pounds.  But so far I have lost 10, so I'm setting my goal to have lost 30 pounds.  I'm making small goals because if I look at the big picture it can seem overwhelming.  It's also not about the weight, it's about being healthy.  It's about being able to walk up and down stairs, or long distances again without my feet and legs hurting.  It's about being an example for my family that if I can do it so can they. 
How am I doing it?  Some will disagree with it probably but I am drinking Slim-Fast shakes for breakfast and sometimes also for dinner.  But most importantly it's about portion control and eating healthier.  I try to stay away from fried foods, and sugar.  I am learning if it's not in the house I won't eat it.  Also prayer and self-control.  There is an awesome new bakery in town, that makes these monster good cookies.  They use an ice cream scoop if you can imagine how big that makes them.   I had to go to the store beside it a couple of weeks ago,  and I wanted to go in and buy a couple of cookies but I didn't.  Then yesterday I was at Dollar General and they had a shopping cart with boxes of chocolate covered cherries my absolute favorite candy to buy around Christmas.  They were marked down to .60 a box I could have bought several and put them in the freezer.  Which by the way is my favorite way to eat them.  But I stopped looked at them and kept going. 
Not sure if I have mentioned it but my Mother-In-Law gave me a Nook Tablet for Christmas in which I love it.  Scott says I'm addicted to it.  But the only drawback even though it has wi-fi I can't blog on it.  I can read blogs and comment on them but it won't give me my keyboard to actually write a post on it.   Anyways there is a free app on it called Loseit.  I can log what I eat everyday and keep up with my calorie intact, I can also log my exercise and keep up with calories burned.  It also logs the weight I lose.  I began keeping track on a Tuesday so I weigh every Tuesday morning.  It gives you nutritional information on most of your restaurants and it can be mind boggling the calories and sodium in alot of the foods served in them.  So from here on out on Tuesdays I hope to blog about my progress.