January: resolve

I mentioned in a previous post that I love the beginning of a new year.  I think new year's resolutions get a bad rap...maybe if you set completely unrealistic goals, expect perfection, and then beat yourself up if you don't reach 100%, it would be discouraging.  But for the past few years I've set small goals in several areas of my life each month.  Sometimes I've attained them, and sometimes I just have to keep working on them.  I love reevaluating at the start of each new year and see which goals I'm meeting, which just aren't going to happen at this phase of my life, and which I want to add.

Jodi over at mcp actions is hosting a Project 12 - a theme a month.  January's theme is "resolve."  What are my goals for this year?  Well, every year I aim to be a little healthier.  I'm not planning on hitting the gym this month - I love my Pilates class and am just going to stick with that - but I decided I needed a quick kick in the rear when it comes to my eating habits.  I've tried gradually improving my eating (I've come a long way from high school, where I lived off coke and Reese's peanut butter cups for lunch every day. I kid you not) - less sugar, more water, more vegetables - but it never lasts long.  Kim introduced me to the whole 30, which is more drastic than anything I've ever done, but my husband and I decided it would be a good opportunity to turn our eating around.

So no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no legumes (I think that basically sums up what I usually eat) and no alcohol.  For 30 days.  Plenty of lean meats, veggies, some fruit and good fats like avocados and almonds.  How hard can it be, right?  You can do anything for 30 days....well, the first couple of weeks were hard.  I know you aren't supposed to say that, but they were.  I think I'm a full on sugar addict.  I had a cry for help on facebook, melted down with my husband, and now I'm able to write about it because I'm nearly done.  How's that for a dietary wimp? ;)

I have to say that I've learned a lot, and there are things I'll keep and things I won't.  Eating more veggies and drinking more water have become much more of a habit when you don't really have many alternatives.  We've been working on cleaner foods for a while (no high fructose corn syrup for the past year or so), but now that I'm reading labels more, I'm amazed how much extra stuff is in our food besides, well...food!  Too much of my eating was done out of convenience or habit and although the sheer amount of cooking when you can't just pour cereal in the morning, not to mention the dishes, was daunting, now I'm more in the habit of cooking regularly.  I don't plan on living without carbs (I didn't have enough energy to do Pilates with no carbs, or not enough calories, or whatever it was), but I'll make them more whole grains - I had gotten into the habit of refined flour and pastas.  I'm not getting rid of sugar altogether, but again, less white refined sugars and more raw sugars or honey.

I've also been convicted of how much my eating influences my kids.  When they ask for snacks now, they ask for bananas or carrots instead of crackers.  Wow.  And I wasn't a huge fast food eater, but we haven't eaten any in the past month, and I don't miss it at all!  I've also become more selective about what's worth it to indulge...I've decided that I miss coffee and I'm not going to give it up, although 2% milk in my coffee with a little raw sugar now tastes as sweet as when I used to drink it with half&half and 3 spoons of sugar (I know, right?!).  I made a cake from a box this month for a friend's birthday, and a few months ago I would have eaten it just because it was there, but it honestly didn't even look that good.  I think I'm more able to splurge when it's worth it (a tirimasu, for example), but not eat anything I want just because it's there.

So here's to more water, veggies, and less refined sugars and processed foods, the hard way, but what for me seems to have been the only way.  What goals do you have for the year?  And how are you doing with them?

Ellen :)