Saturday, January 2, 2010

A new year …


Happy New year everyone!

I know I have been missing in action since the end of our 100-mile challenge, but time, circumstances and health (nasty carpal tunnel) kept me away from you all.

But I’m back and will try to stay focused and in touch as much as I can. With a new year come new inspirations and resolutions. Keeping this blog current and interesting is one of mine.

WHAT ARE YOUR RESOLUTIONS FOR THIS NEW YEAR?

My husband and I decided to sit down and really think these through this year. We wanted to start out the year with resolutions we knew we had a chance of keeping. There is nothing more frustrating than establishing goals knowing that there is a 50/50 chance you won’t be able to achieve them. So, we decided to be generous with ourselves and set them large enough that they would be forgiving, but tight enough that they felt rewarding. So, aside from the continuing efforts to become as green and eco-friendly as possible, here are the 4 resolutions we decided to work on this year:

  • Be more active everyday! I know, not very inspiring, but we decided this year that instead of saying things like “We’ll go to the gym 3 times a week” or “We’ll start running every morning”, we were going to be honest with ourselves and set goals that are more fit to our habits. So, we promised ourselves that we would participate in a form of activity or another everyday : Whether it be a 20 minute walk, a trip to the public pool or simply taking 30 minutes to stretch and do sit ups at the house, we were going to do a little something everyday!

  • Only drink coffee on the week-ends! That, to us, will most likely be the hardest one. We want to switch to tea and herbal teas for health reasons of course, but also to improve our sleeping patterns. My husband and I both suffer from restless sleep and we have noticed that on those mornings we don’t drink coffee, we sleep better that night. I know some people are more sensitive to stimulants and we may be some of them. Plus tea has so many health benefits such as :
Anti-cancer properties
Immune system boosting properties
Cardiovascular health properties
Reducing risk of strokes
Increasing metabolic rate and helping with burning fat
Antidepressant properties

And those are just a few that I found. So, although we love coffee, and we wouldn’t want to never drink it, we decided to keep it as a week-end treat.

  • Try a minimum of one new recipe a week! One of the daily places where you can get stuck into a routine easily is food. Before you know it, you are eating the same 10-20 foods over and over and that just becomes very boring. So we have made it a point to start looking through cook books (when it’s time to grocery shop) and picking a recipe every week for which we will by all the ingredients for and cook! I look forward to sharing new recipes with you!
  • Figure out what our absolute target weight is and try to stick to it! That will require finding out from reliable sources what that target weight is, what my body mass index and fat ratio are and working on getting myself fitter and healthier. It also will mean buying a scale! (Which I’ve never owned LOL!)
So there you go!

I would love to hear from you and know what your personal goals are for this year so please share!

7 comments:

Sinclair said...

those sound very reasonable and possible. As far as "target weight" is concerned, I have a theory about food and weight. I have come to believe that if you cut out ALL processed foods and snacks, eat only foods that are from nature and with ingredients you can pronounce, cut out all fast food completely, and only eat restaurant food once weekly or so, your body will take itself to its natural weight.

I have always been on the smaller side, but I have had times of relatively higher weight. Since we gave up ALL high fructose corn syrup, soda, fast food and processed foods a few years ago, we lost some weight and now seem to hover always about the same spot.

It was hard - many food additives are addictive and we don't even realize it - but we managed. Now we occasionally eat processed packaged crackers or chips or dip, but very seldom. Since you are on the green path and the 100 mile diet, maybe you already do all of this and my theory is not correct?

Yanic said...

Sinclair : I, like you, have always been smaller than bigger. For me, it's problem areas. (Thighs, butt, hips) They have started to shift and change in the last few years and I think most of my wieght gain has come from not managing well those changes.

I think your theory is completely true. We had seen a massive difference when we were doing the 100-mile Diet 100%, but now that we have been doing it only partially, we have fallen back into bad habits when time is streched and we have a lot going on. My goal is to try and be as healthy as possible. I think, like you, that the first step is healthier eating.

Thanks for stopping by!

Aviad said...

What we eat is what we are :-) If you eat carrot you become orange :-), as a metaphor...
One of my new year resolutions is to make our organic garden abundant enough to feed me and my wife, so we buy less in the supermarket, save money and of course know exactly what's in our food.

Rosaria Williams said...

I like the idea of a new recipe a week, to keep us expanding our interests as well as our nutrients. Great ideas here.

Mindful Merchant said...

Happy New Year! Glad you are back writing again...I look forward to reading new posts. Laura

Unknown said...

Happy New Year, Yanic!

Your goals sound practical and doable. I especially like the obvious thought that went into them ... they aren't just the usual "off the cuff" type resolutions that people usually make. I believe that, in itself, will ensure your success in achieving them!

I stopped making resolutions some time ago ... for some reason (probably a contrary brain) the pressure of having a goal seems to ensure that I'll go in the opposite direction. So, instead, I decided to become aware ... to actually be aware of each moment ... how it feels ... what it tastes like ... what my thoughts are ... to live in the moment. My belief is that doing so, which is so much harder said than done, will allow me to make good decisions ... and that, in turn, will help me to live a good life. It's not just my goal at the beginning of the year ... but for every moment of my life!

Best wishes for 2010 ... I hope all your dreams come true!

Small Footprints
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com

Judy said...

i guess i'm a little confused as to what the challenge was. was it to see if you could eat ONLY locally grown, organic foods? if so, i definitely have to give you props. i would have lasted maybe a day (i'm a sucker for sugar and sweets). but it sounds like you and your husband know your stuff.