Sunday, January 3, 2010

Healthy Habits

Day 9 No Soda
Running Log:
3.92 miles - 52 min.
Avg. pace - 12:16/mile
Max pace - 10:32/mile
Arms 8 lb. 4 min.

I gave it some thought and decided on the following healthier habits for each month of 2010.

Healthier Eating by the Month
January - No Soda
February - Follow Weight Watcher points concept (keep a food journal)
March - Take a vitamin, calcium, and joint supplement each day
April - Eat one vegetable each day
May - Drink 3 bottles of water each day (or at least 48 oz.)
June - Drink a glass of milk each day
July - No candy for the month
August - Eat 2 fruits each day
September - Increase to 2 vegetables a day
October - Cook at home every night
November - Include a cooked vegetable at dinner every night
December - Increase to 3 fruits a day

All of these are completely attainable for me. The only one I see as a challenge is November. I don't like cooked vegetables, so it is hard for me to think of what vegetables to cook. Notice I didn't say "eat" cooked vegetables, I said cook them! I will have to stick to salads during this month.

Just because a healthy habit falls into a certain month doesn't mean that I can't start following it now. Chances are strong that I'll be eating 2 fruits all year long. I am also going to try hard to take my daily vitamins starting now. We just bought new bottles at Costco. But when I am in a certain month, I will really focus on that healthy habit.

The idea is that I become healthier over the long haul as opposed to fitting it all in the month of January like I normally would try to do. And as I complete each month, hopefully the habit I worked on will become just that...a habit that I continue.

Also notice that the only things I excluded (as opposed to adding into my diet) were candy for July and soda for January. You would think that I'd be super healthy at home all summer, but that season is notoriously my worst for bad eating. Instead of using the extra time while on vacation to focus on being healthier, my brain seems to think that my healthy habits are on vacation along with all the school kids. I always kick it into high gear when I go back to school in August. Something about the routine. In general, I don't believe in banning things from a diet. It just makes it that much more tempting. And in saying that, I would really love a soda, but that is my all-time weakness, so it's on the banned list.

Anyhow. It's always good to have goals. They say to write them down to make them real. So, here they are. There's my written down goals. I'm doing well on the habit for January!

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