Meditation

I’ll write in more detail about my experience with meditation in a later post, but for now, I have to say that I’m loving it. I use the Headspace app every day, and it gives me just a little time out from the hustle and bustle and the stress of daily life. I can’t say enough good things about Headspace.

February goal: to continue meditating daily. Some days it’s easier to sit down to meditate than others, but I find once I settle into the practice, I’m glad I made the time to do it. This is a daily habit that I have found to be worth cultivating, and I’ll be working on it through February as well.

Healthy Eating

In January I made meal prep an important part of my weekend routine. I brought healthful homemade meals to work with me almost every day of the month. In addition, I took the time to have a healthy breakfast each morning, packed lots of snacks, and had dinner ready to enjoy when I came home from work. This was a huge improvement from 2017, when I often found myself sleeping late, grabbing a quick bowl of cereal or a fast-food breakfast sandwich, and eating out far more often than I should!

February goal: These new habits feel way better (in addition to saving me money), so I’ll be continuing them into February. This month I’m going to focus on adding more variety to my diet; I tend to stick with the same old easy recipes and have started to get a bit bored. I’m going to be reaching out to friends on Facebook to look for healthy (and delicious!) recipe recommendations.

Working Out

In January, I didn’t worry too much about the quality of workout I was doing, just that I got my body moving every day. This month, I’d like to practice Pound three days a week in preparation for our big community Pound fundraiser at the end of February (more about this in a later post!). I’m also going to attend a group strength-training class once a week, and when possible, get out for a walk and/or run (that has been difficult due to our awful January weather!). I’ll continue my Friday beginner ballet class, and hopefully will be able to do a ballet barre workout on Youtube or with a DVD once a week to get an extra practice in there.

I’m finding that monthly goal-setting is really helpful in keeping my motivation up. Hope you’re crushing your 2018 resolutions too!

Annette

A week ago today, I decided to try the I Quit Sugar 7-Day Reboot in order to kick-start a healthier way of eating. The program provides you with a grocery shopping list, a week’s worth of recipes, daily motivational emails and articles, and a post-program toolkit to help you keep walking the walk. There was a lot to like about this program, but there were also some downsides that would stop me from giving the 8-week version of the program a try. Here are my thoughts:

What I liked

The recipes provided in the program were pretty simple. Some were better than others – I wasn’t wowed by anything, but they were relatively straightforward to prepare. My favourite thing about this program was that it didn’t focus on cutting anything out of your diet – instead, the focus was on filling your body with healthy foods. I wasn’t hungry at all while I was following the meal plans, and I felt healthy and nourished in a way that you don’t feel when you’re filling up on less healthy fare.

What didn’t work for me

I found that the program did not provide flexibility for real-life situations. The first meal in the plan is Sunday dinner, and by Monday evening, I had been invited out for three out of four meals in that time (no one invited me over for breakfast!). There were no alternative meals provided if you didn’t happen to like something in the plan (go away salmon, you’re gross). I also found the Sunday cooking very cumbersome and labour-intensive, a real turnoff for someone a little less savvy in the kitchen (like me!). If you have a dishwasher and a food processor, this process would be infinitely easier for you. The plan also assumes that you’re home in time to prepare your evening meals. If you’re like me and your work keeps you well past 5pm, that can get a little unrealistic.

Conclusion

I learned a lot from this program that I’m going to keep in mind moving forward. Cutting junk food out of my diet felt absolutely amazing, and I was astonished that I didn’t really find myself missing it. I loved how healthy I felt just from adding more vegetables and cutting out processed foods. I also realized that I don’t really need grains or breads to feel full – veggies can do the job!

Overall, the program has inspired me to keep eating well. For me, simple, veggie-filled meals that I can freeze and eat throughout the week for lunches and dinners are key to staying on track. I will keep the healthy-eating principles of the plan in mind while I make sure that my diet is flexible enough to work for me and my lifestyle.

To speed along my progress in this area, I’ve decided to give the I Quit Sugar 7-Day Reboot a try. I stumbled across the eight-week program and thought that it looked intriguing, but decided I would give it a test-run for a week first to see if I liked it. When you sign up for a session, you get a week’s worth of recipes, including a grocery shopping list and a detailed breakdown of exactly what meals you’re eating each day of the week. I’ve already received the meal plan and recipes, and they look easy, delicious, and totally doable. The program starts with Sunday night dinner, so I’ll be doing some meal prep tomorrow and then diving right in. I’m really looking forward to giving this a try!

All in all, I’m very pleased with my meal prep this week, and have some great, healthy meals to look forward to!

Skinnytaste

• Skinny Baked Macaroni and Cheese
• Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken Olive Tagine

Oh She Glows

• 8 Minute Pantry Dal

Almond milk or another non-dairy milk, hemp hearts, six or seven cranberries, a cup of mixed berries, and a little organic fair-trade cocoa powder – because in my opinion, every smoothie needs chocolate! I usually add a handful of greens as well.

Sometimes I add walnuts, chia, or flax if I want a protein (and calorie) boost – I find that I can’t go wrong with this recipe.

Do you have a smoothie recipe that you love? Let me know in the comments!