Hello Everybody,
I hope you’ve had a good week and your preparations for the Christmas festivities are going well.
What I have learnt about changing habits
As the festivities rapidly approach it is inevitable that we will all over indulge at Christmas. Then come New Year, we’ll all be trying to cut back.
If you decide to do a January detox, here are a few things I have learnt whilst doing my 30 days without coffee challenge:-
- The first week is the hardest – I mean the hardest. It is so easy to just give in and forget about the whole idea in that first week. But you really do need to keep going, it does get easier.
- In the first week or so I found myself eating and craving other foods that I wouldn’t normally consume. I was searching for that feeling of having a treat, which is how I perceive coffee. This made me even more despondent with the whole challenge, as I could just see myself getting into bad habits that would undermine my usual positive attitudes about food. My tip – try to find an alternative healthy habit to replace the one you are trying to break.
- By week 4, whilst I still craved and missed my daily coffee, I was beginning to adjust my coffee habit into new habits. You really need to give any change at least 30 days to implement and see results.
- The biggest trick is to replace one habit with another. I really enjoy the habit of taking 5 minutes to savour and enjoy my daily coffee. I think I missed that part of the habit more than anything. Once I discovered I actually quite enjoyed a Chai Latte I could replicate that 5 minutes without needing coffee.
- Now I’ve finished by 30 day challenge, I’m not craving coffee anywhere near as much. I miss it, but don’t crave it like I did in the first week. If I had to carry on for longer now, it wouldn’t be a problem. I have settled into a new habit which doesn’t affect the rest of my lifestyle aims.
- Make yourself accountable to someone who will make you stick to your goal. The problem with family and friends is that they often want you to carry on the way you were because they probably enjoy the same things with you. Often my son would try to convince me that one coffee won’t hurt, because he wanted me to have (make) a coffee with him. Because I had committed my intention to this blog I really felt I needed to continue. I felt I couldn’t lie to you, my reader, or myself if I cheated. Find a buddy who wants to complete a challenge too so that you can help support each other.
So, let’s all try to not over indulge over Christmas, then we won’t need to make any drastic changes to our diets in the New Year. Changing habits is hard work. As I said in my post Why you should make New Year Resolutions Now, if you keep your healthy intentions in mind over Christmas, you will find it easier to make the right choices.
This week’s meal plan:-
- Chicken Caesar burgers and salad
- Pancetta and chilli liguine
- Tacos and Rice
- Chinese Chicken with lime, ginger and cashew nuts and rice
- Paprika pork stew with peppers and potatoes
- Turkey Bolognese
- Smoked salmon, leek and dill omelettes and salad
I hope you have a super week in the countdown to Christmas.
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