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Day 1 - 7th december 2022

So today I started with great intentions. Lemon water to hydrate and awaken my body , 15 minutes space - so let's get dressed and ready for work. 45 minutes later celery juice - wait- what - omg !!! I forgot to buy the celery. So that set my day off to frustration and being angry with myself.

So onward and forward - breakfast - pineapple, banana, kiwi, papaya and mango smoothie, I didn't use milk or yogurt I opted for coconut water - absolutely delicious, with a sprinkling of blueberries and a little flax seed sprinkled in for good measure. I never realised how filling smoothies could be.

First part of the day over and aside from the celery juice fiasco, I guess all in all it has started fine. Now how to deal with the morning tea break. So my usual break time routine is a gingerbread latte followed by some kind of pastry delight, so how do I make that healthy and not cry because I miss all the nawti things that I am not supposed to love? I swapped my latte for a cup of ginger, honey and lemon tea and my daily pastry became a red apple.

Let's not pretend, this is so much harder than it sounds, however it wasn't horrible. I like herbal tea and by drinking it I lost the milk and there was no need for sugar so by far a better option. I am led to believe that ginger, honey and lemon tea is great for cold/flu symptoms, sinus infections, it is anti inflammatory, helps with digestion and a great immunity booster so I figure it's a win win.

Replacing my daily pastry, brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it, fruit is a great replacement but it did not appease my sugar craving, nor did it make me feel like I had had a morning snack, so my wandering eyes were off and looking for more so I had some natural popcorn, it still wasn't my favorite pastry but at least it made me feel like it was more substantial than the boring apple.

It seems to me that this challenge will not be won in a day. It is a work in progress and I must keep going until my healthy habits become my new normal.

I read a quote somewhere, please don't quote me because I don't remember where I read it, it said that we should focus on the act of eating. That means, stop everything else, no surfing the net, no reading, talking, hobbies, chastising children, arguing with partners. Set the time aside to eat, focus on what we are about to eat, our brains need to focus on the act of eating, once we learn this trick we feel full more quickly, then the tendency to eat snack foods is reduced. I intend to try this out. Please let me know if it works for you .

Hello lunch. For me lunch is 30 minutes. So my focus for the coming week is meal prep in an effort to stop the temptation of taking the easy option and ordering food to my desk. Covid has been such a bad virus in so many ways. I have fast food and snacks so easily available now, I don't even have to talk to anyone, a short order form, a tap of my card and hey presto burgers and fries at my desk while i continue to work, this may be convenience on a whole different level but my waistline is screaming ENOUGH!! Today my lunch was vegetable soup, to be honest it was delicious and I followed it with fresh fruit salad and I didn't crave my coffee and chocolate biscuits so perhaps I can call that a win for today.

Afternoon snack, yes I did want one today. I find if I don't have something in between lunch and dinner I am drawn to unhealthy nibbles while I cook dinner, so this is a smart move for me. Normally it's tea and cookies or a bag of crisps (fries), maybe chocolate so basically whatever is currently in my kitchen, but that was my past story, today is my present story, so I had a banana and some nuts and a low fat yogurt.

Dinner time yay - so excited, had this all planned out, sent my kids out to get my groceries, just for the record my kids are late 20's, I am not sending infants out into the wild to get said groceries, so I'm proper excited to be on my way to a healthier me...and ... fail. So my evening meal should have been sweet potato and courgette stew.

Arrive home find the recipe only to find I have less than half of the ingredients- a perfect end to my perfect day. What did I replace this with? comfort food - a toasted sandwich of honey roast ham and wensleydale cranberry cheese and some nettle tea.

It did satisfy my hunger but it did make me feel super guilty too and upset with myself. However it did keep me satisfied for the rest of the evening.

Bedtime snack or end of day which I normally look forward to was a little difficult to accept, perhaps i would have been better had I gone without it. So no cookies, no cake, no delicious pastries, no hot buttered pancakes and no toast and jam, I had a hot cup of elderberry tea followed by a glass of lemon water.

And that my friends is how I finished day 1. Day 2 will be better for sure, if you enjoyed this post feel free to subscribe for my weekly focus, a free email describing focus for the week, tips , wins, fails and some inspiration to keep you motivated on your journey.

xxLei

IF IT DOESN'T CHALLENGE YOU IT DOESN'T CHANGE YOU - Unknown