Happy birthday to me! Actually, today is my wonderful husband’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Ron!
It’s a perfect day to issue a challenge. May 12th is my birthday, and in a couple of days it will be 30 days from my birthday. So here’s the challenge: starting April 12th, eat a 100% plant based diet for 30 days. That gives you two days to prepare for the challenge. Clean out your kitchen, plan your menus, go shopping for healthy foods.
Decide on your goals. Do you want more energy? Do you want to learn how to shop and eat plant-based? Do you want to add more vegetables or fruits to your diet? Would you like to lose a little weight or a few inches? Do you want to reduce the medications you’re taking? Do you want to run faster or longer?
What are your goals? After you’ve answer that question, list your whys.
Here are my goals:
I want to lose 10 pounds before my 51st birthday. 80% of weight issues are diet related not exercise, not metabolism and not genes. Diet! Not as in I’m-on-a-diet diet, but what-I-put-in-my-mouth-everyday diet. It’s true and I know it, even though I have a metabolism issue because of my ongoing thyroid problems, including having no thryroid, the gland that regulates your metabolism! And since I’ve moved to Kentucky I’m much less active. I was outside moving all the time in Texas and it made a difference, but now I’m inside a lot avoiding the cold weather. But those are just excuses. What matters is what I put in my mouth and I know it. No more excuses.
I want to feel great! Which I ALWAYS do when I’m eating strictly plant-based! After two weeks of vacation my body could use a rest from the toxins of the SAD (standard American diet). Admittedly, I do much better now on vacation than I used to do. I choose plant based foods when I eat out more than 50% of the time now, but I know I need to do it 100% of the time! Because, as they say, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.” So if I want BIG health results I need to be willing to make the BIG changes in my diet which means being committed to a plant based diet 100% of the time.
I want to eat out less! I want to restrict my restaurant eating to once a week. Why? Because I do much better at home and I can avoid all the hidden calories and oils in restaurant foods that are hard to avoid even if you ask lots of questions and make special requests. Besides it will save me money too and with that money, I can buy a better birthday present! 🙂
I want to eat a big salad every day! I need to include waaaay more vegetables in my diet. I eat far more veggies than I used to, but I could do better. At least half my diet should be vegetables. I’m too quick to reach for whole grains and fruits, but I know vegetables are where the massive amounts of micro-nutrients lurk. That sounds a little sinister, but it’s not sinister at all. Micronutrients are where it’s at!
My Whys:
I want to feel great! I love feeling great. Enough said.
I want to be thin so I can be healthy, put less stress on my joints and play an awesome game of tennis! And of course I wouldn’t mind looking fabulous in my clothes. Who wouldn’t? Looking fabulous in a bathing suit however might be too much to ask at my age!
I want to avoid the common diseases of today, including diabetes, cancer and even depression. Yes, I think the prevalence of depression today is due to our poor eating not the stress of a modern life. (Certainly not all clinical depression is caused by diet, but some could probably be avoided with a good diet.) I don’t know about you but living in the wild, wild west during the 1800s had to have been stressful and I don’t see much evidence that there was a lot of depression then when they were living off the land. We don’t eat food any more, we eat food-like stuff which doesn’t give our brain the fuel it needs to be healthy!
What are your goals? What are your whys?
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Will you join me in my 30-day plant-based vegan birthday challenge?
Enjoy! Julie
