Healthy Habit Month

November is Healthy Habit Month!!!  Well, here at Traveling Well it is, anyway.  I’ve been floundering for a while now — mostly with my nutrition.  My eating used to be quite clean — just coupled with too large portions and not enough exercise.  In recent months,  however,  I’ve fallen into some bad habits.  We seem to be recycling more than our fair share of packaging containers.  I’m using jarred sauces instead of making my own.  My kids are eating boxed cereals instead of me making them porridge (oatmeal for you Americans ).  None of these things is inherently wrong, but when *occasional use* becomes *daily*, it’s time to take action.  After all, it’s not just me that needs to travel well — I have little ones depending on me, watching me, learning from me.

Clean eating seems to mean different things to different people.  For some it means cutting out fast food. For others it could mean going raw.  My ideal is somewhere in that hazy gray middle region.

So what will clean eating be for us?  It will be making our own pizza on Saturdays, instead of ordering in. It will be oats instead of cold cereal.  It will be brown rice instead of white, quinoa instead of pasta, homemade salad dressings instead of bottled.  It will be, when buying food that is packaged, choosing packages with real ingredients, and the fewer the better.

Of course, making it yourself doesn’t necessarily make it healthy, and potato chips made from organic potatoes, safflower oil, and sea salt are still just potato chips.  Inherent to the idea of clean eating, I think, are the principles of more fruit and veg, healthier protein choices, and smarter fats.  Making healthier, smarter choices. Choosing the apple instead of the organic potato chips.

However, this isn’t just about the eating.  I’ve also been floundering in sticking to my training plan. I’ve been skipping days, and I feel myself sliding back into the me that would rather sit on the couch and watch crap television than go for a walk or practice yoga.  I’m making excuses and letting myself fall for them too often.  I don’t want to go back to feeling tired and weak all the time.  I like the way I feel now, and I want to feel even better!

So… November.  November I’m going to focus on clean, healthy food, track what I eat, and be accountable for it - food journaling, as opposed to calorie counting, by the way.  Mayhap I’ll share some poor-quality food pictures with you! I’ve also set a goal for myself of at least thirty minutes’ movement a day.  Most days that will be my half marathon training plan.  But even on days where something goes awry, and I simply can’t follow my plan, I will still do something.  I will not sit around and do nothing just because I can’t do what I want.  My rest days I’m hoping to do some family walks and other excursions – something fun but not too taxing.  Finally, I’m setting myself a limit of one glass of wine per day.  Any more than that leads to poor snacking choices in the evening, a bad night’s sleep, and a rough start to the next day.

November is about making choices that will lead to better health, not necessarily weight loss.  Although I think that if I abide by the guidelines I’ve set here, I’ll probably see the scale move in a pleasing direction.  But it’s not about the scale.  It’s about forming new habits to replace old ones, about nurturing my body so it will carry me through another thirty eight years, and it’s about being the example I want to be to my boys.

It’s about traveling well.