30 Day Healthy Food Challenge

Oh and I'll go for a run tomorrow, first thing in the morning. 1 hour minimum.
That's a promise and I'll report about it tomorrow
CU

EDIT: I did it! I went for a run for 1,5 hours early in the morning, during which I got lost in the woods
Good start! But this matter belongs to the Exercise Challenge threat.

 

One more post
I just had a good idea for the treat day. I don't think a fixed treat day (like on wednesdays) is a good idea for me.
The best way to spend my treat day would be for some kind of social event, I mean enjoying something sweet together with others. But if, for a whole week, no such opportunity should arise AND if I haven't used my treat day to satisfy an urge for sugar yet then I may treat myself on the last day of the week, on Sunday. Or I could as well skip treat day.

That's a good plan. But let's see how it will turn out

 

I think so. I'll have a look next time. Maybe it depends on the sort or even the country/culture. But I think pickles are still healthy, at least that's what I heard
Thank you for your nice comment by the way!

This morning after exercising I went to buy groceries with an empty stomach. I struggled with some cravings and made the compromise to buy a dark chocolate spread and milk (but milk is ok). Unfortunately I ate too much of the spread, so it is a fail. But overall I ate quite healthy, a lot of vegetables and fruits and a bittersweet spread on slices of bread is much better than a package of cookies or milk chocolate.

I really enjoyed cooking after so much exercise (I ran 2,5 km today) and now I'm enjoying a good meal.
I'm not completely pleased with myself. But to sum it up it was a good day and I'm happy and content now.
Also I'm grateful for this new chance, the restart I do and for the new approach provided by this Challenge!

I'll stick to the plan as good as I will be and report soon again

 

I use a spreadsheet. With two columns for nutrition: sugar and alcohol
(hm what about coffee and milk - together with sugar or in an extra column? Well I won't decide that today)

30 days without a fail isn't going to happen anytime soon. Well I could just make it happen but the odds are against me ..

 

It goes well. But far from perfect.
Sometimes I forget how healthy and simple my nutrition already is.
I have basically two problematic behaviors:

1. I buy sweets (often two or three packages) and eat it all in a short time (on my own)
   
2. I eat sweets and drink coffee at my workplace where it is available most of the time

Good behaviors that I do rarely:

1. sharing food with others (enjoy together)
2. eat only a few amount of sweets mindfully
3. cook new recipies

I need to find proper answers ...
TBC
but I will be off for some days
Next time with a full report on the past days

CU

EDIT: There's something else that I wanted to say. I had drinks together with a friend on May the first. I decided that that should be the last time for me to drink alcohol. Because I have training goals and I think alcohol would be in my way, even a little. I don't drink often but I tend to drink a lot when I drink. This time it wasn't very much btw.
So for how long? I didn't made up my mind before, but I think I should say: for the rest of the year. Maybe not on New Years Eve - that doesn't matter now. But it won't hurt me to live as a tea timer for the rest of the year.
Yea, it's good to plan the winter already like that: a winter of sport and without drinking.
Of course this also motivates me much more to eat healthier. Amazing!

Ok, I've made myself accountable. That's good. Thank you for reading!

 

Ok it goes well with alcohol so far but wishy-washy with sweets. On two workdays I got on the caffeine hook again. But it's getting better with coffee.

Right now I'm drinking caffeine-free coffee with cardamom. It's really tasty I don't miss a thing. The same with beer: I had alcohol-free beer and I don't missed a thing.

 

I'm not really worried about coffee. But I usually overconsume at my workplace. The idea is that I don't want to be dependent to it at all. But a cup now and then doesn't hurt of course.

I hope you will be able to implement your screen time rules and reduce your work-related stress, @Philosophical_Dad !

 

Everything going not so well. I did some exhausting exercise. And it's the right thing to have a break after such. I spended much time refueling with carbos, minerals and water. But then I ended up doing nothing else then listening to an audio book. My problem is, it's good, it's exiting and I don't like to quit in the middle of it. Obviously it would be a good idea to schedule it and so on, but that's not how I do things ...

Today I bought quite some sweet stuff. I also thought of buying a beer, so I had to remember myself of my intention. I thought how weird: alcohol is not allowed but chocolate and brownies are?
But after all that's not so bad. Alcohol is much more toxic than sugar. And since I can abstain from alcohol much easier than from sugar, I'm actually lucky that it's not the other way round.

I want to emphasize here that my goal is not to live a (nearly) sugar free life. My goal is to learn more self-control so that I'll be better at doing what I want and what is good for me.
As I see it, it would make sense to abstain from most of the available sugary sweets. But that's just theory. In reality I'm a human as everyone else and what's most important is that I can be fairly happy and content - however chaotic and unrational my life might be from an objective pov.
On the other hand it's worth to fight for some things and sometimes you have to do the seemingly impossible, or at least try.

One thing that goes well is training. I'm doing a lot of exercise these days. What's so cool about it that I don't need anyone for this and not even accountability. I'm just motivated to do it a lot and I keep pushing.
But in the end, muscles alone isn't what I'm looking for. So ...
But I also used the training that I did as justification for eating sweets.
Once and for all: exercise doesn't make brownies healthy! Another thing is to eat something sugary during endurance sports - that makes sense OC! (I think it is maltrodextrin and fructose - anyway, NOT bad fats ...)

Btw I stopped keeping track of things. But today I'm going to get back to it.
I'll grant myself another hour with that audio book. After that I'll clean my room.

 

I just read that again and want to comment. It's great that you met your goals "mostly or not too off". I understand, you didn't keep track of it a 100%. But still, it's an achievement! After all you have a diet there that's both healthy and pleasant.
But I won't be in your way when you still want improvement

 

Well "0 refined sugar" was never my goal since I can't avoid all the products with added sugars (like I told you about pickles). But in fact I always aim for "0 sweets". It's good to hear that from you again! I mean, I'm a little stubborn person. I would do it anyway, against all odds. But since I'm trying for so long now it's really best to listen to such advice.
Yes, psychology play obviously a big role. And it's like a game. Let's not get too stiff and bullheaded about it.

 

It concerns me too. But to this day it have never been an issue for me. Maybe if I get stricter. But I rather want to make that experience than to always say yes.
I can imagine that some day I will regrets being the one not drinking. But actually I'm looking forward to the experience of partying as a tea-totaler.

 

Back to the challenge

Modifications / clarifications:

• In my spreadsheet I'll count seperately: sugar / coffee / alcohol(drugs). Fast food and milk don't need counting. And Milk sometimes is really not my problem
• Stricter rules for a standard day: ONE treat of sugary sweets is allowed AS LONG as it happens in a social setting.
  
• More treat days. I'll begin with 3 and on a treat day everything is allowed.

Wow. I have a plan for my diet but it isn't very hard. That's something new! lol

Today was a treat day

1 / 7
Treat days left: 2

 

I need a little time out. I mean from this forum.
But I'll be back to report ... soon.