To be honest, I don’t have that many unhealthy habits. REALLY.
- I don’t smoke
- I do drink wine, microbrews, extra dirty martinis and good scotch, but so rarely in excess that I can’t even remember the last time I was actually drunk drunk (well, maybe Ignite 8. Maybe just a little).
- I drink coffee, but not daily and more so because I like it than I need it.
- I rarely drink soda or eat fast food.
I promise, I’m still fun. Oodles of it.
The jumpstart was a year ago this week, and it actually started as an exercise in self-discipline. Last year, this I-love-summer-for-the-hot-dogs, make-my-steak-medium-rare-to-rare, Jucy-Lucy-touring carnivore gave up meat (seafood being the exception) “for Lent”. I’m not Catholic at all, but knew that I’d been making some not-so-awesome, more indulgent than wise decisions, and I wanted some accountability.
For [almost] forty days, I didn’t touch red meat, white meat, or the other white meat. The verdict? I felt lighter, more energetic, and just all-around more awesome. At the end of it, I decided to stay off the red meat and slowly re-introduce the rest. However, by Labor Day weekend last year, I was back on the pesca-only diet. And loving it.
So, here we are with the Lenten season upon us again, and I’m a) celebrating my first year without red meat for a variety of reasons* now (yay me!), and b) considering what healthy changes I want to make this year.
I’ve been trying to make a decision about what to give up, and instead started thinking about what I could add to my diet. Even still – I’m having a hard time making that decision because I’m already adding a lot of goodness. I’m buying fresher, more nutrient-rich foods, and substituting healthier foods for empty calories (and falling IN LOVE with spaghetti squash – if I could learn how to cut it open without injuring myself or my friends).
My Twitter friends gave me some great feedback and suggestions yesterday, so I decided to open it up to you to let me know what you think. I’ve listed below what I’m thinking about giving up or introducing, and the options include both health-conscious and environmentally-conscious changes. So, what do you think blogtarts (I’ve always wanted to say that)?
What should I quit/add/do/change this pre-Spring** season?
*I always tell people that I went pescetarian because of how much healthier I felt having done so, which is true, but I’ve also since started scratching the surface of food-origin knowledge, and let’s just say that I feel really, really great about my decisions for reasons that go way beyond my own health.
**I decided that since I’m not Catholic and this isn’t really about Lent for me, I’d stop saying I’m doing this for Lent, when really – I’m doing this for ME.
Doniree Walker is an aspiring yogini, jet-setter, foodie, and story-teller. She's a writer and geek girl by trade, and a lover and a connector by lifestyle, and is currently obsessed with: train travel, single-serving chocolate milk, and brand new notebooks. Oh, and she's also part supergirl. Wanna be friends? 
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Hurrah for healthy eating. I always thought I was a fairly healthy eater (ovo-lacto-pescatarian) until I started working with a doctor specifically to improve some aches and pains that it turns out were tied in to what I was eating. I feel so incredible these days and have found it's rather easy to do once you get in the habit. Can't imagine going back to eating as I once did.
So this is kind of spammy but, an article for you:
http://robdaquila.com/2009/08/30/general-guidel...
I vote for a food related change as it will also have an environmental impact. When you eat healthier you're more likely to buy foods that aren't packaged add to that using your own grocery bags (and you can get small bags for things like small loose veggies, fruit, and dried beans) and you reduce your waste by so much.
I voted for the veggies because I know it's no problem at all for me to eat fruit but I really need to watch out that I actually eat my veggies every day (simply because fruit taste so much better!).
Have you ever thought about adding in something like juice—as in, juice your own fruits or veggies and substitute it for breakfast or lunch? I did that for a time, and I felt so much better!
I'm so excited for your Doni…I've been considering going back to being a vegetarian (I was a carb-heavy veggie girl for like 7 years!) and posts like this make me want to do it again, but healthier.
My suggestion was to cut out paper towels. It's something I've been working on myself, and I'm starting to notice that it's easier than I expected.
Just make sure that you have extra towels that you can use for spills and cat-messes etc.
But, I think you could go a step further and *also* bring your own cup when you get coffee. I wish more people would bring their own cups.
Agreed, and I don't eat much of it often, so that's why I included this one.
I'm exactly the opposite. I eat all kinds of veggies, but fruit? Not so much.
We DO have a Magic Bullet at home – any suggestions for how to do this?
Yeah, I could definitely change both of these habits. I should get myself a cute little to-go cup and keep it with me, huh?
GREAT point. I love the one-two punch that making the food change would pack with the environment as well. Great advice!
Ha! Look at us, we're post twins today! Woo!
If you're looking for a healthy habit to take on one of my favourite morning rituals is a shake- tons of fruit & juice and then 1/3 of a block of soft tofu. The tofu thickens the shake and adds a TON of protein, I'm never hungry before lunch anymore =)
Giving up paper towels has been the easiest change I've ever made. Especially since dish towels are so cheap at Ikea. I buy a roll of paper towels “just in case” about once every 9 months.
I have an actual JUICER, but I suppose it'd be as simple as blending up some frozen fruit and all natural OJ or something like it? Hmmm…let me look at a few of my resources and I'll shoot ya an email.
I LOVE that idea. What kind of juice do you use? What kind of fruit? Do you peel or chop anything first? What's your favorite combo (I don't like banana in shakes)? And I love your post – I ALMOST talked about meal-planning, because that's something that Boyfriend and I have dabbled in, and found we really love planning meals, cooking meals, and enjoying the healthy benefits of all of that. He's absolutely not vegetarian, but we cook fish or portabellas for me when we make chicken or steak for him.
That's awesome. And really inspiring – it's such a utility and staple, that I think it'd be tough to go without, but you're right… cheap rags or dish towels could likely substitute just fine.
Oh… frozen fruit? Interesting! Maybe I should grab some berries and start there… Thanks for the tip-finding
I just voted for “no paper coffee cups”, but I may be biased.
Without knowing you (never mind – pulling you up on tweetstats!) I vote that your healthy change should be a more regular sleep schedule. Or a more regular waking-up schedule.
Actually, after looking at your tweetstats it seems you're already doing quite well. No tweets between 12AM and 4AM. I already voted 'other' in the poll and don't have another idea right now, so just keep it up! If I hadn't already voted I would have picked 'no paper coffee cups'.
http://tweetstats.com/graphs/doniree
In that case, consider my vote changed to “healthy – at least 1 fruit/day.”
Nope! I'm all about no-prep in the mornings, I usually just use frozen fruit that I buy on sale. It makes it cheaper and it's just as healthy. It also eliminates the “race against time” thing =)
I use a large mason jar & I fill it up half way with blueberries, then I add anything else that I want – raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, peach slices, apple sauce, pear slices until it's 2/3rds full. I pour in cranberry or apple or orange juice to about level with the fruit (and if the fruit is all frozen this is where I microwave the whole thing for 1 min).
I pop the whole thing into the blender, add a third of a block of tofu, a little honey if I like and let the blender do its magic.
To be even healthier (as I've been getting sick of salads) I've been buying greens powder and ground flax seed and adding a couple of teaspoons of each into the shake. It means I'm getting a whack of protein, fruit, as well as antioxidants and omegas in one go. That + lots of water have totally changed my skin over the past month =)
YES! Thank you! I love all of this advice and will be hitting up the
produce section ASAP. I'm so not getting sick of salads as I keep finding
new ways to switch them up and make them awesome – dried cherries and
slivered almonds are my new favorite toppings
Thanks for the recipe and the how-to! I can't wait to try this and
definitely need something I can do on-the-go!
You know…. lots of coffeeshops give a discount when you bring your own cup. It might be an added incentive! However, we've been using less and less paper towels and more and more old rags. Old tshirts can be cut up and used in the same manner. It's a surprisingly easy change.
Lastly, fruit smoothies are the way to go. And when you're feeling frisky, you can't beat a fruit smoothie + rum.
Man, this topic is everywhere today! I love it though – it gives me lots of ideas for how I can improve my (already pretty healthy) eating habits. I can only really imagine how hard it would be – I'm kind of lazy when it comes to creativity with food – but it's a good thing to think about. Perhaps I'll give it a shot soon.
My 2-cents is; add exercise to your routine. It doesn't have to be heart-pounding, ditch-digger-sweating workouts. Walk to the next bus stop (as long as it's safe) going and/or coming home from work or the store. I think you do great with all the veggies you eat; add a fruit if you slack in that area.
As far as cutting out paper…it ain't gonna make Mother last any longer one way or another. Paper is biodegradable and trees are renewable. We started to use cloth napkins instead of paper towels, but cloth napkins or towels have to be washed and that uses water, gas, and electricity. So, no need in getting windmilled.
LYM…Come visit.
I do go to the gym and walk to and from a lot of bus stops, so that's
That extends beyond my house 
definitely something I've already added! If I can reduce the amount of
paper that goes into landfills and preserves our land – that's not a bad
thing, right? I know we differ on environmental issues, but I remember
learning from my folks at a very young age to take care of your home and
your personal space
I'm working on figuring out how and when to come visit – flights aren't as
cheap as I'd like, but I'm working on it
I know! Lent is the new Near Year's apparently
Let me know what you end up changing – I love being inspired by other people!
TOTALLY another incentive. That's awesome. And I'm always frisky
My sleep and waking schedule is pretty consistent! I'm typically in bed between 10p-11p and I get up between 6-7a… that's pretty consistent
And I think I'm going with 'no paper cups' anyway… so you win twice!
I think you win
I picked no paper towels for you. For no reason other than for me personally, that would be a big challenge, but I'd be so proud of myself for sticking to it.
I also wanted to let you know that I think I may have just decided today to go pesca. I've toyed around with it a lot and sort of half-assed it before (not having anything remotely to do with Lent — I'm a Jew anyway). I didn't actually even realize today was the beginning of Lent (I know, where HAVE I been?) and my first thought was “ah well, too late to commit to anything now,” when I realized after lunch that I hadn't even eaten any meat yet today. So if I can do it without really even noticing … I can totally commit to a meatless diet for 40 days.
So thank you Doni for inspiring it! We'll see if it goes beyond Lent though
Now that I have basically written a post in your comments, I may as well blog about it …
I've always known I could never go vegan or vegetarian, but this pescatarian thing intrigues me. I love meat, but I think I could do without it if I could substitute things that swim in the sea. I agree about the food-origin thing; seafood is rarely farmed whereas all of our red meat, white meat and other white meat is.
You have given me something to think about, although it would be extremely difficult for me given that my boyfriend (whom I live with and cook for) doesn't do seafood. :-/
I don't know how you do this pescatarian thing… as a meat lover myself and as a really picky eater I'm not sure I could do it!
I picked no paper towels, because I know I use WAY too many of them.
I would definitely add more veggies and fruits into your diet; that's what I'm doing! I think a lot of people these days highly underestimate how good fruits and veggies are for our bodies. They are SO good for us, and they are delicious too!
Good luck with whatever it is you choose. =)
Thanks! I think I'm going to be doing that anyway – I've gotten some great suggestions (see below!) for some morning fruit smoothies, so I'm going to try working that into my diet
I was SUCH a meat-eater, but I just made the choice to nix it for awhile and it totally stuck because of how much better I felt! I'm working on all of these things, for sure – the paper towels included.
My boyfriend's absolutely not a vegetarian (nor does he plan to become one), but Kyla had a great post yesterday about her split kitchen, and living and cooking with her meat-eating husband, while she's absolutely vegetarian.
We do well with sides – we make sides that we both eat and love and the main protein source of the meal varies: a piece of steak or chicken for him, and a piece of fish or stuffed mushroom instead for me. It's a learning process, but not an impossible one!
Kyla's post: http://www.kylaroma.com/2010/02/vegetarianism/
Pretty sure that's going to be the verdict!
You're welcome, and thanks for the feedback! I'd love to hear how it goes and share recipes
So, I'm reading this, but all I'm craving is popcorn and chocolate and whiskey. Sigh.
I've never bought paper towels. I think at first it was a “I'd rather spend money on tequila shots than cleaning up after myself” but now it has just become something that doesn't make sense to me. Paying more money to create more garbage seems backwards.
I did vote for the bring your own coffee cup though, mostly because it is something I'm trying to remember to always do myself. Good luck and you rock and all the lovely stuff.