New behaviour recap

So how's your new healthy lifestyle going? You know the one where you've been taking responsibility for your long-term health? The one where you stopped inhaling junk food and grabbed an apple instead? Remember?

It's been six months since you may or may not have taken up the New Behaviour Challenge I threw out there way back on December 24, 2007. Wow, time does fly when you're having fun, eh?

Over these past several months I've encouraged you, OK, I yelled at you to eat breakfast, get at least 7 to 10 servings of fruits and veggies a day, stop snarfing down your meals, use smaller plates, and add 10 to 30 minutes of good speed walking to your schedule each and every day.

Check out the past blogs: Say bye-bye to gimmicks and hello to health, Smaller plates = Smaller bottoms, Ready, set, slow down, This month's new behaviour: Start your engines, This month's healthy new habit: Add ten every day.

Sounds fairly straightforward and in my perfect world, all of you are now healthier, more fit, less stressed, and aren't tipping the old Toledos into the stratosphere.

Yup, it all sounds so easy.

It's another thing to actually do it.

To all of you who have tackled these issues and are still working on them, give yourself a Gold Star. You did it! Excellent! Be proud of yourself.

For anyone who needs some more encouragement, read on.

Most of us know what we should do when it comes to health, but the question is: do we do it? Eating healthy isn't rocket science. We know fruits and veggies win over chips and dip. We know that lying on the couch in a cookie coma probably isn't a very good idea. So why don't we eat right and exercise?

I haven't got a clue.

Is it because we think we're super human and we aren't the ones who'll get cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis or type II diabetes? 

I don't know.

Is it because taking charge of our eating and exercise habits is too much work and we don't know where to start?

Maybe.

What I do know is that making changes to our lives is sometimes daunting and to most of us, the fear of failure freezes us in time.

I embrace failure; because to me it's one of those times I get to really learn something about myself and grow. Sure I'll have my mini breakdown and then I try to figure out what to do next. We get a second, third or umpteenth chance to try again and hopefully we eventually succeed.

That old adage "Rome was not built in a day" rings true. You don't just wake up one Saturday morning and discover that you're out of shape, unhealthy and fat. It takes years to "go to hell in a handbag," so it realistically will and can take years to get your healthy lifestyle back — that's if you had a good one to start with. But how exciting to start from ground zero and work up. The people who receive the most health benefits from starting a healthy eating and exercise plan are the ones who are the most out of shape and have the most weight to lose. That's exciting. You can only win. If only buying a 649 ticket was so hopeful.

New behaviours take months and years to incorporate into your everyday life, so don't beat yourself up for quitting. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start trying again. It's worth the effort because nothing beats feeling awesome.

Here's to changes,

Peace, Love and Fibre,

Mairlyn