Be Aware: Food, Drink and the run up to Christmas

Yesterday evening I got a tweet from my friend Havva, wondering if I had a recommendation for a diet that would help her to get her nutrition “right”.  This led to a mini-conversation…  And a commitment…

One week of logging on MyFitnessPal.  Truthful, honest, shared accountability.  And than after a week we both can take a look and see what we have done.  And we can fine tune our eating from there… 

I really believe that over 50% of the process of eating healthy is developing awareness of what we actually are eating (and drinking). 

By no means am I a nutritionist – you all know that I value qualifications in the people I seek advice from, and I definitely have zero training in nutrition (although I often remark that all it takes nowadays for someone to become an online nutritionist is access to MyFitnessPal and a cookbook, but that is another matter!).  I feel unable to do anything other than to “talk story” – to share my experiences, offer support, and join in fun challenges and things to build mutual accountability….

For the next week, I’ll be on My Fitness Pal.  I’ll also be logging my water intake on Hydrate Yourself. 

I need this sense check.  Since October I have been travelling like a lunatic, spending time on planes, in foreign cities, out to corporate dinners, and feeling increasingly bloated.  Now that my travel is done for the year, it is the perfect time to do this.  Now is the time to check in with myself, to see what is REALLY going into my mouth, and what is really going on with my body. 

Sure, it’s just before Christmas.

Sure, it’s at the busiest social time of the year, with tons of parties and get togethers with friends lined up for the next week.

And yes, I am on a break from training at the moment to give my tendonitis a rest – well, a break until tomorrow’s physio appointment anyway…

So this is going to be a real eye opener.  It could be quite ugly.  But that’s okay.  If I’m right, just being aware will take me more than 50% of the way to my goal of kick starting the new year and meeting my 2012 challenges head on, with positivity and on the right foot.

If you want to join me and see how I’m doing, I will be logging the whole of the next week (the last meal I’ll log will be dinner on December 20th) on MyFitnessPal.  My username is donna_de.  Feel free to drop me a friend request and join in the shared accountability.