I just wanted to share with you all some information about the healthy eating challenge I'm participating in at my work. It's easy to explain so you can try it too, if you wish.
Basically you try to replace 5 bad habits at least once every day. The challenge lasts for 21 days, which is the length of time it takes to create a new habit.
The five challenges are:
Replace soda/pop with water.
Replace fatty meats with lean meats.
Replace an unhealthy side dish for a healthy one.
Replace an unhealthy snack for a healthy one.
Replace white for whole wheat grains.
You only need to make these changes once. For example, I typically had a glass of Coke Zero and a sausage/egg sandwich for breakfast. I've replaced that with apple cinnamon oatmeal (with a real apple chopped up and added) and water.
I get to check off "Replace soda/pop with water" and "Replace white for whole wheat grains", even if I eat junk food for the rest of the day. You just need to make the change once daily - it all adds up.
I'm on Day 2 and its going well already. I already have whole wheat crackers, bruschetta and chocolate milk ready to go for lunch. Coupled with the benefits of quitting smoking, I'm feeling absolutely fantastic!
