When I was completing my employee development thingee earlier this year, we talked a lot about setting SMART goals - targets that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely mean not only are your goals achievable, but you'll know when you have achieved them. Saying you want to "eat better", "drink less", "exercise more" is great, but how do you know that you've reached your target? General, long-term goals are awesome as they give us a starting place and a direction, but it's important we set smaller goals to tick off to keep us motivated and to help us see we're still on track. Personally, I enjoy setting goals that are either very short-term ("eat three vegetarian meals this week") or very small ("eat one piece of fruit a day")(seriously, that has been an achievement for me!). There's no harm in starting out small and I know I'm more likely to achieve a small and measurable goal like going for a short walk every day. In the vein of setting and achieving SMART goals, I have a couple of challenges lined up for myself for the coming few weeks.
First things first, I'm doing Dry July! For those who have somehow never heard of it, Dry July is a pledge to abstain from alcohol for the whole month of July. It's something I've been thinking about doing for a while and my goal is to learn more about my relationship with alcohol while of course improving my health. Having a red wine now and then is meant to be good for heart health, but it's hard to argue that alcohol in general does more good than harm, so (and I know I'm hardly the poster girl for sobriety just yet!) I'd encourage anyone to give something like Dry July a go. I drink a couple of glasses of wine most nights and I think on average I probably drink the equivalent of about 2-3 bottles of wine per week which is definitely more than recommended. I'm one week in already and I'm feeling good, although I seem to be super hungry which is not surprising since I've cut out around 2000 calories a week from my diet - equivalent to going a whole day without eating!
Speaking of food,
I have set a cooking and blogging challenge for myself. Despite the $20-30 I'm theoretically saving by not drinking, pay day is feeling a little bit far away right now so I thought it would be an ideal time to do a Pantry Challenge. To be fair, my pantry is looking good at the moment - I have a pretty good supply of herbs, spices and seasonings and tons of wholegrain pasta, brown rice and quinoa. I'm concerned about my vege levels but I guess we'll see how we go! A Pantry Challenge, so we're clear, involves eating what's in the pantry and not venturing to the supermarket for grocery top ups. It's a good way to clear out the pantry and freezer and avoid food wastage, but I also want to use it as an opportunity to stretch my creativity muscles in the kitchen.
With that in mind, I pledge that each day, for the next seven days, I will blog a recipe or meal idea that came straight from my ordinary little pantry. I know I have a couple of frozen leftover meals (cheating!) so some days it may be a dessert recipe but there's no harm in that!
Have you ever taken on a challenge like Dry July or the Pantry Challenge? I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments :)
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