Vegetarianuary 2020

I have under taken my personal challenges over the years and the occasion of a new decade seemed a good reason to undertake another. I was inspired to look at doing this by my daughter who is an avid fan of science and is very data-driven.

Last year in the middle of summer at the Bluedot science and music festival we found out about the impact of dairy om the planet and took the Oatly ditch-milk pledge and both went dairy-free for 72 hours. A day or so later while playing in the park with all of her friends they all had ice-cream but she stood by her pledge and refused, I was very proud.

The experienc of going dairy-free led to us as a family spoking around the subject alot and researched some facts and figures. Ultimatley we as a family didn’t ‘ditch dairy’. It did influence us and we moved to regularly use almond milk for cereals albeit maintaining a smaller supply of cows milk for hot drinks.

My goal is to move to a plant-based diet for January to encourages further discussion within our family about what we eat and the pro’s and con’s of a plant-based diet. We will hopefully all learn something from this and will maintain some aspects for the longer term.

Types of plant-based diets include:

• Lacto-ovo vegetarians ( plant based but includes dairy foods and eggs )
• Ovo vegetarians ( plant based but includes eggs )
• Vegans ( plant based only )

My original thought was to take part in veganuary. After reading around the full extent of what going vegan means and looking at our current ‘normal’ lifestyle. With any form of goal-setting the goals have to be specific, measurable, achievable, relavent and time bound. I am not sure it is achievable to change so much overnight to become vegan, but maybe this experience will better equip for a future endeavour.

Measurable Goal - Lacto-ovo vegetarian between 1st and 31st January

12,000 Steps Daily Average

I an lucky enough to live in a natually beautiful location. It is easy during the winter months when it is dark both before and after work to reduce what we do. Jogging and running when it is slippery can easily lead to minor injury. By leaving the car and walking I think it should be possible for me to average walking 6 miles / 12,000 steps per day.

Measurable Goal - Average 12,000 steps per day between 1st and 31st January

Detoxification

I have tried some very focussed detox programs over the years. I do not intend to follow a particular defined program during January. I do intend to take opportunity to do something in this area. Detoxification is about resting, cleansing and nourishing the body from the inside out. Processing alcohol and cafine puts a strain on the organs. It is easy to increase drinking alcohol and cafine over time and useful every now and then to abstain. Whichever detox program I have followed they all have all included ‘lemon water’ for helping your digestion, flushes out toxins and cleanses the liver.

Measurable Goal - Zero alcohol per day between 1st and 31st January

Measurable Goal - No more than one cup of coffee per day between 1st and 31st January

Measurable Goal - Glass of lemon water per day between 1st and 31st January

Yoga

I tried yoga first while working in India some fifteen years ago. Being on the tall side I’ve always been conscious of my back health and found yoga helped. I used to regularly attend yoga sessions in evenings. I changed jobs and for a while was a remote member of a team based on the US West Coast and team meetings clashed. More recently our team has restructured and I am now part of a team based in EMEA. Since the re-organization I had not got around to re-joining the yoga sessions.

Measurable Goal - Attend at least three of the four weekly yoga sessions between 1st and 31st January

FITISM

I am a member of local gym called FITISM I have a balanced membership focussing on classes and nutrition. I focussed on high intensity circuit type training classes. Three weeks ago I slipped on some ince and fell down some steps cracking a rib and a tooth. Soft tissue damage to the chest meant it was painful to do any classes. As the soft tissue has repaired I have been able to progress from walking to light jogging. I am now mostly comfortable but the cracked rib still makes me aware of its displeasure if I laugh, sneeze, cough or over extend a twist. One of the class types offered is RIDE which looks to be essentially spinning, I am hopeful this class type should be achievable in January. I am lucky to train in such a fun, energetic, competitive, yet encouraging environment, I feel confident together we will find a suitable class I can regularly attend.

Measurable Goal - Attend at least two FITISM classes per week between 1st and 31st January