I can't believe January is almost over and 2017 is already well on its way! This year, rather than setting New Year’s resolutions, I’ve decided to adopt a mantra instead. There’s a lot on my plate in 2017: juggling a full-time job and building my granola business so I can hopefully do it full-time in 2018. This year is going to be crazy (in a good way), and my mantra is to stay balanced through it all.
As I shared in my guest post on the Health Coach Institute blog, there are a few things I try not to compromise in order to stay balanced: sleep, working out, taking mental breaks. However, one thing I often falter on is maintaining healthy eating habits consistently throughout the year.
My husband Tank used to play football professionally and now works as a College & Fantasy Football Analyst; needless to say, our plans and lifestyle typically revolve around the seasonality of the sport (our wedding date was even dictated by this). With the football season nearing an end, we always look forward to our annual cleanse that commences the day after Super Bowl, when we eat “clean” by eliminating all processed/junk foods, alcohol, refined sugar and common allergens like wheat, soy & dairy for 28 days. It’s a total reset for us, both physically and mentally. Not only do we look and feel our best, we also become super energized, motivated and productive in our professional lives, too.
After the cleanse, we shift to more like a 80/20 ratio, where we eat clean most days of the week and indulge a bit on the weekend. We maintain this well through the summer, but towards the end of the year when the next football season comes around, we start to deviate. Then by the time the holidays roll around, I'll admit my 80/20 reverses to a 20/80. While I think it’s too idealistic to maintain such discipline during holidays or when traveling (you have to live a little!), dialing it back to 60/40 or even 50/50 would be much more reasonable. This isn’t a cycle I want to have to go through every year, so I’m committing to finding more balance in 2017 through moderation and consistency.
When 2018 rolls around, hopefully I'll be riding off some great momentum I’ve created this year — from healthier habits to my personal life and to my business. And this time next year, instead of “recommitting" to certain intentions, I'll instead be "optimizing" and just doing things better, faster, smarter—in all aspects of my life.
