Resolving & Further Evolving

I was thinking about New Years Resolutions and about how passive that sounds. By contrast, resolving to do something sounds active and somehow more powerful. Therefore, I decided to resolve this New Year, rather than make resolutions.

I further noted the relationship between resolve and evolve. Resolve gives the impression of happening just once. Whereas, evolve communicates an ongoing process. To me, life is more like the latter. You go along, trying new things, keeping what works and what makes you happy. Sometimes there's that eureka moment, but mostly, it's a series of baby steps.


A couple months back I presented my health report card, along with some goals for improvement. Here's a review of my core principles for healthy living, with my scores then & now, and any related goals & notes:

Consume a Plant-Based Diet
Grade then - B; Grade now - A-

• GOAL: Increase meatless dinners to 3 weekly; Limit meaty lunches to 3 weekly.
• NOTES: I think I hit the 3 meatless dinners most weeks, if I give myself fish as meatless (which I decided to do shortly after the original post). I would like to see fewer of the meatless dinner involve pasta. I definitely limited my meaty lunches. Most weeks, having only 1 or 2. If I did go over, it was because I needed to clean up leftovers!

Choose Lean Meats & Low-fat Dairy
Grade then & now - A

Make at Least Half Your Grains Whole
Grade then - A-; Grade now - A

• GOAL: Use a non-rice, non-wheat whole grain once weekly.
• NOTES: Done. I am surprised in retrospect how modest a goal I set here. I am also unclear why I didn't allow for rice. I was not using much brown rice at the time & have certainly increased that. I've also served barley & bulgar a few times each. I've continued to lean heavily on whole wheat varieties, but I know I have expanded my variety!

Limit Discretionary Calories
Grade then & now - D

• NOTES: Thank goodness I didn't set a goal here. The holidays after all! I will say that I consumed less in the way of sweets & potent potables this year than in years past. I think we chalk this up to mommyhood!

Move More
Grade then & now - B-

• GOAL: Increase rower/stretch/tone workouts to 3 weekly.
• NOTES: The holidays, a minor illness & some time out-of-town were brutal on this goal the past month. I did okay the first month. The past few weeks, I've shifted my strategy to walking the dog instead, though I'd still like to use that rower more!

Write Down SMART Goals

Grade then - C; Grade now - B

• GOAL: Reassess in 2 months ... just in time for New Years Resolutions!

... and NOW ... for the resolving & further evolving!

• Plants -
• Continue to consume no more than 3 meaty lunches. Serve 3 meatless dinners per week, only 1 of which is pasta or pizza based!
• Choose organic off the "dirty dozen" produce list.
• Grains - 
• Continue to experiment with different grains, serve a non-traditional one at least 2 times monthly.
• Limit refined grains served in the home to 1 weekly. (We all have plenty outside the home, after all!)
• Moving - 
• Walk the dog briefly every night after toddler bedtime, unless truly extenuating circumstances.
• 3 times weekly, do additional activity after walking - rowing, lifting or stretching.
• SMART - 
• Reassess in June - why not for 6 months? --- because that's when I finish my masters! I'll be pleased if I can accomplish the goals. I highly doubt I'll have time to write about them while we're working on them!

I also resolve to make a few changes unrelated to my physical health. I resolve to address those in my next post - to be titled "Redirecting" ...

Till then, happy tween week! :)