FREE January Reset

Week 1 tips below 

 

First up, Happy New Year!

Today, much like any other day, we have an opportunity to work on ourselves and create a life we LOVE.

As the years go by it can be easy to lose yourself. I’m moving into my late 40’s, and I’m so passionate about making this next phase of my life THE BEST. I’m investing time in myself, and along the way inspiring you to realise that at any stage, you can make changes and create a life you love.

So today we’re kicking off with my FREE January mini reset.

This is all about creating some foundations to set you up for a GREAT year, and the good news is that it’s not going to leave you feeling deprived and overwhelmed.

Week 1 Mission – Clean up your environment! Declutter your life….

I know so many people who want to make big changes to their health, but they neglect to have the foundations in place first. This week we are going to focus on cleaning up your environment.

Our environment undoubtedly affects our mood. If our surroundings stress us out, take up headspace, or make day-to-day living harder than it needs to be, we feel the impact. Have you noticed you feel more anxious when your life feels cluttered and messy?

Decluttering involves reducing or removing things in our immediate environment. The goal is to reduce the “clutter” in our lives – be it physical, digital or emotional. It allows us to tackle stressors head-on, which benefits our mental health. Decluttering can help you to feel less stressed and boost your mood. It can help you to feel “lighter” and more optimistic.

I’ve just finished decluttering for the New Year and finished up yesterday afternoon (New Year’s Eve).  It’s the BEST FEELING.

This week you’ll be busy as you have a bit to do but I promise you, at the end of it you’ll feel lighter and more positive without even thinking about sticking to a diet!

ACTIONS:

Tackle one room at a time, go through each space and remove the clutter and junk. Donate or gift unwanted items. 

Ask yourself these questions when deciding what stays and what goes:

• How often do I use this item?
• Am I keeping it just because I spent money on it, but don’t really use it?
• Does the item work?
• Do you love the item?

Kitchen Clean-up – this room deserves a bit more attention as this one can have a BIG impact on how you go with your health goals, so I’m going to share some extra tips for the kitchen.

 

You have two options for a Kitchen Clean-up!

 

Option 1: Throw out (or donate) all processed food that is not going to support your goals. I will get to the details below.

Option 2: Take all the food that is not going to support your journey and put it in ONE specific cupboard. Preferably out of the kitchen, maybe even in the garage.

Option 1 is going to be the best because if it’s out of the house, you won’t have to worry about temptation.

Some people have children or a stubborn significant other that still need ‘their’ food. If this scenario resembles your household, it might be better to opt for Option 2.

Now, what needs to get the boot?

 

BEVERAGES

Any calorie-containing beverages need to go. This is not an exhaustive list but…

•  Soft drinks, sports drinks and fruit juice
• Milk (yes, for now, toss the milk)
• Healthy green drinks and smoothies that contain sugar
• Coffee creamer

 Replace with…

•  Water, unflavoured coffee, tea or herbal tea.
• Unsweetened coconut or almond milk.

GRAINS

These are going to be most things that are packaged. Things like…

•  Cereals and bread (even wholemeal bread)
• Crackers, biscuits or cookies

 Replace with… 

• Fruits and vegetables
• Whole grains (quinoa, traditional oats, brown rice)
• Legumes

 

SNACK BARS

• Cereal bars, power bars, muesli bars

 Replace with… 

• Fruits and vegetables (baby carrots, broccoli florets, celery sticks)
• Nuts and seeds

 

SWEETS

This category is pretty straightforward.

•  Sweets and chocolate
• Ice cream, sorbets and frozen yoghurt
• Flavoured yoghurt

Replace with… 

•  Fruits and berries
•  Plain, natural/Greek yoghurt

 

‘BAD’ FATS

• Vegetable oils
• ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ butter
• Margarine

 Replace with…

•  Fish oil, coconut oil, avocado oil and extra virgin olive oil
• Whole avocados
• Nuts or seeds
• Natural almond butter or natural peanut butter (nothing but peanuts and salt)

 

CONDIMENTS

• Jam
• Tomato Suace and mayonnaise
• BBQ sauce
• Commercial salad dressings

Replace with…

•  Homemade salad dressing (oil, vinegar, spices)
• Mustard
• Tamari sauce
• Hot sauce (Tabasco)

 

BAKING INGREDIENTS

• All flours
• Gluten and thickeners
• Anything you would use to bake a cake

 Replace with…

Nothing if you want to lose some weight in 2023. We’ll introduce some treats later!

 

PACKAGED MEAT

• Packaged deli meat
• Pepperoni and salami
• Hot dogs and sausages

Replace with…

• Lean meats
• Eggs
• Fish
• Legumes

 

If you want the ‘easy button’ here it is: remove all packaged, processed foods and replace them with whole foods; replace the foods with labels with the foods that do not have any labels.

If you are serious about improving your health in 2023, eating a NUTRIENT RICH DIET focussed on unprocessed foods should be your goal.

 

Remember, treats are ok, but the reality is you most probably don’t want them sitting in your kitchen all the time as it makes it harder to resist.

 

Tip – buy a treat when you want it, savour every mouthful and move on!

 

Remember, we are being influenced by our environment on a minute-by-minute basis. Our environment has a strong effect on our food decisions. By simply fixing our environment, we can ‘nudge’ ourselves into making better decisions with food. It’s pretty cool and doesn’t take any willpower.

 

Now, go get started and declutter your environment, setting yourself up for an amazing 2023.

❤️ Hilds

P.S If you’re keen to get started NOW jump on board my Midlife Makeover and get instant access to all the nutrition and training information you’ll need to make some big changes in 2023.

 

Resources: “Wired to Eat” by Robb Wolfe & Coach Catalyst