IT'S OOOOVER: Healthy Living wrap-up, and introducing *drumroll* the next 3-month project!

Well my friends... it's incredibly hard to believe, but the "living healthy" phase of my project will be over in exactly 2 days. "Time flies" is an understatement...I can't believe it's been three months since I started calorie counting, muscle gaining, portion measuring and all that fun stuff that I've (tried to) immerse myself in since September 6, 2011. As it reaches it's natural end, I can't help but do a bit of reflecting on the whole thing and marvel at the journey... while at the same time, start looking ahead and getting excited about the next three-month phase, which may be the MOST meaningful and inspiring one for me. But first, a few thoughts on the healthiness experiment...

I'm sure I could write an entire book of things that have struck me over the past three months, but I'll limit myself to the things that continue to stick with me now, as I'm sitting here looking back on it. First of all, I'll state the obvious: it ain't easy. With the vigour and intense motivation that pushed me over the first few weeks of the project, I was thrilled to spend hours of every day cooking, researching new recipes, counting nutrients, researching exercise programs, hitting the gym ....but as life happens, and the "honeymoon phase" ends, it becomes incredibly challenging to keep it up. When you have the time to make it your life's focus, it's doable. But when you have to try to fit it into a life that already has it's own momentum, it's own routines and habits embedded within it...well, that's the hard part.

However...I also learned that it's not impossible. Not for ANYONE. I was the least likely candidate to do this, honestly. As someone who three short months ago considered eating a Big Mac meal at McDonalds to be a dietary success (as in "hooray, I actually ate today!"), the fact that I'm now able to know what amounts of nutrients I should be intaking every day, plan balanced healthy meals, grocery shop accordingly, and actually cook things for myself...not to mention that I also joined a gym, planned out a cardio and strength training regimen and actually followed it 3-4 times per week... is darn-well proof enough for anyone who wants to do this that yes, it IS possible. From the words of a wise man, don't let them tell you it can't be done.... look up that mountain, and just start climbing. It's the only way to get to the top!

Here are my top 10 favourite lessons I learned along the way (in no particular order):

My new perma-diet. Beautiful, isn't she?

1. While exhausting, focusing on health and fitness is also incredibly self-rewarding. It carries a positive momentum with it that gives you a newfound sense of self-respect...almost like you're finally giving yourself the attention you deserve, but were deprived of for so many years.
   
2. Fat-free greek yogurt is THE tastiest healthy thing around and works incredibly well in things you would never think possible (eg. tuna sandwich? forget the mayo....go with greek yogurt!)  I beg you, incorporate greek yogurt into your diet if you haven't already! And hey, add fruit, vanilla extract and/or honey if you need some extra flavour.
3. Each choice you make in a day regarding your health counts. It's easy to get lost in the momentum of one bad choice and let it throw you off your game (ie. shit, I didn't go to the gym today... I failed for this week...not gonna bother trying the rest of the week). But to actually overcome that thinking pattern, forgive your past failures, and say to yourself "all right, so I didn't go yesterday...it doesn't matter. Today is a new day." That might be the most important key to success with this whole thing.
4. Making a soup from scratch is really, realllllly hard. Making a butternut squash soup from scratch is (very nearly) impossible.
5. Cutting vegetables? Invest in a good knife, and you will save yourself hours of heartache, pain and frustration (all right, slight overstatement...but it's DEFINITELY worth it!
6. Getting caught up in making exercise an exact science is not necessarily the way to go about it. Absolutely, being informed is a good idea...but also finding enjoyable activities that allow you to get exercise in a natural way is far more sustainable than lifting barbells 3x/week for the rest of your life (thank you Kristina for this lesson, which you aren't even aware you imparted to me, but totally struck a chord when you pointed out that you got fit from doing what you love: rock climbing)
7. Along similar lines...if at all possible, join a gym that takes less than half an hour to get to, join with (or find) a gym buddy, and always go in with a plan. Makes things SOOOOO much easier!
8. Eating healthy at home is pretty expensive. Eating healthy at restaurants is a surefire way to make your entire life savings disappear before your eyes...
9. I can't believe it, but it's true: defying all odds, common sense and natural cringe reactions...spinach IS drinkable (when accompanied by banana, milk, cocoa, honey and ice and blended to perfection)
10. Telling everybody around you about your healthy eating and/or exercise plans is incredibly helpful. Having practically every single person in my life know about this and hold me accountable to it most definitely made it a lot easier to stick to it...as everyone continually asked me how it was all going, it was like getting constant reminders and validations that made me want to keep it up.

And there you have it, my friends. My goal is to (sometime soon) add a "Living Healthy" section to the blog, where I'll post my favourite recipes, workout tips, websites, etc. that people can use if they like to jumpstart their own efforts. However...it's now time for me to transition into the next phase of the quarter-life crisis project, which is the one I'm incredibly excited about. I've had to reflect on it, tweak it, and morph it quite a bit over the past few weeks in order to hit the spot that I really wanted to hit, but I can now share with y'all that for the next 3 months, I will be dedicating myself to…. "Living Spiritually".

 

Now, I know the word "spiritual" conjures up a lot of connotations with religion, but that's not what I mean here (not exactly, anyway). For me, spiritual living is not about following rules, blindly imitating spiritual leaders, or even believing in anything in particular...but rather is about actually living in a way that aligns with, nourishes, and deepens the spirit, leaving a person feeling freer, less affected by society's stressors, and more attuned to life itself.

As I sit here contemplating what the next 3 months will look like, I’m feeling pretty darn excited, albeit with a hint of self-doubt. Living spiritually to me is synonymous with living selflessly… and lord knows it ain’t easy. Not to do it genuinely, anyway. Let’s face it: every night I (and I’m sure I’m not alone) go to bed with the purest intentions to make the next day full of love, peace, freedom and happiness…and then the “self” somehow gets in the way, with all of its self-ish motives, leaving us feeling angry, bored, jealous, lonely, insecure, lazy..and on..and on. It’s a conundrum we all face. I think it was Ghandi who said "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." Amen, brother. Yet I'm an incurable optimist who knows, beyond believing, that the human spirit has boundless depth and is capable of infinite generosity, gratitude, positivity, creativity and love. We just have to nurture it. Connect to it. Cultivate it. Release it. There are millions of ways of doing it, and my mission over the next 3 months will be to try the ones that people have reported have led them to freedom. Giving time and money to others. Meditating. Keeping a gratitude journal. These are just a few of the preliminary ideas I have…I look forward to developing them more, and more importantly, to putting them into practice.

As for religion, well, I consider myself trans-religious (they all point to the same truth!), so I’ll be pulling from a wide variety of spiritual and religious teachings to help inspire and guide me. Buddha? Jesus? Dalai Lama? All my homeboys. Word.

And there you have it, peeps. Allow me to just say a huge THANK YOU for all of your support, kind words and inspiration during the first three months…and I hope you’ll stay with me for the next three, as this crazy journey continues!

xo Janine