Bringing in the New Year: 2009

Well it's time to end the 2008 chapter and start 2009. It's always nice to take some time and reflect on the years past to make some decisions for the upcoming one. So what is on the books for 2009? What, if any are your new goals or resolutions? I have decided to test myself for the month on January and clean up my act a little. I have other goals and resolutions as well but here is the main one that I hope to accomplish over the next month.

January Detox Challenge:
The goal of this challenge is to rid your life of anything that is "harmful". I will use that term loosely as there are many things that could be qualified as harmful to one person and ok to the next. So, things that I will be doing away with for January are as follows:
1. Any food that is processed. By this I mean any thing that comes in a box, jar, or has more than 3 ingredients.
2. Sugar
3. Tobacco
4. Alcohol
5. Eating out at restaurants
--What I will be keeping:
1. Whole natural foods; fruits, veggies, meats, nuts, seeds, good fats, fish oil. little starch in the form of yams/sweet potatoes.
2. A varied workout program to benefit from this "clean" living.
3. A positive frame of mind

I am doing this challenge for 2 reasons: 1) So I can see if I have the mental fortitude to undertake something like this for 30 days. 2) To see what kind of changes can be present without the influence of "harmful" substances such as alcohol and tobacco. So to all I say, give this challenge a try or cheer from the sidelines and wish the followers luck! I will keep an updated log along with this to track my progress.

January 2, 2009 - Start of challenge
January 6, 2009 - 5 days in and so far so good. I have made some amendments to allow for things that are in a container but are not laden with garbage. This would be milk, cottage cheese (not the Shepps kind) and some cocktail sauce I used for Oysters that Bevin and I bought at Sprouts. It was made from a tomato puree and not ketchup which has "HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (HFCS)" in it. I haven't had any cravings for anything in particular. So, all is well for right now!
January 13, 2009 - 12 days in and all is good! No cravings for anything and all we have eaten has been great, wholesome, delicious food. We did eat out once but it will be an exception to the rule because it was Jason's Deli. We had the salad bar and only salad and veggies with a homemade olive oil dressing. For the protein there was eggs, and I just brought a steak from home. So, it was basically like eating at home, we just had to meet my little brother for lunch. Will probably do this again as its nice to eat outside of the house sometimes. NOTEABLE CHANGE: My weight has kept dropping and is now to 177....Don't know if this is good or bad yet as I have not lost any strength, so I figure its fat and water that is leaving. I hope so!
January 26,2009 - Well the month is almost up and I haven't had any issues keeping this challenge going. I am going to extend it 14 more days to Feb 14th to make a total of 44 days of clean living! Set a huge PR the other day on Grace @ 3:14. I can attribute that to this change and my consistant workout scedule.
January 30, 2009 - End of Challenge