New Year, New Focus

Neither Brian nor I is much for New Year's Resolutions, but I suppose, in a roundabout way, we've made a few resolutions for change in our lives. Is it just coincidence that they were in December? Yeah, sure. :)

First and foremost: health. We've been gradually improving our health--in terms of food intake--over the last few years, which has been aided by Brian's attention to national food consumption trends and issues. As has been the case for many, The Omnivore's Dilemma was a paradigm-shifting book for him, and that was a couple of years ago now. At this point, those of us who visit our home often know that there is no junk food in the pantry, no ice cream in the freezer, and no sugared soda in the fridge. (I just can't seem to break the Diet Coke habit! There might be a 2-liter of that, some weeks.) Over the last couple of months, we've turned our attention to increasing the amount of vegetarian meals that we consume. I'd guess we're eating vegetarian about 4 dinners per week, and because leftover dinners become our lunches, we're doing well with lunches, too. Breakfast . . . who eats meat regularly for breakfast? Anyway: I'm proud of us, because we're putting into action the eating behaviors that we all know are the best for us, health-wise, but aren't so much fun to practice.

So, food is going well. Exercise? Currently going well, too. We joined the Y last month, and we're still going strong. Brian swims before work a couple of times a week, and fits in another swim on the weekend. I'm loving my weekly yoga class (which can be intense! Level 1 my a**), and I go running on the treadmills a couple of times a week, too. Again, we all know the facts here: muscle burns calories better than fat does, so we have to build muscle. Period. I'm not running my former distances (I used to run a 5K a few times a week), but it's my goal to get there again.

The bottom line is this: every day, when we make bad choices, we are making a statement about how much we care about ourselves, each other, and our daughter. If we make good choices and form good habits, those statements couldn't be more different. I don't want it to sound like I'm being overly dramatic here, but I really believe this: we're saying things about how long we plan to live, what kind of physical condition we're likely to be in at the end of our lives, what type of role modeling Maia's going to have, what type of teasing she's likely to hear from other kids . . . all of that.

I had a great conversation with Joanna about all this, in which we addressed the fact that making these changes feels a bit obsessive, until the habits are readjusted. Consistently monitoring sugar intake, being mindful about serving size, pushing oneself just one more quarter mile: that can feel like a bit much. But then the habits change, your mind relaxes, and the parameters of what's normal have shifted. It happened over the last couple of weeks with giving up our TV: I missed it for a couple of days, and now I just don't.

So, life is good. We're living our daily routine, Brian's attending conferences and giving seminars, I'm getting my childbirth educator and doula certifications this spring, I'm going to be attending a baby's birth sometime in the next month, Maia's saying "no!" to everything as a 2-year old should, and life just keeps rolling along.