January is a great time to reset the body, let go of past baggage, get over what didn’t happen, start afresh, end poor habits, adopt new healthier habits—whatever it may be for you. In past years, every January I’ve led a team “cleanse and detox” with my coached athletes, and it’s been super successful so now we’re extending this to the LPC community! Don’t fret, this is no ordinary cleanse or detox, nor a New Year’s weight-loss plan because quite frankly I don’t like nor agree with any of those unrealistic programs being promoted out there. I especially don’t like the idea of hardcore restriction-based cookie-cutter programs like juice cleanses and gym challenges. The idea of you torturing yourself with an insane amount of exercise and hypocaloric diets just to shed those pounds you’ve gained over the holidays is disgusting and makes me sick. Exercise and diet should health-promoting not health-zapping, but I digress.
With our team “cleanse,” it’s actually more accurately a “health improvement plan.” I want you to get AWAY from the idea that self-improvement is synonymous with restriction! Instead, the way I like to approach it: Add more positives into your life and set a new tone to achieve your goals, such as new or improved habits, foods, routines, and anything that will promote better health, fitness and wellness (meditation anyone?). Some gentle restrictions in your plan are ok too, like if you got too liberal wth sugar and caffeine over the holidays and need to cut back.
Also, you all know I’m a fan of the intuitive approach and making you exercise your BRAIN, so I will not tell you what you need to add, subtract, do differently or “clean up” in your life, only you can figure that out, but below I give some suggestions and examples of plans and GOALS written by my athletes in past years (which you can check out before you start the homework section if you’d like).
At the end of the day this is about creating a healthier, happier, fitter and better you! Not someone who’s frazzled, irritable and going crazy by the end of the month due to “punishing” your body with unrealistic restrictions—avoid that please.
And keep in mind: It takes at least 21 days to break old habits/addictions and start new ones. If you’re struggling at first, just stick with it and I promise it will get easier and more natural! We will give it those 21 days + 10 extra (i.e. 31 days for you math majors) to make sure it sticks so that 2017 is the best year ever for all you!
We start Jan. 1, 2017. Don’t be too hungover 😉
Now, get to work on your plan…
Your Homework
1. Think of what your January “health improvement plan” should include, brainstorming on all the things that you could ADD, what could use some cleansing/detoxing/improvement in your life, and other goals. Don’t make this overly complicated or overly restrictive—create realistic, achievable, and sustainable goals. These goals should last beyond January!
2. Write down your “health improvement plan” and place it somewhere visible (i.e. on the fridge; on the bathroom mirror).
3. Post your plan in the comments under this post (if you want). No judging here on what your cleanse entails, it’s all love with the LPC community and by posting your plan we can help encourage and support each other’s goals.
4. Commit to it, and set yourself up for success (positive self-talk, preparation, etc.).
5. Make this your mantra: SELF-DISCIPLINE IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS LOOKING.
Ongoing Support
I’ll be checking in via the forums so be ready to let me know how you’re doing! And also feel free to share the successes and tough times too—we are in this together so let’s support each other!
More Resources and Help Getting Started
Your custom January “health improvement plan” can address your environment (i.e. getting that TV out of the bedroom, switching to a standup desk or a digital detox); it can include your daily routines (i.e. finally committing to a daily meditation instead of letting stress win out); of course it can address your honest diet and nutrition needs (i.e. cutting back on the insane amount of coffee you’re drinking, saying goodbye to sweets and holiday treats, or going cold turkey on another “unhealthy addiction” like artificial or junk foods); or anything else you can think of. Some specifics:
Examples of what to avoid:
1. Refined sugar.
2. Caffeine (or scale back).
3. Alcohol.
4. Refined carbs.
5. Trigger foods (dairy, gluten/wheat, soy, etc.).
6. Artificial ingredients/products (artificial sweeteners, gum, diet foods, etc.).
7. Overeating; unnecessary snacking.
8. Undereating; unnecessary food restriction.
9. Any other unhealthy food/drink “addiction” you have.
10. Household-related: get rid of toxic household and personal care products and replace with clean ones (see our list of approved products here).
11. Lifestyle-related: No TV/phones/screens before bed, mindset shift, technology detox, digital detox, etc.
Examples of what to include:
1. More sleep! (And quality sleep).
2. Developing mental toughness & consistent practice (see Part 1 and Part 2 of our series on mental toughness.)
3. More organic veggies—taste the rainbow! And try hitting up a farmers market on a weekly basis.
4. More food diversity—habits and repeat meals are ok, but more variety is ideal!
5. Commit to trying something new like organ meats and check out our recipes here. Or finally make that bone broth (it’s easy!).
6. More fermented foods (try DIY homemade sauerkraut or kombucha!).
7. Try a paleo or Whole 30 template if you think you have too many processed foods and/or refined carbs in your diet still.
8. More healthy fats and fewer “bad” fats (read our article here).
9. Get a fresh round of health tests to set your baseline for 2017—blood, hormones, and gut if you suspect an issue.
10. Supplement as needed—more is not better, but take the time to investigate and find out what you need whether that’s vitamins like D3, B’s, A, K; probiotics; Mg; amino acids; immunity boosters like L-glutamine. If you don’t know what you need a blood test could give you answers (contact me for more info).
11. Healthier lifestyle practices: relaxation, meditation, forest bathing, etc.
12. Walking! (You don’t always have to run ;))
13. Commitment to uncover any underlying health problems/red flags you’ve been ignoring (hormones, gut, adrenals, etc.)
For more nutrition-based plans I suggest:
• Phil Maffetone’s Two-Week Test
• Autoimmune Paleo Diet
• Chris Kresser’s book, Your Unique Paleo Code
• The Specific Carbohydrate (SCD) Diet
• Whole 30 or Paleo templates
• Dr. Junger’s Clean Program
• Ask questions under this post
Examples of real-life plans by Coach Tawnee athletes:
Example 1
Finish Everything I Start
Prohibit Procrastination
Food & Drink:
1. Coffee: (oh coffee, currently drink 3 cups min.) no coffee past 2:00pm and 2 days a week off completely.
2. Drink more water than coffee (sounds funny but I am serious)
3. No Alcohol (only exception, unless trying a friends home-brew)
4. No added sugar, other than raw honey
5. Only eat out for celebrations or no more than 1 time a week (this will help eliminate grains, sugars and inflammatory oils.
6. No food past 10:00pm (I’m speaking to you Oreo anything!)
7. More greens everyday. (Smoothies, salads etc. but more fiber not greens juices)
8. Plan meals for the day and stop snacking. (portion control, eat when hungry stop when full)
9. Dark Chocolate (None in January, bites only not bars after January)
10. Eat breakfast more often and mix it up. (I also am an eggs freak)
11. Continue Grass-fed meats but try more exotic options.
12. Try 1 new recipe a week
13. Make fermented foods as well as my own bone broths.
14. Eat more variety. Colorful plates (find out what carbs work well for me)
Lifestyle:
1. Choose Joy everyday!
2. No electronics in bedroom at night. (if need be write down ideas on paper and deal with them in the morning. I will probably try to tell myself there is an app for that, I refuse to stay up late in 2016)
3. Do everything I can to get to bed by 10:00pm (This will be the hardest for me, I am convinced nothing good happens after 10:00pm)
4. Wake up without an alarm (This would be a dream)
5. Bible, meditation and writing then move in the morning.
6. More mobility and functional prehab and focus on posture.
7. Integrate swimming and or biking slowly. (Overall athlete not just a runner this year, ready for anything)
8. Regular HRV, blood glucose monitoring.
9. Read 1 or listen to at least 2 books a month
10. Write at least 1 song a month
11. Less Social Media more Social Interaction (Be present and purposeful with relationships)
12. Spend more time with family (Also go on way more adventures, hikes etc.)
13. Get MAF run pace 1 minute faster. (If not BQ this year then next year, don’t get ahead of myself)
14. Do another trail race this year (try a new distance for fun)
15. 40 Kettlebell Swings everyday. (Start light and focus on correct hip hinge before weight)
16. More Strength Training (get stronger this year)
Last year 2015 goal:
All Love No Handles, it was about less for more. Still working on the no handles part. Lessssss Gooooo 2016!
Example 2 (these were my goals!)
Food & Drink:
1. Wean off caffeine; 50-50 caff-decaf days and caff-free days
2. Wean off alcohol; no more than 1 drink a week, no exceptions
3. Strict no gluten and no dairy* to decrease/prevent gut inflammation (per recommendation of my functional doctor)
4. No added sugar, other than raw honey (Christmas got ugly)
5. Fewer egg-based breakfasts; mix it up to avoid too many eggs!
6. Smoothie/green smoothie bowl in the breakfast mix (gut-friendly digestion)
7. Green juices more often (no fruit added other than lemon/lime)
8. Avoid anything with thickeners, gums, preservatives, chemicals, etc
9. More organ meats!
10. Experiment with more gluten-free carbs (avoid too low carb)
11. Foods, drinks, habits for adrenal support
12. Try 1-2 new recipes a week from the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook
13. Consistent supplementing for gut-healing, adrenals
*grassfed butter, pastured eggs ok
—
Lifestyle:
1. Continue to monitor my training to avoid too much (End the cycle of: feeling great > doing too much > setback > recover > repeat)
2. Focus on recovery and self-discipline to rest the body as needed, i.e. after a long workout day it’s ok for me to go 2 days of no running/training—oh the horror!
3. Less “intense” strength training (only 1x gym session a week)
4. More mobility and functional prehab
5. Breath practice—this is new for me!
6. Schedule it out: Dedicated writing time (book, articles, blogs), finally pursue new projects, etc.
7. Daily posts on THIS FB page ☺
8. Regular HRV, blood glucose, and BBT monitoring
9. Regular yoga or meditative practice (fell off this)
10. Promote healthy hormonal balance even at the cost of “getting fitter”
11. Less wasting time on Instagram/twitter—use for business purposes only!
12. MORE reading!!!
—
Last year I quit (and sticking to it):
1. Stevia
2. Gum (it was a 1-pack-a-day habit!)
3. Nut milks with gums, additives
Example 3
Nutrition-related goals:
– No candy (I have not had much restraint in the past two months as I was celebrating my IMAZ finish, my 40th birthday, and then the holidays. I’m now totally back to being addicted to sugar and swear I’ve eaten at least a pound+ of See’s candies all by myself. UGH!)
– No mayo (this was on my goal list last year, but I slipped back into the habit of eating mayo mid-year)
– No deep fried foods (I’m really going to miss french fries!)
– No gum (interestingly, this was a goal in 2015 and I went all year without gum until December. I think there is a correlation between being addicted to sugar from eating candy and the perceived “need” to chew gum in the afternoon)
– Try 1 new LCHF recipe per week
– No alcohol during the week. (I’m not willing to give up alcohol completely because I was voluntarily not drinking alcohol for the 3 months before my IM. But I will limit my intake to weekends only so I can be more rested during the work week for my early morning workouts and reduce the calories I’m consuming)
– Drink at least 60 ounces of water during the day. (I am chronically dehydrated!!)
– Take the multi-vitamins that I’ve been staring at on my bathroom counter for the past 6 months!
– Stop overeating. (I feel like I have no self control when it comes to food – either portions are too big or I wolf down my food while working and have no recollection of actually eating so I keep on eating. I like Greg’s suggestion of stopping at 80% full and that means staying mentally present during the meal so I can assess when I’ve reached that point)
Lifestyle-related goals:
– No TV during the week (I bet this means I will go to bed an hour earlier!)
– Spend less time on social media by only checking FB and IG once per day
– Spend 10 minutes EVERY day foam rolling/mobility work (I am terrible at doing the maintenance work so this will be a tough one for me to turn into a habit)
– Do a 1 minute plank every day. (this simple exercise will help keep my low back/core strong)
2015 goals that I achieved and plan to stick with:
– No peanut butter (I’ve fully transitioned to nut butter – YAY!)
– No cottage cheese
– No potato chips or crackers
– No processed foods (I did really well with this other than the mayo!)
– No high fructose corn syrup
– Non gmo corn tortillas only
– Organic, non gmo bread only
Example 4
More reading that contributes to my goals (and maybe a fun book or two)
More “headspace” and meditation
Less social media/political shows at nighttime (guilty pleasure)
Wake up each day and repeat “I will move mountains” (crazy but effective)
Write down 3 things each day in January that I’m grateful for…
AND be consistent with all of the above to form habits to maintain them after January is over.
Example 5
My plan for January is simple (the KISS method is best):
Follow the Whole30 plan for the month (specifics: stick to daily meal plan as prepared on weekly basis, prepare for travel snacks, and avoid sugar and bread)
Improve morning ritual (meditation and stretching) Specifics: water with Apple vinegar upon rising, bible study, 10 min stretch using yoga app, 20 mins meditation using OMG app everyday!
Reduce evening use of electronics (specifics: cut off iPad, TV, computer and iPhone at 8 pm)
Read more (finish Undaunted and start Vladimir Nabokov’s novel and read by 15th; then Virginia Woolf’ novel)
Be in the moment (specifics: practice SOB multiple times per day- Slow down, Observe, Breathe)