Last Day of the First Month

     Today is the last day of the first month of your 2012 lifestyle. How are the small changes you made this month going? I had a win today at lunch. If you recall I made a small change to cut back on soda a month  ago. It lead to a bigger change to cut out soda altogether. Today was the big test. I took my son to lunch and as a matter of habit ordered a value meal at a fast food restaurant which came with an empty cup to fill. I had every intention of filling it with Dr. Pepper as I walked to soda fountain, after all it was between noon and four. But as I thought about the thick, syrup filling my cup from that soda fountain  I realized something. I really do not drink pop anymore. I selected unsweetened tea instead. It was light and refreshing although I only drank half of it and went back to my bottled water.
     Change takes time. To make a new behavior a habit

Refreshing Life-Giving Water

    Yahoo! writer Paula Spencer Scott starts us off with 5 Suprising Reasons to Drink Water (below). At Yahoo! Health you can check your symptoms, find a doctor, and read articles on healthly living. DumbLittleMan.com offers Tips for Life including 9 Great Reasons to Drink Water (below). AllAboutWater.org offers 10 Reasons to Drink Water (Below). You can follow their link to learn about water filtration for your home, the differences in the types of bottled water you buy, as well as information about the water you swim and bathe in. Editors of Eating Well Magazine offer 7 Health Shockers (below) that will make you grab your water bottle. Their Eating Well Website offers lots of healthy recipes and menus along with tips on diet, nutrition, and health.

5 Surprising Reasons to Drink Water by Paula Spencer Scott

1. Lowers Stress

2. Helps you lose weight

Synergy

    Just Do One Thing in more than one area of your life and you get a synergistic effect in all areas. If you recall several weeks ago, I did one thing. I effected my physical being by only drinking soda during the hours of Noon to 4pm. Instead of denying myself soda in the morning and evening, I turned it into a chance to discover new drinks I normally would not try. In addition to this physical One Thing, I did one thing spiritually. I started meditating on God's word ten to twenty minutes a day. These two areas have been interacting together fueling each other in ways that have injected energy into the environmental and mental areas of my life as well as the changes they made in my spiritual and physical being.
   After two  weeks of corraling my soda drinking habit into a four hour period, I found my dependence on the substance released. Meditation has added clarity to my mental processes. One day I spiritually knew that

HyVee Wins the Back At Home Faster Award!

     Why are we tempted to drive thru for dinner? Meal planning takes time. Just grocery shopping alone consumes over 250 hours a year. Preparing and cooking a meal is not very complicated once everything you need is on hand and ready to go.  How do you think Rachel Ray whips up those delicious meals in less than thirty minutes? Someone else went grocery shopping for her!

     The next best thing to having a personal shopper is shopping online and either picking it up or having it delivered. When I first investigated online grocery shopping several years ago, it was cumbersome and I quickly gave up on it. But with advances in web designs and online databases I thought I would give it another try. Here is my review of some of the online services available today.

Simple Choices; Profound Revelations

     I am on my second bottle of water today! H20 is my new beverage of choice. I am actually enjoying this. If you read my previous blogs, you remember I limited my former beverage of choice, Dr. Pepper, to between the hours of noon and 4pm. During that time I explored many new drinks and learned to make new choices when it came to that dreaded question, "What can I get you to drink?" I used to avoid restarants that didn't have Dr. Pepper and would drive across town to find a fountain with just the perfect mix. Think of the freedom I now have no longer chained to such a debilitating habit.

Just One Thing

One Small Step at a Time,
Takes you to the Top

   How do big things happen? Just one thing at a time. Think of the big things you want to do this year. If you read the blog yesterday, you wrote down your 7 Top 2012 goals. If you pick just one thing to change or do each month for each one, you will make 12 changes in  your lifestyle, home, or daily activities for each that will add up to big things in your life by the end of the year.
  One of my 2012 goals is to be more fit and healthy by the end of this, better put, throughout this year. It's not just an end goal but a continually improving process. The one thing I am

Stay On Track



Happy New Year!!

    We've zoomed into a new year-- one week in, how are those resolutions coming? Did you pass your one week review?
  
Three Things You Can Do to 
STAY ON TRACK
1. List Your Top 7 Goals for 2012- print them out and put them in the front of your day planner or on your fridge.
2. Make a list of the Top 7 Things you want to accomplish this month that will help you achieve your 2012 goals: print them out and put them in front of your day planner or on your fridge.
3. Make a list of 7 things you can do everyday that will move your closer to your goals. Print out that list and put it in your day planner. I also keep a copy in the clear view window of my wallet.

Keep your daily 7's list simple so you can use it as a daily jogger and eventually memorize it. Here is a