Happy New Year Goals

Happy New Year guys n gals! I hope you all had a wonderful time wherever you were, whoever you were with, whatever you were doing. I am blessed to live in Sydney as I think we have THE BEST fireworks display hands down! However, this year I did not venture out to see them, exhausted after what has been, literally an exhausting few months, I worked til 3pm NYE, then came home, pottered about, made some raw nori rolls (change to my usual salad dinner you see), and sat down and shared good food with my sisters, one of their partners, my mother, step father, my partner, and a mate popped by also. 

We watched the 9pm fireworks on tv and were amazed, but I fell asleep on the lounge room floor at 930pm so that was me out!

Since then I've gotten a little (too) burnt lying in the sun and playing in the surf having a much needed Mother Earth restoration day, then visiting one of my two favourite Northern Beaches cafes; this one's in Avalon - The Healthy Chef - where I first wrote about here, and of course ordered the same deliciously-amazing-wakame-smothered-detox-salad, with a juice!

Check the head on that spirulina juice!!

My most amazing lunch, and the girls's Big Hubby Brekkies

I also went on a date with my man down to Suverin in Bondi that I luuuurve!! Now for any of you that know the place you'd probably be thinking "why the hell did you go there for a date?!?!" 

Well...  for starters, I never go on dates so anywhere is exciting... secondly because a date to a health food store (not near my place) is pretty much the best date ever in my books (I know, weird helth food store junkie right here)... and thirdly coz if there's amazing food to eat involved (which as an organic raw vegan in Sydney, I've got, hmmm maybe one other eat-out option!) and doubly amazing food to grab and take home (like sprouted millet bread I top with tahini, honey and cacao nibs nomnomnom, or my favourite home made raw vegan coconut yoghurt, or amazing body oil that my skin can't get enough of and I can't buy anywhere else... the list goes on).

So after an early gym sesh, and a walk along the beach, our appetites were sky high. And nothing could have hit the spot like the salad Pete whipped us up for brekkie!!!

Organic mixed greens with beets, cukes, carrots, squash, massive dollopd of a coconut slop he blended especially (omg garlic!), quandong chutney (amazingly tangy aussie outback fruit), pepitas and sunflower seeds... BOMDIGGITY!!

Anyways, what I wanted to touch on today as it's seems to be everywhere I read at the moment (haha so let's be a sheep Christie) is "new years resolutions" - this time of year where we all vow to eat better, lose a few kgs, join a gym, see family more, etc etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I do all this too, but I prefer to label it differently as it seems to kinda stick better. 

I like to call it goal setting. Now I know I didn't come up with this term, but goal setting can be broken down into smaller goals, whereas new years resolutions come across more as all-or-nothing (and we all know that come Feb or March we've given up on most of them).

I've always been big on goal setting - I set goals and achieved them in buying my first property at 20yrs, then travelling Europe for 18months... I've hit financial goals, reading goals, study goals, even daily goals! 

So I've been scribbling a few down so I can chunk them down into smaller ones, that way it's almost like stepping stones laid out in front and I've just gotta get from one to the next, instead of trying to leap over all to land on the last one! 

Some of my goals this year are:

- put aside $100 a week for my next college payment in July

- exercise daily; if only a walk around the block (more for my sanity then anything else)

- to learn to love myself; working in the breakdown of that one still ;)

- to see girlfriends more; schedule in catch ups with someone different every week or so

- to complete 3 subjects by July 31st; by doing 5 assessments for each subject every 2 months

If you've got some you want to scribble down somewhere to remind you, as believe you me, writing down goals makes them so so much more powerful, then do so! If not, you might want to consider looking at how the things you choose to eat can impact our planet. Small changes can make a huge impact across the year. Have a look at some of these:

1. Don’t waste a meal  

I don't know the figures but I'm sure I would be blown away at the amount of food waste our country disposes of. If you're able to plan ahead and only make what you need, this is greatly reduced. Thinking zucchini pasta for dinner with tomatoes and basil? Then how about shredded zucchini in your green salad for lunch tomorrow? Leftover nut pulp from making milk? Dry it out and use it as nut flour.

2. Never buy bottled water again

Tonnes and tonnes of plastic bottles are ending up in landfill every day! But I gotta say, working at a health food store, more and more people are coming in looking for reusable bottles which is GREAT! But check out this collapsible one! It's genius! Too often my empty stainless steel one weighs me down!

 

3. Have a meat-free Monday  

Well I may have my rose coloured glasses on here when I assume most of you guys are vegos if not vegans, however one should not assume! Anyways I'm sure we all know meat eaters or live with some. So... tell them to join Gwyneth Paltrow and Sir Richard Branson in reducing the amount of meat in their diet and have a “meat free Monday”. Cutting meat out of your diet can decrease your carbon footprint by a third of a ton and coming up with meat-free meals isn't as hard as it sounds.

4. Grow your own food

One step better than buying local and organic food is growing your own, not only is this cheaper but it’s also far more rewarding as there is nothing quite like the taste of home grown food (I will admit so far I have been hopeless at growing my own, forgetting to water etc...). If space is limited or you live in a flat with no garden check this thing out - it allows anyone to build their own food wall and works both indoors and outdoors.

5. Eat Real Foods

But I'm gonna assume again here dear readers, that you already do. Oh please say yes! Real foods means whole foods. Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, seaweeds, herbs, sprouts. Some people also do well on legumes and whole grains. But I'm not really going to advocate meat and dairy here sorry for those out there that enjoy those. Whichever you eat, steer clear of all processed, packaged, artificial colour this, flavour enhancer that, cookies, lollies, fizzy drinks... They'll do your body absolutely no good!

These suggestions came from a new website called EthicalCommunity.com that launched last year, and they aim to help us all purchase eco-friendly & natural products, direct from the people that make them. I am not making anything from posting about their site, I only did it as I like their philosophy and what they stand for. A UK-based company but I did ask, and yes they do ship alot of things to us down under :) 

So good luck with whatever goals and resolutions you may aspire to writing and achieving. I'd love to know what they may be and we can then help one another in achieving them!