New Year’s Resolutions

 It’s that time of year again – the time when we all make some sort of “New Year’s Resolution.” A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that when we make “New Year’s Resolutions,” we shouldn’t wait till New Year’s to act on them. He makes a good point. Why wait? I mean, most of us think about it ahead of time, so why wait to act on them? I think if we acted on them in little ways, then when it comes time to make the resolution or publicly declare it, we’d not only be ahead of the game on New Year’s Eve, we’d have a better chance of following through during the year.

I know that I’ve made a couple of resolutions that I’ve been acting on. One is to become primarily vegan. I know that conjures up pictures of granola eating, save the planet types. It’s something I’ve thought about off and on for years. In part because of what’s written in the Bible about diet. Man didn’t eat meat till after Noah came off the ark. I just couldn’t imagine giving up meat, eggs, and dairy. Now I can – most of the time. I admit I love beef. In particular, pot roast and steak. I don’t care about chicken that much, so that’s no big deal. The thing that really made me decide to go more vegan was the documentary, “Forks Over Knives.”

In it, two doctors specializing in two different health problems, living in two different areas of the country started looking at diet as a way to help their patients. What they discovered was that countries where meat is five percent or less of the overall diet, people were healthier. They had less incidence of cancer and heart disease. In fact, Switzerland had really high incidents of cancer and heart disease till Hitler invaded and took all their meat for his troops. Without meat in their diets, cancer and heart disease incidents became radically lower. Once he left, the incidents of cancer and heart disease went back up. Hearing that was enough to make me and my roommate decide to cut down the meat in our diet. The only “disagreement” we’re having is whether to use beans or tofu in place of meat. I like beans, but I know eventually we’ll tire of them, so we’ll see what happens. In the meantime we’re cutting our meat in half for some recipes and using beans in others.

Here’s a link to “Forks Over Knives: The Extended Interviews”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY_J6QDWRrs

Since we started going more vegan, I find that I like meat less, at least ground meat, such as hamburger, anyway. I’ve also learned that silken tofu makes a good smoothie. It also helps that when I’m fixing meals for just me, I eat primarily vegan.

I’ve noticed that on days when I eat vegan or primarily vegan/vegetarian, my weight trends downward. If I eat meat, it trends upward. This is good news for me as I struggle with my weight, which I know contributes to the health issues in my family. Both sides have/had diabetes and heart issues. My mother’s had cancer, though she’s in remission now. Thankfully, mother’s side has longevity, but if I’m going to live as long as some of my maternal relatives, I’d like to be as healthy as possible.

Another resolution I have for this year (actually, I’ve had this one for a while, just haven’t had the courage to test it) is to get on an elliptical exercise machine and workout for at least five minutes without getting my butt kicked. I got on one a few years ago while in Idaho for my maternal grandmother’s 90^th birthday (this is what I mean about longevity – she’s still alive and kicking). It kicked my butt in less than three minutes. Since then I’ve been trying to get regular exercise, but I don’t always due to things like colds. I’m getting better about being more consistent and intentional about working out, so I think sometime this year I’ll hit that goal.

Another resolution I have for this year is to get back to my Latin studies and practicing piano. I set them aside when I got really frustrated with the mess in my office. Not to mention some of the mess ended up on my keyboard and bench. Now that I’ve got all the cleared away and figured out how to use my time wisely, I can start doing both again.

My final resolution for this year is to finish the novel I started during “National November Write a Novel Month.” It also means sitting down to write daily, except for the days when we go grocery shopping. By the time we get done with that, I just have time to do dishes and call it a day.  I was unable to finish in November because I had to stop to make an outline. Not only that, but I had to make a list of character’s and who they are in my story. If all goes well, I’ll finish it by the end of March. I’ve learned that while some authors, such as Stephen King and Debbie Macomber, can go to their offices and write till they’ve hit a certain word count, I can’t. I usually have about three to four hours a day before I have to go make dinner. If I use a crockpot to cook, I get an extra hour. That makes it difficult to hit a high word count.

So, those are my resolutions. I’ve started working on them already. How about you? What are your resolutions? Feel free to share in the comments.