My August Experiment: The 4S "Diet"

July 31: Tomorrow is the month of August. The month of family birthdays, end of summers, the cringing at school supplies stocked in every store. It's the last moment to squeeze in our last late-night affairs with outdoor movies and popsicles, all the while dreading what the months of farm chores and play have done to our math skills AND our morning skills.



The Mister and I are on different body clocks, by which I mean that he is a wake-up-and-go guy, and I steal a few hours from the night to increase productivity of my day. That is my preference, and I fight it; but this summer I gave in to it. It's summer! I had a newborn, we had movies in the park, sunsets at 9:30 and middle-of-the-night feedings. But what with my expanding gut not getting smaller even though it's no longer housing offspring, and the impending doom of school schedules and homework, I felt an experiment rising to put me back on track. This August I am implementing a simple plan. Four elements that start with the letter S, to keep it simple and do-able. Think about joining me if you are in the same boat, as any extra support is welcome.

SALAD
SCRIPTURES
SEVEN
SLEEP



Here's the rules:

SALAD-A-DAY*
In an effort to avoid the annoyance of calorie counting, and to help curb my sweet-tooth, we're going back to a raw green salad a day. It might be a breakfast spinach smoothie, or steamed cabbage for dinner, or a big fat salad for lunch. But EVERY day we're getting some greens. For extra inspiration in the salad department, click here.

SCRIPTURES*
"Bridle your passions, and I'll feel you with love". I completely recognize along with celebrations and parties, food helps avenue my stresses about parenting, motherhood, beauty, etc. For whatever HOLE we have that food often fills, I will be trying to fill instead with some holy word instead.

SEVEN*
Try to eat dinner every night while still in the seven o'clocks. 7:30 pm would be ideal. In tandem with this is the hope that I don't eat for at least 3 hours before going to bed. Because I'm nursing, and I don't want my plan to fail, I'm allowing myself ONE PIECE OF FRUIT between dinner and bed-time. But that last meal is taking place before that clock hits 8!

SLEEP*
The irony of this rule is that I am now writing this at 10:42 p.m. But it's still July technically, so here goes. GET TO BED EVERY NIGHT BY 10:30. My reasoning behind this is that most avenues to good health should require a sleep plan, and that lots of good intentions to make better health changes are derailed when we lack sleep or are extra tired. Late nights also pose temptations to snarf some sweets.

Also note: one last movie in the park in August so I'm allowing myself a couple of nights to break the rules...but definitely they will need to feel like exceptions and not routines.

That's it! So that is my plan for August. I'm hoping that once I've laid this groundwork, I can add to it with a more consistent exercise routine.

Won't you join me?