New Year’s Fitness Goal: Whole Living 28-Day Challenge

As I mentioned in my New Year’s Goals: I am going to participate in the Whole Living Magazine 28-Day Challenge.  The article says that this plan is a 28-Day jump start on a year of total mind-body wellness.

The program begins January 3rd and you can sign-up for daily tips, recipes and bonus exercises for Free! The program is broken down into 4 weeks with each week having a specific focus with tasks for food, exercise and mental health.

Week 1 = ‘Pare Down and Purify’: This program starts by removing lots of the foods we normally eat like wheat, dairy and caffeine. I am ready for the wheat and dairy part but being realistic, I am not cutting out caffeine totally however, I am going to make sure I drink no more than 2 cups/12 ounces.  The exercises are focused on walking and yoga moves. This is also about your mind as well so there are daily assignments as well including no TV and cutting down on online time on Day 1 hence, I am finishing this post up Sunday night. By the end of week 1, I am to have cut out processed food (easiest part for me), taken a media break (uh-oh), freed up my schedule (sweet!) and added an hour of sleep (Zzzz).

Week 2 = ‘Lay A Wholesome Foundation’: There are more ‘clean’ recipes but will be slowly reintroducing wheat, dairy and soy. There is no sugar, alcohol, processed food and fruit juices.  There is an increase in walking and some arm and core exercises. I love some of the mental focus activities this week including visualization, listening to relaxing  music and making amends.

Week 3 = ‘Gain Momentum’: I am most excited about this week as time to ramp up fitness and nutrition. There will be walking and running, upper and lower body work and some cardio. For food, we will be adding in some new spices and herbs to expand our nutritional flavor profile. For mental exercises, it is time to start working on positivity and overhauling your outlook on life as well – Wheeee!

Week 4 = ‘Kick-Start A New You – For Good’: Time to increase the plant to animal protein ratio and prepare to eat lots of fruits and veggies. There will be grass-fed beef and 2 servings of fish (yum!) this week .We will continue to abstain from artificial sweeteners, colorings, stinking HFCS, nitrates and foods with high pesticide loads. For exercise, we are building on last week and for mental exercises, we are working on writing goals and exploring community involvement.

Get the January edition of Whole Living Magazine and use the website for recipes,exercises and support! Good Luck as I know I will need it.