As we head towards 2013, Mr Pilot and I have been assessing our goals for the new year. One of the goals for both of us is looking at our food and exercise and trying to make the healthiest choices we can. There’s a number of reasons that we are thinking about this, including:
1. Squirm will be moving to solids around February. We are going to be doing Baby-Led Weaning with him, which means he’ll be sharing the same foods we eat. Obviously we want him to have the healthiest start to food possible, so that means we have to get healthier too
2. We’re becoming more aware of how good healthy food can be. There are some awesome alternatives out there to high salt, high sugar, high fat foods and it’s going to be a bit of an adventure to discover them 🙂
3. Eating healthy means making a lot of our own food, which tends to work out cheaper in the end. My maternity pay runs out soon, and we want to keep our savings up, so that’s a good reason to spend less on food.
4. There’s obvious health benefits to eating well and exercising. I have a thyroid problem, so eating well has to help that. We’re also becoming aware that health in our 30s isn’t as simple as it was in our 20s . . .
5. The pregnancy and birth took a lot out of my body. I had stomach separation and a few other health issues, plus it mustn’t have been good to eat the number of Frosty Fruits I ate!
Some Bliss Balls I made – almost entirely healthy 🙂
We’re look at this as a goal, rather than a resolution, because I think we’re more likely to approach a goal in a methodical manner. We’re going to have to learn more about the food we eat, hunt down some new recipes to cook and think about what we want the outcome to be. We don’t want this to be a weight loss thing, we want this to be a lifestyle change – so coming up with an end goal is harder. I’d like to try to cook a new meal each week and to avoid prepackaged food as much as possible (it’s much harder to be sure of the contents with prepackaged food). I also want to avoid eating lots of chocolate (I eat way, way too much) and to make healthier food choices when I’m eating away from home. There’s still a lot to consider, of course . . .
What’s your favourite healthy recipe? What goals are you setting for 2013?
Adventures of a Subversive Reader 
I love this time of year, it is so easy to eat healthy food. With all of the stone fruit around I have to be quick to get some before our four kids get to them, especially cherries and mangoes.
But the best thing is that we almost always have a salad.
So the kids, 8, 7, 4 and 1 can get it all ready and then call US for dinner.
Totally agree about the great food, Phil – last night we had a mango and cucumber salad 🙂
Now to get Squirm to cook it for me . . , 🙂
Good for you. I like your idea of setting goals rather than resolutions. I think I’ve resolved to lose weight every New Year since I can remember, but, like you, this year my focus is much more about health, energy and being a good example to the little people. Love the idea of baby led weaning too – hope you do a little blogging about how you go. We kind of did that with our 3rd child because I really didn’t have time to prepare different meals – he just had to fit in!
I find it hard to think of ‘losing weight’ while I’m still breastfeeding. Eating healthy is a much easier goal!
I’ll remember to post about BLW – I think it’ll be an exciting adventure!