Week 23 of my 52nd year just ended and my progress isn’t very impressive.  I have only completed four goals on the list and the list is still incomplete with only 40 items.  Instead of getting frustrated, I’m trying to celebrate what I have achieved.  This week I did a happy dance when I checked off #22: Eat 5 fruits and veggies in a day 52 times.

When I was inspired to start the 52 Project, I made a vow to myself to keep items off the list that seemed punitive or negative.  No “lose 26 pounds” on my list.  Instead, I thought about habits I WANTED to cultivate that I felt would have a positive benefit on my health.  I know that one area that could use improvement is the amount of fruits and veggies that are in my diet.  Ask me to list my favorite foods and I’ll respond with strawberries, lemons, clementines, carrots, radishes,  cabbage, and onions.  But they haven’t been a staple in my diet. Living on my own has led me to take less care with what I eat.  I had simply fallen out of the habit of eating well.  Or maybe I had fallen into the habit of eating poorly. Either way, I wanted to change that.

I once heard a statement that it takes 40 days to start or break a new habit. Some sources say it only takes 21 days, others say both those numbers are a myth.  (See the links below if you want to explore this yourself.)  In any case, it seems to me that doing anything 52 times should set it up for becoming a routine ingrained in my life. Setting a goal to eat the minimum recommended number of fruits and veggies a day was a no-brainer.

How did it go?  It was difficult.  Seriously, 161 days have gone by since I set this goal and I just achieved eating 5 servings of fruits & veggies on 52 days. That means that on over 1/3 of the days, I didn’t achieve the goal. That’s humbling.  Until I started to analyze how my eating has changed. That has helped me put it in perspective.

At first I had a couple of big barriers to overcome.   I didn’t have fruit and veggies in my house.  Raising my family, I bought fruits and veggies in large quantities. Heck, Scott would eat 3-4 apples a day, so I was used to buying large bags of apples. But now, the apples would go bad before I could eat more than one or two. I don’t like to waste food.  So I stopped buying apples. The second barrier was that preparing fruits and veggies took  time.  Rushing out of the house in the morning and being exhausted when I returned home was not conducive to preparing salads or roasting vegetables. As I acknowledged these facts, I was able to put myself in a position to succeed.  I bought smaller quantities of food: three perfect apples vs a 5 lb bag of apples. I took shortcuts such as buying pre-cut veggies so that there was a better chance they would end up on my plate.

Slowly, I started eating more of the good stuff.  Blueberries on my yogurt, a banana for my 10 AM snack, an apple in the afternoon.  Put a bowl of clementines on my desk and I’ll eat those before I reach for the bowl of chocolates.  A frozen burrito for lunch?  Choose the veggie version.  Omelet for breakfast?  Add mushrooms, onions and peppers, top it with salsa.  It’s all good.  And in the last month, most days I’ve not only achieved the 5 fruits and veggies a day, I’ve surpassed that mark.   On the days I don’t, I’m usually at 4 servings. It has become a habit and I don’t think it is one that I will break anytime soon.

I still need to find 12 more goals for my 52 Project – suggestions, anyone?

Interesting reading on habits:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/form-a-habit.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/forming-new-habits_b_5104807.html

http://www.thelighthouseyoga.com/retreat-event/40-days-to-change-a-habit

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them