New Year - New Me

Or at least a start at a new me :)  I wouldn't say that these are New Year's Resolutions, as they were actually made in December.  However, I figured that trying to make changes in my life during the hectic time between Thanksgiving and New Year's wasn't exactly a recipe for success.

There are a number of areas of my life that I want to focus on this year, each with goals that are big enough to make me stretch, but small enough to be attainable.  All of them are designed to help me be healthier and happier.  I'm hoping to loose a number of dress sizes in the process :)

1. Bible Reading.
For the past couple of years I've been using a Bible reading plan that has you reading the Old Testament each year and the New Testament and the Psalms twice a year.  This is a great plan, but I felt that too often I was rushing through my reading to get it done and not letting what I was reading really sink in.  So this year I started a plan that will have me read through the Old Testament in two years and the New Testament in one year.  It's allowing me to not rush through my reading each day and to ponder what I read.

2. Eating
This year my goal is to limit the amount of processed food that I eat.  I really want to go whole hog into a traditional foods diet, but I know that's just not practical, especially since my husband isn't completely on board.  But I can make small changes, and limiting the processed food that I eat is a change that I can make.  To that end, I want to begin making more of the snacks that I take to work each day.

I also am trying to limit the amount of carbs from grains that I eat.  I know that will go a long way for me to reach my weight goal.

3. Exercising
Which brings me to my next area, exercise.  With money that I received at Christmas, I purchased the T-Tapp tape.  I probably won't be able to do much with it until next week.  But, just focusing on proper posture that I learned the one time that I watched it, really helped my back not hurt this weekend.

4. Decluttering
My house does not look cluttered, but that's because it all lives in drawers and cabinets.  I want to go through a number of drawers in my bedroom and I want to go through my entire kitchen.  If I'm not using it, it's going.

This post is part of Traditional Tuesdays at Cooking Traditional Food, Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Homemaking Link Up at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, and Healthy 2day Wednesday at day2day joys.