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You know those days when you feel like you left your mojo in bed? 

Perhaps you had a rubbish nights sleep or maybe you overindulged the day before. Maybe there’s no particular reason and yet the only thing that seems remotely appealing about today is your first – Second – THIRD (!) coffee or that snackie food you really don’t need to be devouring or perhaps crawling back into bed as early as possible and declaring: “Tomorrow is a new day!”

Yes tomorrow is a new day however you don’t need to wait that long!

In todays Month In Review show I’m discussing:

Resurrecting an UNIdeal Day with Action Based Goals. 

I’ll also chat a little food, a little exercise and I’ll share what’s been rockin this past month and what’s been a tad more struggle street. Above all, my intention is to make this content applicable to YOU and creating and keeping a fit, healthy plant strong body.

Let’s get rolling…

I’m pretty sure we all get those UNIdeal / mojo missing days. Some of us fake it till we make it and some of us wallow. I’ve never felt better for wallowing. Thankfully it’s amazing how quickly you can come good once you start to fake it till you make it by completing with your action based goals.

A couple of initial considerations.

First: You’ll need to lay the ground work BEFORE that UNIdeal / mojo missing day strikes. 

Second: I first became a fan of action based goals not because of their unideal day resurrecting ability. That was a welcome added benefit. The initial HUGE PRO is that you’re in complete control of your action based goals. You can tick them off daily and know that you’re making progress. It’ll build self belief and strengthen your reputation with YOU. That’s in stark contrast to for example: weight based goals or anything else that is measured like sales and leads.

Here are a few guidelines to make action based goals work for you:

One: Get clear on what is most important to you right now: How Does Your Ideal Day Look and What Goal / Value / Purpose is it propelling you towards. This is vital, otherwise you’ll be tempted by action based goals that aren’t yours and as such aren’t inspiring or sustainable long term.

Two: Try the Stop : Start : Continue Framework.

This is useful when everything is a little overwhelming and you’re feeling a tad time poor. It’s really a time / action swap so it’s manageable irrespective of your current schedule.

First, Decide on 3 things to CONTINUE. These are the actions aligned with your goals that are already working for you. Perhaps no social media in bed OR before you’ve completed your most important tasks for the day. Meditation for 10 minutes each morning. Planning your day to come the night before.

Next, Decide on 3 things to STOP. These are actions detracting from you goals that are holding you back. Maybe playing the comparison game to your detriment where you focus on the manufactured highlight reel of other peoples lives and compare it to your own blooper real. Binge watching Netflix. Testing your discipline by keeping tempting trigger food at home.

Finally, Decide on 3 things to START. These are actions that will propel you towards achieving your goals if you commit to them consistently. Possibly prioritising 30 – 60 – 120 minutes a day (whatever is realistic right now for you) to work on your most important goal. Journaling your daily gratitudes and reference points for success. Reframing the automatic negative thoughts that pop into your mind.

Three: Schedule Your Action Based Goals (from the Stop : Start : Continue Framework). 

When an UNIdeal day strikes you want to leave as little decision making to your struggle-street-self as possible. 

So, to use those CONTINUE examples, when I wake up and feel my mojo is missing I let my schedule decide that: I start the day with 10 minutes meditation. I follow the plan for today that I decided on the day before. And I don’t waste time on social media before I’ve completed my most important tasks by order of priority. I know from experience, if meditation isn’t done first thing it likely won’t be done. And if I don’t have a plan of tasks for today I’ll be MUCH more susceptible to mindless activity starting with a wasted hour or few cycling between Facebook, Instagram and email.

As someone who works from home 50% of the time I have the illusion of freedom that could let me slip into a spiral of UNIdeal days. Action based goals save me from that potential self sabotage regularly and reliably. If you can relate then I hugely recommend you try the action based goals approach.

Let’s chat FOOD and this month I’m all about sneaking extra veg into your / your families meals. 

Here are 3 strategies:

One: The bold base to build around.

This might be zucchini zoodles instead of noodles. Cauli-rice. A portobello pizza base or burger bun. An eggplant pizza base or strips of grilled eggplant as lasagne sheets or cannelloni. Cos / cabbage leaves as tacos and kale / sweet potato crisps as nachos.

Two: The crafty concealed combo. 

This is when you add a handful of spinach or zucchini or broccoli stalk to your smoothies. Or throw an extra grated carrot and zucchini into your meals on mass such as my current fav, tempeh mince. The recipe called for mushies, an onion and a can of tomatoes however with a base of tempeh, mixed nuts and sun-dried tomatoes plus plenty of garlic, herbs and some salt it welcomes extra veg into the combo easily. I also add kale to my basil pesto and zucchini to my hummus.

Three: The tempting topper. 

Certainly my fav strategy to sneak extra veg into my meals. My go to’s include brussel and kale crisps. Also baked edamame (they’re offical a bean however they are high value and green!). If I was as patient / talented in the kitchen as my mum I’d add an extra tempting topper like caramelised onions.

Let’s move onto EXERCISE and revise a post I wrote a while ago which shares a new definition for C.A.R.D.I.O.

If your ideal body is fit, strong and healthy and if you find ‘cardio land’ super tedious and highly UN-fun then this post is for YOU! There is a workout. Here’s a link to: The Anti Cardio Workout. First though let’s get our acronym on!

C.ARB OVER-RE-FUEL.

This leads to the infamous, fitter and fatter.

It’s insanely easy to eat more than you just worked off… and that is why instead of suffering from Cardio Carb-Over-Re-Fuel I strongly suggest you divert that cardio to time to time invested instead planning your awesome meals for the week.

A. MASSIVE TIME & ENERGY EAT.

“I have excess time and energy to squander” is something no client has ever said to me.

R.EPETITIVE.

Boredom can kill off your desire to continue with your exercise program quicker than you can say veggie pizza minus the cheese please. Beyond the boredom factor is the strain performing the same movement time and time again – potentially for hours a week can place on your joints.

D.ULL.

So we’ve covered the boredom factor however a less talked about draw-back to cardio is the way those machines lull you into that same old dull routine you’ve been doing for months. It’s a chance to just zone out and not think right?

Wrong! Exercise is precious you time – time to not think about stress in your life however not because you’re vague’ing out – rather because you’re pushing yourself hard enough to not be able to think of anything else!

I.NSIGNIFICANT AFTER BURN.

One of the huge differences between weight and cardio is the amount of fat you burn after you stop exercising. The after-burn, EPOC or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. For weights your metabolism will stay elevated for up to 24 hours. For (non HIIT) cardio, you miss out on that precious after-burn.

O.NGOING ENERGY OUT v ENERGY IN TRAP.

I spent years on this cycle. I was pretty fit. So if that’s your goal – go for it! However if you want to be fit, strong, lean and not spend hours and hours a week in the land of tedious cardio then switch your moderate intensity cardio sessions for weights sessions.

What do you reckon – are we on the same page?

If you’re after a full body workout that I call weights that I guarantee will get you sweatier and fitter than any moderate intensity cardio I’ve got you covered with The Anti Cardio Workout. It’s mostly weights – performed with minimal rest so that your heart rate gets nice and high, you ‘get your sweat on’ AND you also get the lean muscle building and fat torching benefits of lifting weights.

My recommendation this month and who’s inspiring me are related. It’s PETA’s Vegan Mentor program. If you’re a new vegan and would like some one on one support from your own vegan coach while making the transition to this amazing yet potentially daunting lifestyle OR if you love the idea of sharing your expertise and experiences as one of PETA’s Vegan Mentors then please check out: www.peta.org/veganmentor.

In last weeks show I chatted with Keith Burgeson from PETA’s Vegan Mentor program and I learnt A LOT from that chat. If I were a new vegan feeling a little isolated, overwhelmed or confused by everything involved in creating a healthy vegan lifestyle, Keith has exactly the perspective and attitude that is both welcoming and inclusive that I would love to encounter. Equally as an established vegan there’s plenty in the way Keith conducts himself that some existing vegans (Yes, myself included) could take inspiration from too.

In 3 words it’s about: COMPASSION for ALL. The animals. Other humans. The Planet. And ourselves.

Although I have Ahimsa meaning “compassion for all living things” tattooed on my wrist (!) I’m still learning to live it every day.

Which brings me to this months struggle-street. It’s also a recommendation. My current struggle is something I did not have the word for until I happened across heard the term Vystopia. Coined by vegan psychologist, animal activist and author Clare Mann in her new book “Vystopia: The anguish of being vegan in a non-vegan world.”

I’m excited to share Clare will be on the podcast in a couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to hearing her advice to those of us that find it increasingly hard to find the compassion for our fellow humans who seem to choose taste, tradition and convenience over life. I won’t dig in now as I introduced the notion of Vystopia in show #530 and as I mentioned we’ll have Clare on the show soon.

Also I want to finish todays show on a positive note. Hopefully even entertaining… and let’s make it actionable too. So, if you have a tempting trigger food you currently keep at home please STOP that ineffective action today and instead keep it at work or if that’s not possible buy it in single portion serves. That’s what I do with my delicious roasted cashews and macadamias. As I was in my roasted nut bliss yesterday (devouring from a fresh 400gm bag that is my quota for the whole week and kept at work) one of the male trainers held his hand out expectantly for a share.

He was shocked to be declined. He even asked another of our colleagues to try his nut luck. The thing is, as everyone in the gym fast learns I don’t share those nuts! There’s only one bag for the week because I have ZERO CONTROL around roasted nuts! As I left that morning my colleague declared: “I will not forget today!” I attempted reconciliation with the offer: “I have some mixed raw nuts you’re welcome to?” However apparently those “decoy nuts” were not good enough.

The lesson? I’m selfish around nuts. And a little more applicably to you, learn what works for your body and your health and know that a little bit of selfish is acceptable. Even recommended. That might mean taking the time for scheduled exercise or it might mean not keeping tempting trigger foods at home.

That’s it for another week in Healthification. Huge thanks to YOU for sharing this week with me. I appreciate it with all my heart.

The Healthification podcast is proudly bought to you by my FREE ‘Easy Vegan’ plan. It took me 25 years to transition from a meat eater to a happy, healthy Vegan! You can do it in just 3 days with  my simplified ‘easy vegan’ plan!  Get the fit, strong, and healthy plant based body you deserve… while avoiding ALL the mistakes I made along the way!

Till next time, remember Creating a body and life you love is Freedom. (If this ex-carb queen, NON-genetically gifted, naturally uncoordinated VEGAN-chick can do it – so can YOU!!!)

If you liked ‘Month In Review PLUS Resurrecting an UNIdeal Day with Action Based Goals.‘ you’ll also like:  Stop, Start, Continue Action Based Weight Loss Goals.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.