10 Easy Ways to Start the New Year with a Clear Conscience

Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you have had a rest­ful (some­what) and peace­ful (as much as pos­sible) hol­i­day break, because it is a new year and fresh start if you want it to be. Or do you? January is the dreaded month of dis­cip­line for some…

Why do we have a hate-​on for January?

1. It’s cold and dark
2. We have to go back to work or our nor­mal, less-​exciting routine
3. We can­not jus­tify our slov­enly beha­viour of over­in­dul­gence in sugar, chocol­ate, bak­ing com­bined with little phys­ical activity
4. We are forced to acknow­ledge we have had a role in #3
5. We are unable to talk ourselves out of #3 and #4 because every­one else is on a diet, exer­cising, or com­plain­ing about not want­ing to do either
6. The all-​or-​nothing beha­viour that our spe­cies has been doing for cen­tur­ies is ulti­mately exhaust­ing to repeat and think about

Wouldn’t it be nice to go into January with a renewed sense of self that has been bal­anced and good dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son without the frenzy of hav­ing to restart?

It would. It might also be a pipe dream.

10 Easy Ways to Start Your New Year with a Clearer Conscience

1. Drink water.
2. Eliminate white sugar for a few days.
3. Have one caf­fein­ated drink a day, prefer­ably in the morning
4. Bring your lunch a few times dur­ing the week.
5. Introduce green veget­ables into at least 2 parts of your day.
6. Make sure that pro­tein is a sig­ni­fic­ant por­tion of each meal, whether veget­able or meat source.
7. Try to eat more lean meats like tur­key and chicken and or fish, pos­sibly from organic sources.
8. Forget you know any­thing about baked goods, cook­ies, or ginger­bread men.
9. Go to bed. Earlier than you have ever gone to bed before. You prob­ably need double that amount.
10. Try to be com­pas­sion­ate to every­one around you. How do you feel without cook­ies in your life?
11. (Bonus) Remind your­self that if you mess up 1 – 9 you will do this all again next year.