and she's back!

I can't say that I have been following the plan per se, but I have followed the spirit of the plan over the last month.

I detoxed for 4 days, there were a couple of hiccups along the way, but I finally realised that one small blip should not negate the entire endeavour.

I have been cooking my own food rather than going out, discovering a real passion for cooking along the way.

I have finally been practicing yoga on a regular basis after almost 5 years of enthusiasm for it but little commitment to it. I have seen more progress in the last month of regular practice than in the preceding 5 years' on-again off-again practice.

I haven't had a craving for a soda in weeks.

The result: I'm not sure. I guess I should have been more disciplined about recording my thoughts and progress over the last month. I have discovered real passion for cooking good food with good basic ingredients... no more frozen meals and take-out, it's just too much fun to cook for myself (not to mention much cheaper). I have also finally developed my interest in yoga into a enthusiastic regular practice and I am seeing the benefits... an inch lost from each thigh and an inch off my hips, improved flexibility and finally being able to hold crow pose for more than 5 seconds of uncontrolled wobbling.

I see this as the beginning of implementing some very different habits into my lifestyle. Yoga and cooking being the biggest ones. Now I can work on some other things like doing a better job of keeping in touch with my friends and family that are scattered all over the world, learning to deal with stress a little better, and being more positive about my job which despite it's down sides has some quite fabulous and unusual up sides (how many jobs take you out onto a Japanese research ship in the Pacific Ocean for a week at a time?!).

It's all good.