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Hi kids! I know it’s a little early to be talking about New Year’s Resolutions. I mean at this point, I am just resolving to, please God, make it to the next year without dying or committing a homicide. But I am bringing up New Year’s resolutions at this time for a few important reasons:
1. I wish to forestall panic. One problem about waiting until New Year’s day to start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions is that the self-help marketing machine fires up in full force around midnight on December 25. And this “self-help” marketing machine is fueled completely by post-holiday panic. Your Yule dinner won’t even be digested before tons of advertising hits trying to convince you that you are a BAD PERSON for having eaten it in the first place, and that you should start to feel massive amounts of panic this very second! I say forewarned is forearmed. (Wow, forearmed is a really weird word when you see it written down. Does it mean you are prepared with weaponry or simply that you have body parts between your elbows and your wrists? But I digress…) So I want you to think ahead of time about how you are going to cope with this marketing onslaught. I don’t want you to be caught unprepared.
2. You might want to plan a media diet. By and large I don’t believe in diets. But from time to time I do recommend a “media diet”. I don’t usually consume a lot of television or magazines, but I am especially careful to avoid TV or glossy magazines any time between December 25 and January 31. It seems that during this time, all any magazines and TV shows can talk about is your need to lose weight in the coming year. I mean it’s ALL they can talk about. It makes me crazy. And internet ads can be equally crazy-making (although usually a little easier to ignore). So for the month of January, I drastically cut down on my media consumption, and am careful to spit out any media that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmmrrfJKY7I&w=420&h=315]3. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin in me. With apologies to the songs about St. Francis, I think that peace on earth begins within our hearts and between our own ears. I think that a more peaceful world is an awesome plan for 2014. But I think peace on earth becomes a lot easier when we feel peace in our own skins. So, I’d like to suggest that we approach 2014 with a plan to take care of ourselves from a place of love not hurt and a place of peace without panic. Which leads me to the fact that:
4. I’ve got a cool project idea, and I’d like your help. Last year, I posted a New Year’s resolutions video. Here it is:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJeHJdLjPR0&w=560&h=315]THIS year, I’d like to post a resolutions video with YOUR resolutions. But in order to do this, I need your help. I need you to send photos of yourself along with a resolution that I can put into this year’s video. I’d like to post the video by January 1, so I’ll need a little lead time. So I’m asking you to email your photo along with a very short answer (like 1 to 5 words) to fill in this blank:
“This year I resolve to _____________________________”
Send your photos and resolutions to projects@thefatchick.com.
Here’s to a 2014 filled with light, laughter and body love for all.
Love, Jeanette DePatie, AKA The Fat Chick
2 Comments. Leave new
My resolution is the same as last year: no resolutions. This year I actually did modify my food intake, coincidental to the start of the year: I have by-and-large given up all chemical non-nutritive sweeteners in favor of natural non-nutritive sweeteners like Stevia and Monkfruit extracts, and the very occasional use of nutritive sweeteners like honey and maple syrup. And the very, very occasional consumption of something with real cane sugar in it. I am trying to stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup and sugar made with GMO sugar beets.
I have occasionally had drinks with artificial sweeteners, but consumption of those were rare and far between and usually when I needed to caffeinate and there was no unsweetened iced tea around. Considering that I was absolutely addicted to Pepsi MAX, a high-caffeine, aspartame sweetened cola, before I stopped consuming artificial sweeteners, this is a Big Freaking Deal.
This was not a new year’s resolution though. It was a modification of what I eat, a de-emphasis on certain types of chemical additives and a re-emphasis on drinking better-for-me sources of caffeine like green tea and/or black tea, usually prepared iced. (personal preference)
There was no issue about “being on the wagon” or “falling off the wagon” because I didn’t make a big deal about it. You can get unsweetened iced tea almost anywhere. It’s almost as ubiquitous as soda. And making it at home…much better on the wallet.
[…] P.S. If you’d like some more hints about loving your body, I’m giving away a free present “5 Things You Can do To Love Your Body Right Now” to everybody on my “list”. If you’re not already a member, you can join my list right here. And in case you missed it, I talked all about body image on the Katie Couric show yesterday. Here’s a link, and here’s another one. Oh and don’t forget to send your photos and new year’s resolutions to me by December 30 so you can be a part of the 2014 New Year’s video! […]