SMART goals

I have fallen in love with Andrew Weil's guidelines for a healthy lifestyle http://www.drweil.com/

The guidelines proposed in his anti-inflammatory food pyramid are in line with the recent research on cardiovascular disease, cancer prevention, and overall health and wellness.

As I approach my LATE 20's (eek!) my focus is shifting away from "eating for optimal sports performance" and towards "eating to promote optimal wellness and longevity". I want to eat in a way that not only helps me run and row fast, but also allows me to raise a healthy and happy family, do my job well, and keep my body and mind functioning as long as possible.

The only issue is, following Dr. Weil's guidelines means I will have to make some major changes in my current habits. And old habits are hard to break. But with a solid action plan and good focus, I think I will be able to acheive an anti-inflammatory lifestyle!

I teach a personal nutrition class designed to help people set some nutrition related goals and start to work towards acheiving them. Last night as I lectured on how to design "SMART" goals, I thought about some goals I have for changing my diet and improving health, and how I probably have not acheived them because I've failed to lay out a "SMART" plan. So today I will start practicing what I preach!

SMART is an acronym that stands for:

Specific

Measureable

Attainable

Relevant

Timed

As you plan and execute long term (3-6 month) goals, short term (weekly/monthly) goals, and immediate (day to day) goals, it is important to clearly define what you want to acheive by using the SMART method.

We tend to be vague with goal setting: "I want to eat better", "I want to exercise more", and "I want to lose weight" are some common examples of this.

My very vague goal for the past couple months has been "I want to adopt Andrew Weil's Anti-inflammatory diet". I realize that I need to be much more specific if I want to acheive this goal!

So, I am changing this long term goal to...

"By February 18, 2010, I will live according to Andrew Weil's Anti-inflammatory diet 18 out of my 21 meals per week".

Is this SMART?

Specific and measurable: 18/21 weekly meals

Attainable: I think so...we shall see!

Relevant: yes. This way of eating has shown to have great cardiovascular disease and cancer fighting benefits, which aligns with my values and my desire to live a long and healthy life.

Timed: I'm giving myself 3 months to make some small changes in my diet each week/month so I eventually work up to the guidelines! I will have to cut out my fake sugar intake, some added sugar, some milk, some meat, some coffee, and a lot of the processed foods I eat.

This should be attainable if I cut the long term goal in to some little pieces to work on each month:

Short term goals (October 17-31)
1. eliminate fake sugar; limit added sugar foods (sweets) to 3 times per week

2. limit coffee to 1 mug per day; limit lattes to 1 per week

3. bake 1 loaf of bread, 1 batch of rice, and 1 batch of beans on Sunday nights to have for the week.

4. Limit meat to 1 time per day or less

And then, to stay on track, I will make some immediate goals to focus on TODAY!...

Immediate goals (today)

1. drink only water and tea after I finish my cup of coffee this morning (no fake or real sweet drinks)...plus a glass of wine this evening :-)

2. Eat meat (chicken or red meat) one time or less

3. find a recipe for some good gluten free bread to bake Sunday night!

I'll update on my progress weekly!