A Healthier and Happier 2012

I am normally not a resolutions person coz the moment I keep them, I  know I will fizzle out in a few weeks time. So after many years of no new resolutions, something in me made me take one this New Years. (Actually the something and the roots of it is another post in itself). So on January 1 2012, I decided this will be the year I will start focusing on me and my family's health. We will change the way we eat for the better and change all our bad (read: lazy) habits for good. This will not only make us healthier but will also set a good example for our little daughter to follow in her life. It has been 8 months now and I feel good knowing that my relationship with food is only getting healthier and stronger each day. My best moments are when my 5 year old says to me "Mommy, I want to eat Panjiri" or "Give me more cucumber" or "I want to do yoga with you".

Here are some changes I have made towards a more healthier me:

• Completely cut out tea, coffee and sodas - basically all caffeinated beverages.
• Cut down drastically on refined sugar.
• Take a shot of wheatgrass every day.
• Include more raw vegetables in my diet (atleast one portion of salad each day).
• Include more dry fruits in our daily diet (atleast a handful of soaked almonds each day).
• Include more fruits in my daily diet (atleast twice a day).
• Bought a good juicer and started consuming vegetable / fruit juices (atleast once in 2 days).
• Switched from white rice to brown and/or red rice. 
• Switched from refined sugar to palm sugar and/or jaggery.
• Switched from plain wheat flour to multigrain flour.
• Started consuming organic food as much as possible.
• Resumed my yoga practice (after taking a break from it ever since lil N was born).

And you know what is the best change of all? We got a pet pup in May which has led to more exercise for us all :-) I love the mornings when I actually have time to do 30 minutes of yoga followed by taking the dog out for a run. Those mornings also include us meeting with his friends in the apartment complex. It is a complete body and mind therapy for both - the pup and me:-) Ah...I cannot describe how good I feel the rest of that day! You know the icing on the cake? While I am doing yoga at home, hubby dear is out dropping lil N to school and doing his morning brisk walk in a park near the school for an hour after that. So both of us are happy our workout for the day is over with. On weekend mornings all of us head out into the tennis court for a doggies play date where we meet up our dog owner friends (with their pets ofcourse) and all of us have a great time hanging out.

So I am sure it is not much of a surprise that this is the year we finally gave birth to our own venture towards spreading health - www.shophealthy.in as well as a new blog where I blog exclusively on health related topics - http://shophealthy.blogspot.in

So what do you all do to stay healthy and happy? Tell me more...I am curious to hear.