Well hello there!

How is your morning going so far? I hope it’s off to a fantastic start. Mine began early as usual with a run and a tough leg/butt workout that I’m very confident I’ll be feeling tomorrow! Is it just me, or is it just impossible to get good at walking lunges? I swear, I could do them every week and still be sore after! I’ve got a hot date tonight… with my foam roller. ;)

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s check-in post, I’m getting back into my usual routine of setting 5 goals for each month. If you’re a newer reader, you can see all of the goals I set throughout 2011 by checking out my Top Posts page, and scrolling down to the Monthly Goal Check-Ins section. As always, I also want to know about how YOU are doing on reaching yours, so be sure to tell me in the comments section!

Without further delay, here are my 5 for February:

1. Eat out at restaurants no more than 6 times.

I’ll start this one by saying that I am not the type that eats out a whole lot. I adore cooking for myself and for other people, and often would rather make dinner for/with friends than go out (and risk being disappointed). Well except if the restaurant is Fresh, Thrive, or another one of my faves. But over the past month, I’ve spent waaay too much on restaurants, sushi in particular!!

Since my Australia trip is only a few short months away, my plan is to save up some extra $$$ to spend while I’m there. I already have a few lunch dates scheduled that I absolutely will not be missing, but I’ve decided to put the brakes on excess restaurant spending this month. This also brings me to my next goal….

2. Reduce my monthly grocery bill by 15%.

This isn’t the first time I’ve set this as one of my monthly goals, and to be fair, the grocery outings I’ve done recently haven’t been anywhere near as costly as they were about a year ago. Since food is tied with car payments as my largest monthly expense, I’m targeting it as an area for savings in February. It’ll take a lot of self control at the grocery store, but I am planning to achieve this by making some simple protein swaps. I already buy zero red meat, and have greatly reduced my chicken intake – seafood is my love and that’s where most of my protein usually comes from. There will still be some fresh fish in my house (because fresh looks about a squillion times better in blog photos than frozen), but there will be more of these things:

  • Lentils – Just in case you wanted to know, after I took this photo I proceeded to spill that entire bowl of beluga lentils on the kitchen floor. 3 days later, I’m still getting them stuck between my toes. Depending on the type of lentil, 1 cup cooked = 13-15g of protein.
  • Quinoa – The only whole grain with all essential amino acids (making it a complete form of protein). 1 cup = 18 grams of protein.

  • Beans – My favourites are chickpeas and adzuki beans, but I’ve also fallen in love with weird ones like anasazi and pink beans. I’ve been buying the dry kind and cooking them myself to avoid the sodium in the canned versions, and this is a cheaper option too. 1 cup provides 13-15g of protein, depending on type of bean.
  • Eggs – A whopping 6 grams of protein per egg!

  • Edamame – I know, technically also a bean. Whenever I’m at Whole Foods I buy a few bags of the organic 365 branded ones. They’re cheaper than the bags available at my usual spot (Sobeys) and are so easy to scatter on top of salads, in stir fried veggies, or snack on by themselves. 1 cup = 14g protein.
  • Frozen seafood – Mainly salmon, haddock, and cod, as well as shrimp. 100g of your average fillet = 22g protein.
  • Canned fish – Light tuna and salmon. For the record, I would happily eat tuna every single day if it wasn’t for the whole mercury problem. A 40-oz can of tuna = 40g protein.
  • … and finally, tofu. Not pictured above, but I have a killer tofu recipe coming up for you next week!! 1/2 cup = 10g protein.

Wish me luck!

3. Listen to 3 focus classes for my Institute for Integrative Nutrition course.

Focus classes are sort of like extra online classes that aren’t required for me to graduate, but are available in case students are interested in learning more about a particular aspect of nutrition. There is a big list of focus classes available and ideally I’d like to get them all, but for now I’m committing myself to 3 this month. These are the topics I’ve got my eye on:

  • Superfoods – Here I’ll be learning about a whole bunch of superfoods from around the world. These include those that you’re probably already familiar with, like cacao, goji berries, maca powder, and wheatgrass juice, as well as those that are a little less common like inca berries and phytoplankton. I’ll also be learning about what makes them ‘super’, and things to be cautious of when purchasing. If you’ve been to your local health food store lately, you’ll know that a lot of superfoods aren’t cheap, so this class provides advice about things to watch out for like types of non-raw additives and fillers.
  • Yoga of Eating - The description for this one is vague, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be all around the issue of intuitive eating and being in tune with our bodies. I talked a whole bunch about this last year (and read 2 books on the topic – Eating Mindfully and Savor), but it never hurts to learn more.
  • What’s Wrong with What We Eat- This session is with Mark Bittman and it’s the one I’m most excited about. In case you’re not familiar, he’s written the books How to Cook Everything and Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating. He’s got a regular column in the New York Times and speaks about the implications of issues like having too much meat in our diets, obesity, and the effect of our diets on the planet. Mark is one of my favourite thought leaders in the nutrition world and I can’t wait to hear about what he has to say!

4. Develop all website content for my health coaching service.

This is something that I just began working on last weekend and the pages are looking good so far. Once published, they’ll talk about my training, what health coaching can do for you, and what you can expect to get from my health coaching sessions. I hope to have this part of the blog up and running in a couple of months, so stay tuned! And if you already thing you might be interested in these services, feel free to email me at eatspinrunrepeat (at) gmail (dot) com.

5. Tackle a baking adventure that scares me.

I won’t reveal exactly what it is just yet, but I will leave you with this hint:

Ok, that was a huuuuuge hint. This could turn out to be brilliant or a complete kitchen fail, but I promise to post about it regardless!

So tell me…

  • What’s one of your main focuses for February, and what are you going to do to get there?
  • What’s one thing you’re most looking forward to this month?
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