My DECHOX challenge has begun and so far I can say that I have survived two days without chocolate and so far it has not been too hard. When I first decided to take part in The British Heart Foundation’s #DECHOX challenge I knew that the first few days would either be the hardest or easiest of the month and this month I can say they have been the easiest due to my circumstances.
This week I am currently “on holiday”, this meaning that I took a week of paid holiday from my work, made no plans based in London for the week and then packed my bags and headed to my family home for the week. I can say this was helpful for the dechox challenge as it has meant that I am currently in a house with a variety of food options and because of the snow from #TheBeastFromTheEast it means that I have rarely left the house so I have not had the temptation of chocolate flavoured coffees etc and have just stuck to regular teas or coffee and then just a Mary Poppins “spoonful of sugar” to keep my sweet tooth calm.
I am already partially worried for next Monday as I feel that is when the true challenge shall begin for me as then all of my food and drink decisions will be totally mine as I don’t do any kind of group cooking or shopping with my housemates and when living in London I mainly buy my food and drinks on the go.
I also have not felt a difference in my mood or general health so far since quitting chocolate. I think at the moment my biggest issue is that I am using other forms of sweets as a crutch instead of taking the opportunity to introduce more fruit into my diet. This is a plan to try from Monday as at the moment I am giving myself a little bit of liberty as it is my holiday week plus I feel like I first need to get used to not eating chocolate before I reduce the amount of sugary treats that I eat. My plan on Day Three is to possibly weigh myself so that at the end of the month I can have a better indication as to whether the challenge actually has had an effect on my lifestyle or not. For me scales have always been a big enemy as I know that I am prone to becoming obsessive over things like this however I think for the purpose of this challenge it is a good initiative.
I have decided to write a blog post either every day or every other day to keep you up to date with how my dechox challenge is going. I am also going to try and take short video clips everyday to compile into a YouTube video at the end of the month so that you can watch my no chocolate journey (ala BuzzFeed). At the moment I think that this challenge may succeed in breaking a long-term habit but whilst I am at home I don’t feel like I’m feeling the withdrawal symptoms as much. So now let’s head into Day Three with a good mindset!
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Keep Smiling Aeronauts!
Lots of Love,
AJ x
