My Food & Drink Challenge is over…… or is it?

I was joined on the first Food & Drink Challenge back in February and it was an incredible month. Then I suggested a three month challenge…

We are now at the end of October, the first month completed of the challenge. Our freezer is full of homemade cooking. There is soup, curry, stews and more crammed onto the shelves. We’ve had to get quite inventive with our fridge to fit all the healthy items in and it is filled to bursting pointing with apples, oranges, lettuces, tomatoes etc. The kitchen cupboards stuffed full of lentils, rice, pasta and healthy cereals. Plus not forgetting the bananas and large bag of potatoes. We stuck to the challenge and embraced it.

What have my girlfriend and I found challenging? Time has been the most challenging. We didn’t want to spend more money to take part in the challenge. We wanted to demonstrate and benefit from healthy eating on a budget, among other objectives. This was tough as it involved more homemade cooking and making larger batches of food, to help keep our interest and keep the costs down. Our weekly food bill is probably around twenty to thirty pounds less than what was a few years back and around ten pounds less a week than what it was before, which is quite amazing in times of increased food costs.

I did spend a month thinking about tea and biscuits, which was bizarre as in the first challenge back in February, I didn’t miss them that much. Though the flip side of that is I’ve been drinking a lot of different cordials, both hot and cold. I’ve increased my water and fruit intake also.

As many of you know I’ve been working incredibly hard and putting in long hours building my business. Sometimes half the weekend has been spent working and I’ve been putting in the extra hours at night. Like Monday where I went to bed at 2am and got up at 6:30am and had worked Sunday also.

Plus in my spare time we have continued to renovate our property. I literally have not had a weekend off in six or more weeks to just relax. My own doing and I am a driven person and bringing the challenge into that has been tough.

What I have also sacrificed recently has been exercise. We love to stroll down the beach or visit places on the island. I love autumn and winter, yet not spent a complete day out there or a morning strolling across some hilltop taking in the beautiful surroundings. Spending time with or helping others has also been hugely affected.

So as you can see the challenge has needed to find balance in my life and it hasn’t worked, which is entirely my fault. Yet it is obvious at times I couldn’t have been so active if it was not for the benefits from the challenge!

My wonderful girlfriend has also been working incredible hard, working long hours and as busy at home as I am. Without her full support and participation the challenge it would have been impossible. Example: Me being stubborn and insisting that I cook a veggie roast meal at 6pm at night etc, meaning a late dinner time or a Sunday evening cooking two batches soup, when in reality we didn’t want to make soup, but it was the only time we had spare.

So did I take on too much in my personal food & drink challenge? I think so. Am I stopping? Yes, but not fully. The fact that I am eating better, sleeping better, have higher energy levels and enjoy my food more is due to the challenge I feel. So most the items we gave up for the challenge are not being added to our shopping list, but some are.

I am letting Adele and Rachael down, both whom have set out with better challenges and for different reasons. I am sorry and I apologise to both of you.I hope you forgive me and best of luck with your challenges.

There was no point me continuing if I am beginning to feel unhappy about continuing the challenge. I am going to carry on with my hectic lifestyle, but spend more time elsewhere. The challenge has taught me, that for now I can’t accomplish everything I want to, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make changes to my lifestyle. Changes that will help me, support me and fuel me towards a better future.