New Year's Resolutions: Why do We Keep on Failing?

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December has arrived, streets are illuminated, shops are selling Christmas decorations and 2019 will soon arrive. In Portugal, we have a popular saying "New Year, New Life", reminding us that we have a clean slate when a new year begins, the perfect opportunity to define the New Year's Resolutions.

Every year we keep writing the same resolutions on a journal. How many times have you done that?

The most popular New Year's resolutions are:

• Losing Weight
• Getting Fit
• Saving Money
• Learning a new Skill
• Finding a Job (or a new one)
• Travelling More
• Spending more time with children or parents
• Stop Smoking

And by the end of the next year, we will probably write the same things again.

I went through this process time after time, too. But then I realized that something wasn't working out and I stopped writing resolutions. I found out that I kept failing and there were three main reasons why.

1 - Setting a Long List of Resolutions

It's easy to fail when we have a lot of goals because it's impossible to stay focused on so many things at the same time. Instead of setting a list of five resolutions and failing them every year, wouldn't it be smarter to set just one resolution a year and five years after having accomplish all of them?

2 - Waiting for a New Year to Create a Goal

It's the clean slate that motivates us, that feeling that we can leave behind our bad habits and start with good ones on 1st of January. But that kind of motivation doesn't last and by February we already forgot what our goals were.

3 - Set a resolution and not planning how to get there

This has been my biggest mistake. I set the goal I want to meet but I don't come up with a plan to get there. Without a plan, where do we start from?

On the next article, I will share with you how I create a (good) plan to accomplish my long-term goals, whatever they are.

Which are the resolutions that you keep having every New Year? Share them!

How my Health Improved when I changed my Eating Habits

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Today I want to share with you how my health improved when I changed my eating habits.

So, by now, you already know that my last two years were tough. First, I was diagnosed with MS and then I got depressed. I craved for sugary and carbohydrate-rich foods and having an healthy diet was my last concern... I just wanted to end the day and go back to bed.

I think you can imagine the impact that eating cakes, cappuccinos and carbs every single day has... My neighbours just kept asking if I was expecting!

When I got more motivated I started to think about the impact that my eating habits were having in my life. I felt sad, I had a lot of pain and I realized that I had to do something. I don't have the treatment for MS but there were other things I could do. That's when I started the journey I'm on.

I could be healthier, I could feel better and I wanted to improved my health. My first steps were:

1 - Drink water

You already know how staying hydrated is important. But I didn't know that it had a positive effect on migraines too! When I started drinking more water, migraines appeared with less frequency.

I don't like to drink water when temperature lowers so now I've been drinking tea. I love mint tea with cinnamon and green tea with jasmine!

I also stopped drinking beverages or any juice with added sugar.

2 - Less dairy products

It's been years since I´ve stopped drinking (cow) milk but when I discovered cappuccinos, milk was back into my diet. I don't know why but when I drink milk or eat cheese my belly blows up like a balloon.

To avoid this symptom I drink oat or rice drinks instead and I don't eat cheese anymore.

3 - Cut Out Sugar

There was a doctor who told my mum that she should eat a cake with her morning coffee every day to prevent fainting due to low arterial pressure. Since then, I had to eat one too (Thank God, I had low pressure too!)

Last year when I told my MS nurse the reason I ate a cake everyday she said it was nonsense! That sugar didn't had effect on arterial pressure and that I shoud eat something salty instead when I felt dizzy. I couldn't believe the amount of cakes I ate for preventing fainting!

But now I could cut out sugar from my diet! So I started to:

• Add half of the sugar I used to on coffee.
• Eating jam without added sugar.
• Cut out on beverages.
• When I buy chocolate I choose the one with more percentage of cocoa
• Cut out on candies
• I buy brown sugar instead of the white one.
• When I (rarely) eat a cake, I choose a Portuguese tart with cinnamon. I love them and they are one of the lowest calorie cakes! 

 

Pastel de Nata, a Portuguese tart

4 - Eating gluten free foods.

Gluten is another thing that makes my belly blowing up and I feel stomach pain too. Gluten is everywhere from bread and biscuits, to pastry and pasta.
I've started by changing my morning chocolate croissant to corn toasts with jam and now everytime I eat bread or pasta is gluten free.

These were the main changes I did on my diet. Last Summer I started being more active too. I used to walk about 500 steps per day and that was it. I had to much pain too do more than that...

• I started using a pedometer to gradually increase my daily steps
• When I felt comfortable walking 5000 steps per day, I started practising yoga, 15 minutes per session.
• Then I gradually felt my legs getting stronger and started to ride the bicycle and swim in the ocean. I was so happy when I finally did this!!
• Now I already take the stairs without even hold the handrail!

These were the stairs I kept using when I went to the beach this Summer. The first time I climb them was hell!

As you can see, when I changed my eating habits to healthier ones, I started feeling better too, even with a disease like the one I have. I used to sit on the sofa all day long, due to the intensity of articular and muscular pain and now I can ride a bicycle! 

And no one asks for the baby anymore...

I hope that my story can help others that are feeling down too. We can feel better, be healthier with simple changes, done step by step. It's up to you!

Just Cinnamon

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This blog is an english version of "My Cinnamon Heart", which I started writting on 2011. 

It started to be about general stuff but a few months later, I went camping for the first time ever!

That experience showed me that I could be happy (very happy!) with just a few things. When I came back home I switched the general theme into a minimalist lifestyle and I read a lot about how to declutter and the power of organization.

My main inspiration blogs were:

• Zen Habits
• Becoming Minimalist
• Do less, be more

and I never stopped writing until...

I was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) in 2017. That changed my life. 

First, it was hard to accept the disease and I had to struggle with depression too. Then, step by step, I started practising meditation with 10 minutes sessions, changed my eating habits, started journaling and learned to focus on the positive stuff. One day at a time.

And now, with the motivation and help from my You friends, I'm back!

However, my house is cluttered again and I gained more than 25 pounds so I have to do some of my previous journey... again.

Multiple sclerosis won't define my blog but there are things I've learned (and still do!) through the diagnosis and living with it so sometimes I may mention it.

I want to share here the steps I'm taking to become a more grateful, more relaxed, healthier and happier persion. And I would love to hear from you too! Your comments warm my heart and give me motivation to keep going on!


P.S.: I love cinnamon. I love to put it on cakes and biscuits, coffee, tea, yogurts, ice-creams, milk... you name it! And now I'm switching sugar for cinnamon. Hence the blog's name.

My 3 Essential Habits for a Happy Life

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After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), I had to start MS treatments. I felt overwhelmed with the side effects, mainly an unbearable pain all over my body, and after some months living like that, I got depressed.

Now I've already accepted the disease and the depression is treated but the road I travelled wasn't short nor easy. But there were some habits I implemented every day that I think that were essential to feel better.

1. Wake Up with Green Tea or Lemon Tea.

This ritual promotes a detox, helps with digestion and absorption of nutrients and also with constipation.

I love the Clipper teas and now I've been drinking the Organic Decaf with Jasmine.

2. Meditate Everyday

I started my daily meditation practice 10 minutes a day. When I did it consistently everyday, I gradually increased the time. 

I use the Headspace app, which has several free meditation theme sessions. But there are other apps if you don't like this one:

• 10% Happier
• Stop, Breathe, Think
• Smiling Mind

The one that works for me might not be the better for you. There are many features you should consider like with or without music, guided or not, with or without bells, and so on...

Headspace App

3. Being Grateful and Start Journaling

I had already started the Gratitude Jar Challenge but now I prefer journaling about it.

I became a pessimistic person with all this MS stuff but with this challenge I feel that I'm shifting back to an optimistic one!

Before bed I started to wrote 3 things I was grateful for. Now I write 5 or more. This challenge reminds me of what went right that day. The focus shifts from the negative stuff to the positive things in life and helps to appreciate them.

Try these 3 habits if you feel like you need more positive energy in your life!

10 Ways to make less trash at home

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A few days ago, I read here that in Lisbon we are throwing away 40% more stuff than ever. That is huge!

Instead of pointing out what's not working, who's fault it is and how we've reached this point, we have to reflect about how we could make less trash at our homes and therefore in our planet.

So I got inspired and decided to share with you how I changed some of my habits into sustainable ones!

1 - Buy products in card or glass containers instead of plastic ones.

I used to buy liquid soap but I have switched them for my favourite Ach. Brito solid soaps.

I switched canned beans for jarred ones and carbonated water in plastic bottles were substituted for glass bottles. Whenever there's an alternative, I avoid plastic containers. 


2 - Consume less clothes and kitchen gadgets.

How many times will you use it? Reflect about it before you buy it. You don't want a cluttered home or spending money in things that will end up on your trash bin... 


3 - Use tote bags and avoid plastic ones.

A tote bag is cheap (photo: 2,99€, H&M), easy to fold and doesn´t require any space in your bag - I always have one or two in my bag ready to use!

And if you like sewing, you can make your own tote bag!


4 - Use the library instead of buying books.

We often buy a book by the wrong reasons: a beautiful cover, a friend's opinion or because everyone else is reading it and many times it ends up on a shelf and it won't be read again.

So what about using the library? If you love it, you can buy it. If you don't, return it and try another one, guilt free! 


5 - Carry a reusable water bottle or a reusable travel mug to drink hot coffee or tea.

A long time ago, I used to buy bottled water whenever I went to the gym. I would end up recycling 3 bottles per week, at least! Now I have a reusable water bottle and another one to hot drinks (the one in the photo) both from Pegada Verde.

6 - Stop buying room deodorizers and learn a natural way to make your home smell great 
Avoid synthetic scents and toxic chemicals like ftalates that are present on deodorizers for your home and car! Here's a recipe for a natural home deodorizer:

Fill a saucepan with water, cinnamon, orange peels and your favorite herb and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Your home will smell fabulous!

7 - Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposal ones

I love taking photos but my camera consumed a lot of batteries so I was always buying them, spending money and throwing them away. I had to break the cycle! 

I've read that a rechargeable battery becomes useless after 500 uses but until now I've never had to throw a rechargeable battery away! 


8 - Do you really have to use a straw? Then, choose a bamboo one!

Plastic straws end up in the oceans. If you use one reusable you are protecting our planet. In Portugal, you can find them on Maria Granel. 


9 - Buy less toys

A child's happiness isn't measured by the number of toys possessed. It's like when we have a wardrobe full of clothes but nothing to wear...

Remember your days, you had your favourite toys and the others were left on the shelf. The same happens now. They are just collecting dust and cluttering your child's room.

10 - If you have to throw away something big, call a trash pickup company

Sometimes people throw away big or heavy things near the trash along the sideways. In Portugal, you'll get a fine for that. You should always call your trash pickup company first, the service is totally free.


How about you? Have you done any greener swap too?