I realize it was challenging to start a wellness routine in December with two holiday nights.  Yet it’s instrumental to do this at some point rather than not do it at all.

It might surprise readers that I don’t eat a lot of food to begin with.  Or this could be clear from viewing my photos.

On Monday, January 5th I started again with my optimal wellness goal of eating healthful food 80 percent of the time.

One thing I recommend is to eat small healthful meals every 2 to 2 1/2 hours to keep from getting hungry, to regulate your blood sugar, to maintain your energy level throughout the day.

I recommend eating a Kind bar to tide a person over until their next full meal.

Also: I have a surprising suggestion: eat fruit when it’s in season so you can change up the kind of fruit you eat and not get bored eating the same fruit all the time. I recommend this because eating the same food all the time could give you palate fatigue where you don’t want to eat that food anymore.

I used to cook on my own and eat salmon twice a week.  I had salmon so often that I started to eat it only once a week. This is where Omega-3 fish oil gel caps come in handy when you can’t get all your Omega-3 RDA from food.

Thus I’m of a different mind than a lot of people who push fad diets on vulnerable individuals or who champion rigid, hard-to-follow dietary “laws” or restrictions or eating plans.

I say: eat healthfully 80 percent of the time as often as you can. Budget in a treat once a week.

This is my contention because I’m going to tell you something surprising too: I rarely eat whole grains except for whole grain cereal in the morning and sometimes brown rice and I have whole wheat pasta when I cook pasta.

I think that old rule of eating 6 to 11 servings of whole grains per day was ridiculous.  I would say stick to have two servings of whole grains per day and always before 3:00 p.m.  This is what Pamela Peeke, M.D. advises in her book Body for Life for Women.

It’s common sense to take the guidelines offered and research which habits make sense for you to adopt and which ones you can discard.

The last surprising thing I will end here with is that one week, or two weeks of not adhering to the 80 percent rule isn’t going to throw your health in the toilet. Committing to starting again to eat healthfully is what counts.

We all have fallow periods where we don’t always nurture our bodies or our minds in an optimal way.  This is to be expected and planned for. This might last a few days, for weeks, or even longer.  The goal is to not get discouraged. In my next blog entry here I will talk about my own 7-year fallow period (yes 7 years.)

My optimal wellness challenge failed yet I’m not defeated. I’ve started on January 5th again.