New Year. New Habits

I realised something this morning as I checked my watch, and bounced out of my seat at my desk.

I've changed a habit. Replaced an old one with a brand new shiny one, and I hadn't really understood that I'd done it until then.

See, as far back as I can remember since I started work, when the opportunity has arisen, I like a hot drink in the morning. When I worked in London, it was probably a grande skiny Chai Latte from Starbucks in the morning (I'm not a traditional tea or coffee drinker - sadly I don't like either). At my last office, it was a small skinny hot chocolate from Costa, because I'd started eating better and realised that I didn't need a big drink to satisfy the craving; the smallest would do.

In November we moved to my current office and there was a Starbucks pod in the office (yep - swanky office - we have not one, but two, Starbucks concessions in the office), andI returned to my ways - a small hot chocolate or chai every morning. But when I gave myself a kick after the New Year and properly started tracking and paying attention to what I was eating again, I dropped a lot of my habitual snacks or only ate them occasionally, and the drinks were one of the things that went.

Around the same time my fruit intake went way up, as I replaced my usual sugary / processed (although portion-controlled, of course!) snacks with it, and I eventually discovered the fruit bar in our staff restaurant (we're not allowed to call it a "canteen" for fear of being shot by the chef lol). Every morning during breakfast, they put out an entire self-service counter of yoghurts, cereals, muesli ... and fruits. Lots of fresh fruit. You just grab yourself a box and get ladling. And that's what I've been doing every morning now - a medium carton of fruit salad at 10-ish am, and it keeps me full til lunch. Fresh pineapple, grapes, peaches, oranges, mixed fruit salad or, as it was this morning, fruits of the forest. I strain the juice off and stuff that little box full.

And there it was ..... a little new habit replacing the old.

Funny how they sneak up on you!

I still have my chai sometimes, but now it's in the afternoon and only when I've got points to spare. And you know what? I suspect I enjoy it more for not having it every day.