If you’re wondering where days 3-6 went, you’ll find them on my Facebook page here. As always, if you can’t find challenge content on the blog, Facebook is my back-up method. This is the only social media outlet I feel I have somewhat of a handle on, which probably means I really don’t know what I’m doing. Nevertheless we’re on track with 30 Days of Fitness and tomorrow (Friday) is Day 7! Of course, if you’re jumping on for the first time, here’s what you need to know before you scroll down to see what tomorrow’s challenge is.

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Starting Saturday, November 1^st I’m going to be either blogging or Facebook’ing (is that officially a verb yet?) once a day to highlight ONE thing you can do each day in the name of your health. What for? My goal is to keep you – you who are interested and open to it – as healthy and sane as possible before December hits. Maybe it’s a fitness tip, a workout, or a way to be more mindful of what you’re consuming. Maybe it’s just a reminder to take 5 minutes to appreciate your body for what it does for you. I’ve got lots of stuff in this noggin’ and it’ll be good. I think it’s appropriate to start on November 1^st for these reasons:

1. It’s the day after Halloween. I don’t know about you but my kids have already acquired bags of candy and Halloween isn’t for two more days. I’d love to tell you I have super-human willpower and am not interested in sweets but if they’re in my house someone’s going to eat them and it won’t just be my kids. I’ll be getting rid of most of it on November 1^st. And before you might “mean mom” me, please know I do allow my children plenty of sweets. It’s not my fault my 3-year-old loves dark chocolate. Okay, maybe it is a little bit.
2. November has 30 days in it, what a crazy coincidence!
3. November brings with it my absolute most-favorite holiday of the year. People eat on that day – a lot. We’re going to do some damage control all month.
4. I’ve found it nearly pointless to do any kind of fitness challenge in the month of December. People are way too busy. My goal with doing this in November is to hopefully instill some basic good habits in all of us that will stick throughout the holidays, chaos and all.

Here’s how it’s going down:

1. Look for either a blog post or Facebook post the night before. So this Saturday’s post will be up on Friday night. This way you won’t be waiting on me all day for something you could have done already. If you don’t already ‘Like’ my Facebook page, you can do so here so you get each day’s updates or find the Like button in the left-hand sidebar.
2. Share with others, please! This keeps you accountable and reminds others who might be interested in their health to do the same. Sharing is caring and around here we care a LOT about not feeling like crap.
3. Be open. This isn’t some crazy workout challenge. I do those too, but 30 Days of Fitness is meant to encourage you and keep you mindful. So some days it may be little things, other days I may ask more of you. Do what you can and always keep your health in the forefront of your brain every day, because no one else will.
4. Comment whenever you have questions, concerns, disagree with my approach or love something. If you want more info on a topic, I am happy to dive in for you. I’m kind of a nerd like that.
5. Subscribe and win. <— See that little sign-up box to the left? That’s a neat tool that, if you enter your email address, will automatically deliver my new blog posts to your inbox for you. All those who subscribe for email updates between OCTOBER 30th  and NOVEMBER 30^th will be entered in a drawing to win this REALLY terrific cookbook from Lisa Leake over at the 100 Days of Real Food blog: “100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love.” Um, what’s not to love about winning that book at the most appropriate time of year? Check it out here!

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Day 7 – Pay attention to sugar intake

You might be thinking of all the obvious places sugar lurks – drinks, desserts, candy. But have you ever considered just how much sugar is in your yogurt, bread, crackers, condiments or even salad dressings? I’m not asking you to get sugar-retentive here, I’d just like you to become aware of how much sugar you might be taking in. Humor me for a day and check out the labels on everything you put in your mouth (if it has one). See what you come up with. Are you surprised?

And if you’re thinking sugar substitutes and “diet” anything is the way to go, I urge you to read this great post: “Sugar Free Does Not Equal Healthy (And More Startling Facts About Artificial Sugars.”

This time of year, you’re bound to be bombarded by sugar, so let’s start by paying attention to where some of the lesser-known sources are coming from.

See you on Day 8!