My 2007 New Year's Resolutions (Restrictions)

Anyone who knows me knows I am a goal fanatic. Every January 29th I make a birthday video and set measurable goals. Run a marathon. Host a party. Get PADI (diving) certification. Whatever. Raising $101K for Malawi and volunteering in Africa will be part of my birthday goals for 2007.

New Years goals are a little different for me. My New Year's Resolutions are more like New Year's Restrictions. According to Kabbalah, restriction is critical to generating Light. Literally think of it like a lightbulb. The filament between the positive and negative charge restricts the flow of energy. The stronger the restriction, the brighter the Light.

I don't always set New Year's restrictions, but when I do, look out! They're actually the easiest kind of resolutions for me to keep because restrictions are entirely within my control. For example:

1. January 1, 1991. No meat.
I became a vegetarian 16 years ago as a New Year's resolution. Actually, I'm a "veg-aquarian" because I still eat fish. I sometimes forget it was ever a resolution because now it's a lifestyle.

2. January 1, 1992, 1993 and 1994. No chocolate.
My grandma was a smoker. It bugged me that she was smoking herself to death, not to mention that when I lived with her in the late 80s and later when I'd visit, I couldn't escape smelling like an ashtray.

I pushed her buttons one day when I insisted that she "just quit already!" She snapped back, "You have no idea. You've never been addicted to anything!" I had to put my money where my mouth was. Then it hit me. At the time I was having two or three chocolate bars a day. (It's true!) So, to test my own strength around addiction, I gave up chocolate. It was very tough at first, but I got used to it. In 1995, I decided not renew my annual ban on chocolate. I decided I had my chocolate-eating under control and I proved to myself that I could quit forever if I really, truly wanted.

On February 17, 1995 I broke the New Year's spell with a King-sized KitKat while watching the play, Kiss of the Spiderwoman on Broadway. The whole experience was divine. It's interesting to reflect on this as I'm just finishing a box of Raisinets. :) Life is better with chocolate.

BTW, grandma never gave up the smokes. Or Jim Beam for that matter. You can't inspire everyone with a chocolate restriction, I guess.

Two more points about New Year's Restrictions.

1) They have to be a stretch for you; the harder the better. But not so hard that you bag out on your word before you get any real momentum.

2) They don't have to be about denying yourself something. Sometimes, restriction is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Doing something that you might not otherwise do. I usually reserve those goals for my birthday video because they tend to be harder to measure and I like having the tape to self-assess a year later.

OK. Here we go.....My 2007 New Year's Resolutions

Restriction #1: Food combine
This one is going to be hard for me b/c I like pizza and tunafish sandwiches, etc. I'm going to food combine everyday, with a 3-meal weekly allowance of non-combined foods. EXCEPTION: No requirements to food combine if food itself is scarce/options are very limited. EX: If I only get one banana and a bowl of rice in Malawi, I'm just going to eat it. Rather than starve, I'll just monitor calories (no more than 1500 per day) in those situations.

I food combined from 1987 thru 1991-ish. I remember my roommate Kathy Holohan gave me the nickname, "Ms. Health". I was wicked disciplined.

Basically, you don't mix proteins with carbs in any one meal. You have to wait 3 hours after a carb meal till you can have a protein meal. You need to wait at least 4 hours after protein gets digested before you can have something else. Fruit is always on its own. Vegetables go with anything. I know it's a great lifestyle diet because you end up eating a lot more fruits and vegetables than you would otherwise. And, you tend to eat less bad-for-you foods, b/c they tend to be incompatible in and of themselves.

Restriction #2: Sleep-deprived study
I resolve to wake up every night between midnight and 4am to study my kabbalah/Zohar for 30 to 101 minutes per night. Hey, if it were easy, it wouldn't be a restriction. Sorry, David. It's either this or a sex restriction. I gather this would be your preference?

Restriction #3: 101 a day
I experimented with this in November. It's actually hard because so many things come up, so I'm going to make it a resolution. Every day, I'm going to do one or more of these "101" activities to help grow my consciousness around Raising 101K for Malawi. Each day, I will choose from:

a) 101 crunches
b) 101 push ups or biceps/triceps with weight bar
c) 101 leg lifts on each leg
d) 1001 jumps on a jumprope * (101 is too easy)