My SMART goal is I will eat 4 servings (serving= 3 oz.) of hormone-free, grass-fed meat, per week. The new goal of 4 servings worked out great. I say this because this past weekend I had a second Thanksgiving so I ended up eating more meat than I usually do but I did not go over my SMART goal!
The strategies that helped me be most effective was letting my friends and family know what I was doing. Many of my friends and family did not understand that their are differences in meat so they had never really looked until I said something. Also, since I have told my family about this they either buy hormone-free deli meat or soy burgers if I am going to be home. The challenge I faced the entire time was when I went out to eat. I did cut out going out to eat a lot but of course there were times when I either did not have food or did not have time to make something.
I was very happy with myself this past week. I stuck to my new goal and let others know this option is out there. I felt most happy when I could explain to others what we have learned and why I chose this as my SMART goal. Many people have no idea what I am talking about which does not surprise me because I just learned a lot of it this semester! I learned I can easily do things I put my mind to and if you feel passionately about something try to influence or educate others to do the same.
Original SMART goal: I will eat 3 servings (serving= 3 oz.) of hormone-free, grass-fed meat, per week.
Updated SMART goal: I will eat 4 servings (serving= 3 oz.) of hormone-free, grass-fed meat, per week.
My goal changed because I felt I accomplished what I wanted to. I found hormone-free meat at a reasonable price so I felt I could increase my intake a little. It was nice having a variety in my meals. It also worked out perfect with the holidays approaching.
As I stated above what helped me most successful was letting others know what I was doing. Because they knew, they understood when I would search for the hormone-free option or wanted to stay in and make dinner. The one thing that complicated my goal was restaurants. It would be nice if they could state where they get their meat from. Not only would this make people feel comfortable knowing their meat was not injected with antibiotics or hormones, but it could increase their sales.
My SMART goal led me to new things. Never before did I think to look over my meat packages to see if they were hormone-free. I never thought about this before because I really did not know much about it. Accomplishing my goal made me realize I can do anything I set my mind to. I also learned I am able to influence others by my decisions. Many people do not know what really goes into their meat because they do not question it. I hope I can keep spreading the information I have learned to others. Behavior change is not hard when you really want to change. It takes time, will power, and confidence to really see a behavior change.
Making this change benefited the companies that sold this product and farms that chose to raise their animals the natural way. Hopefully by educating friends and family what I am doing they will do the same. Farms that choose to raise their animals the natural way should be rewarded and receive the most business.
I will continue this behavior because it is easy and rewarding. Taking the extra couple of minutes to look over the package is worth it. If I can somehow help farms who raise their animals without hormones I will do it.
Recommendations for others: Stick to your goal, modify if you want/have to, if you have questions....ask, and know you can do whatever you set your mind to!
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Awesome! Your goal must've been really challenging because you had to cut back from eating out and also purchasing specific kind of meat. I agree, to have the will power and having a social support to talk about a life style change can be the best thing into actually creating the change. Now days I do look more carefully at the things that I buy such as the labeling. This class and SMART goal really opened our eyes to another perspective.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear your SMART goal went well this past week! I totally know what you mean about having fun explaining the motivation for your lifestyle changes. Each time people would ask me about my lifestyle change, I was excited to explain why I chose to do it because spreading the word feels good and it really helped me remind myself why i made the change in the first place. It sounds like your goal was really beneficial and I'm glad you feel good enough about it to stick with it.
ReplyDeleteYou have such an original goal! I like it. Im curious to know how much meat like that costs? I'm betting it's totally worth it though! I think that it's really surprising that no one knows what your talking about when you tell them about it. I guess that means your doing your job as a health educator!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips at the end there! It was great to go through these goals as a group and really learn from each other. I enjoyed being able to stick with you from beginning to end as we stayed in the same blog group. I am glad you continued to succeed this past week and wish you luck as you continue your goal over break.
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