At work, we are participating in a wellness challenge to try to get us to live healthier, more active lives. It’s made me painfully conscious of how inactive I am! I started tracking my steps and I’m averaging just 2000 steps a day, which is way below the 10k that so many people shoot for.

However, I have been eating better and avoiding unhealthy snacks, so that has certainly been helpful. I am also more aware of how balanced my meals are and how much I’m chewing. Did you know there are digestive enzymes in your mouth that aren’t found later in your digestive tract? Apparently chewing your food more helps you absorb more of the goodness. It probably also tricks me to thinking I ate more because I spent so much time chewing.

The two weeks went by so fast I could hardly remember what I’d done! I think it would have been less intimidating if there weren’t so many ways to earn points (which ones do I choose to focus on?!) and if it was relative to our habits prior to the challenge. Some people already work out a lot, walk a lot, or track their food consumption. Still, it’s been a good way to bring these habits to light and really make us think more about what we’re doing.