As the next 30 day challenge, I’m going to go the entire month of June without chocolate.

Following on from keeping track of what I eat over the course of an average week, which is what motivated me to cut down on my milk intake, it became clear that chocolate was another clear contributor to a poor diet.

Like most people, I like chocolate. Unlike most people, I treat chocolate as a food group and I’ve long realised I can’t be trusted around it.

Semi-regularly I used to buy a family block of chocolate from Woolworths when they were on special and demolish the majority of it in a single hit, maybe while watching a movie. In more recent times, I’ve stopped buying blocks of chocolate since they don’t last but every once in a while – one finds its way into the fridge. My chocolate habit doesn’t stop with blocks of chocolate though, it extends into anything with chocolate involved like chocolate chip cookies, Snickers, Crunchie and Cherry Ripe chocolate bars or chocolate coated sultanas.

The goal for the month is to basically ween myself off chocolate, with an end game of being able to eat it in moderation moving forward as a treat and less so as a food group.

Wish me luck, I think I’m going to need it!

March was my second 30 day challenge that I’ve attempted and my goal was to drink less cappuccino. Actually the goal wasn’t to reduce my consumption of cappuccino, that was a simple mechanism to reach the ultimate goal of drinking less milk.

I did a little digging into my diet a while ago and realised I was consuming over 1 litre of milk per day during the week. The Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing have recommended energy intake for males and females in different age bands and I fit within the 8900kJ per day bucket.

Dairy Farmers full cream milk has 266kJ of energy and 3.4g of fat per 100ml, so I am consuming at least 2500kJ of energy daily or at a minimum nearly 1/3 of my daily energy intake just from milk before I eat or drink anything else across the course of the day!

It had to change and I’m happy to report that I clobbered the challenge. During the week except for a couple blips I managed only one cappuccino per day. Most weekends over the month I didn’t have any cappuccino at all. If you’re wondering about the spike on the left, I forgot what the date was at work and chomped through five espresso coffees but pulled it back into line the following day.

I don’t want to do it but I think I might try a 30 day challenge without chocolate. I have a real sweet tooth and by normal measures I treat chocolate as a food group, so I think that’d be another easy way for me to tidy up my diet a little further.

As the next installment of my 30 day challenge, I’m going to cut down on the amount of espresso I drink.

Anyone that knows me will attest to my love of coffee, it doesn’t matter if it is straight espresso, cappuccino, filter coffee or even good quality instant coffee – say the word and I’m there.

Turns out that after spending about 3 seconds thinking about what I eat across the course of a week, coffee but more specifically milk plays a large role in my intake. Right now you’re probably thinking milk isn’t so bad, it is even good for your bones. When you eat cereal for breakfast, have 4-6 cups of cappuccino throughout a day during the week and then top that off with 2-3 cups of instant coffee in the evening – its a lot of milk; I’d estimate no less than one litre per day during the week.

So while the object of this 30 day challenge is to drink less cappuccino, that is really a means to an end of drinking less milk. I love coffee and don’t want to have to give it up entirely but I recognise that drinking that volume of milk per day certainly isn’t helping my slow & steady weight loss goals.

My goal is simple, no more than one cappuccino per day. I’m happy to replace any cappuccino that I don’t have with something that has no milk or vastly less milk but I’ve decided that drinking 200-250ml of milk per coffee isn’t helping me at all.

On Sept. 3, 2012, James K. Flanagan of West Long Branch, N.J., died unexpectedly of a heart attack. He wrote this letter to his five grandchildren just months earlier and it is reprinted here with the permission of his daughter Rachel Creighton.

Dear Ryan, Conor, Brendan, Charlie, and Mary Catherine,

My wise and thoughtful daughter Rachel urged me to write down some advice for you, the important things that I have learned about life. I am beginning this on 8 April 2012, the eve of my 72nd birthday.

1. Each one of you is a wonderful gift of God both to your family and to all the world. Remember it always, especially when the cold winds of doubt and discouragement fall upon your life.
2. Be not afraid . . . of anyone or of anything when it comes to living your life most fully. Pursue your hopes and your dreams no matter how difficult or “different” they may seem to others. Far too many people don’t do what they want or should do because of what they imagine others may think or say. Remember, if they don’t bring you chicken soup when you’re sick or stand by you when you’re in trouble, they don’t matter. Avoid those sour-souled pessimists who listen to your dreams then say, “Yeah, but what if . . .” The heck with “what if. . .” Do it! The worst thing in life is to look back and say: “I would have; I could have; I should have.” Take risks, make mistakes.
3. Everyone in the world is just an ordinary person. Some people may wear fancy hats or have big titles or (temporarily) have power and want you to think they are above the rest. Don’t believe them. They have the same doubts, fears, and hopes; they eat, drink, sleep, and fart like everyone else. Question authority always but be wise and careful about the way you do it.
4. Make a Life List of all those things you want to do: travel to places; learn a skill; master a language; meet someone special. Make it long and do some things from it every year. Don’t say “I’ll do it tomorrow” (or next month or next year). That is the surest way to fail to do something. There is no tomorrow, and there is no “right” time to begin something except now.
5. Practice the Irish proverb: Moi an olge agus tiocfaidh sí – “Praise the child and she will flourish.”
6. Be kind and go out of your way to help people — especially the weak, the fearful, and children. Everyone is carrying a special sorrow, and they need our compassion.
7. Don’t join the military or any organization that trains you to kill. War is evil. All wars are started by old men who force or fool young men to hate and to kill each other. The old men survive, and, just as they started the war with pen and paper, they end it the same way. So many good and innocent people die. If wars are so good and noble, why aren’t those leaders who start wars right up there fighting?
8. Read books, as many as you can. They are a wonderful source of delight, wisdom, and inspiration. They need no batteries or connections, and they can go anywhere.
9. Be truthful.
10. Travel: always but especially when you are young. Don’t wait until you have “enough” money or until everything is “just right.” That never happens. Get your passport today.
11. Pick your job or profession because you love to do it. Sure, there will be some things hard about it, but a job must be a joy. Beware of taking a job for money alone — it will cripple your soul.
12. Don’t yell. It never works, and it hurts both yourself and others. Every time I have yelled, I have failed.
13. Always keep promises to children. Don’t say “we’ll see” when you mean “no.” Children expect the truth; give it to them with love and kindness.
14. Never tell anyone you love them when you don’t.
15. Live in harmony with Nature: go into the outdoors, woods, mountains, sea, desert. It’s important for your soul.
16. Visit Ireland. It’s where the soul of our family was born — especially the West: Roscommon, Clare, and Kerry.
17. Hug people you love. Tell them how much they mean to you now; don’t wait until it’s too late.
18. Be grateful. There is an Irish saying: “This is a day in our lives, and it will not come again.” Live every day with this in mind.

As was written in his obituary, James K. Flanagan “was proudly liberal and fought unyieldingly for the underdog. He was an accomplished author, poet, and seanchai — Irish storyteller; he reveled in recounting the joy of growing up Catholic in Jersey City and his adventures in the Adirondack Mountains and on the Western coast of Ireland. His greatest love was spending time with his family, most of all his five grandchildren Ryan (11); Conor (10); Brendan (9); Charles (8); and Mary Catherine (5).

I’m now officially 32 years old, good golly Miss Molly!

Lots of people I talk to get worried about their birthday and getting older. I’m not one of those people, to me I’m officially another year older but it doesn’t weigh on me at all. I don’t feel any different to when I was 25 years old, so I don’t see why I should let an arbitrary number have any bearing on things.

I woke up early on my birthday morning, so decided that I’d go for a walk and try out my new heart rate monitor I received for Christmas. Unfortunately I opened RunKeeper before enabling Bluetooth, so it didn’t detect my new heart rate monitor but I’ll remember that for next time.

When I returned home, Claire took Hugo & Evie down to McDonald’s to get their weekend breakfast treat of pancakes. Once we’d munched through those, it was present time and I was spoiled with:

• Logitech C920 Full HD webcam
• Dark Knight Rises DVD
• Guylian Belgian chocolates

Mid morning we jumped in the car and ventured over to Sterle & Lorraine’s house for a barbecue birthday lunch. It served as a great way to bring all of Claire’s brothers, sisters, partners and kids together post Christmas and was really great to catch up with everyone again.

Thank you to everyone from Claire’s side of the family who drove down for a barbecue lunch and my family & friends who sent me an email, instant message, SMS or phoned me for my birthday – well wishes are always great.

33rd birthday here we come!