Did you make a load of resolutions for 2023?  You’re certainly not alone, but apparently, most of us will fail before the end of January. But why? 

The answer is usually pretty simple – we try to change too much, all at once.  Magazines are full of tiresome and cliched images of bright-eyed, skinny, leaping women and promises of easy ways to transform our lives, but it doesn’t really work that way. 

To make real and lasting change, we need to take steps which are manageable – and take them one at a time. If we fling ourselves into deep deprivation, we’ll just become unhappy and demoralised. 

Eating less meat and dairy is easy if you take it in bite-sized (literally!) chunks: making Mondays meat-free is a great place to start.  Then, when you can establish that small – but significant – change, you can take it further when you’re ready.  Every meat-free meal makes a difference. Meat-Free Mondays’ Impact Calculator states that if just one person can make just 52 days a year meat-free, they’ll save nearly 790 bathtubs of water, 434 miles’ worth of carbon emissions and much, much more. See it for yourself.

Telling yourself that you’ll be slimmer, healthier and spend less money  in 2023 are vague notions. Deciding that you won’t eat meat on one (or more) days a week is not.  And making that specific change will also help you with the three vague ones.  Big tick for you!