Positive ways to fulfil your New Years resolution in Canberra

New Year’s resolutions are so often about cutting back, slimming down, reducing, fasting, dieting and restricting. Health kicks are all well and good, but that kind of restrictive language doesn’t exactly feel like a good time. Where’s the joy? Where’s the fun?

Here are three positive food resolutions you might actually keep, and by doing so will support local Canberra businesses.

The best way to use the phrase “cold turkey” is in conjunction with the word “sandwich”. Whether it’s Dry July or Sober October, going a whole month without alcohol used to be a real drag, especially when Canberra has such excellent beer, wine and spirits! Some take on the challenge and start avoiding social gatherings so they aren’t tempted, others give up discouraged part way through the month.

But the good news is that alcohol-free drinks are becoming far more sophisticated and readily available. The Heaps Normal tinnies are best sellers in bottle shops and Capital Brewing’s new Alc-less beer is good enough to drink any day of any month. Canberra brand Altina has a whole range of alcohol-free cocktails and wines and it feels like more and more people are getting off the booze-wagon with zero regrets.

Make your resolution to taste more of the delicious alcohol-free drops on offer. You don’t have to go cold turkey, you’ll get to try new things and cutting down your alcohol will just be an added bonus.

Food waste is a big contributor to global emissions, and it’s a waste of money. If you’re buying food, storing it in the fridge then throwing it in the bin a week later, you may as well be shredding cash.

But using up the odds and ends in the fridge doesn’t have to be a chore. Live out your best Masterchef dreams and treat the contents of your fridge as a “mystery box” challenge. You may just find your cooking skills improve as you create ways to shoehorn veggies into your dinner.

You could also make a resolution to start composting any of the scraps you can’t use. Some suburbs have FOGO trial bins, or you could join sustainability start-up Capital Scraps with its community compost hubs around Canberra. Apps such as Share Waste can match you up with people in your neighbourhood who have space in their bins, or reach out via your local Buy Nothing Group. Or take the plunge and start your own compost bin!

Improve your cooking, take positive climate action, meet your neighbours, save money: sounds like a pretty good new year’s resolution!

We all sometimes get stuck in a rut. It’s easy to choose the familiar over the unknown and play it safe. But variety is the spice of life and there are plenty of spicy (and mild) dining options all over Canberra that are worth the leap of faith!

Next time you’re going out to eat, why not be brave and pick a new restaurant? Make 2023 the year you stop saying “yeah, I’ve been meaning to go there one day” and make it the year you ACTUALLY go.

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Those who like a challenge could try to eat their way through every suburb of Canberra, from Ainslie to Yarralumla!

Or see if you can find a restaurant for each letter of the alphabet or every country of the world! Kodiak Bar, Queenies, Wilma and Zaab will see you through some of the trickier letters in the alphabet, but you’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to S: Sandoochi, Soupstone, Stepping Stone, Sonamu, Sourdog… Heck you could make a resolution to just eat from places that start with S!

Even if you don’t stick to these resolutions you’ll still be adding some fun and variety to what you eat, how you eat, and where you eat it. And that’s surely a good way towards having a happy new year.

What’s your food resolution for 2023?

Original Article published by Lucy Ridge on Riotact.