🧠 Stroke Proof Weekly Challenge: Tackle Harmful Substances
This week, instead of thinking about habits to add I thought we might think about things to stop.
Harmful substances like:
🍷 Alcohol
🚬 Smoking
🍔 Ultra-processed foods (UPFs)
In order to quit a harmful substance there's a few steps you could take:
1: The “Awareness Reset” (Easy win)
Before changing anything… just observe.
For the next 7 days:
Track alcohol intake (units)
Notice any smoking/vaping triggers
Identify UPFs in your diet (anything packaged, long ingredient list, engineered for taste)
💡 Aim:
No judgement
Just awareness
Most people underestimate these by 30–50%
👉 This is your baseline. You can’t optimise what you don’t measure.
🥈 Step 2: The “Reduce by Half” Challenge
Now we start nudging behaviour.
Pick ONE of the following:
Cut alcohol intake by 50%
Cut cigarettes/vapes by 50%
Replace 50% of UPFs with whole foods
Examples:
Beer → alcohol-free alternative
Crisps → nuts / fruit / hummus & veg
Ready meals → simple whole-food swaps
💡 Aim: Not perfection. Just meaningful reduction.
👉 This alone can significantly improve:
Blood pressure
Inflammation
Metabolic health
🥇 Steop 3: The “Clean Week” (High impact)
Go all in for 7 days:
❌ No alcohol
❌ No smoking/vaping
❌ No ultra-processed foods
Instead:
Water / sparkling water / tea / coffee
Whole foods: meat, fish, eggs, veg, fruit, nuts, grains
Cook simple meals (doesn’t need to be fancy)
💡 What to notice:
Energy levels
Sleep quality
Cravings (they often drop after 3–4 days)
Mental clarity
👉 This is where people often realise:
“I didn’t know I could feel this good.”
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To do this it's usually best to replace the thing we're quitting with something positive. For example, you may want to have lots of fresh food on hand for tasty snacks instead of processed foods.
💬 comment below:
Which option are you choosing?
What’s your biggest challenge with this area?
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🧠 Stroke Proof Weekly Challenge: Tackle Harmful Substances
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