Post 7 | Starting the New Year off Right
It is often at this time of year with New Year’s resolutions and thinking back upon the year that has just past that we decide to make health and lifestyle changes. These decisions usually come with fantastic goals and dramatic eating and moving alterations. I hate to say it, but these resolutions and decisions are a huge mistake.
They set us up for disappointment and disaster.
Health and lifestyle changes are day by day, meal by meal, minute by minute, bite by bite. What we choose to put in our bodies and do with our bodies is something that must reflect how we are feeling in that moment; it must be a conscious choice on how we nourish our bodies. We must be kind to ourselves, we much nurture ourselves, we must grow ourselves based on how we are doing at the time - separate from the pressures we and society put on us.
When we make these changes and resolutions, they tend to be drastic and life-altering. When we do this, we cannot focus on any one change and make it a second-nature habit. We split our attention over many changes and feel like failures when we cannot achieve and keep up with all of them all at once. This is a recipe for disaster.
We have to narrow down the scope and depth of changes. Choose 3 things to alter at a time.
When we narrow down we make sustainable changes that not only change our looks but our health as well, and in the end isn’t that the whole point.
Here are a list of possible changes. REMEMBER: choose 1, 2, or 3. No more than that.
Increase my green vegetable intake by 25-50%
Increase my other vegetable intake by 25-50%
Switch breakfast muffin or donut for and English muffin or whole grain toast
Add protein with breakfast
Switch up vending machine snacks with a piece of whole fruit with yogurt, cheese, or 1/4 nuts
Try for one meatless day per week
Go for a 30 minute walk each evening before or after dinner
Add 5-10 minutes to your walk each week until you reach an hour per day
Learn to do a proper pushup
Make a wellness appointment with your doctor
Get your cholesterol, blood glucose, A1c, and/or triglycerides checked regularly this year
Monitor your resting pulse and blood pressure for one week
See a dietitian!