Skip to main content

New Year’s Resolutions Worth Keeping


While any time is a good time to start a new healthy habit, the start of the New Year seems to be one of the most popular. If one of your goals for 2015 is to become a healthier version of yourself, some well-planned resolutions can help you get there.

Top Healthy Habits
Changing our habits can seem like a big undertaking, but there are many small things that
together can add up to big results. Some of the most popular strategies to improve overall
health include getting enough sleep, starting off the day with breakfast and eating foods that
have been prepared from fresh, whole ingredients. If we look at strategies used by those who
have successfully improved their health, these trends may be headed in the right direction. Of
people who have successfully lost and kept weight off, almost all made changes in both their
eating and exercise habits, with eating breakfast, daily exercise and minimizing television
viewing being among the most popular habits adopted.

How to choose?
When it comes to resolutions, less is often more. Picking one or two changes that you can
stick with long term is a better strategy than making a long list that you give up on before
the end of January. Taking a close look at your current habits is a good place to start when
deciding on the best goals for you. Online tools like Supertracker and apps like MyFitnessPal
or Lose it can give you a quick idea of where you stand with both your food and exercise
behaviors and will give you a way to track how you do with your resolutions. If you need more
personalized advice, speaking to a Registered Dietitian can be very helpful.

How to make your resolution last
Change can be difficult, which is why so many of us give up on our resolutions as quickly
as we make them. Set yourself up for success by making your resolutions easy to keep. If one
of your goals is to eat more vegetables, make sure you have them around you whenever you
are eating. Keep them on hand at home for snacking and cooking, choose to eat at places
that you know offer a variety of delicious vegetable dishes and ask friends for their favorite
veggie recipes.

REFERENCES:
1. “Culture of Wellness 2013” report, The Hartman Group. Available at http://www.hartman-group.com.
2. The National Weight Control Registry. Available at http://www.nwcr.ws/.
Written by Jennifer M. Ignacio, MS, RD.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eat Right Live Well - December 2014

Post a Comment
Read more

Fish For Your Heart?

Cutting back on red meat is a common recommendation for both health and sustainability. What’s less clear is what we should replace the meat with. A recent study looked at this and the results may surprise you. If not red meat, what? Red meat appears on many lists of foods to eat less of due mostly to its saturated fat and cholesterol content, and the fact that we tend to eat too much of it. A recent study looked at what we should consider substituting for red meat when we follow the advice to cut back. Of all of the substitutions the study looked at, one stood out as the best choice – fish high in omega-3s. The fatty fish showed more benefits for heart health than poultry, unprocessed meat and even lean fish. Is fish safe to eat? Fish, especially the kind that gives us omega-3s, has long been considered a healthy choice. Warnings related to contamination by mercury and other toxins has left many people wondering if fish is safe to eat. For most people, the benefits of eating fish far ...
Post a Comment
Read more

National Nutrition Month 2017: Plant Power

If you follow food trends, you’ve surely noticed that plant-based foods, recipes and restaurants have been getting a larger share of the spotlight lately. Does this mean that more of us are becoming vegetarians? Should we be? Why more plants? Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, peas, nuts and seeds are key features of some of the healthiest diets in the world. Plant based foods are a common theme in the Mediterranean Diet, the DASH Diet and most dietary guidelines. The balance of health promoting nutrients with moderate calories and less of the stuff we should be limiting make plant based foods an easy fit for most people. Looking beyond personal health, to the health of our planet, plant based foods tend to more sustainable and less taxing on the environment. What is a flexitarian? Or a pescatarian? With the expansion of plant foods on our plates has come an expansion of how we refer to the way we eat. Vegetarian still refers to people who don’t eat meat, fish or poultry, but the...
Post a Comment
Read more