Choosing Healthy Foods

Did you start the year out with big resolutions to improve your health? Have some of them started to slip? March is National Nutrition Month® and a perfect time to recharge your resolutions. Be Realistic Setting big health related goals can be motivating, but if the goals are too lofty it can backfire. Instead of setting yourself up for failure with goals that are too hard to reach, consider breaking them into steps. For example, if you need to eat more vegetables, becoming a vegan may be too big of a first step. Instead, start with the flexitarian approach of choosing some meat-free meals each week. Need ideas for realistic goals? Choosemyplate.gov has a section on starting with small changes and celebrating them as “MyPlate, MyWins.” Consistency vs Perfection When it comes to your health, what you do most of the time is more important than the occasional slip. If you have been working on eating less sugar and indulged in a big dessert over the weekend, let it go and get back on track...

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 com...

With assistance from Northeastern graduate student Melissa Pryputniewicz A new year brings the hope and promise of new starts. This makes it the perfect time for people to make resolutions to change certain behaviors. But even with good intentions many people don’t succeed in keeping their resolutions. A study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that only half of the people who made a resolution stuck with it after six months. So you may be asking, what are the keys to success? Calvin and Hobbes , Bill Waterson Make Resolutions Realistic and Specific Many people make big resolutions like "I want to lose weight," or "I want to eat healthier." While these goals highlight positive changes, they are not very specific. Instead trying reframing your goals into more specific terms. Not only will this help you measure when you have achieved a goal, but it also gives you a clear plan of action for starting to work on the resolution. Break Big Goals Into Smaller Ones ...