Recharge Your Resolutions

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. One off day doesn’t change all of the good you accomplished on the other days. When it comes to eating and other health behaviors, aim for consistency instead of
perfection.

Follow an Expert
Whether you need individualized strategies or motivation to stick to new habits, a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist (RDN) may be able to help you. You can find one near you by searching on eatright.org through the “Find an expert” link. This month, you’ll also find a lot of RDNs active on social media using #NationalNutritionMonth. You can also connect with RDNs affiliated with your café through balanceittakesyou.com, and @balanceity on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

RESOURCES:

1. Start with small changes. Available at: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/start-small-changes

Written by Jennifer M. Roberts, MS, RD.
March 2018

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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.

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Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions

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?

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A Healthy Recipe for a Healthy New Year

Well here we are almost a month into the new year and generally this is the time when a lot of people have already begun to "fall off the wagon" from some of their primary New Year’s resolutions. If eating better and healthier was one of your resolutions here is a recipe that is both healthy and easy to prepare.

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Keeping Your Healthy Resolutions for 2012

Each year people make New Year's resolutions. The more common resolutions seem to be related to health -- weight loss, getting in shape, and eating better. Despite our best effort, many times these resolutions are not kept. The best way to keep a resolution is to make it realistic and keep it simple.

Here are some strategies that may help you keep your goals for 2012!

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