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.