Happy New Year, my friends! First, I’d like to apologize for my absence. I didn’t mean to ghost you, life just sort of occurred and I was spending valuable time with my family over the holidays.
But the good news is I am BACK. And I’d like to talk about New Year’s resolutions because it’s that time of year and I have thoughts about them. You’re surprised, I know.
So, it’s the beginning of a new year and a new decade (WOAH) and on January 1st, many of you probably thought to yourself some variety of “I’m going to make resolutions and totally stick to them and my life is going to get better and I’m going to improve myself, etc. etc. I get it, it’s what we’ve been taught- you get a reset button at 12:01am on January 1st and you can make promises to yourself that allow you to forget that you didn’t accomplish your goals last year.
This may sound harsh, and I’m sorry if it does, but resolutions are just stupid. Why only make goals once a year, and why only strive to keep them once a year? Especially when about 44% of all New Year’s resolutions are health-related!
If you’re one of those people who made a resolution and it’s about eating better or eating clean or cooking more, and I haven’t offended you, great! Let’s talk through some ways you can ignore the concept of a resolution and just make more conscious choices throughout the year. It’s about building long-lasting healthy habits, not just cramming good decisions down your throat for the first three weeks and then falling back into an old routine.
Substitute one thing a day
If you’re someone who drinks a lot of soda or coffee or things that aren’t water, drop one cup of it a day and replace it with a cup of water. Same thing goes with snacks! Try to swap out one processed snack a day with something whole like nuts, sliced fruits and veggies, or a piece of cheese.
Evaluate dessert options
First let me say that I have an entire mouth full of sweet tooths. Sweet teeth?
Anyway. This is not to say to stop eating dessert- PLEASE keep eating dessert. It makes the world a better place. However, if you are trying to make more balanced eating choices, try less processed sugars for that sweet treat. Dark chocolate is great. There are quality brands out there that keep the sugar to a minimum while still making it delicious. You can make homemade whipped cream with just heavy cream and vanilla, or a little maple syrup. Throw that on some fresh berries- yum.
Balance is key
When you’re cooking dinner, make sure your food groups are represented. Yes, this sounds like 5th grade but it is important. Although I hear the food pyramid is different now or something. Whatever. The takeaway here is to ensure you have protein, plenty of vegetables, and a healthy starch or grain.
Speaking of grains…
There are some that are better for you than others in that they are easier to digest and actually contain vitamins and nutrients and such. As much as I absolutely love pasta, it really doesn’t do much for your health except make you really happy. Which is definitely necessary don’t get me wrong, just in a different way. Think more whole grains like farro, quinoa, things that aren’t made of flour.
If I did offend you with my disdain for resolutions, I guess I should apologize. The concept is nice, don’t get me wrong, and I always support folks trying to improve their lives. What I can’t encourage is the notion of only improving once a year. Change comes from habit transformation and that happens with repetition and commitment. Ew, commitment, am I right?
If you are serious about making healthy changes in your life, I’d love to help you. Feel free to contact me with any questions or if you’d like to schedule a lesson for yourself!
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Nicely put! Speaking of help, I could use some help with advanced meal prep. Yes, I need to eat like an adult…finally.
I love this!
My resolution was the Keto Diet and a friend of mine who works in the health industry heard me say it and quickly said “don’t”. Balance is so so so important and it’s hard to remember cutting this from the diet isn’t being healthy! Small consistent steps in the right direction is so much better.
I have a lot of friends/co-workers who are doing the whole 30 or limiting themselves for 30 days but I always wonder…what then? What happens in 30 days? Do you think that you’ll embark on a new lifestyle? More likely, the extreme imbalance of restriction and limitation leads to an overcorrection, opening the floodgates of cheese and sugar and carbs. That’s why my emphasis is always on adding activity rather than setting dietary limitations.
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