Happy New Year Friends! How many of you have made New Year’s resolutions? What’s your goal? Eat healthier? Exercise more? Sound familiar! Let’s be honest how many of you were successful with last year’s resolution? Did you know that less than 10 percent are actually successful. Ouch! Resolutions are hard to keep. With January half over I thought I would check in and see how your New Year’s resolutions are going. If you are successful, congrats. If you feel like quitting, hang in there. Take a look at our three tips on how to make your new years resolutions a success!
Set Realistic Goals:
Ever hear of the term SMART ? SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Too many of us want big results FAST. Sorry friends instead of wanting drastic and immediate results, look at your journey as a slow and steady incline to your wellbeing. A smart goal might look like this: Incorporate more vegetables in my diet by eating a green salad with dinner on weeknights. This goal is SMART because eating a green salad is specific, at dinner is attainable and weeknights is timely. Remember you want to make lifestyle changes for the longterm. Remember small changes can have a big impact on your health.
Focus on what you can have (not what you can’t)
Too often we make unrealistic resolutions like to give up sugar. Really, how realistic is that in the longterm. When we make unrealistic goals we set ourselves up for failure. Instead, look at all the foods you can eat. There are tons of healthy foods that we should all enjoy on a daily basis. I suggest trying a new recipe a week or buying a new cookbook for inspiration. You will often hear dietitian’s recommend to eat healthy unprocessed foods at least 80- 90 percent of time and allow for a little indulgence 10-20 percent of the time. Hey if you have a cookie not a big deal.
Plan Plan Plan:
Let’s face it, I am sure most of you could all agree on is you need more time. One of the common barriers to healthy eating is lack of time and preparedness. With work, taking the kids to their activities, and everyday chores, life gets hectic. I couldn’t survive without meal planning, not only does it save me from what to make for dinner stress, it forces me to try new recipes. Meal planning may seem like a lot of work but setting aside 30 minutes every week to develop a meal plan and grocery list will save both time and stress. The key to feeding your family and yourself is meal planning. I know you are probably rolling your eyes at me but trust me it’s a life saver. It takes a bit to getting use to but I encourage you to do it for a month. If you have older kids have them plan 1-2 meals per week. It’s a great way to get the whole family involved and take the pressure off one person. If you are new to meal planning check out our post on meal planning for tips.
Seek help from reliable resources:
At this time of the year there are a lot of good and bad advice when it comes to nutrition. There are too many people out there providing unrealistic nutrition information. I am not going to name any people or websites. A dietitian colleague Abbey, from Abbey’s kitchen summarizes some popular sites providing misleading nutrition and health information. Instead, look for a trusted and trained professional such as a registered dietitian whom you can work with. Like other professionals, many dietitian’s specialize in a specific area. For example, if you want to go vegan it would be beneficial to see a dietitian who is vegan and/or has a lot knowledge around veganism. Seeking help from a trained professional like a registered dietitian will help you make SMART goals and re-evulate those goals with you to make sure they are working for you for.
Wishing you a healthy and successful 2018!
