Sometimes I jokingly call New Year’s Resolutions “New Year’s Revolutions” – at least that is something we often want – a complete change in our lives. We want to look better, feel better, lose weight, get stronger, make our attitudes better, manage our money better, and so on. But change really comes about slowly and habits are hard to change.
All the jokes aside, running out and joining a gym to improve your health is probably not the answer. Trying to make a lot of life-style changes at once doesn’t work. However, small changes that are easy to do on a day-to-day basis are ones you will probably be able to stick with over the year. Some literature suggests that it takes three weeks to develop a new habit (or un-do an old one), in actuality it might take a year or so of repeating something over and over again for it to become habitual.
Weight loss is often high on the list of things we want to accomplish in the New Year. “Going on a diet” does not work for most people. They either fail to lose weight or lose then gain it back. Only a small percentage of people can maintain weight loss after “going on a diet.” Here are some suggestions of small changes that might help you lose weight.
- Decrease the size of your plate. Studies show that people feel full when they have eaten all the food on their plate. Plates have gotten larger over the past 20 – 30 years. By decreasing the size of your plate you automatically decrease the number of calories you eat.
- To avoid last-minute food choices (which often involve less than healthy foods), stick with the same basic breakfast and lunch plan each day. That way the only major food decision you have to make each day is for dinner. For example, in the cooler months, I have oatmeal for breakfast almost every day. Sometimes I have a breakfast taco, consisting of a corn tortilla, refried beans, avocado, and Pico de Gallo. In the warmer months, I have a smoothie with a banana, unsweetened soy or nut milk, a little vanilla, other fruit, a veggie like spinach, and few ice cubes all blended in my high-speed blender. Lunch is usually a big salad. I vary the fruits and vegetables I use in it to add a variety of favors, and always a handful of beans.
- Plan on three meals a day without snacks or sweetened drinks in-between meals. Try to eat as a family, sitting down to meals together as much as possible. This meets socialization needs as well as nutritional needs. If you live alone, make mealtimes special for yourself even if you are not sharing that time with someone else. Don’t graze!
- Consider a form of intermittent fasting. The easiest one is to only eat your three meals during daylight hours and not to eat again after the evening meal (no snacking in front of the TV!). When possible, I try to delay my breakfast so that my meals are compressed into a narrower time frame.
- Consider a home-made soup as a first course to dinner, it fills you up and provides added vegetables
- Add more beans to your diet. Sprinkle beans on a salad, make your own hummus, have a hearty soup with beans in it, have red beans and rice, black eyed peas, Costa Rican black beans and rice. According to the Blue Zones, beans are the number one longevity food.
- Eat an apple a day. The antioxidant properties of apples are concentrated in the peel, so be sure to eat peel and all.
- Concentrate on what healthy foods you can add to your diet (think fruits, vegetables, and whole grains), rather than what you should eliminate. BUT, do try to decrease your sugar intake.
- A word of caution here, meats with nitrates/nitrites in them are classified as Class I Carcinogens by the World Health Organization! This category of foods includes bacon, hot dogs, ham, bologna, salami, cold cuts, chorizo, etc., so try not to include these foods in your diet.
- Avoid drinking sweetened liquids. This includes sodas, both sugar sweetened and artificially sweetened ones, fruit juices, sports drinks, and those fancy coffee drinks. They add extra calories without added nutrition.
Now, what about exercise? No, as I said before, you don’t have to join a gym, unless you know for sure that you will avail yourself of their facilities and classes. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors walked about seven miles a day, so physiologically that is probably what our bodies are tuned to do. That is a lot of walking! I have found that a FitBit or smart watch helps me to keep track of how much I walk each day and also notifies me when I have not walked my 250 steps in an hour. I like to compete against myself, so if one day I am low on steps, the next day I can see how much better I can do.
- If you have not walked much or have joint issues, start small. Walk up and down your driveway, increase the number of times you can do that. Then begin walking in your yard or neighborhood. If the weather is not good or your neighborhood is not safe, walk in your home. Sometimes I put on some good music and dance by myself.
- If you work in an office, get-up from your desk every hour and walk around. It is really good for your circulation to do this.
- Go outside, enjoy the sunlight, trees, grass, birds, and other creatures. This can often reduce stress. Breathe deeply.
- Have a garden. The bending and stretching in the garden are good for you. Watching things grow is rewarding and joyful. When I work in my garden, I don’t try to be terrible efficient because I want to get as much exercise as possible!
- Make your home and garden a place which encourages good health and activity. For example, use a hand-held can opener instead of an electric one, chop your own vegetables, mix things by hand, grate your own cheese, etc.
- Turn off the TV!!! Without the TV on, you would not sit and look at an empty wall but would get up and do something. So, plan what you want to watch, but don’t make TV watching an automatic thing to do after dinner every night.
And, lastly, in this New Year, get enough sleep. Reduce your stress by relaxing with friends, getting outside, trying meditation. Think about your purpose in life, your reason for getting up each day, and how you can help others. Be kind to yourself.
