As we approach the end of the year, many people are considering New Year’s resolutions to help improve health and wellness in the coming year. When is comes to health, we often think of adding exercise and cutting back on food. I’d like to offer a fresh approach to improving your personal nutrition. Instead of focusing on what NOT to eat, I propose you focus more on what TO eat (and drink). I would also like to suggest you not wait until the new year to get started. Let’s end this year knowing you are already on the road to improving your health. New Years Resolutions are just an excuse to put off what you should be doing now!
The world is full of advise on what not to consume. It comes from well meaning friends, family members, news media, celebrities, authors, respected health organizations, and even various experts such as coaches, doctors, or trainers. We are advised to limit dietary fat, particularly saturated and trans fats, to limit sodium, avoid processed food and limit sugar intake. While the advise offered can be sound, I find it often leaves people at a loss of what they SHOULD be eating.
Even when there is a sense of what should be included in our diets (more fiber, more vegetables, more potassium, whole grains, fish, etc.), it’s not always that easy to figure out what that looks like in terms of day-to-day food choices. The WHAT TO DO is the easy part; the HOW to put it into practice is the more challenging part. And trying to identify the many nutrition recommendations, figure out which ones are sound, then pulling it all together and putting it into practice can seem overwhelming to many. To this end, I’ve designed a stepwise Nutrition Challenge to guide you to incorporate healthy nutrition habits into your lifestyle one at a time, helping you to find ways to make the new habits palatable and achievable for you.
Are you ready to get a head start on the new year and get started? Go to Nutrition Challenge #1 and see if you are up for it. I’ll be checking in with folks here and on my Face Book page to see how you’re doing and what kind of advice you have to offer each other. Let’s make this interactive…share what works for you to help others be successful too!
