Tips for Obtaining and Keeping Your Healthy Resolutions
At the end of last year, the New England Journal of Medicine announced that by 2030 at least 25 percent of Americans would be considered severely obese. This study included more than 6 million Americans, and the findings showed disparities across states and subgroups. What’s frightening is that the study found that 50 percent of the population in 29 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, will be considered obese.
If one of your resolutions for the new year is to adopt a healthier lifestyle, your family can benefit from your example AND help you achieve your goal! Creating healthier habits for the whole family will make it easier for you to stick to yours.
Five Tips to Help You Get and Stay Healthy:
1. Keep your goals simple. Don’t introduce a new eating plan, cut out food groups and start a new exercise program all at once. Make changes that can last. For instance, make a healthy eating plan and tackle it week by week:
Clean out your refrigerator and pantry by eliminating highly processed foods, sweets and other junk food.
Write down a daily meal plan that incorporates fresh foods, low sugars and no processed meats or foods.
Shop at local farmers markets or start in your grocery’s fresh produce aisle to add more vegetables to your meals.
Other small steps are to cut juice allowance in half, reduce cheese, switch to whole grain products and low-fat or skim milk.
Concentrate on your portion sizes during meals and make sure that your child’s portions are not too large. Also, before serving seconds, have your child wait for 20 minutes while their stomach communicates with their brain so that they can better evaluate if they are still hungry or not.
Choose your language carefully in front of your children and don’t use the word “diet.” Explain that you want the family to be healthy and that it starts by eating nutritious foods.
2. Increase physical activity time with the family.
Make small changes such as suggesting a family walk before or after dinner, starting out with a short walk and increasing it to a half hour minimum.
Instead of plopping down in front of the TV after school and work, suggest a quick game of chase, jump rope, rolling a ball back and forth or whatever your child likes to do right now. Not only will it increase your physical activity, but it promotes bonding time.
Can you incorporate more public transportation and walking in your day?
3. Find your cheering squad! Change can be hard. It may have taken you years to create unhealthy habits so don’t expect that it will only take you weeks to create healthier ones.
4. Don’t let negative self-talk or a stumble interfere with your goal. Look at a relapse of a bad habit as a learning experience. Think about what may have triggered it and how you can deal with it in the future.
5. Keep trying.
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