New Year, New Focus on Healthy Eating
With the start of a new year, many of us strive for a better version of ourselves which may include dieting, exercise or making positive choices. Setting the intention to improve our health can be a wonderful goal and yield positive results for the future, however, creating a plan and sticking to it throughout the year can be challenging. Consider the following suggestions as you focus on being a better and healthier you.
Create a Plan
Creating an initial plan can often be the most important part of the process. Consider beginning by choosing your intentions and goals, so that you know what your intended outcome is. Keeping a record of your plan can be a useful strategy, this can include a log of your intentions, goals, log of food and strategies follow up.
Reminders can also be a useful tool as you begin to integrate this into your lifestyle. Even small reminders like wearing food socks, especially those that depict healthy food options can serve as a helpful reminder to introduce beneficial options. Getting your plan started can include eating fewer processed foods, avoiding foods and drinks with added sugar, and reducing portion sizes.
However, if you are struggling with maintaining your plan, another strategy to consider is finding an accountability partner or a health professional with nutrition training, such as a dietitian can check in with to help you stay on track and serve as a wonderful asset as you make your transition.
Give Yourself Realistic Goals
As you assess your plan, having written intentions and goals can allow you to evaluate how reasonable and feasible they are. If your outcomes seem unattainable, it may be a good idea to start over and choose something that feels manageable. If your end goal is to lose an unhealthy amount of weight or eating a diet without any flexibility, you may want to reconsider options that are less restrictive.
Creating an unhealthy relationship with food like cutting out foods, creating too restrictive of a plan or absolute goals would not be a positive choice in reestablishing your relationship with food. The goal should be to create a plan and maintain a healthy diet, so creatinga positive and healthy relationship with food should be the end goal.
What’s On Your Plate?
Eating can become a redundant task that is often mindless, however, the importance of balancing what we are consuming can provide our bodies with the proper nutrients and the fuel we need to thrive. By evaluating the portion sizes on a typical plate, we can introduce more healthy eating practices.
Knowing what portion sizes are appropriate can be difficult and measuring out specific quantities of food can often be unrealistic and unmanageable in our daily lives. TheHealthy Eating Plate can be a helpful reference as you navigate the process of developing a healthier eating plan. Your plan should include steps that are manageable as you navigated your day-to-day activities.
Beyond Food
Healthy habits go far beyond eating, and many of your daily activities can influence your body. Staying fit and moderating your sleeping hygiene can have a huge impact on your ability to process food and stay healthy.Integrating strategies to stay active for at least 150 minutes per week (try 30 minutes per day) can allow your body to stay strong and increase your metabolism.
Additionally, improper sleep can increase hunger hormones and reduce your ability to feel full after eating, so monitoring your sleep can be an essential component that impacts a healthy lifestyle. While these are not directly related to the food that you intake, they also play a major role in how your body processes food.
Adjusting our lives to include more healthful choices is a popular decision around the beginning of each year, but maintaining this throughout the remainder of the year can be stressful and difficult. Consider creating a plan that is reasonable for you and your particular circumstances. By altering your lifestyle to include a few additional healthy activities and options, you could see with wondrous and numerous health benefits in the long-term.