It is that time of year again.
No sooner than the clock strikes 12 at midnight on New Year’s Eve than we begin to plan our resolutions: We sign up at the YMCA, local gym or exercise group; we dump all the cookies, cakes and snacks; we start that book on self-help. By the end of January our attendance at the gym has dwindled as our busy schedule takes priority.
We are too exhausted to cook all that fresh food. The bookmark in the self-help book stays put.
For all our good intentions, we are simply hard pressed to carry out these new resolutions to improve health, which in turn will make us happy.
Making resolutions to improve our health are important and worthy, however they must be “doable.”
“Avoid making goals that will take you take more than a year to complete,” writes doctor and life coach Dr. Martina McGowan in her blog. “If you want to make a long-term goal like this, break it up into parts and give yourself a realistic plan for your first year goal.”
Cutting out the negativity around you, while tough, can be very helpful in maintaining motivation for any goal.
“An optimistic attitude is critical to your success,” says McGowan. “Think about how you felt when you first set your New Year’s goal.
“Chances are that you had an excellent attitude, so try to maintain that mindset throughout your journey to success with your goal.”
It takes three genuine compliments to ease the one negative remark that chips away at self-esteem.
“When you run into snags in the road, as you are bound to in life from time to time, it will help if you can visualize yourself reaching your end goal,” she adds. “Visualizing it makes it feel real and motivates you to continue to work hard to make it happen.”
To get off to a good start in the morning, start in the evening.
Oatmeal can be prepared the night before and warmed in the morning or cold-cooked in the refrigerator the night before.
Just put all your ingredients in a jar and let it soak all night. Keep hard-boiled eggs on hand for a healthy protein snack.
Simple homemade meals can be as uncomplicated as putting chicken in the oven to bake, cooking a potato in the microwave and creating a salad from assorted greens.
Add candied pecans, grape tomatoes, crumbled blue cheese with oil and vinegar to the salad.
You will have a complete, healthy meal in just a half-hour or less.
Have plain or vanilla yogurt with fresh blueberries and granola for dessert.
You will have included most of the food groups and enjoyed a good healthy meal.
If you do not have the time to attend an exercise program on a consistent basis then you must find some form of exercise that you can perform consistently.
Walking is the simplest and most efficient exercise.
Park further from the store when you shop; take a walk around the building during a lunch break, walk around the house during commercial breaks on television. Take the stairs.
The No. 1 enemy to our psychological and therefore physical well being today is stress.
Our brains are not able to shut down today to get the needed rest due to the disruption of so-called blue light from our televisions, radios and electronic devices.
We go to sleep watching television instead of the inside of our eyelids.
A dark, quiet room is essential for our brain to reset itself each night.