Get Healthy This Year

by Lynn Beltran in Q Health | 0 comments

I am reminded that last January, a good friend reported to me that her New Year’s resolution for 2010 was to start drinking beer, wine and coffee.

As you may have already guessed, she had grown up in the LDS faith and felt that her palate had always been limited to child-like proportions: meat, potatoes, nothing spicy and never a taste of great wine paired with a great meal. When I told her that, perhaps, she could make some different, more healthy goals, or at least ones that don’t often lead to addiction, she responded quickly with, “Lynn, you need to meet me where I’m at.”

Thus, I resolved to accept that hopefully my friend would be getting more resveratrol in her diet from the wine, a chemical known to be heart-healthy. I also began reading up on how to initiate effective interventions in case she excelled at her resolution.

But as it turned out, her resolution failed; nary a glass of wine, beer or coffee has passed her lips this year. You can bet that I’m not even going to ask her about any new resolutions for 2011!

If you surveyed people about New Year’s resolutions, you would likely find that the most popular are related to food intake (diet), exercise and quitting smoking. These are good resolutions, healthy and worthy of effort. Although research shows that most people abandon their resolutions by February, I’m going to be more optimistic and say, “Yes! Do it! You can do it! You are worth it!”

And here is why.

Those three resolutions are popular with good reason. They are three things that we have day-to-day control over, they are the three most common disease agents in the United States, and all three affect how we look. The thing is, behavior related to diet, exercise and smoking are lifestyle choices that can impact our quality of living, although we often don’t suffer the consequences until later in life, and often not until the damage is no longer reparable.

As a result, conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are reaching epidemic proportions, and they are affecting us at much younger ages. They are expensive to treat, and much of the treatment for each may not be covered by health insurance. New diseases due to lifestyle choices are starting to emerge, such as macular degeneration that affects vision, and early onset Alzheimers — again, often the consequence of lifestyle.

I think we have heard so much about the poor health habits of American culture that are leading to disease, that many have become somewhat immune to the messages. Don’t let that be you. Here’s what you can do:

Food. Don’t pay attention to “diets,” they don’t work on a long-term basis. Instead, focus on simply eating healthier, making one small change a week or one change a month. For example, I will resolve to eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner one day a week. One of the best and easiest changes you can make to improve your diet is simply to eat more food in its original form. Food that has been processed or chemically altered has less nutrition and is usually higher in fat. If you are eating something in its original form, it is more likely to be a fruit or vegetable, and it can’t be bad. If it is meat or fish, then try to grill or bake it with little to no sauces or breading. If it is processed at all, look for items that have three ingredients or less. The more healthy food you eat, the more healthy food you will want to eat. Just make one of these changes, and you will feel a difference.

Exercise. Simply get out and move. It really can be anything – walking, biking, bowling, dancing, skiing or doing yoga; the most important part is that you enjoy it. The more you move, whatever the activity, the more you will want to move. Start with doing an activity once a week and go from there. Do not resolve to join a gym. That is one of the most common resolutions that people drop or never use. It is also one of the most common sources of wasted money. You will also be amazed by how much physical activity improves your emotional health. Don’t be excessive about it, though.

Smoking. You can quit smoking and there are so many resources out there to help you. What I want you to know is that smoking increases your risk for almost every age-related disease. Smoking is also an activity that makes you age more quickly. So, start by cutting back. Quite frankly, the more you smoke, the more you want to smoke. Resolve to smoke two fewer cigarettes a day for the first two weeks, and let that become a habit. Then continue to reduce your tobacco intake in increments and let that become habit. The less you smoke, the less you will want to smoke. The Utah Tobacco Quitline is a great resource and can be found at 1-888-567-TRUTH (toll free).

You may or may not have noticed, but there was a bit of a pattern to these suggestions: start small, don’t be excessive, wait for it to become a habit. Perhaps resolutions were meant to be gradual, not all at once. The most important thing is to set up what you’re trying to do so that it is a lifestyle change that you hardly notice, particularly in the beginning. So don’t shoot for the moon on Jan. 1, but make one small change and see where that takes you.

You can do it!