Happy New Year! Did you enjoy a little (or a lot) of indulgence over the holidays. We did, but we are back in the swing of eating healthy. How many of you want to reclaim your health in 2016? While I like the idea of a fresh start, I am not a fan of New Years Resolutions. The times that I did attempt to make them, I think I forgot all about them by the end of the month. I am the believer that there is “no time like the present” to make positive changes to improve your health and happiness. But I do have a few friends who were successful with their resolutions last year, congrats. For those of you who made resolutions to eat healthier and to improve your health we have 5 tips to make 2016 your healthiest.
Did you know less than ten percent of us are successful at keeping our resolutions. Research does suggest we make goals that are unrealistic. I am assuming most of you are still going strong with your goals. Experts suggest using the acronym SMART for setting goals. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Here are 5 tips to help make 2016 your healthiest, keeping SMART in mind.
Mindfulness
Personally, I think mindfulness is one of the most important things we can all do when it comes to our health. Too many of us are distracted while we are eating. We are either watching TV, browsing the web, working, or driving. Eating while distracted can lead to over eating, making poor food choices, and decreasing your enjoyment of food. Try eating dinner without any distractions, turn off the TV, cell phones and pay attention to food choices and hunger cues. Learn to put the fork down when your full. Finally, if you occasionally feel like that cookie, enjoy it but stop at one. Now this maybe difficult at first, but try at least one meal a week and work your way up to 1-2 meals day.
Positive Change
When people make goals around their diet they often look at what they can’t eat. Instead of focusing on what you can’t eat, look at what you can add to your diet. For example, instead of removing sugar look at adding extra vegetables and fruit. Vegetables and fruit taste great, especially when they are in season. If you have a little sweet tooth try roasting root vegetables and adding them to salads like this winter kale salad or how about the kitchen sink salad from Fraiche nutrition.
Keep goals Attainable and Specific
Keeping goals attainable will help you with success. Don’t set yourself up for failure by creating unrealistic goals. I don’t know of too many people who could permanently remove sugar from their diet, I know I couldn’t. But reducing your sugar consumption is more attainable. Be specific on how you are going to do this. Perhaps you will add salad to your dinner, this roasted beet and carrot salad is a real hit in our family.
Meal Planning
One of the common barriers to healthy eating is lack of time. With work, taking the kids to their activities, and everyday chores, life gets hectic and before you know it your driving through and picking up fast food. I couldn’t survive without meal planning, not only does it save me from what to make for dinner stress, it forces me to try new recipes. Meal planning may seem like a lot of work but setting 30 minutes aside every week to develop a meal plan and grocery list will save both time and stress. Check out our post on meal planning for tips. And if your looking for new recipes check out How Sweet it is for a 22 week meal plan.
Eat Breakfast
I am a breakfast lover. I get up extra early to enjoy my breakfast. I truly believe starting your day off with a healthy breakfast will help keep you focused and mindful of your food choices the rest of the day. A healthy breakfast can be something simple like toast with a nut butter and banana, or smoothies, homemade granola with greek yogurt and fresh fruit. Some of our favourites include everyday toasted oats, wholewheat waffles, and pancakes.
For the next month we are going to be featuring new recipes that are easy and healthy from breakfast, salads, and snacks.
Good Luck!
