A Different Approach to Your New Year's Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions

January is the month for starting fresh and creating goals to be completed within the New Year. However, February is a testament to see whether we can follow through with those resolutions or if we will become a part of the statistic that 80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by the second week of the month (US News). It’s not easy to create or break a habit, in fact it takes 21 days to do so, but the key to sticking to your New Year’s resolution is to start small.

Most New Year’s resolutions fall under the category of health and wellness. Whether your goal is to reduce caffeine intake, do a proper push-up, or manage your lower back pain, I believe that creating or breaking a habit is only possible by starting small and of course with repetition.

Healthy Eating

When my kids were growing up, Monday night was pasta night and my night to cook. Spaghetti with homemade red sauce (a family recipe of course) or linguini with white clam sauce were some of our favorites and still are today. After learning more about the damaging effects of simple carbs and doing some of my own research, I realized that there were plenty of healthier alternatives to white flour pasta. I decided to make the switch from white pasta to whole wheat and, later, began to try multiple variations of pasta like chickpea, quinoa or even spaghetti made from zucchini. White flour foods are not something we normally eat or even crave anymore. Now, most of our meals consist of a protein complemented by many different vegetables. If we do add in a grain we experiment with new ones like Freekeh or Farro. It’s not to say we never indulge because we certainly do. Linguini with white clam sauce with garlic bread will forever be one of my favorite meals. It took our taste buds some time to get used to the new flavors, but this small change has completely transformed the way in which we eat in my house today. 

Exercise

We know that exercise, whether it be cardio, weight training, yoga, etc. is good for the mind, body, soul, and gut, but it’s often hard to make time for it. There are always excuses about why we couldn’t exercise and that we’ll get to it tomorrow. However, it doesn’t take a gym, a pool or even a park to make your body break a sweat. You just need yourself, the floor, and 20 minutes.

What is your workout goal? To lose weight, to relieve stress? You can start by doing short workouts at home before signing-up for a gym membership you may never end up using. On days where I know that I won’t be getting to the gym, I pop in a 20 minute DVD of my favorite yoga practices or abdominal routines. It may not be the 40-60 minutes of cardio recommended, but it gets me moving, sweating and mentally feeling better.

The point of this blog is to demonstrate that a little goes a long way and that change doesn’t happen overnight. Like I mentioned before, it takes 21 days to create a habit. That means doing something or not doing something for three weeks. We are already so jammed packed in our 24-hour days, it’s almost impossible to reserve an entire hour to exercise or to cooking fresh meals, but what we can do is start small.

As your Chiropractor, I can help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions by keeping you pain free, advising you about nutrition, providing you with exercises to reach your fitness goals as well as acting as a general resource to you as you continue on your health and wellness journey. As we near February, it’s important to reassess our New Year’s resolutions and rethink how we can reach them. Let’s be a part of the statistic, the 20% who stick with them.