New Years Resolutions: The Healthy Way

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and enjoyed some special Holiday foods?!

And so, it is that time of year, where people make New Years resolutions… Oh boy, here we go again!… ughhh

If you are sensing my rather sarcastic affection for New Years resolutions, you are on the right track to understanding how I feel about them. Don’t get me wrong, I think they can be useful, if done appropriately and thought through thoroughly. I suppose they irritate or frustrate me because of what I see or hear of what people plan to do, which may not be the most healthful things to do. You may be thinking, well most people try to do “health-related” things for New Years resolutions?! You are absolutely correct, but it’s how people go about it that I don’t always see as “healthy” or thought out thoroughly, which often leads people down the path of failure. I’m not saying everyone needs to be perfect, we learn from our mistakes, hopefully the first time!

If you are wondering whether I make New Years resolutions, the answer is, yes, somewhat. I just prefer to call them goals. Over the last two months, I had two goals on my mind. The first goal was that I wanted to learn how to knit. I wanted to learn how to knit because I realized how empowering and sentimental it could be to MAKE something! So, I gave myself a deadline, by the end of December I was going to learn how to knit. And, I did it! The other goal on my mind was that I had this desire to run a marathon in 2010. I thought about it thoroughly, realistically, and what it would take to get to that point. I thought I couldn’t just throw myself into a grueling marathon without preparing appropriately and healthfully. So, I came up with a plan that I feel would be realistic and achievable for myself. I would run a half marathon in May, commence training in January and potentially run a marathon by late October, early November. If any of you are interested in setting up running goals or New Years resolutions related to running, my cousin in-law wrote a great blog post about this, especially for first time runners, check it out… http://neverhomemaker.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-run.html She also has really terrific, healthy recipes on her blog, I love it!

Enough about me, back to what I want to help people with… a healthy lifestyle with healthful behaviors for life, NOT for a few months. With this New Years resolution discussion comes the words, DIET and WEIGHT LOSS… BLAHHHHHHH! I despise “diets,” even the word “diet.” I don’t like them because they are often short-term, don’t promote healthful behaviors for life, sometimes categorize foods as “good” and “bad,” and simply don’t work, often leading people down the road of a failure cycle (lose weight, gain weight, lose weight, gain weight, etc.). Every time I turn around, there is another diet book on the shelf or commercial for some “magical” weight loss pill on the television. The diet and health industry continues to thrive on people believing there is some “magic bullet” out there for them to lose weight. COMMON, let’s get real people! I laughed a few weeks ago when I saw the news reporting that science has once again shown that weight loss occurs through a healthful diet and exercise. Well, DUH!

I have learned a lot through my studies, particularly through my dietetic internship. Many people have the misconception and fear that if you go see a dietitian, they will put you on a “diet.” Quite the contrary, dietitians work with you! There is no “magic bullet” for weight loss. What works for one person, will not necessarily work for the next. Each person has his or her own particular taste preferences first of all! If you ever do see a dietitian they will work with you through nutrition counseling and with this they will help you with your eating behaviors for the benefit of your long term health.

Another one of my pet peeves is when people classify foods as “good” and “bad.” I like to tell people, and I think most dietitians would agree and state that “ALL FOODS FIT!” Meaning, you can enjoy ALL types of foods in your diet. Sure, some foods have more healthful properties than others, YES! But, if you enjoy a particular food, don’t neglect yourself from having a little bit of it from time to time, hence “moderation.” What happens when you neglect yourself from having a particular food? You crave it even more don’t you?! Don’t fall into this “good food, bad food” trap. All foods fit!

I keep getting side tracked, back to New Years resolutions and Goals! Often with nutrition counseling a dietitian may help you with goal setting. When I was counseling during part of my dietetic internship, I often helped clients set goals for themselves. And with this I often referred to S.M.A.R.T Goals.

The acronym stands for goals that are:

SPECIFIC- Answer the 5 W’s; Who, What, Where, When, Why
MEASURABLE- Answers the How questions. How much? How many?
ATTAINABLE- Do you feel you can succeed?
REALISTIC- Do you have the tools to succeed?
TIMELY- Set a start and end date.

Please visit the American Dietetic Association’s website for more details:
http://www.eatright.org/Media/Blog.aspx?id=4294967734&blogid=269

Too often when I would counsel a client, they would state, “I want to lose weight.” In the beginning this is what they thought was their goal. Or they would state, “I want to lose 50 lbs.” Are these specific or realistic? No. I would often try to help the client understand or see what THEY CAN CONTROL as behaviors. How can you lose weight? You want to increase your exercise, okay... “I will walk for 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week.”

This goal is Specific; it states what this person is going to do, walk. It could be a bit more specific, stating where they are going to walk. It states when this goal is going to occur, this week.
This goal is Measurable. They state how long they will walk for and for how many days they will walk.
This goal is Attainable for this particular person. They feel comfortable that they can succeed and aren’t setting themselves up for failure.
This goal is Realistic for this person. They know they have the time available to do this activity on these set days and that they have room for flexibility.
Finally, this goal is Timely for this person. They have set an end date, the end of the week.

I hope this helps some of you with your goals or New Years Resolutions. I know it helped many of my clients during my dietetic internship. It’s also important to go back and re-assess your goals to see if you are having any “roadblocks” and how you can overcome these. It’s also useful to monitor your progress, so start a journal tracking what you do, how you do and importantly how you FEEL. Sometimes it also helps to have some sort of incentive for achieving your goal. BUT it should NOT be FOOD related. For example, if your goal was similar to the clients’ goal above, your incentive should not be “I can eat 10 cookies.” A better incentive could be, “I going to go see a movie Saturday night, if I achieve my goal.” Finally, it can really help having support from someone you know and trust.

Keep in mind; if you are an ATHETE, who is IN SEASON, you should not be trying to lose weight, but rather maintaining your weight and fueling yourself properly! For athletes, weight loss should be done, IF NEEDED, during the off-season!

I highly recommend that everyone explore the American Dietetic Association’s (ADA) website: http://www.eatright.org

AND, if you are interested in weight loss please visit the ADA’s page on weight loss: http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6843

What are your Goals or New Years Resolutions?

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