How About These New Year Resolutions?

Ever think about those New Year’s resolutions you set yourself and which you struggled to stick to and eventually gave up?  It probably left you with a sense of failure, or perhaps the suggestion that the goals were a little unrealistic or un-achievable.

A habit, they say, takes a good 30 days to change, so trying to achieve more than one small change at a time can be a mighty difficult thing.

Why not do things differently this year? Since you need approximately a month to develop a new habit, how about setting yourself 12 new health-enhancing habits – one for each month?

This way, you can be sure to incorporate each and every change to the point that you no longer need to give them any real conscious consideration.  

Sounds feasible, right? But what exactly should those changes be?

Well of course, lots will be dependent on what your long term goals are (i.e. completing the Iron Man, losing 10kg, improving your health, reducing your stress load etc.).

Ideally, you need to spend some time thinking about this goal and then work backwards from there, giving thought to the fundamental changes required to help support you achieve this goal.

What is suggested here, are 12 very basic but fundamentally important life and health-enhancing changes, so that – come next year – your chances of achieving your goals will be more than significantly improved.  If you like them, place them in order of priority for you...

Month one

Drink enough good quality water. Your weight in kg X 0.033 = your ideal daily water intake (not taking into account any sweat-inducing activities), e.g. 0.033 X 60kg = 1.98L.

Good quality water would be (in order of preference) reverse-osmosis; filtered water, or a Brita-type jug filter (with the filter changed at least twice monthly).

Month two

Take enough good quality salt on a daily basis. Your daily water intake amount X 2.2 = your daily salt intake, e.g. 1.98L X 2.2 = 4.35ml salt (just short of one teaspoon daily).

Good quality salt would be Himalayan Crystal Salt (preferably the Universal Vision brand), or Celtic Sea Salt (not currently available in South Africa).

Month three

Bring more raw food into your diet. Aim for 40-50% raw intake with foods such as salads, smoothies, raw soups (look online), lightly steamed veggies and raw veggie juices.

Month four

Build more physical activity into your day. Even if you set aside time for exercise on a daily basis, it is a really good habit to create a more physically active lifestyle.

More gardening, walking/cycling to and from shops/work, taking the stairs and not the lifts/escalators, walking the dog daily etc. will help you achieve this.

Month five

Learn to breathe properly! Most people use their secondary breathing muscles (chest) instead of their primary one (the diaphragm).

This keeps them in a more stressed state (through activation of the sympathetic side of the nervous system) and reduces oxygen and nutrient supply to the cells.

Breathing well can dramatically improve your health, since oxygenation of cells means more alkaline cells, which in turn means a reduction in the potential for disease states to occur.

Month six

Get more sleep. It is vitally important for good health and weight management, so aim for early-ish nights (10.00/10.30pm) and try for 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in a pitch-black environment.

Try not to watch TV or work on the computer for at least two hours prior to bed time as these activities tend to lower melatonin (‘sleep’ hormone) and raise cortisol (‘stress’ hormone). This is the very opposite of what you want for a good night’s rest.

Month seven

Reduce the amount of processed food in your diet. Start spending more time thinking about and preparing good quality, real (not boxed, packeted, pre-cooked, preserved, flavoured or coloured) food.

Remember that you are what you eat, so if you want to feel vital, energised and healthy, you need to eat a diet of vital, energised and healthy food.

Month eight

Add more fat to your diet. Good quality fats, such as coconut fat and butter add a vital component to your daily diet.

They ensure better blood sugar control, improved inter-cellular communication, provide the body with valuable long-term energy and help tremendously with weight management. They will also very quickly rid you of sugar cravings.

Month nine

Start thinking about the things you think about! Mind management is possibly one of the hardest things to accomplish, but is undoubtedly the most important facet of good health.

Understanding just how potently our inner thoughts (the script in our heads) impacts on our emotions, which in turn impact on our physical state, is the key to changing this powerful health detractor/enhancer.

Keep a careful eye on the thoughts that cross your mind and – if they’re negative, gently bring in a positive thought to counter it. Always try and stay in a positive frame of mind, throughout your day.

If you need to, write post-it notes and paste them around the house, displaying the sorts of messages you’d like to believe – always in the present tense (“I am lean”, “I am healthy”, “I am successful in my life” etc.).

You may not believe these messages initially, but the more you think them, the more it changes neural pathways in the brain, which helps to stimulate a new and healthy outlook. This in turn stimulates a releasing of more beneficial hormones in the brain, resulting in further health benefits.

Month 10

Eat your food in a relaxed environment. In order to optimally digest and assimilate your food, you need to keep your parasympathetic system ‘switched on’ (this is the ‘rest and digest’ side of the nervous system).

You can only do this by avoiding any stressful thoughts/environments/actions, so get used to sitting down and enjoying your meal. Watching TV, working on the computer, reading the newspaper, engaging in an argument etc. can all have a suppressive effect on the parasympathetic system, so avoid these as often as possible.

Month 11

Chew your food until its liquid. By chewing your food more slowly and thoroughly you do two things – the first is that you give your body the time to recognise what enzymes are required to digest the food appropriately and so, to release them in the correct quantities.

The second is that you increase the surface area of food, which allows your stomach acid (HCL) to work more effectively (some of its functions cover killing any pathogens present on your food and helping you absorb certain key nutrients from your meal).

Try to become more conscious while you eat – a good habit to get into is to smell your food before you start eating it. This can be a reminder to you to stay relaxed and chew well, as well as kick-starting your digestive processes through the stimulation of the olfactory senses).

Month 12

Stay relaxed about falling off the wagon.

It’s never a good idea to try and do things perfectly … instead, aim to incorporate some not-so-healthy habits every now and then. After all, we live in a world full of temptations that promise great pleasure and frankly, life would be a little dull without giving in sometimes.

Don’t wait until Monday to go back to your healthy habits; every hour/meal/day can afford you great benefits, so throwing in the towel and despairing about your past choices isn’t going to get you anywhere closer to your goals.

Above all, have fun and enjoy the process of becoming healthier…