Resolutions Can Be Tricky!

Did you make resolutions or goals for your health this year? I’d like to assist you to make those a reality. I enjoy nothing more than helping others to improve their health, and after 25 years of working with patients here at Root Cause Medical Clinic, I have developed some ‘sure-fire’ ways to navigate the hurdles that seem to always present themselves when someone is trying to improve their health.

Your health goals may be just that, intentions that you’d like to achieve rather than New Year’s resolutions per se. That’s fine; perhaps it’s better.

I find that discussing resolutions is often met with a variety of responses. Everything from: “I always make them,” to “I never make them,” to “I make them but I usually fail.” In fact, it’s become a societal joke of sorts – how quickly people tend to give up on their resolutions.

Success is Within Your Reach

Let’s focus on what’s important. You have decided to improve your health status in 2014 and that’s great. Have you vowed to lose weight, eat better? Either way, let’s discuss how to be successful.

First of all, begin with stating your goal as a fait accompli, meaning that you have already accomplished it. So you would write down and/or say to friends: “I AM eating healthy in 2014.” You don’t have to announce it, but at least have it in writing somewhere such that you’ll see it regularly as a nice reminder. Even if you prompt your smartphone to remind you each day, that’s a good start.

You know the expression “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” It simply means that good things don’t occur overnight, they take time. And whether it’s ‘building Rome’ or ‘achieving good health’, both take time.

This is the Secret…

Here’s my biggest tip for you: Don’t give up on yourself. The biggest mistake people make with New Year’s resolutions or goals is that they are too hard on themselves. In fact, they can be downright unreasonable! Someone makes a resolution to quit smoking, as an example, and at the first slip, they give up. If you decided to lose weight and had a bad day of eating and your weight went up, is that it? Is the game over? Is that your resolution ruined? Not at all!

Let’s re-state that: Not at all!

You did not fail because you tripped. You did not fail because you stumbled. You only fail when you yourself decide that you have failed and give up.

As the Thomas Edison story goes, he tried 1,000 times before he successfully created the light bulb. When asked by a reporter how it ‘felt’ to fail 999 times, the optimistic Edison apparently said this: “Young man, I have not failed 999 times. I have simply found 999 ways of how not to create a light bulb.” He probably was the type that didn’t give up on his New Year’s resolutions either, what do you think?

So here it is, one simple tip: Don’t give up! If you have a bad day, start again tomorrow. No matter what, don’t give up on yourself. And for a few specifics on HOW to get healthier this year, it just wouldn’t be me without sharing some ideas on that topic. So, here are the top 5 from all of us here at Root Cause Medical Clinic.

5 Tips on How to Be a Healthier You This Year

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables. The health benefits achieved from the wonderful antioxidants and phytonutrients contained in these colorful beauties are hard to rival. You may be surprised at how much better you feel with this one change.
I’d like you to ultimately achieve 9 servings a day, about 5 to 6 of those servings being veggies, but start on a gradient and work your way up to 9. Organic is important but at least avoid GMO (like the plague!). My personal favorite (and easiest) way to start increasing your fruits and veggies is to begin your day with a green smoothie. Go here for a recipe.+

2. Drink half your weight in ounces of purified water each day. It is amazing how many people are dehydrated. Insufficient water will cause you to be more toxic, sluggish, and gain weight.

Try the simple formula of taking your weight, dividing it in half, and drinking that amount of water in ounces per day. Spread the water out through your day and try to only drink about 8 oz per hour to get the greatest benefit. Stick to the gradient approach and gradually get to the full amount you need. I promise you’ll notice a difference.

3. Exercise at least 150 minutes total, 4 to 5 days per week. This is only an hour and a half but it’s a good start if you haven’t been exercising.

For fat burning, exercise is best done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. The great thing about exercising the first thing is that you can’t use the excuse that you ‘didn’t get to it’! It’s my successful action. I get up and exercise; everything else in my day comes afterward.

For those who can’t exercise without a little fuel, that’s fine, just keep it light and you can eat the rest of your breakfast afterward.

I’m often asked if it’s okay to put that hour and a half into two days, perhaps the weekend. If you want to exercise more on the weekend, that’s great. But you lose fitness and health benefits if you only exercise two days per week. Four is a minimum, 5 days per week is great.

4. Cut out all artificial sweeteners. They are toxic. There is really no way to achieve good health and a healthy weight with such chemicals entering your system. If you’ll miss a favorite gum or soda, just ask me for a good replacement – I have one!

5. If you’re a fast-food eater, stop. I’m sorry, but the quality of fast food is frightening. Even their ‘salad’? Yes, it’s the cheapest most chemical-laden, hormone, and drug-infested food on the planet – you have to break yourself away. If it feels like you’re addicted it’s because they’ve chemically engineered the ‘food’ to BE addictive. If you need help getting the fast food monkey off your back, contact me. I can help you break the habit pretty fast.

Optional: If you didn’t fall into the fast-food eater above, then try this for step #5: I’d like to see you stop wheat and dairy consumption for 30 days. Ideally, I’d love to get a lab test for gluten sensitivity beforehand, but that isn’t always possible; I understand. Just do a 30 day trial off wheat (gluten) and dairy and see how you feel.

If you notice an improvement, and I’m betting you will contact me for the next step to take.

Well, I’ll be honest, limiting myself to just 5 Tips was not easy! As a clinical nutritionist, I could create a much longer list. But these are a good start and something you can truly do.

I hope this was helpful. While any day is a good day to decide to get healthier, there is something nice about starting a new year on the right foot. Please let me know how you do with this and don’t be shy about asking for help – that’s why we’re here.