Resolve to Be Your Healthiest in 2008

Today's, of course, a big day for making resolutions, and a lot of those involve food --- losing weight, starting a low-carb or low-fat diet, cutting back on sweets or soda, or simply eating a few more fruits or vegetables every week.

Making these sorts of resolutions can be frustrating when your diet is limited anyhow. But if you recognize your diet is unhealthy --- if you've been relying heavily on processed foods that may not be particularly nutritious, or if you need to gain or lose weight --- there's no better time than the turn of a new year to make some changes. Many of your friends or family members might be making similar resolutions now and may be happy to work together to start eating healthier or exercising more together. Here are some tips that might help you if your New Year's Resolutions involve healthy living:

Keep your resolutions realistic and quantifiable. Can you really, all at once, switch from soda to water, begin walking for thirty minutes a day, up your fruit and vegetable consumption to six servings daily, and stop eating red meat (as an example) --- and stick to it? If all these dietary habits are part of your lifestyle, and you currently get no exercise, that's an awful lot to expect from yourself, and you're probably setting yourself up for failure. A better approach might be what blogger Steve Pavlina terms a 30-day trial: choosing one habit and sticking to it for a month. Then see how you feel and decide whether you want to keep doing it. If you do, it's likely already an ingrained habit.

Look for easy-to-use resources that can help you reach your goals. Two good ones are Calorie Count Plus, which offers nutritional information and a supportive community, and Healthy Mondays, a free weekly newsletter offered by About.com and Columbia University's Postman School of Public Health that brings you simple, practical, sustainable health habits.

And don't get too discouraged if things don't go well at first. Many worthwhile habits take a little while and a few tries to stick. Be gentle with yourself and celebrate your successes --- ideally with a friend you can rely on to be proud of you when things go well. Happy New Year!