As we turn the corner in the past year, looking back is essential to understand what we did and create a plan on how to move forward. That’s the reason that people make New Year’s resolutions every January 1st.
We’ve all heard about trendy diets like the Keto diet and supplements supporting the ketogenic diet. The Keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that claims to offer benefits to help combat chronic diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and some cancers.
I hate to tell you, but unfortunately, it’s been studied and reported that over 80% of resolutions fail.
How To Make Your Change Permanent
Knowing that most resolutions fail, the question isn’t whether you should or should believe in your resolution, but understand that most resolutions fail.
There are several reasons for this, but the three leading causes that they fail is:
- The resolutions are too broad or unclear.
Instead, focus your goals on small incremental changes that can be expanded in time. - Your goal isn’t focused on the mental changes needed for behavioral change.
The first step to making a lasting change in your behavior is to make a change in your thinking and perspective. - Lack of an accountability system for when times get challenging.
Everyone struggles with motivation from time-to-time. Find someone that can hold you to your goals for those difficult times.
The conclusion is that if you want to make a behavioral change, then you need to change your thinking, find someone to keep you on track, and create smaller goals that are easier to achieve.
If you plan to take on some major overhaul of your health, we have a few suggestions to help.
The big 5 suggest you change your eating habits, improve your diet and nutrition, get health screenings, increase your amount of exercise, and get more sleep.
The Big 5 Changes You Need To Make For Better Health
1. Change Your Eating Habits
The first step toward improving your overall health is to focus on making changes to your diet and nutrition. As we discussed, changing your diet could be something as different as switching to a Keto diet, intermittent fasting, or simply cutting out sugary, processed foods and replacing them with vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
2. Utilize Multivitamins And Other Nutritional Supplements
One other area that you can make a change is to begin a multivitamin and nutritional supplements. Multivitamins can offer better nutritional health toward your diet, while supplements are a great way to bolster other dietary needs.
Just be aware that before you take a supplement for your diet or other nutritional needs, spend some time researching it and make sure it’s a good option, fulfills what it claims and that you know the benefits and possible risks.
3. Get Regular Health Screenings
With any change we make in our lives, it’s essential to get input before, during, and after our efforts. If you’re making a change for better health, getting regular screenings for cancers, blood sugars, reproductive health, and HPV testing, as well as other chronic diseases, is highly recommended.
4. Increase Your Activity
Exercise doesn’t have to be intense for an extended period of duration. Your individual fitness goals should be parallel with your overall fitness, age, and other health factors. Exercise is too often thought of as complicated and intense, so maybe the word should be changed to “activity.” Any type of activity that gets you moving around, raising your heart rate, and increasing your breathing, is all that is needed.
5. Get More Sleep
When we’re too busy and stressed out, sleep is often the first thing we sacrifice. But sacrificing our overall sleep quality is the wrong thing to give. The Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, lists adults’ needs to get at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sleep benefits the body by helping with repairing muscle and brain tissue, assisting with mental function, and helping combat long-term, chronic diseases from diabetes, heart disease, mental health, and some cancers.
6. Be Prepared
Being prepared and planning ahead is a crucial aspect of improving your health. Like most things in life the key to success is preparation. This can include packing healthy snacks or lunches when you go out for the day, being prepared with water and sunscreen before you go on a hike, and having a medical guardian device in case any issue injury or medical emergency.
Every year resolutions are made, and the truth is that most fail. If you believe that you’d like to make a behavioral change, knowing the three keys to success; narrow your goals, change your way of thinking about your transformation and find someone to hold you accountable is the foundation needed for success.