Top 5 Healthiest New Year’s Resolutions
Coming up with ways to improve your health and the motivation needed to see a plan through is a challenge. New Year’s resolutions that involve getting healthy can be difficult to stick to. Finding the healthiest New Year’s resolutions can be difficult. However, some resolutions will have a significant positive impact on your well-being if you can focus on their payoffs and integrate them into your lifestyle.
Here Are the Top 5 Healthiest New Year’s Resolutions:
5.) Fewer Alcoholic Drinks
Drinking alcohol makes driving and other activities dangerous, but even in a controlled setting, alcohol can have detrimental health effects. Excessive drinking, which is defined differently for each person, has been tied to strokes, hypertension, depression, memory loss and even certain cancers. If you want to focus on the healthiest New Year’s resolutions you can make, cutting back on your intake of alcohol in the New Year will help your chances of avoiding these and other health problems, while also keeping you safe should you choose to get behind the wheel.
When you are trying to cut back drinking, you need to change your environment. For example, start avoiding parties that could tempt you, or do not go out with your friends on the weekends. Instead of going out to a bar with friends, invite them over to dinner where you can have control. Also, replacing the act of drinking alcohol with an activity that is more productive like playing tennis or running will help you achieve this hard to reach your goal.
The final step is to avoid an all-or-nothing thinking pattern. You are trying to develop a new pattern of behavior. It’s a new routine for your brain. Accept that slip-ups will happen and that you cannot beat yourself up over it. Use the setback as a lesson instead.
4.) Reduce Stress
Stress has numerous health effects, including a negative impact on mental and emotional health. Finding stress-coping strategies that work for you is one of the healthiest New Year’s resolutions you can make. Set aside time to get enough sleep, seek help at work or home when tasks feel overwhelming and do your best not to take on more than you can handle in your schedule. It might take time to get used to a slower-paced lifestyle, but the reduction in stress will set the stage for a healthier future.
In the new year, try to avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. Why? Well, the consumption of these products in large quantities will relieve stress at first. However, over time, they will start to increase stress because they are stimulants. If you can, try to swap your coffee in the morning and your beer at night with water, herbal teas and natural fruit juice. These items will keep you hydrated and help your body cope with stress better.
Also, incorporate relaxation techniques into your daily routine. There are many stress-reducing techniques out there, but you need to figure out which ones work best for you. There are different apps that are designed for meditation. This will lead to you to more positive thinking and a reduction of daily stress factors arising.
3.) Set a Fitness Goal
Along with diet, fitness is another key aspect of a healthy lifestyle. Set a fitness goal as part of your New Year’s resolution. If you’re not used to much physical activity, set a goal of exercising daily. If you’re already active, make it a goal to perform a specific task, such as running a 5K or participating in a team sport by the end of the year. Different sports and activities will have different effects on your body. Some will help you gain muscle and boost your metabolism, while others will burn fat and improve your overall cardiovascular health.
When you starting, try to find your ideal workout routine. Not everyone is built the same way. Some people LOVE to run, others find it more beneficial to do yoga and some love to lift weights. To stick with a plan, you need to stumble upon an exercise method that you enjoy and that will work best for you. We’ve come up with a few ways where you can work out every single day.
At the beginning of the new year, schedule a variety of workout routines throughout the first week or two. After you finish the first two weeks of the new year, see what you like best. If you need to continue experimenting, go ahead! After experimenting, you will see what you enjoy the most and what will be most effective for you to hold onto for the rest of the year! If you ever feel yourself getting bored mid-year, change it up a bit. Listen to your body.
2.) Manage Your Diet
Going on a diet as a New Year’s resolution can be a reaction to unhealthy eating around the holidays, but a diet is also a chance to improve your overall health. When thinking of the healthiest New Year’s Resolutions, eliminate foods that include trans fats and monitor your diet to prevent weight gain. Limit salt, sugar, and fats and replace them with nutrient-rich foods, including ample vegetables and fruits. Weight loss will not only improve your appearance but also reduce your chances of heart disease, diabetes and joint pain.
Try and reduce your sugar intake little by little. You need to cut back sugar in a gradual process because it may be overwhelming to do it at once. When eating, add more veggies! It is a great way to start incorporating more greens into your diet it. Blend some greens in smoothies, or put some greens in your scrambled eggs. Any little bit will help you try and eat more healthy for the new year.
If you love to eat out, but want to start cutting out unhealthy foods, start meal prepping. Set time aside every Sunday to cook your favorite meals and get ready for the week ahead of you. A meal plan at the beginning of the week can help you save money, eat better, and it will save you time. This is a positive way to manage your diet because there are no restrictions involved!
Is your diet still not working? Read more about the five surprising reasons why a diet might not be working. We were shocked.
1.) Quit Smoking
Quitting smoking is one of the best, healthiest New Year’s resolutions you can make. Smoking is linked to heart disease, lung disease and cancer. Smoking also harms skin health, reduces your sense of taste and harms those around you through second-hand smoke. Aids such as nicotine patches and gum may help you finally kick this habit, which will give your body a chance to start naturally repairing the damage done by smoking.
Now that you know the healthiest New Year’s resolutions to make, make efforts to change your life with these healthy improvements.
