BY LINDA EGENES
We all do it. We make grand resolutions on New Year’s day and break them the next. Yet there are ways to make your healthy resolutions stick. Here are some ideas.
1. Break it into baby steps. Most resolutions involve long-term goals, which can be daunting. If your dream is to get into shape, break it into small steps, like scheduling thirty minutes a day to exercise. According to Maharishi Ayurveda, it’s healthier to engage in mild exercise such as walking every day rather than doing an über-workout three times a week. Signing up for classes in dance, aerobics or yoga helps because once you pay the fee, you’ll feel motivated to show up. You’ll find yourself slimming down without even realizing it.
2. Make your resolutions concrete and action-oriented. Rather than resolving to eat a better diet, plan to eat five servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day. Feel more energetic from eating right today and that success will motivate you to do it all over again tomorrow.
3. Try the one-day-at-a-time plan. If your goal is to feel more rested, choose one night a week to skip TV, engage in relaxing activities like taking a warm bath or listening to music, and get to bed early, by 9:30 pm. Drink a glass of warm milk with cardamom at 9:00 pm to relax your mind and prepare for an early sleep. Create a sleep-conducive atmosphere with Slumber Time Therapeutic Aroma. The pure, organic essential oils of Sweet Orange, Marjoram, Lavender and Jasmine are blended in a precise formula to help you fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply. You’ll make better choices when you wake up rested. And after you establish the habit of one night a week, you can add on another night, and then another.
4. Make it fun! Find an exercise that is appealing to you, and foods that are healthy but tasty too. Join forces with a friend to cook a new recipe in the new year. Take a trip to your local health food store and select fresh, new-to-you ingredients to make a vitamin-filled but delicious meal. Reward yourself with great food shared with great friends.
5. Wish you could effortlessly feel inspired to meet your resolutions? Schedule a detox. It’s easier to spontaneously choose the right foods when your body is free of impurities. It’s also easier to exercise when sluggish toxins aren’t making you feel tired. The most important thing to do is to prevent toxins from forming in the first place. Eating organic, whole foods is the best way to stop toxins in the digestive tract and at the cellular level. You can also improve your elimination system (which carries toxins from the digestive tract out of the body through the bowel and urine) by eating a cooked apple and figs in the morning. Figs have more fiber than any other food. Adding more organic greens and other vegetables to your diet—flavored with detoxifying spices such as turmeric, cumin, coriander and fennel—also helps the body eliminate toxins.
