You can probably guess the most popular New Year’s resolution each year: lose weight, often followed by making improvements to your health. This is a common goal for almost every person as they reflect over the past year. They want to do better, live fuller, and live longer.

The problem is that setting lofty, unattainable goals is the quickest way to sabotage yourself in the year to come.

WHY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS DON’T WORK

You may be familiar with the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This same principle applies to New Year’s resolutions. This is not to say that it is impossible to achieve your goals for the coming year. But when you don’t think your resolutions through, you are more likely to fail. Only an estimated 8 per cent of people achieve their resolutions for the New Year.1

Jessica Lamb-Schapiro agrees that New Year’s resolutions need a reality check. In her Time piece, she goes so far as to say that New Year’s resolutions are bad for you. She explains, “When you tie your behavioral change to a specific date, you rob yourself of an opportunity to fail and recover, to ‘fail better.’ If you believe that you can only change on the New Year – the inherent message of New Year’s resolutions – you will have to wait a whole year before you get another shot.”

Lamb-Schapiro makes an interesting point. The New Year is the perfect time to look back over your life and make necessary changes but these changes must be realistic and long-lasting if you want them to stick. Your new year may not need resolutions after all. Your new year needs a step-by-step recovery plan that you can use for the rest of your life.

MAKE THIS NEW YEAR COUNT

There is a practical way to look at your New Year’s resolutions and create a plan that will work for you over the long-term. Take losing weight, for example. Most of us would be happy to lose a little, or even a lot, of weight. There’s a reason that weight loss is a common New Year’s goal.

But deciding to lose weight without a health plan is a recipe for disaster.

The reason that weight loss is a popular New Year’s resolution is because so many of us can’t shake those extra pounds. Like many people, you may feel that you can’t get the weight off no matter what you do. Even though other people on the internet and TV claim to be losing weight fast, you keep beating your head against a wall.

You may be buying into common weight loss myths. Contrary to what the fitness industry says, healthy, sustained weight loss isn’t just about calories in and calories out. It is about the food, and especially the nutrients, that you put in your body. The food that you eat matters so much more than the calories that you count.

If you are still eating a ‘standard’ diet, or more accurately, the Western Unnatural Food Diet, you will find it almost impossible to lose weight.

This diet is mainly comprised of junk, unnatural foods that are high in carbohydrates and sugar. Because these sugary foods trigger a ‘feel-good’ response in the brain, they are addictive. High- carbohydrate and high-sugar foods cause blood sugar levels to soar. When your blood glucose skyrockets, it creates this “feel-good” brain response and your body physically craves the cycle all over again.

Eating high-carbohydrate foods with a high glycemic index not only makes it difficult to lose weight, but it also destroys your health. In a study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Mile Markers, and Prevention, researchers found a startling link between cancer and the consumption of refined carbohydrates.

In a case-controlled study that examined the dietary habits of more than 1800 women in Mexico, researchers discovered that women who consumed 57 per cent or more of their total energy from carbohydrates had a 220 per cent higher breast cancer risk compared to women with balanced diets. High-carbohydrate foods with a high glycemic index raise blood sugar and can even accelerate cancer cell and tumor growth.2

Other missing nutrients in the diet can also inhibit weight loss and contribute to chronic disease. Low iodine levels can cause hypothyroidism and make it difficult to lose weight. Hypothyroidism is widely associated with lethargy and poor metabolism. Obesity has also been linked to lethargy, which could be related to a simple iodine deficiency.

5 WAYS TO RESTORE YOUR HEALTH THIS NEW YEAR

Weight loss may be your ultimate goal for the New Year, but it will not be possible without making important lifestyle changes. As a byproduct, these critical lifestyle changes will restore your health, improve your quality of life, and ward off disease in the future.

Use these five important tips to embrace the New Year:

1. Eat more vegetables. If you are finding it hard to give up your love of empty carbs, it’s time to focus on the right carbohydrates in your diet. 9-14 servings of non-starchy fresh or frozen vegetables are recommended each day, in soups or stir-fried, steamed, or juiced; aim for 50 per cent raw, juiced vegetables, preferably organic. Making the switch from processed foods to Really Healthy Foods is one of the fastest ways to see your health recover and weight drop.

2. Reconsider your bad habits. This is a no-brainer on the New Year’s resolution list, and it is also a personal decision. By now, we all know that smoking and drinking excess alcohol can destroy your health. Ask a friend or family member for support or seek out a program to help you quit. Today is the day to turn a new page in your life.

3. Drink more water. This tip is simple and one that you are likely to see on every New Year’s resolution list, but there is a catch: Drink 6-8 glasses of water per day with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in each glass. Sodium bicarbonate deficiency has been linked to serious conditions like chronic kidney disease; sodium bicarb can support the alkaline balance in your body.

4. Practice relaxed breathing. Most of us breathe anxiously through the chest and deprive our body of much-needed oxygen. Relaxed breathing comes from the diaphragm or stomach. Anxious breathing causes a stress response that can weaken your health by releasing excess cortisol. Relaxed breathing calms the stress response, supports immune health, and protects the body against infection.

5. Supplement missing nutrients. This is the most important point on the list, next to cutting starchy carbohydrates out of your diet. Nascent Iodine, B Vitamins, and Magnesium Oil are the prime nutrients along with a good probiotic. Your body will not be able to repair itself without this proper nutritional support. Your body needs healthy proteins, fats, and carbohydrates; roughly 13 vitamins; 20-60 minerals; roughly 12 amino acids; an estimated 6 digestive enzymes from plants; oxygen; and probiotics each day for optimal digestion and health. Missing nutrients in the diet have been linked to almost every chronic disease.

The new year is a wonderful time to reflect and plan for a healthy future. This is your year. This is the perfect time to make new choices and start a rehabilitation plan that you can use for the rest of your life. A new year, a new you, a new time to transform your health.

Sources:
1. “New Year’s Resolutions Are Bad for You.” TIME.com.
2. Cancer Epidemiology, Mile Markers, and Prevention, 2004.