Now that 2016 is well underway, it’s the perfect time to discuss New Year’s resolutions and health. And no, I’m not confused about the timing. You see, if you made a New Year’s resolution this year, it’s fairly likely that your resolution is now just a fuzzy memory (like New Year’s Eve) — at least according to the website statisticbrain.com. But I found a very interesting contrast between the most common health-related New Year’s resolutions and Google’s top 10 “how-to” searches from the weeks before and after New Year’s Day.
The most common health-related New Year’s resolutions tended to be broad and nonspecific — resolutions such as “lose weight,” which is always No. 1, or “stay healthy” are good examples. The Google searches, on the other hand, were quite specific — “how to make kale chips,” “how much water should I drink to lose weight,” “how to cook lentils,” “how to steam broccoli” and “how to get rid of stress,” to name several. What I found interesting is that the Google how-to searches would have made better resolutions than the most common resolutions (even though in some cases those searching online were probably scrambling to find ways of achieving their resolutions after-the-fact, like steaming lots of broccoli to “stay healthy”). Why would how-to searches have made better resolutions? Because those tended to be narrow and specific, just the right recipe for success with any behavior change.
When it comes to making a behavioral change related to health — improving diabetes management may be the best example — there’s a certain undercurrent of anxiety because the stakes are high. And, there are so many different facets of effective diabetes management that can make the big picture somewhat overwhelming. Going for major goals — like the most common New Year’s resolution to shed pounds — seems necessary. But without targeting something specific, it’s impossible to keep yourself accountable. Worse, falling short of your broad goal, or simply finding you have no idea exactly where you’re trying to go, is demoralizing. So, now that we’re well into the new year, let’s start over with some small, achievable resolutions, and then let success encourage us to take on other goals.
Here are four simple and specific ideas that can get you moving in the right direction to improve diabetes management or your health in general:
1. Keep low-carbohydrate snacks available. Snacking can be both beneficial and healthy to reduce hunger between meals or if you need to have an additional bite to eat with your meal. But resolve to keep your snacks healthy and low-carb if you have diabetes to minimize your snacks’ impact on blood sugar. Keep low-carb snacks at home, the office, in your purse and in your car. Some examples of healthy, low-carb snacks are nuts; low carb-vegetables, such as roasted or raw broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus or carrots, canned (no added salt) green beans or raw jicama; low calorie, low-carb beverages, including unsweetened tea, black coffee, water, flavored waters with 0 calories and 0 carbohydrates; cheese; or Parmesan crisps. Parmesan crisps are easy to prepare. Preheating your oven to 400 degrees, place 1/2 cup grated, fresh Parmesan into small piles on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until crisp.
2. Keep roasted vegetables on hand. This idea will add more pizzazz to your veggie snacks, and you won’t have to Google “how to steam broccoli.” Roasting vegetables is a quick process. Just preheat your oven to 450 degrees, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil, toss cut vegetables in a bowl with Italian spices or a low-fat Italian salad dressing, spread evenly on a baking sheet and roast the vegetables for 30 minutes. Roasted broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and zucchini can be kept in the fridge ready to eat cold or heated.
3. Add one per day. Sounds easy enough, right? Well it should be easy. Tomorrow morning, after you get out of bed, start with one sit-up or one wall push-up. Each day after that, add one more sit-up or push-up until you’re near the end of your comfort zone. Then, add one each week. This is a quick and easy way to incorporate more activity into your daily routine, and it’s important to note that any activity is better than none.
4. Keep a gratitude diary.Every night, before going to bed, reflect on the day and write one thing you are grateful for. When you are feeling stressed, skim through your gratitude diary. It will be a great, documented reminder that can push your thoughts towards the positive, and positive thoughts are a great way to reduce unhealthy stress.
You don’t have to limit making behavioral change commitments to New Year’s, either. The key is to take small steps in achieving healthy habits that will soon become part of your normal routine. When a habit is part of our norm, living a healthy lifestyle becomes easier, and then you are ready to make your next goal without waiting for another new year. These small steps can certainly turn into huge rewards. Cheers to 2016!
More from U.S. News
8 Resolutions Health Experts Want You to Make
10 Diets That Help Prevent or Manage Diabetes
7 Exercises That Trainers Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead Doing
Revisiting Your New Year?s Resolution originally appeared on usnews.com
