Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas season.
I love the feeling of starting a new year, even though it is just another day when you think about it. It has always given me the feeling of a new page and I get rather excited about setting myself a couple of goals or resolutions for the year ahead.
It is often joked that by next week most resolutions will be given up, and this might be the case if you set yourself to give up chocolate or stop buying coffee on the way to work indefinitely. I find it harder to give something up than to incorporate something positive into my lifestyle. Or I also think about my long-term goals for the year – one of mine will be to continue working hard at and enjoying my degree (with less than 18 months to go!).
Here are a few tips in case you decide to set yourself a couple of resolutions this year.
- Reflect
Take time to think about how the last year went for you – the good and the bad, but mainly the positives! Maybe you can learn from some of those experiences. But remember to focus on looking forward – I love this picture from Kindred blog.
- Start gently
Most people make an exercise-related resolution which is a fantastic idea as incorporating exercise into your lifestyle provides so many health benefits. Where some people seem to fall down is by giving themselves impossibly gruelling fitness regimes after a whole Christmas season of overdoing it on food and alcohol and probably not doing much exercise at all. If this is you it might be better to start off small, for example saying you’ll run 5km twice a week to start with and gradually build it up.
Gentle exercise is also a known stress reliever and getting some fresh air after all the partying that may have taken place recently will definitely help pep you up and welcome in the New Year with a clearer head!
- Nourish yourself
You may feel that you have overdone it over Christmas but seriously restricting your diet and trying to compensate isn’t the way to go. Restricting foods can create fear about eating and may make you fixate on and crave these foods. Instead try to focus on incorporating healthy habits such as getting your 5-a-day, including more oily fish in your diet or trying to pack your lunches for work the night before. The theory is that if you try and include good habits, there is less space for the not-so-good ones!
- Be happy
Most importantly, I’m trying to learn to be content to enjoy the process and be happy where I am now instead of constantly thinking that the grass is greener somewhere else. A few months ago, I stumbled across this TED talks and have been trying to get everyone I know to listen to/watch it because it really resonated with me. It focusses on tapping into our hard-wired happiness.
I hope you all have a lovely New Year x
the simple nutrition blog 