Start the Year with Hope and Determination
I love the New Year as a time to hit the restart button on wellness initiatives. There’s just something about being back at the beginning of the year filled with hope and determination that’s motivating.
Do we share the same goals of losing those extra holiday pounds, cutting our sugar cravings, having more energy and relief from day to day symptoms? If so, here are my tried and true tips for achieving all these and more:
Keep a Food Diary
To get real on what you are eating, how much, and how your body feels an hour after you’ve eaten, nothing beats keeping a food diary. In addition to identifying food trends in portion control or habitual snacking, it will help pinpoint food sensitivities that may be causing low energy, headaches or other chronic symptoms. Food sensitivity testing is a natural next step.
Drink More Water
Many of us are dehydrated and confuse hunger for thirst. Water suppresses the appetite naturally, helps the body metabolize stored fat, releases retained water, relieves constipation, helps maintain proper muscle tone and is crucial for proper kidney function.
Clearly, water is critical for weight loss and your overall health! Drinking half your body weight in ounces of water per day will give you all you need to stay hydrated and keep things moving through your system properly.
Participate in a 14 Day Detox Program
Detox to minimize stored pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, preservatives, artificial additives and other harsh chemicals that we take in each day through our food, drinks and the environment. The body can only tolerate so much of this before it gets overburdened, causing weight gain, allergies, headaches, hormone imbalance, lethargy, anxiety and skin conditions.
During a detox program, you allow your body to naturally cleanse by eliminating intense foods, taking a few cleansing herbs, and drinking water. It’s easier than you think and you won’t believe how much better you look and feel!
Get Out and Move
Good health and an ideal weight can’t be achieved exclusively with diet. Exercise is important for digestion, circulation, regulating the appetite, releasing emotional stress, strengthening your heart, improving lung capacity and reducing body fat.
You don’t have to have the perfect outfit or subscribe to the “no pain, no gain” mentality. Just do what you love, and do it for 45 minutes five times per week, and you’ll be rewarded with a toned and energized body.
This is your year to make your health and happiness a priority. You deserve to look and feel your best and when you do, everyone around you wins. If not now, when?
This article was originally published in my newsletter, where I share more tips and inspiration for health, happiness and success. Subscribe now and receive a copy of my 5 Step Morning Routine for Thriving so you can create your day for success!