5 Ways To Kickstart A Healthy New Year

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I truly hope your holidays were filled with love, joy, and amazing food!

Today is our first day back in the “real world”.

Kids are back at school, everybody’s back at work, the company’s gone … and the silence gives you lots of time to ponder on all those resolutions you’ve made to be a better/happier/healthier/thinner/smarter you, right?

Let’s make a deal that we won’t be too hard on ourselves.

Your list of resolutions may be a mile long, but I’m hoping to show you 5 simple ways you can kickstart a healthy new year.

1. Prioritize sleep.

If you resembled a zombie as you walked out of your bedroom this morning, you’re not alone. Chances are, you’re not getting enough sleep any other time of the year either.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult is getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Many are getting even less — 5 to 6 hours.

That’s a recipe for disaster for your physical and mental health!

Many experts say that 8 hours of sleep per night is the magic number; yet it is important to note that, just like drinking 8 glasses of water per day isn’t going to work for everyone, recommending 8 hours of sleep per night can’t be a blanket statement either.

You should focus on getting a minimum of 8 hours per night.

People with adrenal or thyroid issues, high-stress jobs, and/or those with healing lifestyles need MORE than 8 hours of sleep — 9 or 10 hours per night!

If you have trouble falling asleep, here are some things you can try:

• Try herbs!
• Essential oils such as lavender and Roman chamomile help with relaxation.
• Take an Epsom salt bath. Magnesium is known for its relaxing properties.
• Consider a new mattress.
• Don’t watch TV or work on your computer at least an hour before bedtime. They emit blue light that interferes with melatonin production — the hormone that signals your body to get sleepy.
• Sleep smarter by enforcing a caffeine curfew, getting electronics OUT of the bedroom, darkening your sleeping quarters, and more.
• Cut caffeine out of your life completely! (Here are some naturally energizing drinks to help you get over the hump!)

Action step: Turn off the TV or laptop, close those curtains, and start your year off with at least 8 hours of quality, restful sleep.

2. Improve your gut health.

No one wants to start a new year with what I have affectionately come to call a “food baby”.

You know what I’m talking about — that distinctive 4-months-along bloat some of us are sporting because we ate a few too many slices of pie.

If you did go a little heavy on the gluten and sugar last year, you can kickstart a new year by understanding the way your gut works and taking steps to improve gut health.

The delicate, complicated organisms that make up your “micro-biome” either positively or negatively impact your overall well-being.

If you suffer from digestive symptoms like gas, bloating, acid reflux, constipation, regular diarrhea, or stomachaches, you need to work on your gut health.

If you suffer from other symptoms such as acne, eczema, asthma, allergies, chronic pain, recurring yeast infections, autoimmune disease, or anxiety — you guessed it — you should work on your gut health.

That micro-biome is responsible for taking care of so many functions and systems in your body. If it’s not healthy, there are over 200 symptoms to let you know!

There are so many little and big ways you can improve your overall health this year, just by paying special attention to the health of your gut!

Want more guidance on improving your gut health? There are 3 easy tips in this podcast!

Action step: Learn about the ways to heal your gut and incorporate a few of them into your lifestyle.

3. Learn 1 new thing per month.

Do you have all sorts of great ideas to buy healthier foods, make more meals from scratch, eat at home more often, or simply learn more about Real Food?

And you want to accomplish all this by January 31st, right?

Hold on there, Batman!

You’re going to be overwhelmed and burned out in a couple of weeks if you start your year off like that.

Baby steps really add up over time. If you commit to learn one new thing in the kitchen or about food per month, you’ll end 2016 with 12 new ideas or skills! That’s not too shabby. 😉

For example, maybe you want to learn how to lacto-ferment, work with sourdough, eat more veggies, and soak/sprout your grains, beans, and nuts.

That’s all awesome! Just don’t try to learn it all today, mmmmkay?

Start with 1 skill — such as lacto-fermentation — in January, and learn that.

In February, you can start your sourdough starter, use it in simple recipes, and develop that skill.

Move on to eating more veggies in March.

Then sign up for our free traditional cooking video series to perfect those soaking and sprouting skills.

Remember: this is a marathon, not a sprint. Your success doesn’t depend on your learning all of this by the end of the month.

Action step: Make a list of skills or goals you want to implement in your kitchen this year. Assign yourself 1 goal or skill per month. Take slow but sure steps to reach your goals.

4. Make time for exercise.

I hate to admit it … but, I’m working on this one myself.

Sometimes, something’s gotta give in our busy lives, and all too often, that something ends up being our own physical fitness.

I’m still in my early 30s, but I am 100% positive that an invisible switch flipped in my body the day I turned 30.

I got away with not exercising and still staying fit and trim all through my 20s without so much as looking at a gym.

Well, I can’t do that anymore, and I bet you can’t either, am I right?

The commitment I’ve made to myself is to do some sort of exercise for a minimum of 15 minutes a day — because that’s a totally doable amount of time. I’m not so busy that I can’t find 15 minutes!

Whether it’s going for a brisk walk, shoveling snow and hauling firewood, the 7-minute high-intensity workout app on my phone, or my favorite 15-minute workout T-Tapp, I made this commitment in late November, and I’m proud to say that I’m still going!

In fact, I actually look forward to the burst of feel-good energy I feel for several hours after my workout ends!

If you’re not already doing some type of exercise, the excuses end today. You’ve got 15 minutes, and you’re worth it!

Action step: The amount of time you exercise doesn’t matter — just do it. For a quick, low-impact, non-cardio exercise, I recommend T-Tapp. Wardee gives us ladies 10 reasons why real women lift weights, and 3 Tips for Healthy Feet too!

5. Focus on wellness, not weight.

I saved this New Year kickstart for the end for a reason. And this one’s going to require you to transform your thinking.

Don’t make weight loss the end goal of any healthy changes you make now or in the future.

So repeat after me: “My health is more than a number. My health is more than a number.”

The number on the scale is not a good indicator of overall healthfulness.

That number doesn’t reveal your gut health, your lean muscle mass, your hormone balance, the quality of your sleep, or anything else.

You can be at the “ideal weight” for your height and body type and be stressed out, exhausted, and constipated. Or you can be several pounds over the “ideal” and have lots of energy, sleep great, and have awesome digestive health.

Even if you’re morbidly obese and really do need to lose weight to gain your health back, there’s so much more you can do to improve your health than watching those scale numbers.

Implementing a Real Food lifestyle, healing your gut, making time for exercise, and improving the quality of your sleep WILL help you lose weight anyway. In fact, you may start losing it without even trying!

Action step: Free yourself from the numbers on the scale and put that energy into making other positive lifestyle changes this new year. Kickstart your 2016 in a positive way — not by beating yourself up over meaningless numbers. If weight loss is just something you have to do, Wardee recommends Trim Healthy Mama, and she shows you how to implement it with traditional foods! 

What positive lifestyle goals have you set for yourself in the new year? What is your plan to achieve success?