Healthy 2021: Keeping Your New Years Resolutions
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Five days into the new year, how are your resolutions doing?
So many resolutions revolve around health and Leslie Bonci of Active Eating Advice says the key is to be reasonable.
"This year, I think more than any other time, is we have to be realistic. That's my operative word for this year, whatever it is you're going to pick to do, make sure that you can follow through."
The biggest mistake people make Bonci says is taking an "All or nothing approach. I would really rather people think about this as the appetizer approach, instead of the entree approach, the little manageable things that you can do, master and then move on to the next one."
Of course the cautious approach doesn't provide the dramatic results you want to see quickly. "And the problem with the dramatic interim results, it's wonderful, but you're doing things so drastically different to get there that then you don't feel good. As a result of it that you feel the euphoria of the scale is only going to last for a certain period of time until you're overly hungry, or you're cranky, or your gut hurts because you've taken all the fiber out. So, what we really want to think beyond is, what can I work towards that might be my dangling carrot for March."
Bonci says being unrealistic is the formula for failure, "As much as people say they want this. They don't want this they don't want to feel deprived and that's the major problem with the resolutions that people make primarily around eating. I can't do this I shouldn't do this. Oh, shame on me because I did."
She says it is all about how you approach what you eat. "One of the first things especially when people are trying to get healthier, so to speak, is they kind of focus on the, it has to be bland, it has to be. I really can't enjoy it because if I do that I'm doing something terribly wrong. So, maybe thinking about it differently is, first of all the How much are you putting on your plate which might mean maybe you change the size of the plate. Gifting yourself the opportunity to sit for a little bit longer and actually taste it, and chew it and take the time to eat the food."
And look at how you are preparing your food, "Don't neglect the flavoring. Think about that. How can you spice it up, jazz it up. There are so many different herbs and spices to pick from, none of them have any calories in them and all of them confer such a wonderful flavor to food."
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As for purging your home of 'the bad' foods, Bonci says only consider purging things you know are your irresistables.
"Nobody's eating one potato chip right? That doesn't work that way. A bag, yes. Or ice cream, all of a sudden the pint was gone. That might be problematic, but other than that, if you take everything out of the cabinet, then what are you going to do? You're going to feel miserable or you're going to be making an unnecessary trip to go get something and then that's exposure in a different way that we really don't want right now."
And most importantly know in advance that you are going to slip up from time to time. But that is just a one day binge, it is not the whole year. "The body and brain are actually a little bit more forgiving than we give them credit for. If you overindulge, okay, you did, you can't go back and do it again because you really don't want to eat another pint of ice cream so we'll move forward. I had it, I got it out of my system, I got it out of my freezer, if not in my house anymore. and what can I focus on tomorrow."
Bonci says joining a diet program or an exercise program are good frameworks to help get you going. But like eating. make sure it's a program that fits for you and is sustainable.
You can see more from Bonci on her website here.